I have been
clean one year plus now. My clean date is 01/01/2007
I have finished my first time through the steps
now I am in the process of attempting to live the program to the best of my ability.
Doing this is a challenge.
I know from experience that if I don't do the steps my sobriety is not going to last.
a meeting a day keeps my personal hell away
And to be back in the hell I created for myself is not where I want to go.
I did have 18 years
I drifted away from the program and used for about 18 months
it almost killed me
thank GOD I made it back, many don't make it.
If I've learned anything at all its that helping
others is important
for by helping others I am
able to access the link with my higher power
I am a member of several 12 step groups
all of which
I find that we help each other
addicts from all
sorts of backgrounds and
lifestyles
who have a common thread of recovery in
common
share the message of hope with eachother.
we support eachother in love and
tolererance of our faults.
For myself I've found
a home here
like I've found in clubs and halls
wherever I go in the recovery community
I've found that people in service have
much better odds of staying clean and sober.
Those that just
hang out seem to just drift away and disapear
may we meet on the road of happy destiny
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference
thy will not mine be done
The 12 Steps to Total and Complete
Insanity
1. We admitted we were powerless over nothing. We
could manage our lives perfectly and we could manage
those of anyone else that would allow it.
2. Came to believe that there was no power greater
than ourselves, and the rest of the world was
insane.
3. Made a decision to have our loved ones and friends
turn their wills and their lives over to our
care.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of
everyone we knew.
5. Admitted to the whole world at large the exact
nature of their wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to make others straighten up
and do right.
7. Demanded others to either "shape up or ship
out".
8. Made a list of anyone who had ever harmed us and
became willing to go to any lengths to get even with
them all.
9. Got direct revenge on such people whenever
possible except when to do so would cost us our own
lives, or at the very least, a jail sentence.
10. Continued to take inventory of others, and when
they were wrong promptly and repeatedly told them
about it.
11. Sought through nagging to improve our relations
with others as we couldn't understand them at all,
asking only that they knuckle under and do things our
way.
12. Having had a complete physical, emotional and
spiritual breakdown as a result of these steps, we
tried to blame it on others and to get sympathy and
pity in all our affairs.
THESE ARE MUCH BETTER
I took Step One, began to moan
I can't do this one on my own.
I took Step Two, began to pray
Restore me God, please now, today.
I took Step Three, gave up my will
Maybe God could love me still.
I took a Fourth, I looked inside
Nothing more would I hide.
And on the Fifth, I said aloud
I've done some wrong, and I'm not proud.
I took Step
Six, and got prepared
To lose the defects, I was scared.
Now I'm at Seven, take them away
My God, for this I do pray.
And on Eight, the list was long
Amends to make for all the wrongs.
I took Step Nine, put down my pride
Amends made, I will not hide.
Step Ten I take, each day I pray
I make amends along the way.
And on Eleven I pray to know
Each day His will, which way to go.
I take Twelve Step, I'm like a bird
To others now, I spread the word........
(Author
anonymous)
The 12 Steps Of Humor Anonymous
1. We admitted we were grateful for the role humor plays in our recovery, and our laughter had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, and a little laughter now and then couldn't hurt.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him, and laughed about how if we measured what we understood about God on a scale of one to ten, the needle on the gauge would probably point to minus one, and we don't need to tell you which end of the scale is which, which makes us laugh, because we are desperate, aren't we?
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, and when appropriate, laughed at ourselves and the foibles of addiction.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs, and didn't laugh too much here, because this step involves some serious shit.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character, and laughed out loud when we realized how great life could be without these defects.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings, and imagined God stripping us down to our shorts in front of our home group, to keep us humble and to provide a few laughs for the other drunks, junkies, and misfits.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and realized there was nothing funny about the length of this list. Became willing to make amends to all of them, but realized it was going to take a lot of thinking and head scratching just to figure out what "amends" were, and then to actually make them, whew!
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Made indirect amends when we didn't want to get caught or feel guilty.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when wrong, promptly admitted it. When our behavior was funny, ironic or ludicrous, we laughed at it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out, and sought through laughter to understand that God has a sense of humor, because after all, He created the likes of us.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others in recovery and to practice these principles in all our affairs. And we remembered humor also has the power to heal.