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Sought through pray and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him. . . —First half of Step Eleven— Through Step Eleven, we develop a lasting, loving relationship with our Higher Power. Conscious contact means knowing and sensing God in our lives throughout the day. God is not just an idea. […]
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A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake. —Confucius— Step Ten tell us that when we are wrong, we must “promptly” admit it. We aren’t used to admitting our mistakes. We defend ourselves and blame others. This is call denial. Denial is bad for two reasons. First, it […]
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The universe is full of magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper. —Eden Phillpots— How nice to have the fog lifted! Sobriety lets our wits grow sharper. We can go after our dreams and ideas. We can listen to music and sing. We are part of the magic of the universe. At times […]
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Each morning puts a man on trail and each evening passes judgment. —Ray L. Smith— In many ways, the Tenth Step is very natural. We continue to take a personal inventory. And when we’re wrong, we promptly admit it. At the end of each day we ask ourselves, “How did my day go?” As we […]
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I wish you the courage to be warm when the world would prefer you to be cool. —Robert A. Ward— Our program and the Steps have warmed us from the inside out. Just as a bonfire warms those who stand around it, the Steps take away the chill we have felt for so long. At […]
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An excuse is worst and more terrible than a lie.—Alexander Pope— Excuses. They’re lies. We use excuses to hide from ourselves. Maybe we don’t want to be honest about our anger. So we say someone else made us angry. Maybe we don’t want to admit how mean we can be. So we pretend we have […]
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Nobody gives you freedom. —Malcolm X— We were not free. We were prisoners of our illness. What our illness wanted, we give it our dignity, our self-respect, even our families. Our prison walls were made of denial, false pride, and self-will run riot. Now we know that brick walls don’t have to stop us. We […]
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Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighbor.—Louise Beal— In our program, we learn a lot about loving ourselves. Then we start to see how this helps us love our neighbors. We learn to love ourselves honestly, seeing our strengths and our weaknesses. We learn to see others honestly. We learn how much to […]
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Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.—Oliver Wendell Homes— Lying, above anything else, brings us close to getting crazy again. Lying is what addicts do. In our addiction, our whole life was a lie. Lying creates danger because it creates secrets. Secrets keep us from others. To stay […]
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It’s not dying faith that’s so hard, it’s living up to it.—William Makepeace Thackeray— We may ask, “Do I have to do an Eighth or Ninth Step?” “Do I really need a sponsor?” “Hmm…can I get by without going to so many meetings?” Having faith means putting our questions aside. So…what do we do? We […]