There are a lot of promises in the AA Big Book. Each step has promises…but there are requirements in order to realize the promises. These requirements…the work…required to realize the promises in each step are what I was reminded of today…what I was made aware of again.
If we look at step 9 it begins with “painstaking” mentioned and ends with the word “work” mentioned. If I’ve gotten to this step and I don’t know what the promises are for each step and haven’t met the requirements in order to fulfill those promises then I should start over….I haven’t done the painstaking work.
Two of my favorite promises are:
In step 9: “Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change.”
In step 12: “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps,…”
So like with any spiritual program you should have an awakening, be honest about it and take some action. If you get to step 9 and you don’t have a new attitude or outlook…or if you get to step 12 and you feel like you haven’t had an awakening….something went wrong and you should probably start over. That “…having had…” part in step 12 is not maybe had…or someday going to have…it says we had a spiritual awakening. So if we feel like we didn’t have one then we probably didn’t do the painstaking work in the rest of the steps.
“Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery.” p.568 AA Big Book 4th Edition. That sounds like some requirements to me…in fact they are essential.
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