Step 2 AA

Dan B 76 · Member

Step 2 AA

Jerry F · Veteran Member

I arrived at the doors of AA thru the doors of the Al-Anon Family Groups. My thinker was on the blink. I knew I was insane without a doubt and I didn't know how to change it other than a plan for a 3rd attempt at suicide. Little did I understand that the last attempt, directed by a power grater than myself would be successful in a way I could have never imagined. I had a God that came from being born and raised in the culturally religious family most of whom were either alcoholic/addict or victims of the disease. I was both and didn't know it and didn't know that I didn't know it. When I reached the doors of Al-Anon I was married to my second addicted person, this one an alcoholic/addict and had been in many chemically directed relationships before. I was also a sickly yellowish/greenish color on the outside. I believed that the only reason for that was that my staunchly catholic mother must have had an affair with an oriental feller sometime in the past. Wrong. I am a chemically tolerant human being who was able to consume large volumes of alcohol without seemingly being affected and who's kindeys and liver had to do something with the toxic chemicals I was storing in every cell of my body. I drank into toxic shocks...that is insane!! I drank until I could not drink any longer because my body would get mad at me and offer some serious pain which alcohol would not relax anymore.

I had a special occasion God...everything I couldn't solve I called God in on which was rare because the alcohol had rendered me dellusional. I was insane. When I heard a home group member in Al-Anon say that her definition of sanity was "A continuous and orderly process of thought" I knew I had never experienced it. I stopped drinking before Al-Anon and didn't have a clear understanding about me and alcoholism. I never took my own assessment until I was chemically free for 9 years in Al-Anon and then my HP sat and talked about the dynamics of compulsion in the disease and the possibility of relapse. Since I had already experienced toxic shocks without intending to I took my assessment to the head nurse of the large rehab I was working in (it was a anonymous assessment) and after she reviewed it she revealed "Who ever this assessment belongs to needs to be in in-patient care immediately or the next time they drink they die". She came into Al-Anon a week after I had and after I let her know that the assessment was mine she related that I already knew what it was I had to do and I have and my Higher Power came with me into the Friday Night Alano Club AA Family Night meeting and held up the meeting until I identified as alcoholic. Bless them all and thank you God for them and their patience and love and understanding.

HP was alway in the lead I came to believe after inventorying the journey over and over and over. I still inventory my journey so that I can clearly see where and when the hand of my God has directed me when my mind could not or would not stay within sober solutions. Today it's still God First... Thanks for allowing me to share this. smile

-- Edited by Jerry F on Monday 12th of December 2011 04:54:41 AM

jillbedford · Newbie

Thank you for the topic on step 2.
My name is Jill and I am an alcoholic. I have been sober since March 24, 2009.
I have the privilege to a take an AA meeting into the jail each Sunday at 5:30pm. Last since we studied out of the big book the beginnings of step 2. The girls in there have very little education and some read on a 2nd grade level. So I have to make step2, and all the steps very easy to understand.
I have recently been joined by another lady alcoholic with more sober (and clean) time than me. Most of the women in the jail have other issues besides alcohol and she is a big help there. I do not have drugs as part of my story.
We studied yesterday the Appendix "Spiritual Experience". We (myself and the other lady alcoholic) told our own personal spiritual experiences.
We do have the girls read one paragraph at a time and then go back over it slowly and carefully. But....even with this careful time and attention, like most meetings with newcomers, most, if not ALL of them go back and drink and use. Last week we had one to overdose on her release day and die that day. She was only 45 years old. Same age as me. Same story as me. Difference is, I am still here on this earth.
So I am disheartened to the "program". But I know it has worked for me so far. And I know that Bill W. did not have good success at first either. And I know that facts are that only 8% of us make it to a year. I have heard as low as 3%. Looks like the "program" works for a few of us. It is just that the key is WILLINGNESS. Can I give them a shot of WILLINGNESS? Seems like being in jail, again, would be motivating, but it isn't.
I take that big book study in to the jail in an effort to increase the odds, so to speak. Seems like the only one staying sober in the end is me.
Thanks for letting me share.

MarcLacroix · Newbie

What began as a rinky-dink idea on a shoestring budget has blossomed into something no less than phenomenal and the body of evidence as to its success cannot be denied. The program of recovery offered by Alcoholics Anonymous will probably work for any alcoholic who is willing to put forth an honest effort.

Having repeatedly failed to quit drinking on my own willpower I realized I was defeated and needed something completely different. I called my employers assistance hotline and was referred to a treatment facility. The four horsemen (terror, bewilderment, frustration and despair) had beaten me into a state of reasonableness. I had become ready and willing. While in treatment I listened and did the homework requested of me so recovery began on day one. I trust in the process and more than Fifteen years later it still works for me.

SeekingSerenity · Newbie

True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith

I don't think that my mind is open right now. I feel like I am trying to force it open and then keep it jammed in that position. Why is it so hard? Everything that is in the BB is relatively easy and yet impossibly hard.

All I can do is tell myself that I believe and that sanity is indeed around the corner for me if I keep walking the walk. It is pretty easy for me to talk the talk but I am continually checking to see if my walk matches my talk.

Dan B 76 · Member

SeekingSerenity wrote:
True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith

I don't think that my mind is open right now. I feel like I am trying to force it open and then keep it jammed in that position. Why is it so hard? Everything that is in the BB is relatively easy and yet impossibly hard.

All I can do is tell myself that I believe and that sanity is indeed around the corner for me if I keep walking the walk. It is pretty easy for me to talk the talk but I am continually checking to see if my walk matches my talk.

SeekingSerenity,

glad you found us keep coming back.

This is a program of progress not perfection. We have to give up the perfection part and learn to accept the baby steps that we can take. If you are going to meetings as they say bring the body and the mind will follow. Which is just the way step 2 can be applied. First we 'came'' to meetings and as we imerse ourselves in this program we begin to 'come to' that is awaken mentally and spiratually. Have you accepted the 1st step? Not only said the words "I'm an alcoholic/addict" but accepted that you are? That you are powerless over that first drink/drug, one will lead to more, These steps are not a one time thing they are a way of life. Continue to work the program. Simply put don't drink, read the book and go to meetings.

Sanity is right around the corner.

Dan

SeekingSerenity · Newbie

This past week I have truely turned a corner.
I was shown in a way that I could understand how to have belief in myself. (Lightbulb moment on main forum page) I had already come to believe in a Higher Power and I have for a long time believed in AA I simply did not believe in me.
I have already been doing what is suggested -meetings-pray am and pm-sponsor-reading BB-plug in the jug-I have added a # of things to the list along the way,
I enjoy the grapevine and have probably 30 of them in the car so that when I am waiting somewhere I have quick reading material on hand.
This forum is a valuable tool to me
I listen to One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus, not sure who it is by, every morning as well. It is a really beautiful song and is a sweet part of my morning.
I also read the 12x12 as I enjoy it almost more than the BB
I think I can honestly say I have a firm understanding of step 2 and I believe that God can
restore me to sanity.

Fyne Spirit · Member

Hi all, I'm Mike, a recovered alcoholic. Thanks Dan for a great intro to step 2. My experience with this step is somewhat coloured by my limited intelectual capacity when I came in. I often think I would be one of the stupidest people ever to come through the door. Mad as it sounds I just looked at that step and thought yep I can take that at face value. It just seemed logical to me, and to start with I thought of the AA group as the power, as they could stay sober and I couldn't. I could read ok and had no trouble reading in detail about the steps as in the BB and 12x12, but I couldn't take anything in from written material. I would read a page without absorbing anything and I had to keep going back to the start. So I don't suppose I had much understanding of step 2 at that time, just that I had no argument with it.

Now that I am some way down the track I notice that all the steps are written in the past tense. Having taken the steps, the early members asked themselves how they got sober and as a result wrote down the steps they had taken, a record of precisely how they recovered. I have found that for me the only way to understand the steps is to take them. With the possible exception of the first, it was a practical impossibilty for me to know in advance what a step would do for me. Why? because the sober life accomplished through the steps was beyond anything I had ever experienced.

So for me step 2 is part of the process. It says to me that because these steps in there entirety are a spiritual solution to the problem of alcoholism, it is going to be necessary for me to develop or be willing to develop some kind of belief in a higher power. I was then able to take that willingness to the next step and the next, and begin removing the obstacles between me and my God, and as I went my awareness of the spiritual grew and grew.

I should add that step two asks us to be willing to believe that our sanity will be restored at some future point. That point is described in the BB p 84 (Just after step 9) " for by this time sanity will have returned"....so it appears that restoration of sanity is contingent on taking the rest of the steps.

To take step two I ask my self: Do I believe or am I even willing to believe that a power greater than myself will restore me to sanity? And my answer is a resounding YES! Step 2 taken, simple as that. You can do it too if you wish.

-- Edited by Fyne Spirit on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 03:48:22 AM

-- Edited by Fyne Spirit on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 03:56:51 AM

miikef · Newbie

Hi, mikef, recovered alcoholic. I love this step. It's rather simple once my sponsor properly explained it.

First, I have my sponsees lay out their own 'concept' of a power greater than themselves. I have them list it out in real time...not as homework (yuk!)

Usually they'll say: all-powerful, loving, caring, knows everything etc etc.

Invariably they fail to list: 1) 'a power greater than myself' and/or 2) 'can restore me to sanity.'

So I point out that exact wording in Step 2 itself:

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

I then ask them to take their 'concept' and add those two new understandings (greater than me, can restore me to sanity) to their concept of a higher power -- or at least be willing to at some point.

The Big Book of AA asks us here to at least be 'willing to believe' those two new understandings. And there's no time prescription on it.

If the sponsee 'comes to believe' it right off (that there exists a power greater than them and they ain't it and that that higher power is powerful enough to restore them to sanity) or agrees to be willing -- to keep an open-mind on it -- then boom! That's Step 2 done; and off we go to Step 3.

As a final piece, I ask the sponsee if they are willing to name this new package (their concept plus the two new understandings) as 'God.' I do that because the Big Book mentions 'God' 132 times; and when they do, they mean your concept or 'god as you understand him' (so far, LOL!) It's a spiritual term, and one that gets myself, the sponsee and the steps all on the same song-sheet.

Good stuff! And an absolute vital step to lay in the cornerstone for Step 3.

Dan B 76 · Member

Thanks Fyne Spirit and MikeF for the great responses to the 2nd step. We can all keep adding to our tool bags. Step 2 can and does go beyond working it once and moving on as I believe all steps are ment to do. As we grow in our program we are continually enlightened. The insanity of the first drink is huge and as where I see it is the first insanity we need to be restored from. As we grow in the program we deepen the understanding of a power greater than ourselves. And begin to see other insanities in our lives and come to believe they to can be removed thus being restored to sanity.

Mr_David · Member

Hi Dan,

Thanks for doing the steps. When discussing the topic of God or Spirituality I usually like referring to the second step principle for Help. Here's the principle: "Humility and an open mind can lead us to faith and every AA meeting is a reassurance that God can restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to him".

(Excerpt from the12&12)

The reason why I refer to the second step principle and not the step itself has something to do with wording that's all. It says, and I'm quoting here: "Humility and an open mind can lead us to faith". Faith is spoken here in general terms and can comprise many facets and sects not just ones associated with a specific religion. Humility is the key though. We must place humility first, above all else. When we do, faith will follow.

I have many friends in AA who come from different backgrounds and different beliefs. I respect their decisions to purse whatever spiritual avenue they choose. Whatever can help them sustain a quality of life and ultimately sober living -one day at a time, is of most importance. So, I'll leave it at that.

Some of these friends are profound atheists who claim no affiliation at all. They use the collective knowledge found in the rooms of AA as the God of their understanding. There are others, also, who worship idols and demigods and those too who confess a more natural holistic approach to faith. There are others -Like myself - who found comfort and peace under the loving arms of a savior, called Jesus Christ. The key here is that we build upon some altar to a better life and do so by any faith building prospect possible. We do this to improve our spiritual state, of course, and do it without imposing those beliefs on others.

The point Im trying to make is simple: There a many avenues that lead to a faith that works and by choosing a God of our Understanding that aligns that faith to his/hers will is one of the key components to spiritual renewal. This renewal, I believe, can awaken our senses to the prospect of a better life, one day at a time.

The key, once again, is sane living. Faith in a power greater than ourselves can lead us in a direction that can bring about a spiritual change, over time. The key here, once again, is willingness. Once we become willing, we see clearly the path set before us. Through willingness, we allow a higher power to guide us and protect us, coupled with a faith that can see that through. That, my friend, is faith combined with works. We can be restored to sanity, but only if "our" higher power and the fellowship of "AA" leads the way.

~God Bless~

-- Edited by Mr_David on Sunday 29th of January 2012 05:40:38 AM

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