Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. It promises us that we’ll finally be okay. So, what does the Big Book promise us? Red bottom heels and a hot guy? A Rolex and a smaller waist? Nope! It promises us emotional and spiritual health. Specifically, they only apply to those who’ve reached the ninth step. I like the sound of that! Remember though, these promises only apply to alcoholics working the steps. The ninth step promises are a section of the Big Book where recovering alcoholics are promised certain things. That’s all I can ask for and all I continue to ask for on a daily basis.Written By: Fiona Stockard What are the 9th Step Promises? The bottom line, though, is if I do the work, if I search within myself and find God, the obsession to drink and drug will be removed. Like most of sobriety, these promises are an entirely subjective experience. For some lucky women, the obsession is lifted before they reach the tenth step. It takes some women much longer to have them come true in their lives. Even then, they don’t always occur during the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth step. See, I have to complete the steps in order for these promises to manifest in my life. They showed me that recovery isn’t only possible, it’s promised if I do the work. My sponsor showed them to me almost immediately. When I was newly sober, they offered me hope. That’s my experience with the tenth step promises. I’ve been granted safety from a God of my own understanding. Did you notice, though, that I wrote in past tense in the above paragraph? That’s because I’ve recovered. That’s the heart of alcoholism – the bizarre mental obsession. I wouldn’t stop until a drink was in my hand. Once I started to think about alcohol, I wouldn’t stop until the thought of drinking pushed out all else. I always begin to drink until I reached “a position of neutrality – safe and protected.” See, I had a mental obsession with drinking and drugging. Of course, stopping wouldn’t be a problem if I never started in the first place. My body processes alcohol and drugs differently than “a normie’s” body. See, I have the three-part disease of alcoholism and addiction. Before picking up a drink, I would use things like attention, controlling my weight, boys, and good grades to feel different. I’m a tried and true alcoholic and addict. My Experience with the 10th Step Promises It does not exist for us.” To experience that freedom firsthand, though? I can’t describe it. It’s easy to read, “…the problem has been removed. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.Īgain, like the ninth step promises, I didn’t know what those words meant until I experienced them. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality-safe and protected. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. For by this time sanity will have returned. We have to earn recovery!Īnd we have ceased fighting anything or anyone-even alcohol. We have to do the work! These promises don’t just magically happen in our lives. Of course, there’s a pretty big caveat here. They’re guaranteed to you, to me, and to the broken woman who just walked through the door. Sounds too goo to be true, right? Wrong! The tenth step promises are available for everyone who works for them. Much like the ninth step promises, the tenth step promises are a section of the Big Book where recovering alcoholics are promised peace and recovery from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. Written By: Fiona Stockard What are the 10th Step Promises?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |