A Note From The Heart
I would recommend the daily reading for the 12 steps backwards to remind ourselves what causes darkness to cover our bright light. When we are walking a path of righteousness, out light starts to shine through. We begin to walk upright, head held high, we believe in ourselves again, or maybe for the first time ever. Recovery Housing adds the support system, structure, and safety net needed by anyone new to recovery, whether it’s your first time, or 11th time, it does not matter.
Step By Step
12. Having detached us spiritually because of ignoring these steps,
we let our fellow alcoholics fend for themselves and practiced these principles sporadically.
11. Let our conscious contact with God as we understood him lapse
by praying only in emergencies for our will to be carried out.
10. Slacked off on personal inventory and when we were wrong, denied or hid it.
9. Reasoned that no one had been hurt by us more than we had been hurt by them
and called it even.
8. Made a game of rationalizing the harm we had done others.
7. Sang “I’ve Gotta Be Me”.
6. Decided that our defects of character were too much fun to give up.
5. Denied to us, to God and to everybody else that we had ever done anything harmful.
4. Quickly cast a weak flashlight over our moral history.
3. Made a decision to keep our will and our lives totally in our own control.
2. Came to believe that since our troubles were of our own making,
we would have to solve them without outside help.
1. We decided that we could control alcohol and or drug use, that our lives were manageable.
Challenge Yourself
I challenge you to try your very best to post-pone instant gratification for one week. Whether it’s not going for the extra ice cream scoop, calling off sick or skipping a meeting because we are too tired, let’s see what happens to ourselves for one week. Would you do it? Could you do it? I believe in you; we all believe in you. In fact, take this challenge and report back how you felt, if it was too hard, or too easy (which if it’s too easy, please help teach us your secret).
We Are Survivors
We are worthy of self-love, God’s love, our brothers and sister’s love, our neighbor’s love. Let’s fill ourselves up from the inside out verses outside in. I have hired folks from our homes to work in our office, as staff, because there is so many of us with untapped potential. How many times were we creative in finding our fix, surviving in conditions not meant for survival, finding energy when we are extremely sick in the morning, creatively creating a plan to get our medicine? Furthermore, we are survivors from something with a very small remission rate and killing us faster than believe. We should shout out from the rooftops “We beat our own cancer!” Even if only for today. Congratulations. You are a miracle, and we at New Foundations are very proud of you. Keep up the great work!
– Mikella Chrisman, Executive Director
The 12 steps backward is in reference to https://aspiritualevolution.net/2019/11/17/the-12-steps-backward/