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The second step.

Old 12-13-2014, 11:52 AM
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The second step.

I've made it to the first step dozens of times. In fact, every single time I have woken up with a hangover, I "work" the first step. My question is about the second step. If my higher power can restore me to sanity, why would "he" let me dabble in the insanity for so long?
I'm not necessarily a religious person, but I do believe in a God (of my understanding.)
Anyhow, a pretty simple question, so there has got to be a pretty simple answer, right?

Thanks all!
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Old 12-13-2014, 11:58 AM
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simply because we have free will.

the first time through the steps, my second step was my willingness to move forward with the other steps. step 2 didn't "make sense" or come to life until I worked past step 7. that is when I had a spiritual awakening or experience and the compulsion to drink was removed.....

everyone is different, but it took me 25 years to fully accept my alcoholism and be willing enough to work all of those steps, not slowly, I worked them slowly the second and third time through [by 8 months of sobriety I had worked them 3 times as my sponsor didn't let me stay stuck and I had to keep working those steps so I could really know how to guide another through those steps (I was sponsoring others at 8 months of sobriety to give back what was freely given to me)].

everyone works them differently
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Old 12-13-2014, 12:05 PM
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An alcoholic is an extreme example of self will run riot.
It wasn't my HP letting me " dabble in the insanity." it was me and my HP was giving me signs the whole time that what I was doing wasn't what He wanted me to do ( and self will kept me doing what i wanted to the point i had no choice)and there were many times He pulled my ass out of certain death.
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Old 12-13-2014, 12:34 PM
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There is a handing over in the third step that involves a commitment. I guess people debate the 'nature' of what that commitment is, and how it works, but it doesn't involve drinking.

I think for me the third step came before the second- although I agreed what I was doing was not working, I had not come to believe there was a way forward until about day 3, even then it was only a small glimmer- daring to dream was out of the question.

It is possible- keep at it
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Old 12-13-2014, 08:17 PM
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The step isn't "will he" or "why hasn't he" -- it's "can he". It's as simple as being willing to believe that He can. I found that as I worked through the steps I gained more understanding about the previous steps along the way. By the time I started doing my amends in step 9 and moved to step 10 the 10th step promises really hit home for me, particularly the part about sanity.

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.
Alcoholics Anonymous pp.84-85 (underlining mine)

I underlined the part I am talking about. In the 10th step promises they are validating that step 2 has come true -- that our HP has indeed restored sanity to us. Steps 2 and 3 are preparation steps in which we are showing a willingness to take part in the action steps of 4-9. The action steps are what is going to provide the spiritual awakening that will remove the problem (also a promise in step 10).
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Old 12-13-2014, 09:22 PM
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Originally Posted by tomsteve View Post
An alcoholic is an extreme example of self will run riot.
It wasn't my HP letting me " dabble in the insanity." it was me and my HP was giving me signs the whole time that what I was doing wasn't what He wanted me to do ( and self will kept me doing what i wanted to the point i had no choice)and there were many times He pulled my ass out of certain death.
Yes, this ^^^ is the truth, or certainly was for me.

The posts on this question have been spot-on for me thus far. I also asked similar questions and had similar doubts. All I know is that I came to AA and the 12 Steps after I had exhausted just about every other option known to mankind to either control or stop my drinking. I had faith in NOTHING at that point, least of all me. I had no hope and no faith. But I was also out of self-will and very clear on the fact I was going to die if I kept going the way I'd been going. So I was willing to try anything, even what I considered to be "hocus-pocus" as far as the Steps.

I surrendered and I worked the Steps. By the end, something had most definitely shifted in me in a way that I could never have brought about myself. EVER. I am 22 months sober today, exactly. I am going through the Steps again and, this time as well, things are moving that I could have never gotten to move on my own without some Divine Intervention. So AA and the Steps may not be everyone's path, but they sure have been mine.
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Old 12-13-2014, 09:42 PM
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I have been looking on SR for a few months. This is my first post. Today I mailed letters of apologies. This was very hard, I am only on day three but I feel I needed to do this to be able to help make peace with myself. The shame I constantly felt made me hate myself and drink into oblivion. I have admitted to others that I abuse alcohol and am moving on. I have done what I needed to do to amend the past and can finally go forward. Wether they accept my apologies, scorn me or mock me is up to them. My part is done. I can now proudly say to myself that I have the strength to do this. I feel free.
I don't know what step this is but it is a step in the right direction.
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Old 12-13-2014, 11:17 PM
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I often think of step two as the choice of recovery method. At various times I came to believe that all sorts of things could restore me to sanity e.g a new job, a geographical, a doctor, a therapist, a new girlfriend, not smoking the last two cigarettes at night, eating better etc etc. none of them worked.

Then I came to AA and after looking around a bit at the recovered people, step two asked me was I willing to believe that the same power that helped them could work for me too.

See,I'm didn't actually believe, but I was willing to believe if I experienced some proof along the way. That opened the door to AAs spiritual program of action, the sole purpose of which was to connect me with the God of my eventual understanding who would solve all my problems.. It worked.
Had I been unwilling to believe under any circumstances, if I totally closed my mind to all spiritual concepts, then AA would not have been a useful program for me.

Step one=problem, step two = solution, step three = decision, step four = action.
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Old 12-14-2014, 05:45 AM
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Thank you all so much for your input. These replies have truly helped me.
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Old 12-14-2014, 05:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Linz View Post
I've made it to the first step dozens of times. In fact, every single time I have woken up with a hangover, I "work" the first step. My question is about the second step.

Many times it’s been shown that when one is having difficulty with a step one should go back to the previous one and complete it thoroughly. In this case step one which is the foundation of the rest of the steps.

BE WELL
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Old 12-14-2014, 06:02 AM
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Here's the first three steps in plain English:
1) alcohol will kill me
2) there is a power greater than me that wants me to live.
3) do I want to live or die?? If I want to die,stop here.

Here's something to think about on the second step:
Came to believe...... Not something intended to sit on the second step until we fully believe.we make a decision we believe in a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity( the insanity that the bb talks about is the insanity that we can drink like them so called normal people- we can have no I'll effects from having justan few drinks- we can have a couple and we away no problem).
We come to believe by continueing on with the steps....in order. Then we have a spiritual awakening and MUST continue practicing these principles and NOT rest on our laurels or we are headed for trouble, and I personally proved that true. Not to the point of drinking, but really dammed close.
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Old 12-14-2014, 06:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Linz View Post
If my higher power can restore me to sanity, why would "he" let me dabble in the insanity for so long?
I'm not necessarily a religious person, but I do believe in a God (of my understanding.)
Anyhow, a pretty simple question, so there has got to be a pretty simple answer, right?
Simple answer is action speaks louder than words. The first step is merely an recognition step and involves little, if any action. There are 11 more steps for a very simple reason - Faith without works is dead. For an alcoholic - faith without results is deadly.

The remaining steps supply the action necessary to remove the obsession. Recovery is not just about not-drinking. Not-drinking is completely passive. Spiritual based recovery is about taking the actions necessary to solve the drinking problem in the most reliable way possible.

"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps...". Note the word "steps" is plural.

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Old 12-14-2014, 07:12 AM
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I saw it as I was living based on my selfish wants, wanting to be drunk. Restoring to sanity is to do what we are meant to do, which is be a better person. Not sure if that makes sense?
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Old 12-14-2014, 08:07 AM
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Pirene,
just saying hello and welcome.
and way to go on three days.
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Old 12-14-2014, 11:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Linz View Post
I've made it to the first step dozens of times. In fact, every single time I have woken up with a hangover, I "work" the first step. My question is about the second step. If my higher power can restore me to sanity, why would "he" let me dabble in the insanity for so long?
I'm not necessarily a religious person, but I do believe in a God (of my understanding.)
Anyhow, a pretty simple question, so there has got to be a pretty simple answer, right?

Thanks all!
So you understand the disease concept in step one. Great. Its just a conclusion in your mind, an information step, not a life story!

Step 2, is just a willingness to believe in something other then yourself. You do not have to believe in anything at this point, the belief comes later on after you work the steps. Step 2 - This is what Ebby Thatcher brought to AA, Ebby was Bill Wilsons best friend. He was apart of the Oxford Group or Washingtonians, and while around the dinner table at Bills house, talking while Bill was drinking, Ebby more then likely got tired of talking to drunken bill on religious matters, and bam there is where the idea of step 2 went from religious to spiritual.


Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable. - Its more then what is written here, there are 40-odd pages out of just over a 100 pages on step 1. Its impossible to deduce step 1 into one line. Obsession of the mind, Allergy of the body, phenomenon of craving (how cravings get stronger and stronger after the first gulp of booze)

Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. - Willingness to believe in something other then myself, is all to make a beginning.

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Make a decision to go on with the rest of the steps. A decision without action is just a thought. We alcoholics have imaginative thoughts, often no action. To turn our thoughts and actions over to a god of our own understanding. The step 3 prayer, on our knees was very powerful to me. When I did it decades ago, I felt some relief.

These first three steps involve no action, they are conclusions in our mind.
Step 4 is the start of action where we put pen to paper. Many people shy away from this part, even more shy away from step 5. I see it in Big Book studies I do, where we would have 40 attendees, then by step 4 and 5, half the room doesnt show. Its happened the same way, 20 times now.
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