STEP TWO, PART 3

Hi friends.

I think that the number of shares has dropped off lately. This reminds me of a saying I heard recently:

"Don't get involved with the program. Get committed to the program. It's like ham and eggs. The chicken's involved but the pig's committed."

SO OUR FOREMOST ACTION ASSIGNMENT IS TO COMMIT TO WORKING ALL THE STEPS.

Do you commit to do that?

This is a package deal. Less than twelve steps may bring some temporary relief but it does not bring recovery.

In this post we will continue with the second part of step two, and see some more aspects of the word sanity and what it implies.

In our previous post we discussed sanity as freedom from the obsession with food, which is quite true but it is not all there is to sanity. Sanity comes from the Latin word "sanitas" which means whole. So a restoration of sanity is a restoration of wholeness. This is an holistic restoration of the spirit, the mind, and the body.

Here is how the Big Book puts it:

"When the spiritual malady is overcome we straighten out mentally and physically." page 64.

So first we have to straighten out spiritually and then the rest follows.

In order to do it we have to give a chance to a Power greater than ourselves to solve our problem, all aspects of it, and the solution that results from working ALL the steps is a spiritual experience.

Let us see what the Big Book has to say about the spiritual experience (or awakening) and how it is a healing (recovery) of spirit mind and body. We have seen what Dr Jung had to say about it in our first post on step 2, but let us see some more.

"We had a new Employer (God of my understanding), being all powerful, he provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn." page 63.

Wow!!! Isn't it the tops? We don't have to rely on our fallible willpower. God provides whatever we need, as long as I do His will. And what is his will? The highest good for me, which means working and living the steps to the best of my ability and becoming whole again (recovering). We recover from the root of our problem which is selfishness and self-centeredness, by becoming interested in others and in what we can contribute to life. We get new power from H.P. We can face life successfully. We become less fearful. We ENJOY peace of mind. We begin to lose our fears, and we develop a conscious contact with God. This is really a rebirth. We become a different person. We act, feel, and think differently. Something to look forward to isn't it?

But that is not all. Let us see some more. Let us look at the step 9 Promises.

"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 on life will change. Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations that used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves." page 84.

The Big Book guarantees that these promises are not a pipe dream. "They will always materialize if we work for them." page 84.

So get off you butts friends. We have some work to do. We want to work the steps because we want these results.

Do you remember the bafflements? I discussed them in my posts on step one. They are one of the manifestation of our spiritual illness.

Look at page 52 where the bafflements are written. The promises are the exact opposite of the bafflements. They are the healing of the bafflements.

Is that all? Not by a long shot. Read this.

"And we ceased fighting anything and anyone - even food. For by this time [When we reach step ten], sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in trigger foods. If tempted, we will recoil from it as from a hot flame. We will react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward food has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. 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. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react as long as we keep in a fit spiritual condition" pages 84-85.

And how do we keep in a fit spiritual condition? By working steps 10-12 on a daily basis to the best of our ability.

What do you think friends? Quite a different picture from the usual struggle with abstinence.

Here is a bit more, on pages 569-570.

A spiritual experience or awakening is:

"...the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from food addiction... He finally realizes he had undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life... With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.

"Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience. Our more religious members call it 'God-consciousness.' "

Wow!!! Again. But it all begins with believing in a God of my understanding.

When I joined program my God was a cruel one who never helped me and was responsible for every calamity in my life and in the world, so how could I take step two? More on this in the next post.

INTO ACTION:

1. Commit to working, all 12 steps without procrastination and without excuses, like I am busy, this is to much, I am overwhelmed etc...

Can you do that?

Can you put recovery by working the steps as the first priority in your life?

If the answer is yes, then share with us. We support each other on our journey to recovery by sharing experience strength and hope. Don't straggle behind. Keep up the pace and reach the finishing line in three month. Just watch the change, as the spiritual awakening unfolds when we continue with our step work.

2. Share about your stage in the spiritual awakening. Which of the promises and descriptions came already true in your life. What are you doing on a daily basis to progress and develop more with you recovery and healing, or to begin your recovery and healing.

Have a nice day.
Shlomo