Old 06-22-2009, 06:34 PM
  # 9 (permalink)  
freya
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 1,636
In my family of origin, we were raised to "do step 10" in the morning when we get up and look in the mirror. Of course, no one called it "Step 10." What they said basically was: "When you get up in the morning, you need to look in the mirror and see someone you respect. If that person did something the day before that makes that hard, then you better figure out what you need to do to fix that so the next day you can respect that person easily. There is nothing worse than looking in the mirror and seeing someone you can't/don't respect."

So, for me, this is still my "major" Step 10 practice. A couple of things that program has added to it, however, is, as other have mentioned, to stop whenever I start to feel stressed/confused/agitated/disconnected take time to connect with HP and ask "what is the next right thing." (I like "next right thing" rather than the increasingly popular "next indicated thing" -- indicated by what or whom????? If it's indicated by HP, it's the next right thing -- and if it's not indicated by HP, probably best if I just pass!) This makes things easier because it means I usually have a lot less stuff that needs to be made right.....and when there is stuff I usually notice it earlier.

And the other very important thing that program gives me is knowing that I have the help and support of my HP whenever I am trying to make anything right. When I was growing up, the impression I got was kinda like "Well, we need to do this and God is going to judge us based on if and how well we do it." Not that God was necessarily punishing or malevolent -- He was "just," but He sure wasn't easily accessible or very helpful either. It's such a gift to have access to a HP who is there both to show me the way and give me as much help as I need to be able to walk it as best I can.

So, yeah, Step 10 type work is actually quite a bit easier -- and less burdensome -- now than it was before I came into program.

freya
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