Listening
I well remember my mum and often the teachers at school, asking “Are you listening?” and it wasn’t really a question! It was a demand for me, or us in the classroom, to pay more attention, and it always heralded big trouble if not obeyed. In my adult life, I have come to understand the word more fully, to see it less as a rebuke and much more as the essential tool in my AA meetings. If you listen in meetings, you will hear what others share and come to feel so much less alone. You will hear about their journeys and their struggles to reach sobriety. This will enable you to identify and get yourself into perspective.
If you listen, you will hear what helped them get well. You will be advised to get the Big Book, to attend meetings, to get a sponsor and join a group. At the beginning we sometimes cherry-pick what we will commit to. We haven’t listened very well. If you listen, you will hear what might bring on a relapse. You may learn what process took over in you letting go of your sobriety journey. Thinking about the factors, you may see you too are on a slippery slope – going less frequently to meetings, not staying in touch with your sponsor – using the Big Book as a doorstop tells its own tale.
On another level, we need to listen to our Higher Power. If you have asked to be a channel in order to help others, you need to listen to the answers. Sometimes I have thought that I just had a good idea, forgetting that the source of such inspiration might be that Higher Power, whatever and whoever I have deemed that to be and that I did ask that very morning.
Listening to your sponsor is also advised: they have done this journey, perhaps repeated the Steps, and will share their experience, strength and hope. Speaking as a sponsor, the above is not to be missed! Our sessions are full of laughter and empathy, and the song ‘Lean on me’ is playing in my head.
Elaine K
Aberdeen Women in Recovery
