Dear Reader
There is so much depth to Step Six. The longer I’m in recovery the more I realise just how important this Step is to my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. All I’m asked to do is find the willingness every single day – and often, many times during the course of my day – to let go of whatever is unsettling me and ask the God of my understanding to remove it. Simple, but nevertheless extremely challenging at times. After all, it’s in my Higher Power’s time not mine and patience is another virtue I’ve had to learn to practice more. Knowing that this spiritual path is about progress not perfection allows me to accept my humanness, learn from my mistakes and celebrate the progress I make. Why wouldn’t I trust this Programme of recovery – it has given me so much more than not having to use alcohol to suppress those pesky feelings and emotions. Today, I choose to see my life as a series of adventures to be embraced, instead of an existence to be endured.
I find it fascinating to read how Tradition Six was crafted from all the mistakes and misguided ideas that our founders and early members made. There is a wealth of AA literature detailing how our wonderful Fellowship evolved and how the Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts were crafted. One of the many things I’m grateful for in AA is that not only can I learn from my mistakes but how much I can learn from others. That’s the honesty of this Programme. The Fellowship is fortunate to have all its previous pitfalls documented, and to be able to avoid them while continuing to evolve and support us all in embracing our primary purpose – “…to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.”
I’ve often heard in the Rooms, “A grateful alcoholic need never drink again” so don’t forget Gratitude week this month, as reflected in our June theme. It’s my sobriety birthday during June and while words alone can never fully describe my gratitude, my positive actions do. Happy Celebrations.
