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Step 12 - It's Not Just Carrying The
Message
Step 12 Having had a spiritual awakening as
the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics,
and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Part 2 - Carrying the Message
When talk turns to
Step 12, it usually is about carrying the message. Not surprising,
since one recovered addict talking to another practicing addict is
how the 12 Step programs have grown and how most of us came to
recovery.
Twelve Step work can be
exciting and rewarding and it's easier to talk about, and experience,
than the rest of the 12th Step.
Step 12 actually has four parts:
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A spiritual awakening
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Working all 12 Steps
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Carrying the message
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Practicing the principles
Parts 1, 2 and 4 are often ignored in
favor of 3, but it's precisely those three parts that make becoming
Powerfully Recovered possible even likely.
Step 12 is the major promise of
the Program a spiritual awakening as a result of practicing the Steps
simple (not easy) and straightforward. But notice it requires all
the steps - that's what as a result of these steps means.
There's nothing in this step (or any other, for that matter, that allows
for delay - nothing about getting ready for an inventory or hedging on
amends. In the strict sense the promised spiritual awakening is the result
of all the Steps.
Practicing the principles is simply the
continuing use of the Steps, particularly Steps 10, 11 and 12 - the
so-called maintenance steps, to keep us on an even keel, more or less.
It's a daily practice, formal and informal. Over time, it becomes a part
of us, acting as our ground of being.
It is this awakening and practice
that gives us not only freedom from our addiction, but the serenity we
want and the Program promises. It is this awakening and practice that
let's us move in our world with confidence, knowing that our skin fits and
we can deal with all that life hands us sometimes well, sometimes not
so well, but always learning and growing
becoming and staying
Powerfully Recovered!
Love, peace and
abundance,
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