Hi Everyone, This week we finished Step Three and so will start Part Two Investigation and Responsibility (pg 87)next week with Step Four. We talked about Too Much Wisdom vs Too much faith and discussed "the irony of spiritual practice is that before you can really let go of ego, you need to have a healthy ego" p83 Would love to hear more thoughts about what a healthy ego means to you and why it's necessary to have one before you can let go of it.
The contemplative question for the week concerns this quote on P84 "Many of our decisions in regard to our spiritual life don't even have to be decisions. If we practice sincerely, things will unfold naturally." What are your thoughts about the necessity of making a decision and where/when have you experienced this in your recovery journey?
For me, I think that choosing not to make a decision is a decision of sorts, but that being said, choosing to go with the flow and not consciously choose this path or that path has often saved me from much unnecessary drama/suffering. The key for me in this is the big IF..."if we practice sincerely", and I have found that when I am sincere in my intentions and practice, then things tend to flow better no matter what decision I make or don't make.
What about you?
Allowing things to "unfold naturally" was a concept I was introduced to in sobriety. Growing up, I was told I had to "make things happen" and "take control of the situation." This determination resulted in me charging through many walls so blindly that I didn't see that there was a door into that room that I could have easily walked through.
The steps played a big part in this paradigm shift. By learning to let go and stop trying to control things I'm unable to control, tapping into a power that can provide the safety and security I am trying to fruitlessly attain by forcing my will on to situations, and then allowing them to "naturally unfold" I am trusting that Power. It was no longer the "self" that was running the show. It was tapping into the "Self" that gave me the ability to find the path which has proven to be the easier softer way as well as the better one.
Walking this path has taken me to places I never knew existed. I used to think people saying their lives in recovery were "beyond their wildest dreams" to be cheesy. But after many 24s I too can say that's true for me. By opening my hands to receive the life that has been given to me, I have gotten far more than I could have with clenched fists fighting my way through it. Taking the third step truly allowed me to stop fighting everyone and everything.