Welcome to our 12 step video study series. This is a step two video and discussion.
StepTwo states that
"We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
In reading the actual text of step 2, I believe there are two major issues that are being addressed. The first is the concept of a power greater than ourselves being introduced, and secondly, the restoration to sanity. At a glance, there is an inference that we are insane. Actually, what they are saying is that the insanity lies in our behavior when engaging our addiction. Part of the insanity of our addiction are the rationalizations and excuses we used to justify our continuing addictive behavior. These are the fairy tales and half truths we tell ourselves that allow us to continue our behavior. The insanity is not just what we do while drinking or using, it is the pattern of thinking that leads us back to repeating our behavior again and again.
An exercise that I believe illustrates the power of [tag-tec]addiction[/tag-tec very clearly is this: picture in your mind an embarrassing or dangerous situation, or a really poor decision that you made when you were active in your addiction. Now, as you look back at it, isn't it easy to see how insane that was? The power addiction is this: when you made that decision it made perfect sense and now when you look back is hard to believe it the insanity of what you did.
The introduction of a Higher Power concept in Step 2, does not necessarily have to mean God.Tthe 12 step programs are very emphatic about each person being able to use their own concept of a Higher Power. In helping me with Step 2, my sponsor introduced two notable ideas to me. The first was, there is a HP and you're not it. He also asked me if I could believe that there is anything in the universe that is bigger or more important than I was? In struggling with these questions, I realized that the real point is that I had to get out of my own head, and trash the idea I could do this with my own self will.
One idea is that spiritual principles themselves can be your Higher Power. The 12 step big book describes three indispensable spiritual principles of honesty, openness, and willingness, the (HOW) of addiction recovery.
The spiritual principles most often associated with the 12 steps are: step 1 - honesty, step 2 - hope, step 3 - faith, step 4 - courage, step 5- integrity, step 6 - willingness, step 7 - humility, step 8 - brotherly love, step 9 - Justice, step 10- perseverance, step 11 - spiritual awareness, and step 12 - service.
We hope you've enjoyed it this discussion of step two, as well as the step two video. We will continue this series of 12 step videos to completion. we wish you the best in your quest for addiction recovery.
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