A Study in 12 Steps: Maintaining Our New Found Personal Awareness and Newness of Life

"Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eyes are open, your whole body is filled with light; but if your eyes are closed, your whole body is in darkness. And if the light in you is dark, how great will that darkness be."

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6

In Practicing the Power of Now, philosopher Eckhart Tolle says we have two choices in life: We can either resist life or we can yield to it. “Yielding means inner acceptance of what is,” says Tolle. “You are open to life. Resistance is an inner-contraction, a hardening of the shell around the ego. You are closed. If the shutters are closed, the sunlight cannot come in.”

Notice how Tolle’s observation closely resembles that of Jesus Christ in the above excerpt from Matthew’s Gospel. If the lamp of our entire being is the eye, then we must be willing to keep our eyes open so that we can face the reality of life; even if that reality is not pleasant.

When we refuse to open our eyes to reality, we exist in darkness. But when we are willing to open our eyes to the Light, when we are able to see, acknowledge and accept life just as it is-- not as we would have it be-- we are steps closer to being fully alive.

Working Steps 10-12 helps us to yield to reality and keep our eyes open to the Light of our Higher Power. These Steps are all about self-awareness. For years many of us were not aware of our feelings, needs or patterns of behavior. We resisted life and we were closed-down within ourselves. We built walls around us because we could not accept life on life’s terms.

Many of us have already worked Steps 1-9. Through these Steps, recovery has taught us to accept the things about life that we cannot change and to take responsibility for our own lives. Acceptance, or yielding to life, has enabled us to tear down our old walls of isolation and to replace them with proper boundaries. Boundaries protect us from predators, while keeping us open to life. We have learned to embrace the good and the bad about ourselves, others and life. We now live life instead of fighting it. Living life requires daily awareness.

Step 10 gives us the daily opportunity to stay in touch with ourselves. It’s crucial to monitor our feelings throughout the day. Feelings are the barometer of our inner well-being. Feelings of discomfort are like the pop-up boxes on our computer’s security system. They help us to know that something is going on inside of us that needs attention.
 
Awareness of our feelings helps us to befriend them and ask them what they have to teach us about our inner-selves. Allowing ourselves to feel also frees our system of toxins that, if unattended, will cause us to act-out in harmful ways. If we should do or say something hurtful, this step also reminds us to take responsibility for our poor behavior and to make amends as quickly as possible. Doing so provides us with integrity and boosts our self-esteem.

If we are confused by our feelings or behavior, Step 11 gives us the ability to surrender our confusion to our Higher Power. Prayer and meditation place us in a quiet space where God can lift our self-awareness to new heights. Our Higher Power thus gives us strength and courage to move forward. We just need to ask.

Step 12 helps us to “live” all of the principles of 12 Step spirituality in all we do. It also encourages us to take our new spiritual awakenings and share them with everyone who is hurting in some way. This ensures that God’s natural flow of giving and receiving will continue to bless the world.

Best of all, these Steps keep us focused on the here and now. Acceptance takes away the need to struggle with life and silences our worries about tomorrow. We can now be fully present, living one moment at a time and enjoying one moment at a time-- All of the time. And we can allow our souls to shine!