Originally Posted by
mfanch 
Whether I'm all that and a bag of chips or a piece of cr*p, the attention is still on ME (ego).
I needed to focus on getting through the steps so that I could see things IN PERSPECTIVE (ie accurately...as we are never as bad or as good as we think) so that I could become an agent of AA...the entire goal of it all. Once I take inventory and see things for what they are, I can use my experience, strength, and hope to show and benefit someone else who needs me.
That is an excellent point to bring up. My sponsor explained to me early on that self-pity, self-loathing, low self-esteem, was still ego driven since it was still absorbed in self.
I was also taught that any negative thought, whether about yourself or another person, is not from God, which means it must be from ego/the mind and so is not truth.
Taking *action*, as in working the steps, gets us out of our selves/ego.