Step of the Day

Working the Twelve Steps has become a way of life for me. I carry their simple, yet profound wisdom in my heart and in my head every day. Every morning, no matter how hectic, I take as much time as I possibly can to center myself for the day. Some days I have only a few minutes and some days I may have two hours to read from books of recovery, pray, and quietly sit in meditation. On days that I may only have a few minutes, I silently say the Serenity Prayer and choose one Step that I feel will help me the most during the day. If I don’t have an immediate feel for how my day will progress, I use the Step that correlates to the current month. I try to insert that Step into my day wherever possible. It always amazes me that there are always situations, thoughts, or feelings during any given day where my Step of the Day can be used. I find there is a need for me to use all twelve of the Steps in some way every day. By focusing daily on just one of the Twelve Steps, their meaning and their effectiveness on the quality of my daily life is made clearer to me.

By incorporating the Steps into my daily life I not only greatly improve my life, but I can see it spilling into the lives of people I interact with. When I begin to feel, angry, frustrated, ashamed, or fearful over something that happens during my day, I can turn that feeling inside out by looking the source of my feelings in the eye and using my chosen Step of the Day to process those feelings. I am able to take my current situation and view it in a healthy way. Using the Steps helps “relieve me of the bondage of self” and helps me to live my daily life in a calmer and more meaningful way.

Reprinted from the Spring 2012 issue of S-Anews©.