Suffocating

Ok, I've done step One. How do I do step Two now?

Plath

Step 2
"We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

If you already have a spiritual belief in your life, you might journal about faith, believing that your Higher Power (God, Jesus, Shiva, The Universe, etc.) has the ability to help you along your path and guide you on your journey of recovery.

I think this step is particularly difficult for people who do are atheists, etc., or who have learned to doubt their Higher Power's ability to care for their needs, based on life experiences.

For me, it's been about placing my faith in my higher power (I don't have a name for my HP, I just know that he/she/it exists and that I have faith in it, feel it, and believe in it/him/her...and I often refer to that power as God for the sake of expedience) instead of believing that God has turned his back on me, so to speak.

Steps 2 and 3 are kind of difficult for me to decipher, as I have always been a spiritually minded person, so... When I get to the Second Step in ACA I will probably just do some journaling and meditating on whether I believe that God can restore me to sanity, what doubts/fears I may have about believing that deep down, etc., what my concept of God is, what is has been, and how I would want my Higher Power to be.

I think it's about finding our Higher Power, not necessarily the God we were taught as children, for those who grew up in overly religious households where religion was used as a fear tactic, etc.

In other 12 step groups, I've been asked to simply journal about these things, and any reservations I may have about placing my faith in a Power Greater Than Myself, and what I would ideally like my Higher Power to feel like, "look" like, etc., and become willing to place my faith in that Higher Power.

I am sure there are other members who may be of more help with this, but there is my take on it.

m1k3

As an atheist and a Buddhist step 2 was about me accepting that there was a cure for my suffering. I didn't need to know what the cure was, just to recognize that there was a cure available. To be honest, looking around my Al-Anon groups it was obvious that there was a cure and I wanted what they had.

So remember step 2 isn't about accepting help, it's about accepting that there is help available.

Your friend,

Kialua

For me I went the traditional religious route, Jesus. I realized that how my parents treated me and misrepresented God was not God's fault and that God was waiting for me to accept his love. I just had to stop beating my head against the wall. I read up on all religions and even some non religion stuff and made a clear choice to accept Jesus. For me it was life changing. To read the bible myself and attend a church of my choice was key. Instead of what I learned as a kid: "What does Luther think this means?" I found myself understanding things I never understood before. And with that came a great flood of forgiveness that I didn't even want to do, but just knew I had to, to be happy. And as for what I had to do and how I should live, I found it summed up in this verse

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?

• To do justly and
• to love mercy and
• to walk humbly with your God

.
Micah 6:8

I did what works for me, and live life accordingly to make me happy and take no blame.

Plath

I think this is a valid point...steps 2 and 3 kind of merge into each other, but they're technically separate steps, so...

Yes, I suppose that Step 2 is really about accepting the idea and belief that there is a "Power Greater Than Ourselves", whether that power is based on your religious preference, or the common bond of experience that we share as ACAs, and that power can "restore us to sanity".

I suppose Step 3 is more about becoming willing to "Turn our will and our lives over to that power", hence it's more about having faith.

I think that, for many of us, we felt as though we were worthless, and that our Higher Power had turned its back on us because we were bad people, or that a Higher Power could not possibly exist, based on the unfairness and abuse that we experienced as children.

Or many simply shrugged off the possibility of a "power greater than ourselves", as we believed that we only needed ourselves or other people to rely on in a codependent or narcissistic way (I use the term "we" rather than "I", "You", etc., for convenience, not to make assumptions about the group).

So yes, I suppose Step 2 can be kind of a simple step a lot of the time. It's just the willingness to accept that there IS a "power greater than ourselves", whatever that power may be, and that it can restore our sanity.

Good points everyone... I like these threads, because I enjoy the step study aspect of it. I think the steps are important and very beneficial, so it's nice to have a thread to discuss them.

Thanks for posting!

tromboneliness

I'm kind of the same way -- both in terms of level of belief and concept of Step 2. My sponsor (a Catholic, and not really a "recovering" one) and I almost came to an impasse over the fact that I'm at least an agnostic, and in friendly company will 'fess up to really being an atheist... but we managed to find enough common ground to keep working -- which is good, because he's a great sponsor. The way I put it was, "You and I are having pretty much the same experience -- you attribute it to God and I don't, but it doesn't really matter, because we're both getting the same type of result."

T

dothi

I found this to be a worthwhile exercise -- conceiving what a "higher power" might look like for me. Because of my abuse history, I'm not open to the Christian idea of "God" -- but if I could choose a "better" higher power than what was sold to me in childhood, what would that look like?

I ended up tracing back the "alternative" cultural roots of my family to other belief systems my ancestors used to practice. That gave me a lot to work with, and now I feel I have a very rich and unique idea of my own higher power that I am not only comfortable with, but proud of. Plus I gained a lot more understanding and appreciation for where my family really came from, rather than just believe that this last generation of dysfunction is all there is.

bluebelle

I have a belief in a HP. I am not a member of any kind of religious organization. I read religious texts--mainly Christian and Buddhist. I guess you could say that I believe that there is a power greater than myself. I can feel the presence of a greater force--God, or whatever you call it. I see it in the sky, trees, rivers, animals, etc.

Like other people on here, I sometimes have negative connotations when it comes to religion. I pretty much had to go to church when I was growin up. So, I'm not really into organized religion. I'm not against it for other people--just me. However, I believe that people can find their HP in their own way. It can just be the power that holds the universe together--or whatever.

GingerM

Thank you m1k3, that's brilliant! I'd been trying for many years now to figure out how to fit buddhism into the whole 'higher power' thing.

MsPINKAcres

Step 2 "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"

"restore us to sanity"

That is what "set the HOOK" for me in this process ~ I think this program introduced me to sanity! I believe it was my second al-anon meeting that the topic was Step 2 ~ I really don't know that I heard much about the "Higher Power" concept - all I remember hearing was "sanity"

They truly had something I wanted that I had never had ~ I was willing to go to any lengths at that time to find some type of sanity ~ I didn't care if they wanted to call the trees a Higher Power - I was in pain and needed help.

So in working Step 2 - I focused on what was sanity? what did I want? what was I doing to ensure sanity in my life and where was I going for that sanity? where was I placing my trust for sanity?

I heard a speaker offered the concept of a "god catalog" She said it's like the Sears "Wishbook" Christmas edition . . . you have the ability to order your heart's desire. . .

Whom do you want in charge of your sanity?
Order your heart's desire. . .

So I got to order a God of my understanding who was really concerned about my sanity, safety and welfare

That's just my e, s, and h from working Step 2 (the first time around, each time I work it, I learn more and more!)

PINK HUGS,
Rita

bluebelle

mspinkacres, I love that!!! Thanks for sharing!!