Step #10 – Spiritual Upkeep (part 2)

Steps to the Spirit

In this second episode of step number 10 and how I handled it, I would like to say a little more about confidence. I believe there are two kinds of confidence associated step number 10. I am talking about what it says in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st Edition. It talks about folks early in the program that, at this point me steps, were no longer concerned about the things, (alcohol, food, drugs, etc.), that had been a catalyst for roomed lives. I believe this feeling can come, in a minor way, through a psychological use of the program. However, I believe, as in my case, this feeling of freedom comes in a major way only through our spiritual development.

I think it is important to understand what the authors of this book and the 12 steps are saying. They are saying that for them, the reason they feel free is due to their acceptance of God and inviting God to run their lives through our Spirit. Again, I am not saying that those of you who may be agnostics or atheists cannot be successful at this program. I am saying that you will most likely get a minor rather than a major result from it.

Just before the section about the 10th step in the aforementioned book, there is a section of text commonly referred to as the Promises, and I would like to included below:

The Promises

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self- pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, some- times slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along.

Every one of the promises listed above has come true for me. If I am ever in a place in my life where any of these promises don’t seem to be working well, and I know I have to look at myself through the program and my Spirit to find out what’s going wrong. It’s just like the old saying, “If You Find Yourself further away from God, who moved?”.

I know this is kind of a side stepping from this 10th step, but I think it is appropriate. In the next episode, I will be back full throttle to the 10th step itself. I was just reminded about how I felt when I was doing the 10th step read those lines, and, after all, I am trying to relate my feelings as I did/do the steps.