Taking Personal Inventory And Setting All Wrongs Right

The road to clean and sober living does get narrower but it's not the constant uphill struggle with a cliff at the end that we were on.

Read the promises in the AA book "Alcoholics Anonymous" on page 83 and 84. It says if we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.

We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone we will see how our experience can benefit others.

That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. self seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

That's right before step 10, I couldn't have stated the power and awesomeness of the 12-step recovery program any better myself. In fact, I think the whole AA book is kind of understated so as not to scare anyone away!

The Bible tells us the same thing but it's almost unbelievable in it's positiveness and simplicity. (Or did I just put the "good book" away for a few years while I was living life my way?)

Step 10 suggests we continue to ... "set right any new mistakes as we go along." We vigorously commence this way of living as we clean up our past. We have entered the world of the spirit.

Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.

Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.

And we have ceased fighting everything and everyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. (God has us on cruise control, I just need to stay out of the driver's seat and keep the two-way channel of communication open)

We will see that our new attitude toward liquor (or any other addiction that comes between me and my Higher Power) has been given us without any thought of effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding it. We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. (Unless I entertain the thought of going back to drinking and using.)

What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will for us into all our activities. "How best can I serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.

This is just the AA way of life blogging, not me. I've inserted a few parenthetic lines but mostly, it's right out of both books in my life, life saving books—AA and the Bible.

Carefully follow the directions and you'll sense the flow of strength and inspiration from Him who has all knowledge and power. Stayin' alive, stayin' alive!