Steps 10 and 11 at the Fellowship of the Spirit in Conyers, GA

OK, we're back.

We're

we're going to cover 10 and 11 and we're just told to trim it down a little bit. But

but these, these are my two. These are two of my favorite sets because we do all this work right and we get all cleaned up.

See, a lot of people think that you grow by working the 1st 9:00.

I don't really believe that. I believe what we do is we clear away. What's blocking me from God in the 1st 9:00 and then I grow in 1011 and 12.

That's that's where I grow and that's where I get to see what the spiritual life really is all about.

And the last thing I forgot to mention, we're talking about a men. Somebody just brought it to my attention. When you make an amend, the worst thing you can do is to try to figure out how it's going to go.

Never do that because I've never had an amend yet go exactly the way I thought it would. I've had people that I thought would welcome me back with open arms, tell me to get the heck out of their life. I've had people who who I never thought would speak to me again, welcome me back. So we get done with amends and actually we start this process before we're through immense. And what my sponsor had me do is read 10 and 11 out of the book every morning and do what it

to do, and read 10 and 11 out of the book every night and do what it said to do. There's a thing about being disciplined that we don't have right,

and the book says that we let God discipline us this way. But the truth of it is, is that I have to sign up to sit down and do this stuff. I'm a believer that drunks do not do anything unless they see a benefit in it for themselves.

I mean, I didn't come day unless there was some kind of benefit for me. I certainly didn't come here just to become an altruistic human being,

right? And 10:00 and 11:00 was like this for me. It was like, it was like being around these people and doing this deal because I committed to doing it, but I didn't start to see the benefits for quite some time. Okay, the 10th step has so much in it and it's only a couple pages, so I'm going to quickly read it and just hit on a couple of highlights because there's so much in the 10 step.

So on page 84, it says

this thought brings us to step 10, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commence this way of living as we cleaned up the past.

Now here's the first big deal about the 10 step. We have entered the world of the Spirit.

Says that in 10 I made a decision, turned my well in life over the care of God in the third step, right? But it says to me in the 10th step is where we've entered the world of the Spirit. Here's where I am. I've gotten here. Now what do I do with it?

Our next function

is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.

Now

lot of people, and I think to it, it talks about understanding and effectiveness of how to carry this message. That's what I think a lot of this is. But what ends up happening is because I'm awake now

and not consumed with myself by the time I get done with nine. What ends up happening is they start to grow an understanding and effectiveness simply because I'm aware of everything that's going on out here right where before wouldn't even wear you.

This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear.

When these crop up, we ask God it wants to remove them.

We discuss them with someone immediately, make amends quickly. If we have harmed anyone, then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. A lot of people have talked to me about the 10 stuff that that little bit of the paragraph is the tent stuff. That's not the tent stuff. That's a small part of it, and the reason it's there is to keep me out of me.

My job, according to the 10 step, is to carry the vision of God's willing to all of my activities.

That's my job.

How can I do that if I'm consumed with me?

I can't now. What makes me consumed with selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear?

So what they're talking about here? As far as I'm concerned, Dave may have a whole different approach to this deal,

but as far as I'm concerned, all that is, is an exercise to keep me out here

so that I can carry the vision of God's will and all my activities.

Because there's two things that have got to occur for me to be able to do that. One is I can't be consumed with me. And the second thing is I have to stay in here and now

I cannot be out here. I can't be back here. If I've gone through the first nine steps and I've still got regrets or something from the past, I've done it wrong.

Better start looking,

or if I've got demons chasing me from the past and I'm done with nine, I better find out why.

So you hear a lot if you're new, you hear about this thing called 10 step buddies.

And I have a couple of very close ten step buddies and then I have a few others that I use. But here's what we do is the best analogy I ever heard about this. This portion of the book about continuing to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. And what most drunks do when they first come into the ten step, they keep taking their spiritual temperature all the time.

And what ends up happening is you're always looking at yourself again,

that's not what this is about. What this is about is like driving a car down the street.

You're not sitting there all tensed up, right? You're just watching

and all of a sudden there's a car over to the right. OK, well, I can't go that way. I mean, it's about that simple. It really and truly is. So what we do is we continue to watch for and it tells me continue because it's going to continue to happen. Selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. Now I can recognize. By the time I get here, I can recognize resentment and fear and don't mind admitting that very

much it it's really no big deal,

I tell you. What I don't like to admit is that I'm lying, being dishonest, or selfish. Those are the two I don't like to admit.

So it says, what are we doing? We get this right. All of a sudden I'm sitting there and I'm going through my day

and all of a sudden I'm just consumed with all kinds of things. It happened to me just 5-10 minutes ago. I got a text. I went up to my room and I got a text on a real estate deal. I'm doing we. I think we have a problem. Will you call me tomorrow when you get out of your retreat?

Well, my head's all over, and I'm about to come down and talk to you people about staying in the now,

right? You know? So I sat there, I didn't call somebody. I asked God to remove my fear of financial insecurity, right? And that I'll deal with it tomorrow when we're done with this. And it'll either happen or it won't. No big deal. But then it says when these crop up we ask God at once to remove them at once,

not two days later.

I have had so many people tense stepping with me lately, people calling me to 10 step. And when I asked this question I say, have you asked God to remove it? They all say no, not yet,

because why? Some of us hold on to these like their childhood friends.

We don't want to get rid of them. We enjoy the drama, we enjoy the fear. We enjoy being pissed,

but it keeps me in my head, so it's all about getting out of my head. So then it says we ask God at once to remove them.

Here's the line that the 10 step buddy thing comes from as we discussed them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. What I personally do is when these things crop up, I'll ask God at once to remove them. If they stay on and I can't think of somebody else and get out of my head, then I will call a ten step buddy

and I have got designated 10 step buddies. If you don't have them,

find him. It's that simple. If you don't want a ten step, it's because you're protecting your ego. I guarantee it.

So if I'm holding on to something, and when I was newer, I'd hold on to something for two days before I realized I was sort of being pissy, right? When truthfully I was up to hear in fear or selfishness because I didn't know what was going on. I really didn't. It took my body and my brain

a couple of years to straighten itself back out again. I heard a doctor say one time, the people that come from abusive backgrounds and what do we do when we drink and drug? We're abusing ourselves, right? That the receptors for fear and for sex and for anger get all mixed up.

So we don't know what we feel, and I think it takes some of us a very long time to figure out how we feel or what we feel. What does fear really feel like? What does anger really feel like?

Yeah,

yeah, can be. But I mean, one of the things that I came to find out is anything that feels good to the body I go to when I'm scared. So sex. Sometimes I'm not wanting sex, but I'll go there to get out of my head, right, Because I'm scared. Food. Food's another one. Foods, another good one.

There's all these different things. So it takes me some time to figure out, am I really resentful? Am I really scared? For me, they're not the same. They're two totally different things. How do I feel deep down inside down in here when I'm being selfish? I don't know about you, but my, my, I don't know. They're sort of My gut just starts to get a little tight

when I'm really being selfish. God's telling me something.

What about being dishonest?

You know, how does that feel? So I call somebody and I own up to what I'm doing. Why? Well, for two reasons. One is I need a different perspective. And most of the time, and yeah, Bob and I, we probably call each other more than anybody else.

Most the time the other one says it really doesn't have nothing to do with you,

alright. But sometimes they give you a different perspective. But my 10 step buddies will always turn it to

worried being selfish where he been dishonest were you? What is your part in this deal? See, there's a freedom in admitting you're wrong. You can't get past something till you admit where you're at. It's an impossibility. All of a A is based on that, every bit of it. So we ask God it wants to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately, make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then here comes the hard part.

Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help.

Doesn't say. We Mull it over.

We try to figure out how to really hammer that person

right. It doesn't say we beat ourselves up for being that way. It doesn't say we go into morbid reflection.

Oh I should be better than this. Anytime you say you should be better than this, it's just your ego getting its ass kicked. So don't worry about it, OK?

And then you resolutely turn your thoughts to someone you can help. And what I've come to learn with that is it's whatever's going on and they hear enough. I'm in an office. Maybe I'll get the secretary a cup of coffee. If it's somebody else that I haven't talked to, it's going through a tough time, I'll give them a call.

It could be a multitude of things. A lot of me is about calling my daughter and seeing how she's doing, just doing something to Get Me Out of myself. Right.

OK, so that's that part of the 10th step. Then it says love and tolerance of others is our code.

That's a huge one because most of us don't come in here with a loving and tolerant attitude toward life.

I've always looked at life like the enemy. I think I said that before, right?

One of the things I didn't really see a benefit to being loving and tolerant toward everyone. I really didn't. And it wasn't until I was sober quite some time and I was sitting in the middle of a fist up and I was really sick of who I was. And, and that's usually what happens to me as I get real sick of who I am. And then I go through the steps for a change. And this person looked at me and he was one of the nicest guys you ever wanted to meet.

And he looked at me and he goes, he goes, You know, Mike, you can be a real prick.

And I'm like, yeah, I can. He says. What about the idea that there that if you're going to sign up for this program, that your intent on a daily basis needs to be loving and tolerant toward others?

And I said, yeah, but I don't know how to do that. And he said absolutely, you're absolutely right. You don't know how to do that,

he said. I want you to start every single morning in your prayer and meditation and ask God to show you the way of patience, tolerance, and love towards your fellow man.

Because if you're connected to God, then I'm connected to all of you.

Period. That's the way it is. And I started to do that, and here's what I found out. I started to find out that I would be in situations that I would normally act

in a negative way. I was acting in a positive way,

and I wasn't doing it because I'm a nice guy. I wasn't doing it because I was planning to. I wasn't planning for any of those reasons. I was doing it because God was changing my heart

when love and tolerance of others becomes my code. Now here's another 110 steps got so much that you know we could talk. Dave and I could talk about it for forever and we have cease fighting anything or anyone.

I'll get there. Even alcohol.

Anything in anyone, even alcohol. That means I quit fighting the world,

right? I quit fighting this real estate deal that might be blowing up. It means I quit fighting the problem that is in front of me. It means I have by this time, sanity will have returned. I will quit fighting alcohol, but I need to if I'm spiritually fit. I have no handles.

The world cannot grab me.

There's a biblical term says where the world like a loose garment

and when I'm physically fit and spiritually fit, that's the way I live my life. I wear the world like a loose garment. Stuff just sort of rolls off my back. I can always tell when it's time to go back through the steps again. I start getting jerked again.

Everything starts to bug me. Traffic lights, people, you know, I can get pissed at people that drive in the outside lane of the highway, you know? And when that kind of stuff starts to bug me, I know that I'm not spiritually fit.

For by this time sanity will have returned.

They're talking about this insanity of the first drink will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes. That is the miracle of it. We're not fighting it. Neither are we avoiding temptation.

We feel as though we have been placed in the position of neutrality, safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us.

We are neither cocky nor we are we afraid. That is our experience, that is how we react so long as we keep and fit spiritual condition.

A A never attacks the drinking. Have you ever noticed that

we don't go through things like treatment centers do to attack our drinking?

A says. You come in, you throw both feet in the in the fire, you work the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and this promise of the drink problem being removed is going to happen for you. That you're going to be able to go out and live a life without even thinking about taking a drink, a drug or anything. That you're going to actually be able to go and do that.

And yet people sit back and they go, I don't understand how this thing works.

Well, this is what's promised to me

if I work the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Here's what I believe. And I drank after I came to a A so I'm not pointing fingers. But if you drink, if you do drugs after you have come into this program, it's because you want to.

There's no other reason.

The answer is right here. Put the responsibility on your own shoulders.

Period. That's it.

OK, so it says. This next line is huge. It is easy to let up on a spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels.

What are laurels?

Past deeds, right? We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe.

We're not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Right.

People do not sign out of AA. They drift out of A, they go to sleep. That's what happens.

They go to sleep. One of the things I have really and truly found out is that I am sometimes the worst judge of how I'm doing.

Some of the most seemingly bad things that have happened to me since I've sobered up have turned out to be some of the best things that could have happened. And some of the seemingly really great things that have happened to me, where I got everything I wanted has turned out to be some of the not so good things kind of thing. Frank used to say to me all the time. He'd say, what did you do today to stay sober?

That's a real simple thing in there. What'd you do today to stay sober? I don't want to hear about your meeting yesterday. I don't want to hear about your 12 step call last weekend. I don't want to hear about you writing inventory tomorrow. What'd you do today to stay sober? He used to get me all the time when we get into inventory. He'd always, he'd come in the club and he'd sit there and he'd look at you and go,

what step are you on? And I go, I'm on 4, you know that

He said, you're right today. I said no, but I did yesterday. He says you're not doing for Why don't you go down the bar and have a drink? God damn it,

get up and walk away,

right? Well, here's what he taught me. He taught me that what I do today is what's important, not what I did yesterday. And I've seen so many people die from this disease and they just sort of drift away. They get the things back. You know, there's these trite sayings that I sort of like which one of them is don't let the gifts a, A gives you take you out A, A,

you know, we get things back, we get things going. We start making a living, we start getting relationships with people who are halfway decent and, and we, we start to let these things take us out. Alcoholics Anonymous,

Here's where I come from. This is what my 10th step is. Every day is the day we must carry the vision of God's will and all of our activities. How can I best serve thee? Thy will, not mine. Be done.

These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our willpower along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. All of a sudden it's telling me to think again that I have a proper use of the world and that's carry the vision of God's will and all my activities. And I'm going to tell you how I do that. Here's how I do that. In my 11 step in the morning, I have a list of everything I'm going to do that day.

Sometimes I write it out, sometimes it's in my phone now

and I put everything in there. OK,

And I go through that list after I've done when I after I started my morning meditation on each thing that I have, I go, God, please show me how to carry the vision of your will into this activity.

And then I just quit thinking about it.

I let him show up

and it will blow you away if you're in the here and now to see it. I don't figure out how he's going to have me do it. I let him show up in the middle of it and it's a mind blower sometimes. Sometimes I get my mind blown because of this stuff. This is such an adventure. If you keep seeking spiritual awakenings, you're going to have them.

If you keep doing this deal, you're going to start to see that there's a power working in you that is going to blow your mind.

God is in the details, trust me. He really and truly is.

So we're going to do 10 and 11:00 tonight, and I think you want to talk about 10 exactly. Oh, got a question?

My teeth. Get dressed. Or is it like get ready for work, go to work, be at this appointment? I mean, have you, have you listened to Frank Stocks? He used to have us do this deal where for two weeks he would have us write down the most detailed list there is, includes going to the bathroom,

included get up, brush your teeth, I mean detail to the Max. And then what he would have is what he would say to us is you can do anything on that list,

but you can't do one thing that's not on the list,

right?

You don't have to do everything on the list, but you can do everything that's on there.

And so I, I have a very detailed list. I really do not not that I'm going to go to the bathroom, but I do have on the list get up so and so time, you know, go and meet this person at 9:00, go to the grocery store, that kind of thing.

What's your question? You want to talk about 10 or you want me to go on to 11? Then you share yours and whatever. What do you prefer once you do 10? I'm tired,

David. Alcoholic,

much like like Mike talked about. When I was new, my first sponsor

had me

reading 8485861011 and

and as I shared before, you know, I got the sobriety, they got a sponsor, but then I didn't do nothing for 14 months. I dove into building, not restoring, but actually having a career. You know, my my first career and my first career was selling a life insurance. OK, And not the long sell life insurance, the flim flam life insurance, 40 minutes I'm in your house finding your house, 40 minutes you're buying. OK.

Anyway,

I don't know where this fear of people came from, but by time I got sober I had it. Terrible frustration and despair. You know,

I've been bombed, I've been gassed, I've been shot at, and there was fear and all that, but nothing like at the end of my drinking,

OK, I still got in town to do my laundry because I couldn't stand staying on base. And I'm sitting there doing my laundry with 1/5 of Jack Daniels between my legs. These families coming in and out, their kids and everything and I'm looking at them like, what's your problem?

OK, Because I was terrified of people and now I'm sober. I've got no solution. I'm not interested in the solution. I'm full borne every character defect can possibly come up with to fill the void of alcohol

and I'm going in out and starting my first career. I told you that I had AI was getting ready for a job interview on the day that I got sober. I made the job interview and I got the job. Shaking like a dog shitting Peach pits.

I mean,

that's a California, boys. It's inappropriate for doing. My mom's OK. My mom is straight Alabama, all right,

I'm going to tell you she's Alabama all the way. All right, So how she married and you still a Mexican? I don't even know. All I know is I got a taste of both Cuervo and Jack Daniels. So

anyhow,

so

I hate people,

OK? And now I got to go stand in front of them and pitch them in 40 minutes or less to make a lifetime commitment and ask them for a check

all right about something I can't even qualify for because my alcoholism, I can't even qualify for the life insurance I'm selling. Not because I'm a physical risk, because I'm too high of a moral risk.

All right.

So anyway, so I my territory was two hours away

and I'd have this drive of two hours and it was Congress up here,

500 dudes up here talking and all want to be president. Okay. And I would be by time I got up to Stockton, CA,

I wanted to quit. I want to kill somebody. I wanted to go back in the Marine Corps. I wanted to be anywhere than where I was at.

Do that for about a month and I was, what am I supposed to do with this? And he gave me this. So why don't you do this on your way up and talk to God about this, right. He was setting me up. He was putting it on teeth. He said I want to hear about it when you come back in the morning, 'cause I leave it at the all evening appointment so I wouldn't leave till like lunch. All I hear about it and he was setting me up and I come back. Well, where were you? Resentful, self dishonest and afraid.

And I would tell him, he says, well, is that current stuff or is that old stuff?

How do I know? I've never done an inventory.

How do I know where this pile is coming from? Is it really current or is it stuff that's old,

right? How am I going to know if I don't do the first nine first, right? Is it current or is it a hold? I don't know. And and doing that, it built trust with my sponsor

just getting getting a mindset towards this kind of thinking and eventually getting to a point of going

got to do the first night

right. And

this entering in the world of the Spirit is, let me preface this by saying this, that

I think the effectiveness of 10

is,

is, is going to be based on the two steps that sandwich it. OK. If I'm still dragging anchors into the present, which is step 10, I'm not, it's not going to be as effective. And if I'm not doing these daily disciplines on 11, my step 10 is not going to be as effective. I believe that the effectiveness of 10 has to do with everything where I'm at with my past and what am I doing setting this stuff up in the evening and morning in my 11 stuff.

Because ten step is a right. Keep up right here, right now

with you in my face,

OK? This isn't like I get resentful, right? You're in front of me. I get resentful, selfishness, awesome, afraid. And I'm going to go home and write about it and call my sponsor and think about this is right here. This is happening right now. And my effectiveness to respond in this manner, that this, this is outlined is really predicated on the power that's coming, flowing through me at that moment.

And so if I'm still dragging in anchors from the 9th step,

the channel still clogged,

OK, counsel clock. And if I'm not clearing it out and getting it ready in in 11, it's still clogged. OK, So

but this entering the world of the Spirit,

this is an opportunity to live, live a life where you're not only not drug around by alcohol anymore.

This is an opportunity to be to not drag around by your emotions, your mental obsessions, your impulses, your physical material desires

to live and operate from the realm of the spirit in this world

to give him power over those things.

There's a, there's a line back in how it works in the very beginning. It talks about there those two have grave emotional mental disorders. And I always hear people talking about how that's tied into people that are somehow have clinical mental emotional disorders, but it never talks about

in that context. And it comes on the heel heels of we agnostics.

And when I was taught about that is that

there are those who have grave emotional mental disorders. And what did the agnostics talk about? We worshiped our ideas. We worship sentiment. And this is out of order. And for an alcoholic continue to live a life that is driven by mind and emotion is a grave situation, which means it'll kill me.

And we get here in nine on nine. We are on the threshold

if no longer being drug around by just that, my mind and my emotions.

I don't need to be afraid of my emotions.

God gave me emotions to feel emote. It's emotions that get me into action. It's emote emotion that gets me into motion.

Without that, I don't get into motion.

Apathetic people don't get into motion

because they don't feel anything.

It's it's a sociopathic position. It's emotional natures out of control in the other way.

OK emotions get me into motion action OK. And so we have this opportunity to to this threshold entering into this world of the spirit no longer be drug. Remember that

so that we can, like Mike so eloquently talked about,

carry a vision of God's willing to all our activities.

That's all I have in it. That was good. I like that.

OK, the 11th step, and I totally agree with Dave that this whole thing, this whole thing is combined, all right? The 10th step is about staying in the here and now. Here's my analogy of how 10:00 and 11:00 work together. OK,

it's like a computer.

When you boot up a computer in the morning, what does it do?

It checks everything, makes sure everything's running right, Make sure the power source is plugged in. If your printers not plugged in, it tells you, right? I mean, it makes sure everything's running fine and then the computer boots up right. What happens all through the day, you got spot checks, you got your Norton Antivirus running, you got this going on, you got that going on. And then at the end of the day,

you boot down your computer. What does it do?

It makes sure everything's OK. It makes sure everything's aligned, everything's set up, and then it shuts down. To me, that's 10 and 11 combined. That's how I look at it. I look at it like in the morning, I boot up, I use the 10 step throughout the day and if I'm awake it might review at night. I know exactly where I've been selfish, where I've been self seeking, where I've been thinking of myself. Only where I haven't packed anything into the stream of life

do I owe an amendment. I know exactly what I'm doing right? So the two of them work totally together. So it says on the bottom page 85, it says step 11. Suggest prayer, meditation. We shouldn't be shy on this matter of prayer. Better men than we are using it constantly. It works if we have the proper attitude and work at it. What's the proper attitude?

We have one willingness.

What's the proper attitude?

They're all good answers. My proper attitude is who's God and who's the drunk.

See, I don't know about you, but I can get twisted up. I can start to think God's supposed to do for me, not the other way around. So for me, the proper attitude is God's God. I'm the drunk and my purpose is to go out and carry his message, right? That's my job,

carry the vision, His will, and all my activities. So

it works if we have the proper attitude and work at. It would be easy to be vague about this matter, yet we believe we can make some definite valuable suggestions. I have a fortunate thing to happen to me. I did a big book workshop in Akron 5-6 years ago and they took me to an Oxford group meeting down at that church and I can't. What's the name of it anyway? There's a church that still has an Oxford Group meeting,

and this guy that was 90 some years old got up and spoke,

and he was one of the members of the Oxford Group when Doctor Bob came into the Oxford Movement.

And he got up and spoke. And he spoke about how AA is way too easy on us,

about how those guys had to go to church every morning, how those guys couldn't get up off their knees until they had a conscious contact with God.

And he said you guys don't talk about God enough. It was great. I just love this guy. I really did.

So here's where it starts. It says when we retire at night, it starts in the night, not in the morning for a specific reason.

When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Now, again, I say, if you're awake and in the moment,

you're going to know all these answers.

If you're caught up in your head about is this real estate deal going to make, is this girl going to leave me? Is my boyfriend going to run out the door? Is, you know, Oh my God, of course we can get so petty. We just want to get to Starbucks on time. You know that can occupy some of our brains, right?

So when we retire and I, we constructively review our day. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin did A5 page review every single night? Wrote it out. Frank had us write these out for a long time.

Where were we? Resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid?

Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once?

Here's one I have never been able to answer yes to unless I was homesick.

Were we kind and loving toward all?

What could we have done better? What a great question.

What could I have done better today? And I don't mean in the spirit, just in the spiritual realm. Could I have worked harder? Could I give him, my boss, an honest day's work,

You know, Could I have treated my daughter better? Could I have treated my girlfriend better? I mean.

You know, that kind of thing.

Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time, or were we thinking of what we could do for others,

of what we could pack into the stream of life?

You know, So we answer that question. But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others.

OK, So what does that mean? It means I don't sit around, beat myself up.

I answer the questions and then it says, after making our review, we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. Now, I personally do not sit around and meditate about what corrective measures I should take. I'm done. Because when I get up the next morning and reboot, reboot the computer, the answers to what I should have done, what corrective measures I should do, are going to be there.

See, when I ask God to do stuff

that He's supposed to do, I believe He's going to do it.

Doubt it. I really don't know.

Then it goes into an awakening. Now one last thing about the evening review. A lot of people will say to me, I'm just so tired. I watched Jimmy Fallon, then I I was going to do it. And then I fall asleep and you know, it doesn't have to be the absolute end of the night. I'll do my, I'll do my review sometimes at six, 7:00 before I even go to the meeting or something.

OK, Tonight I'll do it here because it's nice and quiet and I don't have TV, thank God.

On Awakening, let us think about the 24 hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Here comes the list,

and the list has been a proven thing for years. It's one of the best things any business person can do is make a list of what you got to do to keep you on track. Well, I think it's good for life to.

Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self pity, dishonest, or self seeking motives.

I hit this place years ago where I realized that sometimes I wake up scared

or sometimes I wake up already scheming about what I need to do that day and ask God. I said God, would you make that very first thought? Have in that place between sleep and consciousness.

And ever since that day, this is my first thought. It's an amazing thing because my brain can take off like this, all right?

Under these conditions, we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all, God gave his brains to use. I hate it when people who have been sober for a long time ago, oh, I'm just an alcoholic, I can't use my brain. I've been told You know that My best thinking got me here.

If you've worked the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and you do this stuff, then guess what? You get to use your brain

because I'm telling you this is leading into what's the The bonus thing for this whole deal is intuitive thought.

And this is leading to intuitive thought, which is what it's the, it's the creme de la creme. It's the conscious contact. It's The Walking with God on a second by second basis and being able to go what should I do here and getting the answers. It's amazing stuff. When I'm plugged in, am I always plugged in? What takes me away from being plugged in?

Me

in that amazing.

I get excited when I talk about this.

So we ask God direct our thinking. Under these conditions, we can play our mental faculties with assurance. For after all, God gave his brains to use our thought. Life would be placed on a much higher plan. When our thinking is cleared of wrong motives and thinking about our day, we may face indecision. People say to me, I don't know how to make a decision. Well, it tells you in the book, we may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration,

an intuitive thought or a decision.