i haven’t done an entry on the twelve steps for a while. the last one was on step five. the idea of discussing the 12 steps here is to look at how they can help anyone, not only people who go to groups like alcoholics anonymous, overeaters anonymous or alanon (for people with alcoholics in their lives).
warning: if you’re not into god or religion, please wait until the end of the post, don’t get turned off the second the g-d word comes up!
step 6 says
“were entirely ready to have god remove all these defects of character.”
background: step 6 comes after step 4, where an individual takes a thorough personal inventory, and step 5, where this inventory is shared with god and another person.
if we want to make this a little less heavy on the god language, we can translate step 6 like this:
“were entirely ready to work towards change, accepting help, and without immediately jumping to the desired results.”
we can also rename the “character defects” (that’s 1930’s language) and call them unhelpful attitudes and behaviours.
we’ll deal with the working towards change in a second. first, though, a few words about accepting help.
if we’ve been “trying” and pushing for a different life for a long time and nothing has worked – maybe it’s time to take a different approach. maybe it’s time to accept help. this help may come in many ways, and it’s good to be open to the many ways. it might be in the form of a pesky co-worker, a pet or an article in a newspaper we don’t normally ready. it may be god. whatever it is, it’s probably not going to be the petty, demanding little ego that’s been driving the bus for way too long.
and a few words about “entirely ready” and “not jumping to the results”. when i work with people, one way i can usually see right away that it’s going to take a little while is when they have a one-dimensional view of what they want. it’s usually coached in words like, “the only way this is going to work is …” or “i couldn’t use an X, it has to be a Y”. being entirely ready means being open. you want to become a happier, healthier, more giving person? then open yourself to the possibilities.
so what about this “working towards change”? the question here is, do you REALLY want to change? often, that’s not the case. we may want to become more accepting of others not because we truly want to open our hearts but because we’re teed off at the constant bickering. so really, we want to get rid of the bickering and all kinds of aspects of not being accepting are just fine, thank you very much.
if that’s the case, the unhelpful attitudes and behaviours need to be taken under a magnifying glass.
here are some questions that can help:
- how has this attitude/behaviour helped me in the past? how has it helped me cope?
- what is it doing for me today? what do i still get out of it?
- can i get what i truly need in some other way?
- what is this attitude/behaviour doing to me? how does it hurt me?
- what is it doing to others?
- what are the consequences of hanging on to it?
this is an entry for my participation in the 2008 blogathon, a 24-hour marathon of blogging. please support the cause and donate – however much, however little – to the canadian mental health association (vancouver/burnaby branch). to donate, email me or use this URL: www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=d2252. you should be able to get there by clicking the link; if not, just copy and paste the link into your browser. it will take you to the appropriate location at canada helps.
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(this post is part of the carnival of healing #154)