Tradition 12 + Happy New Year

The traditions developed by the original 12 step programs kept groups, districts, areas and the world wide fellowships consistent and focused throughout the world.

Al-Anon's Paths To Recovery says: "In Al-Anon we learn how to live in a variety of relationships without losing ourselves or forcing our ideas on others. By including study of the traditions on our paths to recovery, we learn how to have healthier relationships than most of us have ever known."

Tradition 12 "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions ever reminding us to place principles above personalities"

-Anonymity is the foundation of 12 step recovery and identifies its members without status or last names. We are safe meeting places because we keep everything said, seen or expressed in a meeting, right there in the meeting. We do not share who attended or anything else about what went on in a meeting. The emotional condition of members is also protected by allowing members to share uninterrupted and without comment from the other group members. Everyone in a 12 step meeting is an equal

.

-Spiritually suggests humility and prayer are keys to the magic in this type of recovery program. It also reminds me that what I do anonymously will be seen only by God. Ego and arrogance have no part in this tradition of service.

-Principles before personalities suggests to me that accepting all input from a hired servant (someone the fellowship has voted into a position of service) is a spiritual experience and that who the messenger is, is really not important. Do not disqualify the info because It comes from someone I do not favour! For me, trusting God and being willing to live by principles rather than react to personalities around me is key to successful living. Another lesson has been this-if I immediately find something distasteful about someone, I am usually projecting a flaw of my own onto this person. I need to go ahead of my feelings and introduce myself to this person; he/she has much to teach me about me and may very well provide a shortcut to some recovery.

NEED ONE ON ONE HELP WITH YOUR TWO-WAY PRAYER FOCUS. YOU CAN GET ANSWERS TO YOUR PRAYERS AND GUIDANCE IN WORKING YOUR PROGRAM

A Means To an End

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

The last piece of commentary on STEP 12 from Life Recovery Bible program. In reference to 1 Peter 4: 1-4. "You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy-their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wicked parties...of course your former friends are very surprised when you no longer join them...etc" Our message won't be accepted by the masses. The people on the "highway to hell" won't eagerly restrict themselves to the clearly defined steps on the road to recovery. But for those who do listen, our story could be the difference between life and death for them.

AA's Back To Basics http://www.aabacktobasics.org/ final comments about the program:

"The Beginners Meetings are a means to an end. The end is a Spiritual awakening and a new way of living without alcohol. Divine guidance is the key that unlocks the door to this fourth dimension of existence.

"..cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have-the key to life and happiness for others."

The big book of AA Page 124, para. 2, lines 9-12. This AA guide is a book that embodies the original successful 12 step recovery program and we believe can be used equally well for any addiction or co-dependency (affected by contact or relationship with an addicted or ill individual)

Serenity Program P. 77 on Step 12:

"Healing our addictions or codependencies is not the goal of recovery. Rather, it is, the starting place. Certainly we have to cap our addictions and put them in balance or abstinence. But then begins the the real journey of spiritual growth. Can our lives be remade?"

Some of us find that the balance between a traditional 12 step recovery program and the study of biblical truth, go hand in hand, each enhancing the other and building the Spiritual significance of our lives to a point that neither the church nor our 12 step programs could do alone. We highly recommend this journey be taken this way with special attention always to two-way prayer as taught to the alcoholics of the 1940's where documented success rates of recovery reached 75% and beyond. See Back To Basics web address above.

WANT HELP OR ONE ON ONE GUIDANCE TO DESIGN THE PROGRAM FOR YOU?
CONTACT US ANYTIME!
SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Carrying the message

Carrying the message to youth is the most important thing for the future of all.

We hear of suicide in our youth but because suicide is kept from our news media, we have no idea how big the problem may be!

Well if every offspring of addiction has a 50% chance of becoming an addict of some sort, maybe we should get to them before they reach the hopeless stage. I have heard so many young people who had no one to identify their feelings with before they found 12 step recovery Many had attempted suicide and tried a variety of self-inflicting wounding such as cutting. These kids could survive when they found they were no longer alone in their pain. WE can do a lot where I may give up!!

Do whatever it takes to introduce all young people of addicts/alcoholics to programs that can save their lives. Our pride or stigma attached to addiction has little value compared to the lives of our youth. It is up to us!!

Alateen for example is part of Al-Anon (families and friends of alcoholics) and meets regularly to follow a 12 step program of recovery for kids from 11-20 years of age. http://alanon.alateen.on.ca/

IF YOUR KIDS ARE INTRODUCED IN YOUTH, THEY WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THERE IS HOPE SHOULD ADDICTION HIT THEM OR THEIR LOVED ONES. DON'T LET YOURS SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS

Step 12-reach out without anxiety

Our humility demonstrates our respect, reverence and I believe healthy fear for the God we know.

That awesome power
God commands keeps me knowing who I am in perspective and how far there is to go in simple life to be what I was made to be (whatever that may be).

It also helps me when I may be anxious about reaching out to someone in need. I know that as long as I go humbly without expectations and pray for the sense of God's presence in my life; my experience will be right as will that of the person I reach out to. This simple "pray before I go" makes all the difference for me. Without it I always wonder if the results are OK; with it I accept all results unconditionally and carry nothing from the experience into the future (no residual baggage).

So for me, prayer keeps my emotional condition at bay when I am doing the service I believe God has directed me to (in this case, reaching out to the hurting). Without prayer preparation, I take my baggage into the meeting/experience and with it, the bad vibes that make lies of any comforting words that may come from my mouth. Who I am at the moment of contact is of utmost importance to the recovery of the new fellow. His experience must be of a spiritual nature for the magic to begin. I must be well with my soul to make the maximum difference for this person and only God can give me that experience of wellness in this flawed
human condition.

Step 12 reminds me of the Spiritual nature that is now part of me and even so, to go not alone but as "we" STEP 12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Serenity's last step 12 meditation

The authors of "Serenity-A Companion For Twelve Step Recovery" site Proverbs 31:26-31
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+31%3A26-31&version=NIV
in the last meditation of the program. This talks of the perfect woman/wife/mother who with a healthy fear of the Lord is able to demonstrate such a noble character of balance and inner beauty to those around her, that being herself is the perfect witness to Spirituality. Being who she really is the attraction and her Program for life speaks for itself.

Having spent her life following her God, she simply is what spreading the word is all about. I marvel at the seeming simplicity and effortless nature of love. Words fail me here!

I quote two paragraphs from AA's big book referred to in the Back To Basics program www.aabacktobasics.com :

1-P 102 "Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed"

2-P 164 "Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the road of Happy Destiny"

So we do not do it alone and in prayer with God and our fellow 12 steppers we seek out those with similar situations (whatever our particular problem that we may have in common) and we demonstrate a willingness to be what is required to lead them into their own Spiritual path of recovery. "Lord show us who You have decided should be influenced by our presence and guide us to those damaged souls with Your strength and direction-Amen"

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Doing Step 12 with love

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

A trusted friend tells me what love is:

1-it is indiscriminate, it cannot choose such as the rose cannot choose who its scent is for, nor the lamp, whom its light should shine upon. This fellow says, as humans we must realize that no one sins or does wrong in awareness. This sin or wrong-doing can only happen out of illness. Therefore to blame is wasted effort. God's creature is good although its behaviour may be wrong. Love em all we are taught. Persons visiting the sick (addicted/mentally ill) or imprisoned know that their love for these damaged beings is useless when the crime/sickness is considered in any way.

2-see our our love for what it really is (selfishness-what do we do that is not really to make us feel better-be honest because only what we do beyond this can be even remotely LOVING). What do I do for emotional gratification and what/whose needs do I ignore as I avoid the sick who trigger discomfort in me? I must be careful here about motivation behind my boundary setting!

3-Love is unaware of itself and has no object as the rose and the light simply are. Effort to love, coercion, control and conflict exist in place of love; love dies as these come on the scene!

The same writer believes that love can only exist in freedom and that in essence freedom is another word for love!!

And so to come close to this person's ideals we need prayer for the strength of character to share our freedom and Spiritual growth with those in need. With absolutely no hope of personal gain whatsoever (emotional or otherwise) we take ourselves (wounds healing) to the needy and reach out. "Oh Lord, guide and direct us to those who need our stories to know a hope that will free him/her from the sense of doom! Give us words, actions, deeds, whatever it takes to start these poor souls on the road to love!"

Now out into the world alert and ready to share!

AA big book talking of Step 12 says "That's all there is to it. If you've made conscious contact with the God of your understanding and you have started listening to guidance, you have in fact, already had a Spiritual awakening. Congratulations you are now living in the sunlight of the Spirit!"

Others will see evidence of the Spiritual change in you but DON'T LOOK FOR IT!

12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)






Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers

1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.

2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.

4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.

5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.

6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.

7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.

8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.

9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.

10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.

11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.

12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Step 12-Sharing as Me

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

In pain we can once again express in innocence as the child. This is likely the only real sharing we can do because while in pain we are real and for a moment, not trying to be something other than what we naturally are. I think this is another gift of 12 step work; we share our experiences (pain and victories) from an undistorted perspective and truth triggers the magic or Spiritual wonder of the program into action. I like what Anthony de Mello says in his classic "The Way To Love" in the chapter entitled "Become Like Children". He says "the moment you choose to become like someone else however great or holy, you have prostituted your being". When we are sharing our burdens and reaching out in pain to another, we are not doing that and so our reality can emerge in child-like manner. Look into the eyes of the person in pain and you can see this innocence!





We can pray to to be guided to the hurting person who needs to hear something we have to share. "Oh Lord put the people I can share with in plain view and give me the words to sooth their souls and draw them to You through our 12 step work. May our experiences of pain be of value to our neighbours today! Amen!"

SHARE IT AND SAVE! IT IS WHY WE WORKED THROUGH 1-11. WE ARE READY AND SOMEONE IS WAITING NOW! DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS HURTING BAD; SHE/HE HAS THE SEED OF YOUR HEALTH AND YOU HOLD THE TOOLS OF A NEW BEGINNING AND HOPE FOR HIM/HER. WILL YOU REACH OUT?

Emotionally naked to save-Step 12

Back To Basics comments "sharing the recovery stories of how our lives have been transformed may become the key that opens the door of God's Love to a struggling friend"

Let's not keep them sick if our sharing can help and who will know unless we take the chance. The effort will heal us anyway; nothing to lose and a life may be gained! http://www.aabacktobasics.org/

Listening to God in two-way prayer and experience the symphony of life (all of it-wind, light, dark, distraction, smells, thoughts) any sense of anything is part of God's talking and answering and directing. Ask what each thing means and write write write!

Serenity 12 step program references 1 Timothy 1:12-16 http://davidleventhal.org/2009/08/03/1-timothy-112-16/ Paul says he was ignorant and unbelieving yet was shown mercy and graced with the faith and love that are in Jesus (author of the Christian faith where the original 12step philosophy finds its root). Even though he could previously hunt down and witness the death of Christians, now he had the same love as the One who gave His life for the Spiritual freedom of all who hated Him. And sharing this message with others is what spread the faith. So today, sharing changes in you is what will change lives and ensure the "the message is carried to others".

So your worst nightmare shared may save a life! SECRETS KILL!

Step 12 Paul says "whatever I am..not me but God's grace

A comment on Step 12 in reference to 1 Corinthians 15:10 from Serenity 12 step Program "having been ushered into a spiritual awakening, we are charged to radiate God's grace to those around us" and as Paul says God's grace was not in vain. To me this says simply that he worked it as best he could but that it was the supernatural strength given him that really did everything and that is why there were results(evidence). What a wonderful admission of POWERLESSNESS-the key and password to 12 step recovery.

I CANNOT DO IT ALONE and that is why I came to a Spiritual solution...The undertone is always the same-the answer is Spiritual and getting to that sense ASAP is ever a priority. Why Dr Bob (co-founder of AA) was able to achieve 50%-75% success rate in recovery was because he started with the Spiritual "are you willing to go to any lengths...then let's pray together...let's talk to god as we understand him/her it ...." If the answers were in me or you or Bob, then what are we doing looking at a tool that's obviously Spiritual in its every aspect???

WHY DO SO MANY WANT THE ANSWER TO BE UN-SPIRITUAL?

LEARN TWO WAY PRAYER FOR YOU AND THOSE YOU AFFECT SO THAT WE ALL HAVE A CHANCE AT SPIRITUALITY. CHECK OUT WWW.AABACKTOBASICS.ORG


SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

STEP 12-Spiritual Self-Discipline

Practising the principles of the other 11 steps may keep me spiritual enough to reach out in pain and make the difference in a life. If I don't work it (the program), on an ongoing basis, I will not have the emotional energy to reach out and the system of share and heal is interrupted until kick-started again-usually as a result of someone reaching my way or by the magic of a meeting. So it sounds to me as I share this concept, that the best way to stay in touch and in tune, is to practise step 10 (Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it) daily, to keep the program in my face. This way I will be ever-capable of practising the principles in all my affairs. The concept of this step, that is, the concept of CONTINUING to practise, may be the glue that keeps it all together as we work the program long term.

A commentator of step 12 in the Serenity Program makes the comment "because we go to God, we are free p

from other people's control and power over our lives. Now we can freely choose to do whatever it takes to share the message of God's love..." I believe that every time we share the pain of recovery, we are in fact sharing God's love with the listener(s) and thereby serving our God!

Are we free enough to be the healers God designed us to be, or are we tied so tightly to our self-centred problems that we are paralyzed. More prayer and remembering we cannot do it alone (people as well as God are required) is where I start. I must reach out because someone else has already reached the "I cannot reach out stage" and her/his recovery hinges on this Spiritual connection. Effort to reach out must be MONUMENTAL to save those who have temporarily crossed the line....

LEARN TWO-WAY PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL SURVIVAL (NOT ONLY YOURS, BUT OTHERS AS WELL). THIS CANNOT WAIT AS IT IS SURELY THE QUICKEST WAY TO FIND HOPE. MAYBE SOMEONE YOU KNOW WILL ONLY GET THIS HOPE IF YOU BRING IT TO THEM!!

WWW.AABACKTOBASICS.ORG INFO FOR ANYONE LOOKING TO RECOVER FROM ANYTHING NOT ONLY ALCOHOLISM

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)






Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers

1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.

2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.

4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.

5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.

6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.

7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.

8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.

9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.

10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.

11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.

12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Step 11 and into 12

11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.

12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

So in Step 11 we grew our relationship to God (a Power greater than ourselves) because we spent time focused on discussion with and then listening to this Power. We learned from references to the Back to Basics program http://www.aabacktobasics.org/ that our spiritual awakening has been happening all along and the we have had Help to take personal inventory and as a matter of fact, we have been receiving Spiritual help since we recognized in step 1 that we were powerless over our situation. We have tried to do daily inventories and set things straight immediately (or at least expressed ourselves somehow) as our emotional condition starting getting out of hand. Two way prayer, to varying degrees has started us on a path to Spiritual Freedom. The world and its ways will ever interfere but God's hand (a Power) in our lives is directing us more and more to the areas of life that matter (who we are, purpose, service, love, truth, faith, the moment, right relationship, RECOVERY) and away from those things that have us ever-comparing our worldliness to the less fortunate souls around us by demonstrating our power, property, prestige and lifestyle.

Now we take a somewhat more spiritually mature being (you or me) into the arena of life with a much greater purpose "to give away this Spirituality that we have been graced with, by finding those who suffer as we do and sharing our stories with them". God's magic (a Power greater than our self) will surely do the rest.

One of the Serenity Program 12 step commentators uses 1 Corinthians 15:10 in a sharing on step 12 where Paul says "But for the grace of God I am what I am..." Each and everyone one of us has a very special purpose and those of us in 12 step recovery have been blessed with a roadmap for sharing our recovery blessings with others.

"Lord please grant us the energy, sense of purpose and determination to seek out and share our common burdens and solutions with those who are still outside of recovery and may Your will be done in every life we touch. Amen!"

Its all about sharing now!!

Back To Basics

I personally owe a lot to the http://www.aabacktobasics.org/ program. The dedication of this man to bring RECOVERY back to what it was and CAN be again is remarkable. The following email just sent to Wally P earlier today, I felt was significant and worth posting:

A quick note of encouragement and thanks for your program. I am an Al-Anon member who has gone through the 4 sessions 3 times so far. We are especially interested in how we spread it outside the world of common addiction and more specifically for those affected in relationship (we all qualify) regardless the type of problem the significant other has or none. We certainly all qualify as members of the fallen race and we all certainly need recovery. Presently we are doing the last (session 4) with 11 participants. The two ladies leading are Al-Anon ladies, two others of us are from Al-Anon and the balance from AA. It is going wonderfully!

Personally Wally, my life is Recovery and I have tried in a way to do my part through the Sharing The Burden and associated blog. Please visit follow us and comment as you wish:
SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.cahttp://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
http://www.sharingtheburden.ca/

If you read through some of my sharings you will see that I refer often to your Back To Basics program. I sincerely hope some have found you through it!

I will end with this thought for now Wally, that you would ponder this idea. We have in many cases used the 2-way prayer format as suggested but have expanded it with even greater results by suggesting 2 people do it together as follows: one (the leader) writes the concern out and does the praying for the other (with the CONCERN). The only job for the person being prayed over is to listen, observe, be aware and to report all verbally. The leader records and during quiet times prays again asking specifically what the recordings mean in reference to the CONCERN. Now more listening, writing clarifying and so on and so on.... Wally the results are overwhelming!

Let's stay connected bro!

11=Spiritual Solutions For That Relationship

Using 2-way prayer in step 11 to solve relational problems while building that All-Important relationship to God. We will use the original 12 step prayer system taught in the 40's where Chaplain John E. Batterson writes:

RESULTS- We never know what swimming is like until we get down into the water and try. We will never what this is like until we sincerely try it.

Every person who has tried this honestly finds that a wisdom, not their own comes into their minds and that a Power greater than human power begins to operate in their lives. It is an endless adventure.

There is a way of life for everyone, everywhere. Anyone can be in touch with the Living God, anywhere, anytime, if we fulfill His conditions:
When man listens God speaks,
When man obeys, God acts.

How to listen:
Take Time-quiet and undisturbed
2-Relax, there is no hurry
3-Tune In-Open your heart to God-"Lord God what is Your plan for my life today, please help me with my problem of_____________!"
4-Be still, in awareness of your thoughts impressions, sensations, anything and everything that is happening.
5-Write-this is the key. Write absolutely everything, I hear this....just saw mom's picture....what a great smell...I am feeling sick or nauseous...I am thinking of when i used to play... etc etc Record it all and go back to God from time to time and ask how these things are answers to this or that
6-Test the thoughts you feel are indicative of action before taking the action. Are they honest pure unselfish and loving. Any doubt here requires further prayer and possibly the help of another 2-way prayer walker
7-Obey, take the action. Step out for God who cannot steer your boat if it's not moving!

BE PATIENT AND WHEN FRUSTRATED LEAVE IT FOR A BIT AND COME BACK. KEEP CLOSE TO WHATEVER HELPS YOU FEEL SPIRITUAL WHILE IN 2-WAY PRAYER. I DO IT WITH AN OPEN BIBLE WITHIN REACH AT ALL TIMES. FOR ME THE REPRESENTATION OF GOD'S WORD REINFORCES MY FAITH.
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

What does STB and Scott do?

A friend asked recently what exactly I did with Sharing The Burden. This person was trying to expand my horizons and wanted some guidelines. I answered her as follows (this may or may not be of interest, but don't worry we still have a few more days to work step 11, so keep coming back):

Sharing The Burden and I provide Spiritual solutions to earthly problems;
-main focus is the 12 step solution based on the original format where AA achieved a 75% documented success for alcoholics.
-Sharing The Burden introduces 12 step recovery to anyone who feels her/his life may be improved by a Spiritual Solution. The Focus to date has been people affected by relationships (often involving such things as addiction, emotional/mental illness, criminal activity-generally families or friends of these damaged people)
-the proven tool of 2-way prayer very quickly demonstrates to those who would follow our simple path, that there are accessible answers and yes Spiritual answers received through the simple prayer process
-we can help setup 12 step meetings for churches, corporations, educational and correctional institutions.
-being completely up front about our 12 step Spiritual solutions and not claiming to be professional therapists of any kind, we neither qualify for any type coverage such as OHIP nor would insurance solutions be a way of compensation. We therefore must charge for our time in setting up programs (rates avail upon request) and for one on one (families and groups included) introduction and 12 step counselling (charges avail upon request). This generally would last for up to 6 visits when we would recommend that that our candidate go to an established 12 step program appropriate to his/her situation. These programs do not have fees and traditionally manage through their own voluntary contributions. We believe that 12 step meetings should always be self sufficient this way and that no one should ever feel she/he must pay for a meeting. No shame or guilt whatsoever should ever be attached to some one's ability or decision to contribute or not and in whatever amount. Original 12 steppers learned in a hurry that money could never be any part of the motivation for this type of recovery; they knew the Spiritual values would be diminished or lost all together if such as the worldly values of property, power and prestige were allowed in any way to come into the program. All are equal in 12 step recovery and must know it in order to share well!
-some may prefer a one on one type of personal counselling involving 12 step recovery. They are always welcome but would be asked to pay (fees avail upon request).

- http://www.sharingtheburden.ca/ has info that may be of value-see power point and brochure

- http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/ is used by Scott to share his personal working of the 12 step program month by month working specifically and in depth, the step corresponding to the month (Step 12 would be worked during 12th month or December etc). This is a great way for someone to familiarize herself/himself with my direction in this area.

Hope this of value to you in your efforts to recover!

Have you done step 11

Let's do test using back to basics www.aabacktobasics.com references:

Did we have our quiet times?

Did we pray for specific guidance for our lives?

Did we write out thoughts and experiences as they came to us?

Did we take each thought and test it for self-will? Was it unselfish, honest pure and loving. If not let's talk to another 2-way prayer person and possibly pray together for clarity wherever needed.

Did we go the distance in our prayer efforts-praying sometimes about issues we are afraid to approach in case the answer is the one we do not want?

DID WE SIMPLY DECIDE THAT THIS FORM OF PRAYER WOULD WORK FOR US AS IT HAS FOR THE THOUSANDS WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US?

Are we starting to feel that God has it all under control and that no little nook, secret or difficulty that has, is, or will happen, escapes God's omnipotence and ever-present nature. God knows and is always there!

Conscious contact with the God of all is there for the taking. Will you take it?

These dogs I love so much have shown me a love that I want to offer my God. I fall so short but I see it clearly and can move toward it as I am cleaned and corrected and lifted so many times.

"Oh Lord Your presence is enough no matter how I feel it!"

STEP 11 SOUGHT THROUGH PRAYER AND MEDITATION TO IMPROVE OUR CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH THE POWER (GOD) AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM/HER, PRAYING ONLY FOR KNOWLEDGE OF HIS/HER WILL FOR US AND THE POWER TO CARRY THAT OUT

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Congrats to those who have completed the step and sense a more profound Spiritual connection. If you'll share your experiences NOW, you may get to keep the rewards and you may save someone's very life!! Thanks for your courage in approaching the awesomeness of God! May you farewell and continue to grow on the ONLY journey that counts forever!

Preparing for a Step 11 day

Back To Basics www.aabacktobasics.com again (referencing AA's big book and What is The Oxford Group-an anonymously written text, 1933, where much of the information for the writing of this step 11 came from originally)

Text Suggestions:

Before retiring we review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?

On awakening let's consider the 24 hours ahead....Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.

Again we see the sequence being taught, pray and then listen and NOW WRITE WRITE WRITE. The Oxford Group said do this so that we may record every God-given thought and idea that comes during our time alone with Him, that no detail, however small, may be lost to us and that we may not shirk the truth about ourselves or any problem, when it comes to us. As always we test our thoughts to ensure they are not our will-are they unselfish honest pure and loving. If not do not act upon them!

THESE PIONEERS SHOW US AGAIN AND AGAIN THAT PRAYER WORKS:

"OH LORD HELP US TO PRAY, TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU AND BUILD OUR REALITY OF YOUR EXISTENCE IN OUR LIVES. MAY WE SEE YOUR WILL FOR EACH OF US TODAY AND MAY WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO SHARE IT THAT AN OTHER'S LOAD BE LESSENED-AMEN!"

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

ARRANGE TO TAKE THE 12 STEPS TO FREEDOM WITH US!

12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)





Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers

1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.

2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.

4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.

5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.

6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.

7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.

8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.

9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.

10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.

11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.

12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Profound 11 CREATES 2-WAY PRAYER SCENE

Al-Anon's "Paths To Recovery" asks this question under "Working Step Eleven":
What do I need to have the power to carry out God's Will for me? Have I asked God for that power?

ANSWER ALWAYS BEGINS, I BELIEVE, WITH PRAYER:
"Lord how can I do this thing?"

THEN WRITE WRITE WRITE ANY ALL THOUGHTS AND QUESTION GOD
"Lord I asked You how to do this and all I can think of is the loud sound of birds singing in my yard, what does this mean?"

THEN WRITE WRITE WRITE AND QUESTION
"Lord now I am envisioning my mom many years ago singing by the fireplace. Does mom have something to do with the answer to the power I need to do this?"

And so on and so on!

Trying this honestly and without pressures or coercion always leads to answers. If we can get a co-walker (prayerful 12 stepper hungry for God's Spiritual answers to problems) and exchange the favour of praying for his/her issue and writing out her/his thoughts as they are received, we find that the Power is more profound and answers often come to one or both participants. Seems too simple huh? Well scripture repeatedly calls us to be as little children. The complexities were never a route God recommended. We are the great designers of those!

The original 12 steppers of AA seemed to say if you are ready let's go. Meet, pray and reach out, meet, pray and reach out. Nothing selfish whatever! Let's do what works and God will do the rest as we are obedient to this simple philosophy. This is the Spiritual art of taking care of ourselves. Let it Begin With Me was certainly aimed at the hand out to lift another wouldn't you think?

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Prayer Help

The more we work with 2-way prayer, especially the partnering version where one prays for the other's issue while the person with the issue simply waits and verbalizes every sensation. The praying party writes down every sensation/thought/experience as it happens and then pursues the meaning in prayer eg "Lord Mary has asked for Spiritual direction regarding her relationship with Harry and now she is experiencing a shortness of breath, please make clear the meaning of this!" And the session would go on in similar fashion for a time until one or other feels answers are clear and it's time for discussion; or there may be a lull and a break is needed.

It always amazes me how accurate the answers are and how so much can be understood by simply being aware of what's going on around-listening to the symphony of life by being part of it-absolute effortlessness in action. My sense is that God speaks loud and clear to anyone who is aware of the symphony. It is as though pure awareness is Godly somehow!

The Back To Basics program http://www.aabacktobasics.com/ writes toward the back of the text on the Subject of How To Listen To God; EVERY PERSON WHO HAS TRIED THIS HONESTLY FINDS THAT A WISDOM, NOT THEIR OWN COMES INTO THEIR MINDS AND THAT POWER GREATER THAN HUMAN POWER BEGINS TO OPERATE IN THEIR LIVES. IT IS AN ENDLESS ADVENTURE. It has been my experience many many times! Remember that this is the system that achieved an 75% success rate for recovering alcoholics in the 1940's. A few years earlier they were considered lost causes and were often committed to institutions or left to die of the devastating disease!

Need help on any of this:

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
http://www.sharingtheburden.ca/

More step 11 work

Step 11 Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.

Connecting with our understanding of God-let's do some more of it. Referring to the Back To Basics program http://www.aabacktobasics.com/ we find direction the original 12 steppers (members of AA) used to live out this step 11 day by day.

1-Ask for God's direction for our thinking today: "Lord please direct my thinking today so that it is honest, pure, unselfish and loving. Please divorce my thinking from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives!"

It stands to reason then, that as part of a quiet time with our God, thoughts that now come to us should be from God. WE WRITE OUT ALL THOUGHTS WE RECEIVE AND THEN WE TEST THEM ONE BY ONE as usual and if they are dishonest, selfish, resentful or fearful, we know that our will has gotten into the picture and these thoughts are not from God. Discussion with trusted, praying, persons is probably in order, especially if any decisions need be made regarding content of the prayers. I personally use the scriptural teaching "if in doubt-don't" and back off the issue for the moment!

2-Speaking to our God many times throughout the day, we think the thought, or utter the words "Thy will be done". This recognition of God's Power often creates a humble mood in me and I am comfortable to wait as required and focus once again on the eternal moment (NOW) remembering that in and of itself, the moment is always endurable. It will always be NOW, THEREFORE I CAN MAKE IT!

You may notice-the power in Sharing with like-minded people-is a huge key throughout the 12 step philosophy. It is really the focal message of Sharing The Burden and the basis for the idea that all can benefit and certainly qualify to improve her/his lifestyle by working the 12 steps toward Spiritual freedom.

Secrets-kept or emotion-unexpressed, actually any form of unshared-problem; these all have tremendous power to damage us Spiritually, emotionally, and even physically. Note the tremendous loss of power that any of these (addictions included) experienced as we SHARED them. We took the step to admit to someone our sense of powerlessness over something and instantly it lost so much power over us. SO KEEP YOUR BURDEN TO YOURSELF AND WATCH IT GROW IN POWER OR SHARE IT AND WATCH IT WEAKEN INSTANTLY!

...

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
http://www.sharingtheburden.ca/

Let's do it! REAL STEP 11 WORK!

..Sought (hungered), we cry out to You, and we listen, Spiritually free in the moment and from the depths a speck and then a thought is formed, an answer to some prayer. Is this from You Lord?

Test the thought FOR ITS ORIGIN, like the original 12 steppers did:

Is the thought PURE (no resentments involved)?

Is the thought honest (based on truth+trust)?

Is the thought unselfish (motive is not to make me feel better)?

Is the thought loving (no fear involved)?

If we answered YES to these four questions our answer is within God's will. If the opposite is true for any one of them, my will has come into play; I will call another stepper on the same faith path as me-someone who uses two-way prayer regularly in his/her life and I will ask this person for specific prayer support and possibly discussion time. Perhaps I will set a time and pray together with this person for clear guidance from God and we will take paper and pencil and write our way to a Spiritual solution. BELIEVE ME THIS WORKS!!

NEED HELP WITH THIS FORM OF PRAYER; GET HOLD OF US:

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Detach to Life...Let Go and Let God..

Sought through prayer and meditation: what is this to us?

Simply a relationship builder I believe, prayer being the Spiritual talk used to get used to being in communication with God and meditation being Spiritual relaxation.

PRAYER: "Here I am Lord, please help me to do this step 11 and gain a real sense of Your presence in my life!"

MEDITATION (Scott's version): The effortless task of letting go and letting God, an art of being, NOT DOING anything. Effortlessness similar to the accepting of powerlessness in our first step is something so simple yet so difficult to fit into a world that talks only LIFESTYLE, DO, COLLECT, LOOK LIKE, CLING TO, CONTROL, WIN, POWER, WEALTH, HOW-TO, EDUCATE, INDOCTRINATE, ACT etc etc etc. Where does let go come in?

Well it all comes back to being in the moment; so how to get there when we are taught to do do do until we drop? BUSYISM is the real enemy, that never ending "getting-through-to-the-next-thing-sickness" that has us clinging to the two things we have absolutely no say about-yesterday (is gone) and tomorrow (unknown).

To de-program we must de-tach firstly by recognizing the fruitlessness of our behaviour. There is tremendous power in the simple seeing of this (changed my efforts dramatically anyway). So, a little rest from the madness, some spiritual emotional relief OK?

This is what I do. Non-judgementally I simply sit comfortably (preferably as not to fall asleep too easily) and breath easy,eyes closed with an easy attention to where I am bodily at the moment. Can I feel my feet against my socks , the hair on my neck, my jeans as they fold behind my knees, the shirt collar touching my neck, can I experience my fingers one one by one by just thinking about them. These easy-effort-directors bring me to the NOW. From here, I exist only, drawing myself back to the simple bodily recognition type exercises mentioned above, whenever I drift off into a thought and find myself dwelling. I do this type of meditation for about 20 min-30 min per day. Remember if you try this and find that the thoughts just keep coming, they are not destroying the efforts of your meditation! You are not trying to get to some wonderful place in your head, although at times the bliss happens EFFORTLESSLY. The movement-through, of all the thoughts is really positive, congestion is eliminated and realize it or not, we are better off for the time taken just to allow these thoughts to do their thing in us without us doing anything with them. There is no bad meditation in that sense! We are actually being present with, where we are, without effort-almost a miracle today.

So the NON-ACTION way to relaxing emotionally/spiritually requires some directing because we are programmed to never stop thinking. Learning to leave everything alone (true detachment) and BE a part of life's symphony is a task today. Detaching from people, places and things is an art that allows one to have, in the truest, most complete way, the very people, places and things we cling to. We cannot love what we cling to, we can only allow them to CONTROL us as we try to control them.

So freedom to love rests in "letting go" on every level. As the "attached-lifestyle" loses its grip and we pear out from our bondage (flaws, defects of character, attachments), there is room for God to come in and the meditation pays spiritual dividends.

The relief of seeing, becoming aware and letting go is wonderfully exhilarating. The unburdening process as God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, is overwhelming to me and words don't work to describe the sense of it!

KEY-meditation happens as we let go

MEDITATION is effortless and needs only reminder-tools to redirect us as we stray

FREEDOM is, as we let go

LOVE is, as we let go

The whole subject reminds of what I have heard so many times at open AA Meetings (open to the public) as recovering alcoholics express how they can only keep the benefits of the program as they give them away. In other words, as we reach out in our woundedness to the hurting, we are rewarded with the very love and healing that we offer to the new member. We get to keep what scripture calls agape love-that which wants nothing in return, non-clinging unconditional love.

We learn in programs dealing with co-dependant issues, to detach with love from the person we would control (the person whose behaviour introduced us to recovery). a subject for future..

scott@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
http://www.sharingtheburden.ca/

step 11

"WILL YOU CONTINUE TO TAKE PERSONAL INVENTORY AND TO SET RIGHT ANY NEW MISTAKES AS YOU GO ALONG?"

If you answered yes to this question you have completed step 10 and are now ready for step 11 per http://www.aabacktobasics.com/

Step 11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.

Serenity program comments about step 11.."we will probably reach a level, though, at which we hunger for an even deeper contact and communication with God" This is what I think the key is, because, in my own life it was only when I really hungered for knowledge of the mysticism and depth of God and the whole Spiritual dimension, that I seemed to experience God in many parts of my life, especially in areas concerning nature, prayer, worship and my efforts to STAY IN THE MOMENT.

-So has taking 10 steps built in you the hunger to know your God with such intensity that all else will surely pale and seem as "very small"?

-Can your focus be this God-relationship most of the time rather than yourself, your pleasures, your feelings, relationships, power, property and prestige?

-Who can honestly make this decision NOW?

-Then ask God like this: "God will You make the difference and give me the strength of character to truly put You before all things in my life?"

-Do you want this to be true?

These questions/thoughts always bring me face to face with the truth of me and my nature and ever remind me of the utmost importance of my walk with God using the 12 steps! I know I must not slack off if this work in progress (me), is to be available and valuable in any way to God and His creatures!

scott@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Who is responsible?

Winding up 10th step work for the month (not stopping to use it regularly though) and glancing through a text called "Paths To Recovery, Al-Anon's Steps, Traditions and Concepts". At the end of the 10th step section there is a number of questions used to help steppers dig a little deeper into their working of the step. This one caught my eye today-"How did I take on anyone else's responsibility today?" I thought of some more questions I need to ask myself before action involving others eg
-have I repeated anything more than once to anyone of legal age and sound mind?
-did I offer advice/suggestions to anyone who did not ask me for it?
-did I pray today rather than step in and give my two cents worth?
-did I at least pray for help before I opened my mouth?
-did I speak to anyone while I felt emotional?
-did I take a moment today to see where I was that I might remember to stay in the moment?
-did I often say to myself Scott are you doing what you are doing just for the sake of doing it rather than to get to the next thing?
-did I focus on anyone in particular and what was my motivation?

"Please Lord, guide us to take inventory of our moments that we may move into the next step of our walk with confidence as we learn to practise prayer and meditation to improve our contact with You!" Amen

CONGRATS AND ONTO STEP 11

The Honour of Service

We often speak of service and its value in recovery. We learn from the earliest 12 step co-founder Dr Bob, that only in reaching out in a wounded state could an addicted person truly gain fast and complete recovery. Personally I find this true for all 12 step recovery and when it is my turn to report and I am able to comply, the rewards are immeasurable.

Another 12 stepper and I went into a detention centre a couple hours ago as part of our service commitment to a particular fellowship we both belong to. Our job as usual was to solicit inmates at their ranges to come out into an inactive larger cell with us and have a 12 step meeting. Tonight 4 fellows from 2 different ranges joined us for a meeting. All 6 of us, I believe anyway, felt a little sluggish and not particularly motivated for this meeting of folks from a variety of backgrounds, a couple of whom indicated they would be inside very likely for a longtime.

Well we did our usual intro to our specific 12 step program, shared on some common slogans and went onto a topic that in reality amounted to "where am I in life and how did I get here; and there is hope" One can imagine how it could have gone!

My point is simple-50 minutes later there were 6 lifted people who had shared intimately and were united on a Spiritual level that could only have come about so quickly within the confines of the 12 step philosophy. We truly shared our burdens from the heart and we left changed people with hope for whatever was to come. The privilege to serve pays dividends beyond words and material and I thank my God for the honour of my small part!

A special thank you to my partner tonight. You know who you are-Thanks F!
Scott@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Prep for Step 11

Nine steps and the recap step 10 all leading to the all important step of Spiritual Relationship building through prayer and meditation-Step 11

I used to think that I was always doing Step 11 because I wanted the Spiritual aspects of everything so powerfully NOW. I see clearly now that I was lacking some of the humility that steps 4 thru 9 teach so well. As a result I was usually fogged with issues that were playing currently into all that went on in my mind. This dictated partly anyway how I was going to be affected emotionally by life as it would happen to me. Step 10 would have kept the issues outside of me by instantly expressing and later resolving , had I been doing it regularly. My lesson:regularly and systematically taking the 12 steps, while keeping current with Step 10 is the best way for me to be valuable and available to both God and my fellows. With steady hard work we can stop the loading of baggage and begin the process of unloading that which we took a lifetime to accumulate.

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

TAKE THE 12 STEPS TO FREEDOM:

12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)





Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers

1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.

2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.

4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.

5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.

6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.

7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.

8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.

9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.

10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.

11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.

12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

12 Step Format Review-Sharing The Burden

Step 10-Do It Now-Keep the emotion outside of us by expressing it immediately and resolving the core issues when CALM is in place!

Thought it time to recap what we are doing on this blog.

First of all, we believe that the 12 step philosophy is beneficial to everyone and that qualification can sometimes be a stumbling block, preventing the needy from getting the Spiritual help that may be her/his only answer.

We especially focus on the following question and answer: question-"Does It Feel Like Someone Else's Behaviour Is Draining You Of Life?" and answer-"Take The 12 Steps To Freedom! Heal Grow And recover!"

-Each month we take the step that corresponds with the month eg Oct is 10th month therefore Step 10.

-We bring sharing experiences picked up at various 12 step meetings and simply discuss in general (always protecting the basis of all 12 step recovery namely ANONYMITY) how those experiences affect us emotionally.

-At least once a month we discuss a Tradition (Traditions were designed by the original 12 step programs AA and Al-Anon to help groups interact, grow and maintain some consistency all around the globe). Many of us find that at some point the traditions teach us as much as the steps to recovery, especially where relationships are concerned. They provide a simple framework (not rules) under which the fellowship, its areas, groups and individuals can get along and welcome the Spiritual help that the program can and does provide to those of us who work it.

We refer to several areas for reference and help:

http://www.aabacktobasics.com/

Serenity a Companion For Twelve Step Recovery by Robert Hemfelt+Richard Fowler

The Bible

Al-Anon http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/

Alcoholics Anonymous http://www.aa.org/

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
http://www.sharingtheburden.ca/

-

10 in my FACE

How to keep Step 10 upfront!

I have received so much this month from step 10 exploration that I really want to make sure I have something in place that will keep me working at it day to day. I want to be current in my development and present to the moment as much as is possible!

-Reminder on the Google Calendar can be set up to send me an email daily at a redetermined time to remind me to LOOK AT ME.
-I will keep blank copies of the Back To Basics Step 10 worksheets in my briefcase and around the house.
-I will ask myself each day before bed-today was I HONEST, PURE, UNSELFISH and LOVING in all my affairs and did I get emotional about anything? The answers to these will provide clues to required action.

Most importantly I will pray "Thank You Lord for the growth from step 10 work this month! Please guide me to take the steps to remain current in life by doing this 10th step as often as possible."

www.aabacktobasics.com
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)





Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers

1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.

2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.

4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.

5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.

6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.

7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.

8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.

9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.

10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.

11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.

12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Thank You for my presence! STEP 10

My presence-how much attention do I pay to it?

Step 10-continuing to look at me and repairing as I go astray-the secret being DO IT NOW!

Walking this morning, purposefully paying attention to everything (staying in the NOW), was so rewarding.

Fall colours and a late display of violet, red and rose in the wild shrubbery of late summer brought me spiritually and emotionally to my knees. What an awesome display of God's glory and all in the moment.

Often times I would rush this morning walk to get to the so-called productive part of the day-you know business items and commercial growth. Well the fact is that I can have this wonder in every moment that I stay in. This symphony of life cannot be boring or wasted or unprofitable! And NOW is eternal, there never IS a yesterday or a tomorrow, they always WERE or WILL BE. Energy is only required to try to escape the moment which is IMPOSSIBLE. Sheer foolishnesss, this effort to escape life's NOW in favour of a comparison to yesterday or a contrivance for tomorrow that can never be. IT IS ALWAYS NOW SO I WILL STAY HERE TO MY UTMOST FOREVER!

So only this moment exists and I will make it as comfortable as possible by being current in all my affairs. Live my life and amend as I go.

Slow down, see, breath and actually experience-this is it!! Stay awake, the blessing is HERE NOW. Step 10 is my conscience for all this. I believe to the degree I stay current in my life by working step 10; to that degree I can live in the moment.

Where are you right now??

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
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www.SharingTheBurden.ca

How long does the perfect moment last?

Well that's the only kind of moment the Lord made so does it matter?

Much more stuff for later-scripture references and anniversary speaker revealings......later!
Heading for a meeting NOW

Step 10 CRUCIAL for our kids

I attended a conference on the weekend for young people affected by abusive drinking (NOT THEIR OWN DRINKING)-kids from 11-20 years old-usually growing up with problem drinkers for parents.

These young people spoke with HOPE and were there to tell there stories. My message here is that many teens will never be exposed and saved from destruction (suicide) unless we who have survived can get to them and tell them our stories of survival. This is what the 12 steps can do and it is often the last chance for these kids. They have been through all kinds of therapy and in many cases had given up. WHO, UNLESS HE/SHE HAD BEEN THERE AND SURVIVED COULD SAY ANYTHING, AT THIS POINT, TO PROVIDE HOPE. This is what 12 step recovery is all about. If anyone anywhere knows of young people in this situation, please don't walk away-you may be the last hope!! DO IT NOW is my step 10 theme for this 10th Month of 2009. DO IT NOW and help Share The Burden that many of our youth will miss if they do not find the Spiritual Hope that the 12 steps can provide. If you have friends family, anyone you know who is involved with any kind of recovery, please get this message to them. THE 12 steps can help these kids and we can direct them on the path...

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca

http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/

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