In the 8th and 9th Steps we learn to see and examine our deeds without hiding behind our excuses.
Am I (or was I) really ready for those steps? Did I complete them from that perspective? Do I need to take another look?
Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and it seems to me a good day to talk about making amends.
The idea of making amends confused me in the early days of my sobriety. I knew I was supposed to do it, but I really had no idea of what to do or how to go about it. I equated it with saying “I’m sorry.” I was well-practiced at that, as most addicts are, but somehow it didn’t seem like enough. That was how I went about it, though, and pretty quickly. I suppose I had a sponsor, but I wasn’t big on taking advantage of sponsorship (or taking direction), and I saw recovery as more or less an event, rather than a process. Thus I was gung ho, ready to go — and far from being in the know.
That went about as you would expect. Continue reading
by Bill
thefix.com
I wrote in a previous post (the 2nd one down, I believe) about things that we need to accomplish before undertaking to make amends to others. Merriam-Webster.com defines amends as compensation for a loss or injury, as do most dictionaries that I’ve checked. To make amends is to do more than simply say, “I’m sorry.” If something is serious enough to require amends, it is serious enough to consider carefully how the amends is to be made. Continue reading
Before we start to make amends we need to honestly face the impact that our addictions have had on others. This isn’t something that we can do right off the bat. In early recovery we are still in denial about many of the effects our using had on ourselves, let alone other folks. Yes, there are obvious things: financial damage, emotional damage, abandonment, infidelities of various kinds, lack of empathy, inability to fill roles in the family and elsewhere, dishonesty and so forth, but there are other, more specific and far more subtle things that may even have affected the people in our lives more than the obvious ones. Continue reading
Stumbling along the Middle Path, one day at a time.
Examining how to live a life amplified by purpose, intent, and virtue. Family, friendship, marriage, fatherhood, masculinity, fitness, self-defense, art, music, philosophy, theology, and politics.
from Marcus Wynne
Stumbling along the Middle Path, one day at a time.
Recovering Out Loud
Web Developer | Systems Analyst | Project Manager
Trying to ace sober living
Stumbling along the Middle Path, one day at a time.
Stumbling along the Middle Path, one day at a time.
The Middle Path, One Day At A Time
What...Me Sober? 