And of course, I did start with that one. I’ll never forget asking my sponsor ‘Do I have to tell you everything?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, and start with that one’ because he knew something bothered me for me to say that. He states, “It’s all ego that gets in our way.
Keep it simple aa big book how to#
When we hear our voice putting things in perspective, we’re going ‘Wow, that really was a lie.’ We begin to see that and learn how to trust our voice again” says Jim. “ Addiction lies to us in our own voice and that’s a very powerful thing.
What that does, is it right-sizes the emotional content of your inventory, when we share it with somebody else.” Many times, emotional and traumatic events feel much bigger in our lives than they do to others, so sharing them can help make them more apportioned to our lives than they felt before. We’ve already done an inventory of ourselves in step four, and “now we’re putting it out there and doing it in a way that’s fact-based and not emotion-based. So what you’re doing is you’re reintegrating all of these selves, if you will.” Sometimes those in recovery even question the need to share with another person – isn’t admitting your wrongs to God and yourself enough? Jim explains that there are two reasons you need to share with someone else: “One, there’s different processing in our brain, when I read something, when I see something, and when I verbalize something.
This can feel daunting for someone who’s new to recovery because of the vulnerable nature of sharing your past wrongs with someone else. It’s a wonderful recipe for how to stay sober.”Īfter taking inventory of yourself, step five is to admit to yourself, God, and another human being exactly what you’ve done wrong. He notes, “ There is so much action that we can do behaviorally, in the reading. Taking action, and helping others take action, is at the heart of his work. Now he dedicates his life to helping others, especially those with chronic pain, find happiness in living sober lives. He credits the 12-step program for giving him a new way to live. In 1999, he completed pain rehabilitation and got off of all the addictive pain medications and stopped drinking for good. He realized that treatment wasn’t the issue: he didn’t have a sober way of living. He’d tried treatment programs, but always ended up turning back to alcohol and opiates. The trouble came when he started drinking. Chronic pain has been a consistent part of his life since childhood, and for a long time – 18 years – opioids helped manage that pain. I can’t just take a pill and call it a day, which is what we want to do.”Īs someone who’s had serious health challenges since birth, Jim is no stranger to treating illness and taking medication to manage his conditions. He not only facilitates countless 12-step meetings, but has also been in recovery himself for 20+ years.Ĭhapter 6, aptly called “Into Action” is Jim’s favorite chapter because “it requires action on my part. Jim, now retired, worked in the addiction recovery field for many years. We spoke to Jim Ryser about the most important aspects of taking action in recovery. Humans are complicated, and sometimes our lives get messy, especially when addiction is involved. Just because something is simple, though, doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s so simple, in fact, that on first reading, it almost feels like there should be more. Through actionable steps, like morning and evening routines, the chapter suggests a simple framework for living a sober life. While the chapter covers many of the 12 steps, beginning with #5: “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs,” it doesn’t just talk about them: it lays out a path to action. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else all their life storyįrom Chapter 6 of the Alcoholics Anonymous Big BookĬhapter 6 of the Alcoholics’ Anonymous Big Book is all about taking action. They only thought they had lost their egoism and fear they only thought they had humbled themselves.
0 kommentar(er)
