Steps to the Spirit

Send us Fan Mail Well, my friends, we are almost halfway through describing these 12 steps as I recall “I” worked through the. The sixth step is the third in what we call the action steps. As a reminder, the sixth step is: I was entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character . In this podcast, I will talk about how I became and how I knew I was entirely ready. Actually, in retros...

Send us Fan Mail The second part of step six has a couple of keywords that I really paid attention to as I was doing the step. Those keywords are  God and all . As a result of the first three steps, I learn and feel that my spirit is perfect. I learned this through the love of God which truly manifested itself in my life as a result of my surrender. My goal now was to conform my humanity to my Spi...

Send us Fan Mail I would say that step number seven was yet another turning point in my 12-step program. As a reminder, step number seven, (from the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, and as slightly edited by me), is: “I humbly, on my knees, asked Him to remove my shortcomings, holding nothing back.”  In step number six I took a hard look at all of the shortcomings that I had, (and for some,...

Send us Fan Mail Well, the holidays are over and I am trying to get back to a normal routine. As promised, I am going to finish up on step number five. This will be part five, and I would like to speak about some of the rewards I felt after doing the fifth step. As I’m sure you will recall, in this examination of the steps, I am trying to relate what it was like for me as I did each step. As a rem...

Send us Fan Mail Once again, I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season and that you will have a safe, and spiritually prosperous new year. I will continue on step number five, part five, which will be about the possible rewards of doing step number five.

Send us Fan Mail I’ll just say here that I hope you have a happy, joyful, and safe holiday season! Please enjoy my Christmas message.

Send us Fan Mail So, my friends, in this episode I will be speaking about what many people refer to as the actual fifth step. As a reminder, the fifth step is, I admitted to God, to myself, and another human being, the exact nature of my wrongs . Of course, of the 12 steps in this podcast I use my version. I use the original version of the 12 steps from the first edition of the book Alcoholics Ano...

Send us Fan Mail So, in part three of the fifth step I want to talk about the second entity that is mentioned in the step. Who or what is this entity that we need to confide in. Well, it’s an entity that we have not found ourselves (usually) in which to willingly confide  in the past. It always seemed to me, when I looked in the mirror, that this was the last person in the world that I wanted to b...

Send us Fan Mail So, what I would like to do in this episode, is to speak a little about the first entity that is mentioned in this step, God. As a reminder, this step is, admitted to God, to myself, and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs. (You’ll find the wording a little bit different in the literature but just as a reminder, this is my version, that works well for me.) Now, yo...

Send us Fan Mail I had read this step many, many, times before. All the times I was very much involved in the 12 step program, I tended to focus on just a few of the steps. I focused on the first step because I, well, was in a detox center, or halfway house or recovery program of some sort. It was difficult to look at myself as anything but unmanageable. I focused on the fourth step because I coul...

Send us Fan Mail For this episode I will finish up on the fourth step by trying to remember exactly how I performed it. For me, although I made the lengthy list, it wasn’t so much about the things I did, but more so about the feelings I was having during my drinking days and especially the feelings I developed before I started to drink. This was very important for me because I was truly starting t...

Send us Fan Mail Well, my friends, this is of course the continuation of step number four. I really don’t have much of a description for this episode. The main thing I want to get across to you is my belief that this being a God-given program. I know that because each step seems to flow so naturally from the previous step and God seems to give us His power so that we can plod on to the next step....

Send us Fan Mail The fourth step is the beginning of the action steps. Let me just mention a quick overview of the sections of the steps. I don’t remember reading anywhere what the first three steps are generally called. I have decided to call them the Grace steps because I believe that it is through God’s grace that leads us to them and helps us through them. The fourth through the ninth steps ar...

Send us Fan Mail So, my friends, this may be the only step that in my estimation needs fourth part. For me, this step says it all. It was my opportunity to say the almighty, eternal, “yes” to God. What could possibly be more important in my life. Since I have taken a step, and said “yes” to God, my life has been (mostly) a spiritual one. The wonderful part is, that by using this beautiful, God-giv...

Send us Fan Mail Well, now that I’ve gotten God’s attention, not I could get on with the problem of turning things over . After all, my old life was still pulling me fiercely. I believe, for a brief while, I thought I was in a position to negotiate with God.  I realize now how difficult it was for me to surrender my old way of life. It was like, I could go along with leaving the spiritual stuff to...

Send us Fan Mail As I alluded to in the previous three description, I knew I had a thread, or spark , if you will, somewhere deep inside of me. Even though my life was almost totally negative, I seem to always carry that “idea” of God with me. Now it was time for what I call, the big conversation with God. I had no idea how, or where, to begin. This wonderful and glorious spiritual awakening Took...

Send us Fan Mail So, as many of you know, this is my most favorite of all of the steps. Now I am going to tell you why, but not only why, but how I actually approached this step when I decided to work the program in earnest. I have constantly touted how this is, in my estimation and experience, a God-given program. I have also remarked about its organization and how well one particular step leads...

Send us Fan Mail As I continue, I found myself at step number two, I came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity . As in step one, it seemed like my first time seeing or understanding, in my limited way, step number two. I had always had some beliefs in God. It was my  self that I had a real problem with. Most of my life I forced myself to be separate from God, main...

Send us Fan Mail Well, I have just accepted step number one as a “fact” of my life. I was truly at the very lowest point in my existence. Nothing else mattered, other than to run away, keep drinking, and wallow in my bottomed-out self-esteem and self-pity.  Now, here comes one of the many miraculous parts of this 12-step program. It is the answer to the problem I recognized and admitted in step on...

Send us Fan Mail So, in the last episode, I drank my way out of the service and began a life that I could only describe as a life of insanity. After all, every single time I drank, it was like a means to an end that was never a good one. The cycle during those years was usually coming off a drunk, usually ending up in some sort of rescue facility, or a cheap room somewhere, getting a job, possibly...

Send us Fan Mail I left off in the last episode or podcast where I was headed into the Army. After running away from home and having a couple of minor run-ins with the law I wanted to get away my parents thought it might be a really good idea for the Army to “straighten me out”. It did not work! I guess I really saw the Army has one big drinking club. I somehow ended up as a military policeman. Ba...

Send us Fan Mail Step number one, when I took it, went like this: “I admitted I was powerless over alcohol, that my life had become unmanageable”. Now, as most of you know, I have developed a personal set of steps, in a form that works for me. So, my version of this step is: “I admitted I was powerless over myself, and that my life had become unmanageable”.  By the time I was ready to take this st...

Send us Fan Mail So, to continue with this introduction, or should I say my introduction to the 12 step program, well, it’s not pretty. The root cause, or reason, for me becoming introduced to or involved with the 12-step program was alcohol. Well, let me correct myself. The root cause was actually my low self-esteem and the inability or unwillingness to incorporate God into my life. My drinking o...

Send us Fan Mail I have not posted much about the 12 steps in quite some time. It seems like it might be time to take another look at the steps. I’m not going to just rehash what I’ve said before. I’m going to try to take a personal look at the steps from my vantage point . I am going to try, (with as much honesty as I can), to share how I have worked and am working this 12-step program. As those...

Send us Fan Mail Yes, I am finally at the summary of this series of episodes about the beginnings of our way of life, and how those beginnings are so closely related to the Oxford Group. So, when I think about all of the lists, steps?, And the general way of life given to us by the Oxford Group, I need to let it all go. Although the Oxford group provided us (Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob), with all of t...