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Authors: Melody Beattie
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never is the primary purpose to convert a member or potential member to any religion. Affiliation with politics, religions, or denominations is prohibited in all the groups’ traditions. On our own time, we’re each free to be involved with whatever religion we choose.
Our job in recovery is to grow in our relationship and understanding of God as we each understand Him. We truly begin to grow when our understanding of our Higher Power turns into a personal relationship with Him, when we know that God is real, and when we feel that He knows and cares about each of us.
Some women who have been abused by their fathers have expressed difficulty turning their wills and lives over to the care of an omnipotent God referred to as a
male father figure.
That’s understandable. To them, a father represents control, abuse, manipulation, and fear. That’s why we have the freedom to understand God for ourselves, and why it’s crucial not to impose our beliefs on anyone else or let anyone impose his or her beliefs on us.
It’s not my job to tell you how to understand your Higher Power. The Steps suggest that we each come to some understanding of God. I’ve yet to hear anyone clearly and concisely explain how, exactly, he or she understands God. Most people at meetings will vigorously tell you what they believe God isn’t. The God of recovery isn’t a God of abuse or revenge. He’s not one who punishes. He loves and forgives us, and hears us whenever we sincerely talk to Him.
That’s good enough for me.
Activity
Track your understanding of a Higher Power. Write about how you understood God as a child and, if that understanding has changed, how you understand God now. Also keep track of any spiritual experiences or awakenings you’ve had. Keep an ongoing log that reflects your experiences as you grow in your understanding of what a Higher Power means to you, how you connect with God, and how God connects with you.
What Do You See?
Off and on over the past hundred years, people have written and continue to write about the power of goal setting. That includes visualizing—seeing in our mind what we want to happen. In 1978, Shakti Gawain released her book
Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life.
Sports leaders have honed their skills by practicing their particular sport in their mind’s eye for many years.
Although the Second Step says to pray only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out, it’s important to set goals too. It’s equally important to let go of our goals and let God work things out in our lives.
“What I regret most about my recovery from codependency is that I didn’t include setting goals for myself, goals that included using my creativity, creating my dreams, and doing meaningful work,” one anonymous recovering woman said.
Many of us believe we don’t deserve to have and achieve our dreams, and that’s sad. It’s easy to keep the bar set low for ourselves in all parts of our life: work, relationships, money.
But this Step conveys two important ideas if we read them carefully. One is that we don’t do the changing ourselves. A Power greater than ourselves—most likely not a doorknob—changes us if we do our part and work the Steps. The other important idea Step Two tells us is that our part is believing.
If we’re going to believe, why not set the bar higher?
I believe in setting goals, and then letting them go. I believe we should be as specific as possible about what we want to happen. “Be careful of asking for what you want. You might get it,” some naysayers warn. I believe that’s an ominous, negative response to what we desire and want.
While I don’t advocate self-will or seeking fame and fortune, I urge you to use goal setting and creative visualization along with Step Two to create a rich, full life for yourself. The athletes who use visualization as part of training agree that there’s little
Our job in recovery is to grow in our relationship and understanding of God as we each understand Him. We truly begin to grow when our understanding of our Higher Power turns into a personal relationship with Him, when we know that God is real, and when we feel that He knows and cares about each of us.
Some women who have been abused by their fathers have expressed difficulty turning their wills and lives over to the care of an omnipotent God referred to as a
male father figure.
That’s understandable. To them, a father represents control, abuse, manipulation, and fear. That’s why we have the freedom to understand God for ourselves, and why it’s crucial not to impose our beliefs on anyone else or let anyone impose his or her beliefs on us.
It’s not my job to tell you how to understand your Higher Power. The Steps suggest that we each come to some understanding of God. I’ve yet to hear anyone clearly and concisely explain how, exactly, he or she understands God. Most people at meetings will vigorously tell you what they believe God isn’t. The God of recovery isn’t a God of abuse or revenge. He’s not one who punishes. He loves and forgives us, and hears us whenever we sincerely talk to Him.
That’s good enough for me.
Activity
Track your understanding of a Higher Power. Write about how you understood God as a child and, if that understanding has changed, how you understand God now. Also keep track of any spiritual experiences or awakenings you’ve had. Keep an ongoing log that reflects your experiences as you grow in your understanding of what a Higher Power means to you, how you connect with God, and how God connects with you.
What Do You See?
Off and on over the past hundred years, people have written and continue to write about the power of goal setting. That includes visualizing—seeing in our mind what we want to happen. In 1978, Shakti Gawain released her book
Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life.
Sports leaders have honed their skills by practicing their particular sport in their mind’s eye for many years.
Although the Second Step says to pray only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out, it’s important to set goals too. It’s equally important to let go of our goals and let God work things out in our lives.
“What I regret most about my recovery from codependency is that I didn’t include setting goals for myself, goals that included using my creativity, creating my dreams, and doing meaningful work,” one anonymous recovering woman said.
Many of us believe we don’t deserve to have and achieve our dreams, and that’s sad. It’s easy to keep the bar set low for ourselves in all parts of our life: work, relationships, money.
But this Step conveys two important ideas if we read them carefully. One is that we don’t do the changing ourselves. A Power greater than ourselves—most likely not a doorknob—changes us if we do our part and work the Steps. The other important idea Step Two tells us is that our part is believing.
If we’re going to believe, why not set the bar higher?
I believe in setting goals, and then letting them go. I believe we should be as specific as possible about what we want to happen. “Be careful of asking for what you want. You might get it,” some naysayers warn. I believe that’s an ominous, negative response to what we desire and want.
While I don’t advocate self-will or seeking fame and fortune, I urge you to use goal setting and creative visualization along with Step Two to create a rich, full life for yourself. The athletes who use visualization as part of training agree that there’s little
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