This week, I want to start off with one of my favorite “Steps” from the 12 Steps of Recovery that helped me develop my Spiritual Independence. It really is almost impossible to pick just one out of the 12 Steps, because they are all equally important.
But there was a sense of freedom I felt the first time the third step sunk into my brain…or I should say my soul. My heart opened and my freedom from alcoholism started from this step along with my Spiritual Independence.
Step 3: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over
to the care of God, as we understood him.”
This step can be broken down into several parts, as follows.
Making a decision….that’s all I was doing, I wasn’t taking any action yet and that was a relief.
Turning over my will…I had to explore what my willfulness was and what this meant.
Turning over my life…I knew my way wasn’t working, so I was glad to turn it over to someone else
To the care of God, as we understood him… I had no problem in turning over my life to God. I had a deep belief in God but no longer felt that I had a personal relationship with Him. This was in part because of the disease of alcoholism and in part because I was brought up Catholic, became a Hindu, started to discover Buddhism and was living with a women of the Jewish faith and found peace it that religion’s rituals and holidays. So to what God was I to turn my will and life over?
A God of my own understanding. What a relief! I was able to pick and choose all the things I like about each one of those paths and begin to develop my own personal relationship with God.
So if you are on the 12-Step Recovery journey, or if you have mixed feeling about the religion you were brought up in, or maybe you never had any religion or faith in a Higher Power, I hope that you search for that teaching that feels right for you now. Remember…it’s a journey, not a destination. Your relationship with God will change as you grow spiritually.
Namaste,
Michael
To sign up to receive newsletters and updates from Michael, scroll to the bottom of the Ah-Man Web Site. You’ll find additional information and resources in the latest issue of the Ah-Man Newsletter. Read about his new book, Returning to WHOLENESS… Discovering Ah-Man at Amazon.
