Originally Posted by
tomsteve 
not going to say where this is in the big book, but:
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone-even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.
The 10th step promises is the most powerful passage in the Big Book for me personally. I read the BB from cover to cover more than once without working the steps and these promises seemed nice enough, but I just didn't get how important they really were until I worked the steps and they came true for me.
The problem (step 1) has been removed and sanity has returned (step 2). I could now face life on life's terms (both good and bad) without alcohol as long as I keep in fit spiritual condition (step 3). So my tips for steps 1 and 2 are doing steps 3-9. By the time I got to step 10 it all made sense. Steps 10-12 help me maintain and grow my sobriety and spiritual relationship with my HP.