Week #4 – Guidance (Steps 10, 11 and 12)
Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
“The second paragraph on page 84, takes us from the Sharing and Amends Steps (Four through Nine) to the Guidance Steps (Ten, Eleven and Twelve).”
“This… brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along… This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.”
“Please note that in this paragraph, the ‘Big Book’ authors dramatically change their sense of urgency with regard to the steps. Until this point, the authors have used words such as ‘next,’ ‘at once,’ ‘promptly,’ and ‘we waste no time’ to stress the importance of taking the first nine steps in a couple of hours. Now they tell us we are to practice the Guidance Steps daily for the rest of our lives.”
“These transition sentences are immediately followed by a summary of Steps Four through Nine. In this review, the authors use the same words they used when they originally presented Steps Four through Nine to us.”
“…Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear (Step Four). When these crop up, we ask God AT ONCE to remove
them (Steps Six and Seven). We discuss them with someone IMMEDIATELY (Step Five) and make amends QUICKLY if we have harmed anyone (Steps Eight and Nine).” Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.”
Ask the Tenth Step question (page 84, para. 2, line 2).
“Will you continue to take personal inventory?”
Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood (God), praying only for knowledge of (God’s) will for us and the power to carry that out.
Pass out Eleventh Step guidance books or the two-sided, one page Guidance Meeting handout.
Four Paths-Guidance
“There are two parts to prayer and meditation. Prayer has to do with talking and meditation has to do with listening. We listen in order to receive guidance directly from the ‘One who has all power.’ ”
Describe how prayer and meditation have enhanced your recovery.
Twelve Characteristics of Guidance
“We are going to practice the meditation part of the Eleventh Step right now. We will take a five minute ‘quiet time.’ During this period of silence, we ask that you write down anything that comes to you, such as thoughts, images, sounds or feelings.”
“After the ‘quiet time,’ we will share our guidance–the messages we received that pass the test of Forgiveness, Faith, Unselfishness and Honesty. We ask that you not share anything that is based in Resentment, Fear, Selfishness or Dishonesty.”
“We realize these messages can be very personal and are normally discussed with our sharing partner first. However, if you believe the group will benefit from what you have received, we ask that you consider sharing it with us now. In addition, you will be helping those who may have difficulty with the listening part of the Eleventh Step to see how simple and straightforward the process really is.”
“We will now practice a five-minute ‘quiet time.’ ”
11th Step Format – Page 1
11th Step Format – Page 2
(Five minutes of silence.)
Share guidance for five to ten minutes.
“Whether we shared guidance or listened to others share their guidance, we have now taken Step Eleven.”
Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to (others), and to practice these
principles in all our affairs.
Ask the Twelfth Step question (page 89, para 1, line 5).
“Will you carry this message to others?”
“We have now taken all Twelve Steps.”
“Are there any questions or comments?”
Copyright: Faith With Works Publishing Company, Wally P., 2010 (Rev. 03/13)