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A Course In Miracles International
-AA Big Book, pg 50:
“Every one of them has gained access to, and believe in, a Power greater than himself. This Power has in each case accomplished the miraculous, the humanly impossible.”
 
A personal experience of Step Ten

ImageAn honest inventory is a consistent one. Consistently looking at where you find yourself and asking for what you really want in all situations. You are not asked to judge your inventory and then make assumptions of who you must be and what you must do. The whole purpose of an inventory is to admit you are wrong, about everything! 

Have you ever gotten upset for no apparent reason or some little thing set you off into a moment of rage and sadness? The reason this is so is your addictive nature of binging and purging. Instead of keeping a regular inventory, you put things off and then they build up until you're upset at someone or something for an entirely different reason than you think.

You used drugs and alcohol specifically so you didn't have to take a regular inventory and express yourself, but only when you felt like it, or when you were forced to. It may happen as well that when you don't get upset at all, you are not taking an inventory either.
  
Your whole world is upsetting and you have to look honestly at your feelings and express them. It always catches up with you. Why? Because you can't escape from yourself and the responsibility of your own mind. In this world of burdensome tasks, this single responsibility of honestly looking at your situation will actually set you free from suffering of any kind.

An honest inventory is a consistent one. Consistently looking at where you find yourself and asking for what you really want in all situations. You are not asked to judge your inventory and then make assumptions of who you must be and what you must do. The whole purpose of an inventory is to admit you are wrong, about everything!

The more you look at it, the more insane your whole thought process seems to be, and the more you'll want a solution that has nothing to do with your own ideas of yourself. You are doing exactly what you want to do, and you are doing it to yourself. The only reason you would judge your own inventory is because you believe it can defend your own authority. If you believe in a loving and caring higher power, then who would you want to be the authority? He is the authority because he is the author of you, creating you complete, healed, whole, and perfect in the likeness of him. Would you not rather be wrong than make separation your reality?

My mom suffers from a mental disorder and addiction. I often let my resentment of the situation build up and then took it out on her or on the people I love. When I got clean the situation didn't get any better, it got more painful. So I did the steps, admitted my powerless, asked to be restored to sanity, decided to turn my will and life over to God, did a searching and fearless inventory, shared the exact nature of my wrongs, was ready for God to remove my defects, asked Him to remove my shortcomings, made a list of people I had harmed and became willing to make amends, made amends, and yet as I felt better, I really wanted to help my mother in any way I could, especially with her struggle with addiction.

So I took an honest inventory, and admitted I was wrong. Suddenly it was I who was wrong, my mom really wasn't destined to die and be in pain and sickness. I didn't know how it worked, but I knew I was wrong. I began to see her as who she really is, the loving and caring person I knew she was and always wanted her to be.

Now my judgment of the situation seemed entirely meaningless. I could see what she really wanted because it was what I really wanted, and for a moment the conflict actually increased between me and her as I stood in the certainty of our true desire to be as we were created together. She kicked me out of the house and said she had enough problems without me telling her what to do. All I had done was ask if she could not chain smoke when I was around, otherwise I would have to go outside because I really couldn't deal with it anymore. I said I loved her and she could do anything she wanted, but that that was what I had to do.

We did not speak for some time. Then one day, she just came over to my house, we talked about little things for awhile, and then she said she had cut down on smoking and had asked for help from some friends and family. I was befuddled and it was not what I had expected at all. No matter what my inventory, it was wrong, and thank God! There is always much more being offered us than we're willing to accept. Now my mother is noticeably happier and calls me on a regular basis to talk about things she's going through or just to check in. I never thought my mom even had the slightest ability to recover and be honest. Boy, was I wrong!

You're always taking an inventory whether you realize it or not. It's the action of our mind to continue to grow and expand, and now it can expand past the limited ideas you have to the entirety of the mind of God, where nothing is impossible, and everything is certain. You are limitless because God, who created you like Himself, is without limits. Don't be fooled by the world you see, a whole new view and understanding of who you are is available to you right here and now.

All you have to do to travel beyond the stars is simply look honestly at where you find yourself, admit you're wrong, and ask for what you really want.


  
 
   

 
12 Step Miracle