Steps to the Spirit

Send us Fan Mail So, this episode will be about the last part of step nine. As a refresher, number nine is: I made direct amends to such persons wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. This episode is about the last part of step nine (the underlined part).  This part of the step can either work for us or against us. It is the ideal, perfect place for our rationalizatio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I will speak about the first part of step number nine: I made direct amends to such persons wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Now that I’ve made my list, I’m ready to start actually going through the list and seeking out those people to whom I have to make amends. Some of them, maybe even most of them will be relatively easy to fi...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, I will be finishing up on the 8th step. The 8th step is, “I made a list of all persons I is harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.” The last portion, the one I will be discussing today, is, “became willing to make amends to them all.” This part of the step I always kind of, took for granted is, “Well, sure, of course I’m going to make amends to t...

Send us Fan Mail Here we are at the second part of step number eight. The words I would like to talk about our, “and became willing to make amends to them all”. I know that it can be much easier to sit and write a list of all those persons. I know because I did it. Writing the list was easy compared to becoming willing to make amends to everyone on that list.   But this really means is that we try...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s begin by saying what step eight is: I made a list of all persons I had harmed and became willing to make complete amends to them all.   Now, don’t forget that these are the original 12 steps from the first edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous not to mention that I’ve written them in the first person because that is easier for me to work with.   I remember when I first re...

Send us Fan Mail the 12-step program, and yet I wasn’t participating at all. Sure I worded the s I did all of the actions that seem to be required of me teps and for anyone who was looking, (and I thought everyone was looking), I did all of the actions that made me look good if not feel-good about myself. This time, I have looked deeply into the original 12 steps and let the reasons doing each and...

Send us Fan Mail So , my friends, the six step has always been a little bit weird for me. Once again, it says that I was entirely ready to have God remove always defects character. Let me tell you now, that when I finally was honest enough to do the steps in earnest, I was not, in any way shape or form, entirely ready . I had everything that this program has to offer, on my side. I knew I could ma...

Send us Fan Mail Step number six is the step I am talking about in this episode. Number six is: “I was entirely ready to have God remove all of these defects of character.” So, some of you may have read my book entitled, Gifts From God , and the gift that I associated this step is the gift of readiness . As you know by now, all of the steps to discuss here are from the first edition of the book, A...

Send us Fan Mail This is the last episode motel talk about step number five. Again, to remind you, this step is: admitted to God to myself and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs . For many of us, the fourth step is the place for us to really examine our life so far especially those things where we feel like we have not followed the direction that we might have been given by God....

Send us Fan Mail So now we are going to talk about the next part of this fifth step. Again, to remind you, this step is: admitted to God to myself and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs. In this episode we will be talking about that “other human being”. I believe that the most important part of this step is the preparation that we do before doing this part of the step. I cannot e...

Send us Fan Mail For part four of the discussion of step five, I would like to speak about admitting the exact nature of our wrongs to ourselves . Once again, I recall asking myself why this was necessary. After all, did not just do ¼ step that went over all of the gory details that I thought were appropriate and/or necessary to include in that writing. When I had finally decided to be honest, (or...

Send us Fan Mail In this third part of the topic of step number five, I would like to speak about how I admit to God the exact nature of my wrongs. On first blush, my thought was, “this is crazy, God already knows everything about what I’ve been what I am and what I’m going to be. Why do I need to tell him what he already knows?”. Well, I believe that the above question is correct. I truly do beli...

Send us Fan Mail To begin, I would like to make a short detour in order to mention the first words of this step”, admitted”. In Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), "admitted" means to confess, recognize, and accept the reality of one’s alcoholism, powerlessness over alcohol, and the unmanageability of life. It is the foundation of Step One, moving from denial to acknowledging facts, and in Step F...

Send us Fan Mail Step number five is the second step of our action steps. I have to admit that the first few times that I did step four, I did it with the expectation of doing step number five. In other words step five was kind of hanging over me as I thought of which of the things I had done that I was willing to tell someone else about. When I finally reached the end of my rope, it became import...

Send us Fan Mail So here we are at the ( sometimes dreaded) fourth step. Once again, please allow me to remind you of what the fourth step is: I made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself . I have italicized what I consider to be the most important words in this fourth step. I know I’ve spoken about the word fearless, both when I have discussed the steps in the past, as well as last w...

Send us Fan Mail I would like to start by reminding you of a couple of things. First, I am telling you about working the steps from the points of view that I believe is the way the original program was meant to be. That original program, and the 12 steps were designed as a way of life that works with God, (as we, individually, understand God). You will find that this spiritual program depends, qui...

Send us Fan Mail In our last podcast I ended with speaking about duality and how it is now considered to be passé in both sciences and philosophy. I truly do not understand how educated people can look at our makeup and decide that we are ultimately of one substance. The so-called hard problem of what our consciousness is or where he came from, still exists. Many scientists and philosophers seem t...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s imagine for a moment, leaving the place that we live in the morning, soon after having breakfast. Our breakfast may have been cornflakes, a bowl of grits, French toast, or what we could call the “Full Monty” of bacon and sausage eggs and home fries. What we decided to have for breakfast wasn’t what I would consider something that would need our consultation with our Spirit....

Send us Fan Mail As a reminder, the third step is: (my version) I made its decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand God For me, this is arguably the most important step in this program. From a purely psychological aspect, one could argue that the first step, fourth step, eighth and ninth steps, and the twelfth step, hold equal importance as far as getting our b...

Send us Fan Mail In this second part of step two, I want to talk about a crucial ingredient that was necessary for me to be successful with this 12 step program. Last episode I spoke about our individual belief in either a higher power (God) or the police in the possibility of the existence of a higher power. Now that I think of it, it may have been better for me to talk about second part of step...

Send us Fan Mail This episode begin to our look at the second step of the 12 step program. To refresh your memory the second step is: I came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity. When I was first dubbing around you with the 12 step program, I pretty much skipped over the second step. I believe I was like many of us who found ourselves in the grips of whatever life...

Send us Fan Mail So in step one I personally admitted, finally , that I could not handle alcohol. Alcohol was the substance that I found I could use to escape life and basically, escape myself. That is what I really hated so much I hated me. I did not want to be close to anyone nor did I want anyone to know who I really was. I’m not even sure that I knew who I really was back then. The second part...

Send us Fan Mail Step one can be thought of in three ways. With me remind you that my version of step one is as follows: “We I admitted we were I am powerless over alcohol everything, that our lives my life has become unmanageable.” I have indicated the original words and cross them out. My new version is indicated in red. All of the versions of the steps that are used are from the first edition o...

Send us Fan Mail So, last time I started to touch on the Oxford Groups influence on the  beginnings of the 12-step program, or more accurately, Bill Wilson. Bill already had the foundations for the 12 step program etched into his mind from the Oxford Group. However, in 1935 he had the luck to encounter Dr. Bob. Bill was feeling a little bit shaky in his sobriety and thought it may be helpful to sh...

Send us Fan Mail This episode, and possibly the next I am dedicating to the formation of the 12 step program. If any of you have been listening to this podcast for a while, then you will know how much importance I put on the Oxford Group. I would go so far as to say that every one of the steps in the 12 step program has, in some way, I direct connection to the substance of the Oxford Group. Bill W...