Steps to the Spirit

Send us Fan Mail Well, we got to finish up step five and how we work with it when we are living our day-to-day lives. As part of “working” this 12 step program, talking to myself, and to God, about the nature of my wrongs. I don’t believe I’ve had one day go by that I didn’t feel the need to do that. It may be something small and seemingly insignificant, such as being in a hurry and brushing someo...

Send us Fan Mail When I was doing the fifth step in the 12-step program, I had no problem whatsoever talking to God and to myself, but I dreaded the day when I would have to speak with someone else about my character defects. Well, I guess dread is a strong word. After the first four steps, especially steps number two and three, I really did feel a power that I had never felt my life. By the fifth...

Send us Fan Mail There really isn’t too much more to say about step number four. Of course, if we look at it in the light of step number 10 then their really is a lot to do in the course of our normal day. After all, step 10 starts with the word “continued”. What I would like to mention here is the very last word in step number four, “ourselves”. Much of the time during the day I feel my old frien...

Send us Fan Mail It seems like we never really get away from this inventory business. No, I did not say that as a negative statement. It’s true that before I seriously committed myself to this 12-step program, the last thing I wanted to do was to look at myself. When I looked in the mirror, not to shave, but to try to look at the real me, it was a terrible experience. My self-esteem was, pretty mu...

Send us Fan Mail Once again we are looking at step three in the context of how to apply these steps in the real world. At first blush, this program seems to be one that you can do these steps and be done with them and have them under your belt. This is certainly not the case. This step is probably the best example of that. It’s the step where we surrender, where we change our lives completely and...

Send us Fan Mail Well, now we can get back to the steps and how they will work for us as we live our day-to-day lives. After all, I’m sure you have figured out by now that these steps aren’t just something that we do, and we are finished with them after step number 12. No, if I am taking these steps and if I have learned lessons that they attempt to teach me, I have discovered that they are indeed...

Send us Fan Mail I have one more interruption in this series of episodes. My wife Pat and I usually read some text each morning at breakfast time. Most of the time, because Pat is interested in such things, we read text with a non-dualistic point of view. I usually have somewhat of a difficult time with these readings because my belief is of a dualistic nature. I believe we were created as Spirit...

Send us Fan Mail I would like to speak a little more about step number two, which I have associated with the gift of belief . Well, I guess that was kind of a “no-brainer”! I guess what I want you to know in this second part of living step two is the fact that my insanity still rears its ugly head from time to time. I also would like to talk about the fact that none of these steps are an island ....

Send us Fan Mail I feel as though it is an unending battle. I didn’t have a difficult time believing in a power greater than myself. I was not always a fully functional Catholic, but I was always a spiritual person. I never had a problem knowing that there is a higher power or, for me, God. I did however, believe that He had forgotten me. I really identified with one of the songs in the musical Ch...

Send us Fan Mail I feel like I would like to squeeze in this episode in order to let you know my position as far as God is concerned. After all, I am saying that I am spiritual and that I believe these step programs have been given to us by God. I also talk a lot about my relationship with God and how it affects my way of life. So I think it is only fitting that you are aware of where I am coming...

Send us Fan Mail Continuing with our practical application of step one, and trying to remember I am powerless over everything! For many years, as I thought it was doing this step, I only thought of my powerlessness as having to do with alcohol. When I finally did these 12 steps in earnest, which I guess means really living the steps, I was so sick and disgusted with my life that I realized I was p...

Send us Fan Mail We have spoken quite a bit in the last couple of years out each step and the gifts that are associated with them. The steps themselves (including the gifts), are certainly nice reading but not very practical as I am able to make use of them in my day-to-day life. In the next few episodes I would like to talk about how I have used the steps and the step program in my everyday life....

Send us Fan Mail This is the final episode about the gifts that accompany the steps. In this episode I will speak about steps number 8 through 12. Of course, steps 8 and 9 are the last of the action steps. Steps 10 and 11 and 12 are commonly referred to as the maintenance steps. We will be talking about those and the gifts that accompany them.  Next week, in episode number 24, I will most likely b...

Send us Fan Mail In this second part of the overview, I will continue with these gifts, giving my impression of how they help, both in the step program and in living our lives. I sometimes take these gifts for granted but I am quickly taken back to the reality of my Spirit. I remember, and realize, that these are some of the greatest tools with which to combat negative influences as I try to live...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I’ll begin a review of these 12 gifts that accompany the 12 steps. I guess I should not describe them as accompanying the steps. These are gifts from God that have been ours for the using since the time of our creation. We do not have to perform in any way, be any particular way, or make any commitments in order to receive these gifts. We need only to be aware of t...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a continuation of the last part of step number 12, “ practice these principles in all our affairs ”. This phrase makes a lot of assumptions. It assumes that we have done the 12 steps to the best of our ability, and that we are ready and willing to incorporate them into our way of life. One could really say that this is the basis of the 12 step program, helping ours...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I would like to begin speaking about the last part of step number 12 and how we use this beautiful gift of compassion in order to share the gifts that we have received from God. The step tells us to practice these principles in all our affairs . This immediately brought to my mind, when I had finally decided to make these steps the foundation of my way of life, a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I will talk about the part of step that is referred to as “carrying the message”. This is one way of describing the 12th step, however, it is so much more than that. When we become aware of the gift of compassion, we learn to have empathy for others. We learn to experience the feelings, hopes, dreams, and struggles of others by “walking in their shoes”. This is par...

Send us Fan Mail In this second episode I will continue to talk about the gift of compassion and how it helps me to work these steps in the normal course of living life. What happened to me was a huge loss of self-importance. Many people who are representatives of the so-called “new age” religions, or, maybe I should say new age spirituality, are proponents of the ego having an actual presence and...

Send us Fan Mail The best definition that I have found for the word “compassion” is the following: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others . However, in this definition just to the phrase “sympathetic pity ”. When I feel sympathy or pity for someone, it almost seems like an ego thing. While I am saying, on the one hand, I feel sympathetic toward that person, I’m t...

Send us Fan Mail Now, in this episode we will look at the last part of the 11th step, which is, “… the power to carry that out”. Oh my God! Don’t tell me we have to go back to the first three Grace steps! Well, yes, these are the meat and potatoes or, foundation, of my program and really, of my life. Asking God or power, at this point in the 12 steps, is really kind of redundant. In step two, I ca...

Send us Fan Mail In this portion of the step, “… Praying only for knowledge of His will for us”, I guess it is a reminder to avoid allowing the decisions that I thought I should make, to enter the picture. Sometimes, when I communicate with God, I realize that I have already decided exactly what God’s advice would be. When I realize what I am doing, I really kind of chuckle and wonder how I became...

Send us Fan Mail In this second part of step 11, I will be speaking about improving our contact with God. Obviously, if I am going to improve something, it would imply that I already have something going. If I already have a conversation or communication with God, how could I really improve on it? It is really my feeling that to improve implies two particular words. Those words are awareness and p...

Send us Fan Mail A quick reminder of my version of step eleven: “I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out.” Step eleven is the second of the three maintenance steps. I see step eleven as having four main parts, and that is how we’ll look at this step in this, and the next three episodes. In th...

Send us Fan Mail First , I would like to mention that from here on out I am going to try to get these podcasts out on Sundays. Hope that doesn’t inconvenience you, but my original thought was to publish these on Sunday at 6 PM and somehow I’ve slipped to publishing them on Saturday. I think I can attribute that to being 78 years old! Next, my thoughts about step 10 and the gift of perseverance is...