Thread: Buddhism
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Old 07-22-2014, 06:21 AM
  # 36 (permalink)  
schnappi99
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: MD
Posts: 658
Off the top of my head;

- one day at a time
- if you want to change (your) world, change yourself
- unity of man & his environment (wrt kindness to others requires kindness to self, and the reverse)
- karma (personal and family)- this one is obvious of course... but the goal is to change it
- action... it works if you work it- in a mtg a while back someone said a catcphrase they liked a ot is "figure it out is not a catchphrase" - got a big laugh but man is it true.
- consideration of others

so that is isn't specifically 12-Step but more related to some of the concepts and catchphrases- though for my part the catchphrases/concepts are a vitally important part of handling recovery on a day-to-day basis; when the pressure is on sometimes the only things keeping me from a slip are the catchphrases- so I tend to emphasize them.

Stepwise I find the 1st 3 steps work fine as applied to Buddhist practice.. in effect, realizing what you have control &/or influence over and how and to what degree and let go the stuff where you don't. The daily Buddhist practice affords me a mental space where issues can be quietly and calmly set aside.. maybe the monkeybrain will pick them back up again for more worrying, but then they can be set aside again.

Steps 9 & 10 make pretty good sense from my perspective; mindfulness of behavior and consequences, amends etc. Likewise step 8- debts must be paid and apologies made. 6 & 7 don't seem to match up especially well... doesn't all the 4th/5th work get me there and I have no reluctance whatsoever to shedding the anger/fear/petulance/judgy etc stuff... the sooner the better. But I am reminded that one of the things you learn doing the 12-Step is patience so maybe I'll be thinking differently by then- I'm working step 4 now.

11 & 12 seem pretty reasonable.. I don't see how "maintenance" steps work to me you're either practicing and living it or you're not- personally I find more affinity with the people who do periodically do step 4 to keep up with the crazy.

I liken Buddhism and the 12-Step to tools, one goes in the left hand the other in the right and you use them together.
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