today i’m on the run. too many things happening, including helping my very pregnant daughter move (yes! i’m becoming a grandmother! more on that soon.)
so let’s turn this problem into an opportunity and see how you, gentle reader, like it when i just present you with my notes.
it’s a continuation from last month, when we started talking about the 12 steps.
today: step two.
“came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity”
believe =
- think
- guess
- assume
- have faith in
- be acutely aware
examples of powers greater than ourselves:
- brakes on a car (*i * certainly can’t stop a car)
- the cop who stops me when i drive too fast, endangering self and others
- god
- that inner voice that knows better than to be self-destructive
- my community (friends, family, co-workers)
examples of insanity
- driving too fast
- eating too much
- not exercising enough
- not doing things that we know are good for us (e.g. flossing teeth)
- letting ourselves be doormats
- going back to destructive habits
- smoking even though we’ve seen a relative die of lung cancer
- insanity = not sane, not healthy
so, for example, “came to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity” could mean, for example, becoming acutely aware that my friends could help/support me in getting more exercise.
step 2 bluntly calls “insanity” all those things that we do or think that do not celebrate and sustain life, either in the short or in the long run.
–> our addiction to materialism, consumerism, aggression, greed, fear.
our = happens on an individual, community and worldwide level.
i believe that a power greater than just me (just my city, just my country) can relieve us of the insanity of destroying self and others.
isabella mori
moritherapy
counselling in vancouver
Neat. A step study.
Came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.
This insults my ego that there is any power greater than myself so how do I get my mind around it?
Ah yes. T’was the 1st step when I admitted I was powerleess over a thing; and not just that -but that due to my powerlessness my life had become unmanageable.
If I’ve taken step 1, then my ego has failed to protect me from the backlash of the thing I am powerless over. I then shut up the ego with the further declaration, “I am powerless and hey look! My life is unmanageable too.”
At that point then I why I have never had a problem with getting to Step 2 once I have worked through Step 1.
At that point, I HAVE to believe there is something greater that can restore me to sanity. I make no mistake – I am insane operating from an item that has gotten my life to the point of unmanageability.
This is the good news. There is something higher than my self-destructive nature. It’s my higher awareness nature – as you said – my intuitive voice; my still quiet voice.
It whispers, “There is another way. Follow me.”
So I do.
Step 2.