12 Steps YouTube

Hi, I'm Beth W. E, and I'm here to talk to you today about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're going to be talking about step one. We admitted we were powerless, that our lives had become unmanageable. The admission of powerlessness is a difficult admission. What are you powerless over? For some people that may be alcohol, drugs? Other people, I have a lot of friends that are addicted to two legged drugs. People are addicted to many things. Have a friend that has an iPhone? Do they ever look you in the eye anymore? Cigarettes, compulsive behaviors, shopping, eating? Whatever it is, admit it. Give it words, give it language, that which we don't admit to that which we keep in the dark controls us. So give it a word. Are you powerless over something? Once you've admitted this powerlessness, step one is going to take you to a new level. Admission is the first step and honesty. And in step one, we're trying to learn honesty and self acceptance. It's okay. If you can't control how much you drink. It's okay. That you keep going back to someone who mistreats you. It's okay. If you don't know how to stop blaming other people for your lot in life. It's not okay. If you don't admit it. It never will be okay, if you don't admit it. Step one. We admitted we were powerless. If you look at the step, there's a dash after that. Now, I grew up going to Catholic schools. Some of you out there probably did too. Those nuns were nothing if they weren't good at the English, English language. These nuns taught me so much about grammar. And I learned that a dash means not to separate thoughts. But a dash is there to show you that whatever comes after it better describes the first thought. So step one we admitted we were powerless dash that our lives had become unmanageable. unmanageability is a function of powerlessness. unmanageability comes because powerlessness reigns. So the admitting of it will begin your first step at finding a way to manage your life. Step one is the only step that you have to get right. You can't forget who you are. You must know who you are. If you're admitting that you're an alcoholic, if you're admitting that you're a food addict, if you're admitting that you're a sex addict, a gambler. You're addicted to nicotine. You're codependent. Whatever it is that you're struggling with. The 12 steps can help you and step one is the beginning. get honest with yourself. Get real. Do a good first step. You know I like to tell people life is a limbo contest. How low can you go? If you don't hit bottom now, you're still in that game. hitting bottom for most people with obsessive compulsive disorders. hitting bottom is when you can make it get better. hit bottom enough already. be sick and tired of being sick and tired. The 12 steps can walk you out of this darkness. But you have to at first admit you're in the dark. Thanks for listening. Tune in with us next we'll be talking about step two. Hope to see you there. Thanks

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step two, came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step two is one of my favorite steps. It takes a closed mind and converts it to an open mind. It takes an old life and converts it to a new life. Step two is all about hope. I show up here, I just admitted I'm powerless over something I think is horrendous. And now what do I do? Oh, I come to believe that I can change the way I think, Is that really possible? Coming to believe is sometimes a process. We'd like to say at first we come. And then we come to and then we come to believe whatever it is, you're struggling with, whatever your admission of personal powerlessness was, you need to put that item down to get to step two. That's right. If you're addicted to hot fudge sundaes, they've got to stop. You have to put the plug in the jug. If you're an alcoholic, you have to stop so that your mind can have the time to heal. Step two is a wonderful step. Because it's the only step that we can take piecemeal, it will come to us a little at a time, we won't get it all at once, necessarily, will come to believe small things. And within five years, if we're really living the 12 steps, we'll be amazed at where we came from, and what really changed our lives, one belief at a time. Let's challenge some of those beliefs you have. Are you enough? A lot of people don't think they are. They spend their life trying to become something someone else will appreciate. And they lose the time. They lose each little day each little moment where they could really, really enjoy life. Step two is your rallying point. came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. If you struggle with the god concept, please don't stop the 12 steps. The reason they say a power greater than ourselves is because not everybody arrives at the door the 12 steps with the same belief system. Many of us have had a powdered gad mix on the shelf for years that we were given by somebody else. And when we take it down and mix it up with water, or pancakes come out flatter than flat. Don't settle for a higher power that somebody else handed down to you find your own. I asked you ask the higher power to come into your life. It will show up. For some people, it might be a recovery room where a bunch of people have overcome the same thing you're struggling with. For others. It might be a personal God. A personal guide that lets you know when you're on track, and gently lovingly guides your thoughts. It doesn't matter what you find, but start looking. Step two is about becoming a seeker. Step one, you admitted you had a problem. Step two, it's time to determine that you will seek solution. So glad you're joining us. We're going to talk about Step Three next time. Don't miss it. Thanks

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of WWW dot Beth web.com. And I'm here to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step three, made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood him. In the start from the back end of the step today, God, I'm turning something over to God. What is that? For some people when they arrive at this step? God stands for good, orderly direction. For other people, it stands for a group of drunks, depends what you're putting down. For some people, it means God, or real, living, being of some sort, with whom they communicate, it doesn't matter. But don't let your MIS interpretation of God stop you. The people who wrote the steps, wrote that part in italics, God, as we understood him, what does that mean? It means our understanding of the higher power is going to grow and change as we seek the higher power. Don't stop now. Just say, I don't know a lot about it. But I'm going to move forward with this step. made a decision. made a decision, the first three words and step three. Not to decide is a decision. If you choose not to decide you've made a decision not to make any changes. It is a decision. make a different decision. Are you sick and tired? Are you struggling with some things that's been eating your lunch every day? Make a decision. Make today, your day? Today the day to change something? I have a friend Jean who used to tell me all the time. If nothing changes, nothing changes. I'm sorry, but I hated hearing it from her. She was absolutely right. I wanted things to change. But I didn't want to do anything to make them change. She put a bumper sticker on the back of her car that said the same thing. And I used to drive behind her reading this bumper sticker in her voice. If nothing changes, nothing changes. Oh, golly. I was like, You gotta be kidding me. Right, Jean. But she was right. Step three is the beginning of the action steps. It's the step where we earn faith. It's our first venture into faith, believing something that we can't see, made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. It's a big order, isn't it? It's a huge order. If you look in the book, the 12 steps and 12 traditions published by Alcoholics Anonymous, the originators of the 12 steps, and you look in step three, the first word in the step is the word practicing. What it tells me is, this is a lifelong practice. We never get it perfect. We have to just keep trying. But just like a piano player, the more we practice, the better our our sound will be. The more we practice, step three, the better your life will be. Don't, don't sell yourself short. I'm going to make it easy for you. Let's change the step briefly. Just between you and me, made a decision to take the rest of the 12 steps. Can you do that? If you can do that, that's enough of a step three for anyone. Don't miss step four. It's where the rubber meets the road. You're gonna get to know yourself in a way you never thought possible. And step four is going to show you how thanks

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of Beth web.com. And I'm here to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step four. This step is the step that makes people run away screaming into the forest. And I don't know why. The step says, made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. It's a funny thing, a moral inventory. You think back at your life, and you say, oh, jeez, I have to write down the stuff I did when I was 18. Don't worry, you're not alone. If they have words for what you did, you're not the first to do it. Everybody has a long laundry list. The older you are, the bigger your baggage. Don't fret about it. Step four, is where you learn who you are. And that opens you up to who you could become. You see, it's all about the instincts. Human beings were created with instincts. We have three sex, security, both financial and emotional, and our social instinct, our place in society. Just like any other animal, these instincts are inside us. And we are driven to meet their needs. That's right. We're driven to meet the needs. And they all can go plus and minus. Let's start with sex, everyone's favorite sex, if I put my arms out this way. And I'm a continuum, like you learned in algebra, we're going to infinity either way, in my head is the center point. But over here with sex, you're a slot. Over here, you're a prude. Which one is better? Well, which one is more closer to the middle? Balanced point? Neither? Well, you're right. Either way, you swung, whether it was plus or minus, it was away from center. Everybody loves to be centered, don't they? They have their life where things are just clicking along. That happens when your instincts are being satisfied. What about security? Are you driven by emotional security? Or the need for it? Do you know that you're enough? Do you know you are created for greatness just in being you? Most of us don't. We have to work to understand that. I think we knew it when we popped out. But it immediately started. Ego started growing. We were liked. We were hated. We were we were tolerated. We weren't wanted. We were abandoned. We were abused. Things happen to us. And our self esteem changed. This is where we're going to look at this and step four. What about financial security? Do you use your finances to control other people? Or do you do your lack of financial security? Make you use other people? Step four will point this out to you. Because as soon as you're out of balance in these instincts, you're going to have unhappiness in your life. The social instinct oh my goodness, it hurts more people than they know. It's nice to be loved and appreciated. It's nice when people like you. Some people go through life worshipping, go up. That's right. GOWOP T. God of what other people think.

Go up is not a good God. Go up never does what he says he would do.

And go up, help Mick Jagger write the song. I can't get no satisfaction. Because the social instinct. If that's what's driving, you can never be satisfied without misusing other parts of your life. Step four is going to teach you this. There's a lot more to it more than I can say on this mini little video. But I'll tell you what, if you go to our website, www dot Beth w e.com. There's a guide to the steps. It's called Steps for better living. Guaranteed. Pull up the step guide for step four. Print it out. Get a group of friends to work it with you and get busy. Because your life can be beyond your wildest dreams. I promise it better yet. I guarantee it. Thanks for listening don't miss Step Five it's coming up next

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of Beth web.com. And I'm here to talk to you today about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step five, admitted to God to ourselves into another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. It's a funny thing, trying to find out the exact nature of our wrongs. And why do we have to tell someone else can't we just admit it to God and be done with it? Step five, will teach you that, that won't work. So let's talk about each point. When we admit our faults to another person, in front of God, we have not only a witness that we want to get better, but we have the benefit of that person's insight. sitting on the sidelines of our life, they can be objective where we cannot, the things that we have on our lists that we might be just horrified to have to say out loud, that person might be able to make you feel better. I'll give you an example. When I did my first fifth step, I did it with a woman who was older than me, but a woman that I really, I really respected. I made some coffee, I'd sat on the chair, she was just getting situated. And I sit and I just blurted out the worst thing on my list. I just said it. And she goes, oh, oh, are we starting? And she's, she's gets in her chair. And she goes, okay. And I said, I'm not saying that again. And she said, and don't think I didn't hear you. And she started laughing. And then this woman, who was probably 20 years, my senior told me that she had done something almost exactly the same. I looked at her and I thought you, you did that. And I realized she's driven by the same instincts that I'm driven by. So of course, she tried different ways to get her instinctive needs met to. That's all this list is. But why is it important for me to know the nature of my wrongs, I have to always bring it back to what is making me tick. There was an old man who lived in my town. And he was a retired university professor. His classes must have been the bomb because he was brilliant. He looked like a goat however. So he would always call them Jean the human being, because he would say my name is Jean, and I'm a human being. And Jean, the human being told me, Beth, it's not that you steal candy from a baby. It's that you're the type of person that will steal candy from a baby, if it will serve your purposes. And I realized what he was talking about. The nature of my wrongs isn't just a laundry list of harms. I've done other people, or things that were done to me and I resent them. It's not just that the nature of my wrongs as knowing what really makes me tick. How long am I willing to Limbo to get my needs met for sex? For security, both financial and emotional, and for my place in society? What will I do for power? If I feel that my power has been questioned? What will I do to fit in? How low was I willing to Limbo in my life before I understood what needs I was trying to get met? That's the nature of my wrongs. And you know what? The beautiful thing about a person's nature, it can be healed. And we're going to talk about that and step six, how to heal that nature. Please tune in and thanks for listening

Hi, I'm Beth W E, co founder of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step six. Step Six was my greatest personal challenge. Step six, almost beat me. How bad can it be after I listed my wrongs after I told somebody else about him, after I kept practicing trying to turn my will over to the care of God, if I tried to open my mind instead of lean on my old ideas, after I admitted out loud, what was wrong with me? What could possibly be worse than all of those things? Okay, step six, we're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Sounds simple, doesn't it? In the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, lovingly called the big books by people who go to 12 step meetings. The part about Step six is like this big, there's hardly anything in it. But if I look at the book, the 12 traditions and the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, oh, there, I get a little bit more meat. Get all the books that you need, get all the books, whatever you're struggling with, get the books. Anyway, let's talk about step six. We're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. When I first started to work, the 12 steps, I had a Rolodex in my head. And if I would meet you, I would flip to a blank card and I would write your name. And I would write everything about you that I could on that card. And then if I ran into you later, I'd flip to your card, and I'd be who you wanted me to be. Oh, no, I wasn't me. I was whoever you wanted me to be. At the end, when I hit my bottom, those Rolodex cards were flipping. I didn't know I might get you. And I might get somebody else. I'd be looking at you and talking to Mr. Magoo. And who knew what would come out of my mouth. That's what Step six is about. It's we're entirely ready to have God removed these defects of character. One of the things that I did to manage when the Rolodex was flipping, I started to lie. I just make up stuff because I didn't know what I was supposed to be saying to you. So here I am working a new program, to wholeness. And I still lie. I lie because I'm not sure I'm enough. I lie because I think the truth might not be what you want to hear. I lie because it's a way of life. And I want to stop lying. I were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character I have to stop lying. This man, his name is Boston. Edie? Yes, his name is Edie. And I guess he was from Boston, because that's what they call them in Boston. And he said to me, go home and read the step. Your name isn't in it. And I said, What does that mean? So I went home and I read the step. were entirely ready to have Beth remove all these defects of character. Oh, wait, that's not what it says is it? I didn't have to stop lying. I had to be remorseful about the fact that I did lie. I had to feel the pain of the lie, the separation from somebody that I would never be truly a partner with that person. As long as I was lying to them. I had to be aware of the lie. I had to hear it coming out of my mouth and have a distaste the bitter taste in my mouth. That's what happened for me. And one day, the higher power just removed the lying. It just went away because it no longer served me. I was entirely ready to let it go. It didn't happen in one day. It happened as I grew closer to the God of my understanding, and to the people who I could identify with other seekers that wanted a better life through working the 12 steps to wholeness. That's what Step six is about. Getting ready. Finding the way is God's work. Getting ready. That's my work. Thanks for listening. Once you get ready, all you got to do is step seven, and we'll talk about that next. Don't miss it. Thank you

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step seven, humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings. Sounds like an easy step, doesn't it? There's a little prayer that you can say you're done, right? Not necessarily. Humility is a tough thing. Humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings. It talks about humility. Humility is the essence of step six. Humility is best I can explain it as being comfortable with who I am. Understanding where I came from, and where I could go. It's feeling all right in my own skin, it's being able to look myself in the eye when I'm brushing my teeth. It's, it's being me, it's being real. And when I am that person, what I do that separates me from other people, or from the God of my understanding, becomes painful. And I can go to my higher power and ask, please remove the speed bumps, that keep me from smooth passage through this life. Please take away my difficulties. Because I'm, I'm bumping into them all the time. And they don't feel good anymore. They don't feel natural anymore. I don't think they belong to me anymore. The beautiful thing about the higher power is that sometimes the difficulties go away. And other times they stay, almost like I need a little more training. Or almost like somebody's gonna come into my life that needs to hear my experience so that they can finally give up and ask for their difficulties to be lifted. Humbly asked. Are you asking? The difficulties don't just go away unless you're communicating with the higher power? Ask, ask if you don't believe in the higher power, ask anyway. You can use my god if you want, hey, Beth's God, could you remove these difficulties? Because asking is part of the process. It doesn't matter who you ask or what you are your conception of that is the higher power has no wondering about who the higher power is. Just ask say higher power. True God of the universe, universal energy and flow. Whatever is comfortable for you. But ask, this is an action step. You have to ask, humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings. Do it today. Don't miss step eight. Step eight will change the way you see the world if you do it fully. We'll see you when we look at it. Thanks

Hi, I'm Beth WV, co founder of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about Step eight, made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. One of the truths about a life filled with dysfunction is that we have a wake of horrible relationships behind us. Every one of us has a wake of broken relationships. And sometimes when we look back over our shoulder to look at those relationships, or heartbreaks all over again. It's terrible. But it's true. Step eight is going to be your ticket out of this. We make a list. Why? Because we want tangible evidence that we want this to change. We want real evidence, solid evidence, something we can touch, that we want our relationships to improve. So we made a list. Who are we listing? We're listing the people we'd harmed. How did we harm them? Sometimes we really did bad things to them. Other times, we just didn't even pay them any attention at all. Remember those instincts. When you omit somebody from your social circle, you're harming them. Because their social instinct can't be met. If you close yourself off, the harm comes in many different ways. They call them sins of commission and sins of omission. For those of you that are like ready to tune off because I said the word sin, I'm just remember, it's an archery term. Sin is when you're you don't hit the bullseye. anywhere outside the Bullseye is called sin. You miss the mark. That's all we're talking about here. You miss the mark. Let's talk about what step eight is really about. If you look at the book, the 12 steps and 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, and you flip into step eight, it talks about something that's of equal importance is writing this list. It talks about extricating all the information we can about our personal difficulties. And it says that some of these difficulties have set up patterns, patterns that have changed our whole lives, and maybe even caused the dysfunction we're trying to overcome. Patterns. Can you think of any patterns? I'll give you an example. When I was young, I was not good at softball. I would swing like a sheeny. That's an Irish term. I would swing like crazy. And I wouldn't get a hit. I played softball about four times before I quit. Yes, I quit. Why did I quit? I quit because I'm not good at it. In my life, I have noticed I quit things I'm not good at. It's a pattern. I like to be good at what I do. So if I'm not, it's okay, I'll quit. Do you have that pattern? If not, I bet I can scratch another one that you do have? Are you really competitive? Will you do anything to win? Will you hurt people you love so that you can win? Are you a victim? You know what they say? In our little God speaks book. Victims are like virgins. You have one shot at it after that you're a volunteer? Are you a victim? everybody owes you something? Are you entitled? These are patterns? Do you depend upon someone too much? Or do you dominate other people? Are you a control freak? That would be a pattern? These are all patterns? Do you blame people or you blamer. These are patterns and what happens when you list these people's names. I'll give you an example. I listed the men that I had had serious relationships with. And I noticed one thing in common when I was making this eight step list. And I always jokingly say it because you guys enjoy it. It's really easy to get a man to take his pants off. But then I put them on and I never take them off for the rest of the relationship. I'm the boss of the relationship. How has that worked for me? I'm a divorced woman.

So not very good. How many times have I done it enough to know this is a pattern in my life. So the pattern has shown me that there's something keeping me from trusting, fully trusting my partners, because I can't let them be a partner. I have to be the boss. Is it my social instinct? Partly? Is it my emotional security? Mainly. But whatever it is, it's not working in my relationships. Do you understand these patterns though? Step eight is your ticket to finding your patterns and getting on with it and getting over them. If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, go to the website, www dot Beth w e.com. And look for the tag steps to better living, guaranteed. And pull up the step eight, study guide. Print it out and go through it and free yourself from the patterns that are like default settings on the computer of your life. You don't have to do it again. Whatever it is that you do. You don't have to. God could and would if he were sought. Print that print the guide, see if it will help you. And then come back and see us when we talk about step nine. Thanks for listening

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about Step nine, made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them, or others. Step nine is an important step. But it's one you shouldn't take without consulting someone. There must be someone you trust, that you can talk to. If you're in a 12 step program, possibly you have a sponsor to talk to you about this, don't just run off making amends to people before you understand what it's really about. The amends that we're going to make in this step are direct amends, meaning that we're really going to take responsibility, we're going to take accountability for our actions. And we're going to make the situation right. And amend is not an apology, or it would have said made direct apologies to such people. It says amends, I like to use the example of the women's vote. What if in the history of the United States, the men said, Wow, you women have some great ideas. It is so sad that you can't vote. And they did nothing else about it. But that's not what happened. They changed the Constitution of the United States. They made an amendment to the Constitution. They made the Constitution, right, so that women could vote. That's what you're going to do in these relationships. You're going to make the relationship right? What does that mean? Some cases, you're going to be forced to forgive somebody who you don't think you'll ever be able to forgive. In some cases, you're going to pay back money, you still are borrowed. In other cases, you're not going to see someone anymore, because the relationship isn't good for you or them. And the way to make it right, is to bow out. There's many different ways to make an amend. Sometimes it really is an apology. It's a back and forth. It's funny, I was I was practicing the 12 steps is a way of life for a few years. And I went home to talk to my mother to make an amend to her. And I spoke to her for a while. And she stopped when I stopped. She said Are you finished? And I said, Yes. And she said, Well, you left a lot out, sit down. And she went on to just read me a new one. She told me everything I had ever done that ever hurt her. She didn't hold back. And I sat there, and I allowed it. I did not defend myself. I sat there and let her tell me her version of the truth. I validated the feelings she had, that my actions had caused. When she was done, we hugged. And it's a funny thing. My relationship with her was fixed. I could tell her anything after that. And she could tell me six months after that, she was killed in an automobile accident. And when I heard the news, I was sad. But I gotta be honest and tell you. There wasn't one thing I hadn't told her. There was no doubt in my mind that she knew that I loved her that I was sorry for the hardship I had put her through. And that she knew that we were going into the future together with a really good and functional relationship. That to me, is one of the gifts of the 12 steps. And the gifts are for you too. You just got to start practicing. Step nine is the end of the action steps. The next step we're going to talk about is step 10. And that's the beginning of the maintenance steps. I hope you join us for that, and thanks for listening today.

Hi, I'm Beth WV, co founder of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about this 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step 10. continued to take personal inventory. And when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. Step 10 is a lifelong opportunity to review your life one day at a time, sometimes one moment at a time. But let's talk about it as a daily practice first. Step 10. You get to look at your day and see where you were successful. Where did you live your priorities? Where did you let those down? Where did you value people the way you'd like to be valued? Where did you treat them like things? This is what step 10 is about. It's the real truth that the examined life is worth living. That's what step 10 is talking about. Let's examine our lives. I'll give you a few little ways to do a 10 step that are simple. At the day's end, when you're laying in bed, you can just think three questions. What did I do today? For my body? Good and bad. Sorry, that double cheeseburger with bacon is probably on the bad list. What did I do for my mind today? Good and bad. Reading that morning meditation to calm your mind first thing in the day, it's gonna make your good list. What did I do for my spirit today? Good and bad. There are days when we don't even get quiet for one minute. Oh, that's bad for the Spirit. The Spirit needs quiet to grow. That's a simple 10 Step anybody can do? body mind spirit. Let's look at it another way. What did I do today? To enhance my program? My 12 STEP program. Good and bad? Did you attend a 12 step meeting? Did you journal? Did you speak to someone else with similar issues? Did you help someone else? What did you do for your program? than ask yourself? What did I do for others today? Did you visit your nana? In the nursing home? Did you return your shopping cart so that it wouldn't bump someone's car? Certainly you've done something today for other people. quantify it, make it real. Be calm who you want to be by counting the times that you do the right thing. What did you do for the higher power today? What did you do? higher powers easy. If you communicated with the higher power, you're good. What other things can you do for the higher power? Can you get quiet? Can you share your experience about the higher power with someone else? Can you ask for the planet? Can you use your connection with the higher power to ask for healing for this planet. These are simple ways to do a 10 step. The 10 Step continued. The first word continued. It's a continuous process. You'll get better at it as you do it. In a lot of 12 Step rooms they use the Serenity Prayer. And the third line in the Serenity Prayer that says God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can the third line and the wisdom to know the difference. My friend Jean who helped me when I was first on my path to 12 Step. She told me, Beth, you'll always know who does their 10th Step. And I said how? And she said, there'll be the ones that you'll hear that have the wisdom to know the difference. Do you want that? Do a 10 Step. Do it every day. And step 11. We're going to talk about connecting with the higher power. Don't miss it. Thanks for listening

Hi, I'm Beth, WV, one of the cofounders of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step 11. sought through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us, and the power to carry that out. It's a long step, isn't it? And it starts with seeking. I don't know anybody sitting out there looking at this video who is an A seeker. And that's what this step is all about. It's doing what you do best SOT but we're going to tell you how to seek this time. We want you to use prayer and meditation. Prayer, what's prayer, it's kind of like talking to God. It's having a conversation with someone. Some people use wrote prayers, prayers that they've learned. In 12 steps, some teach the others certain prayers in the books that they have in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. They have a third step prayer, a seven step prayer, and an 11th step prayer, the 11th step prayer is the prayer of St. Francis. It starts with God make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, you know the prayer, you can repeat that prayer, and that's fine. But I'll tell you this, as your relationship with the higher power improves, you'll be talking to them, you'll be talking to your higher power like, like you're an old married fart, you'll grant in the higher power, we'll know what it means. Your prayer life will change profoundly, because you'll be at peace and at ease in the presence of the higher power. At least that's my hope for you. But what about meditation, meditation is where you get quiet. There's many types of meditation, you can go to your library, probably there's often meditation classes offered for free at local libraries, you can go to a Buddhist retreat center, a lot of Buddhists will teach you the the art of Zen meditation, you can just go by yourself, I often tell people that when I'm feeling angst, I usually take one word. And I will just kind of all kind of hold myself like this, and say the one word, and I'll rock. And it's usually one of two words, either stay, if I don't want the higher power to leave me, but I don't really want the higher powers input, beg for the higher power not to leave me and I'll just say, stay, stay, stay stay in if I can't feel the connection of my higher power, which isn't as frequent for me anymore, but it does happen. I'll rock and I'll say, Come, come, come, come. And those two things, that little chanting is a form of meditation, because it frees your mind from the other thoughts. If you need a guided meditation, feel free to hop onto our website, we have one on there, it has maybe a little bit of a more deeply spiritual connotation. So make sure you can handle that. But other guided meditations are available. Google it, Google guided meditations and see if you can find one you'd like. Because getting quiet, thinking about your breathing, quiet yourself so that your mind stops talking to you. And when you open your mind like that, it's almost as if the source of all creation can suddenly be manifest in your head. It's like you're hearing from God. I know it sounds crazy. But it's not. It's the experience of millions of people who meditate. You can do it. So you're going to pray and you're going to meditate. Why? Because you're going to see you're seeking a more profound connection with your higher power. And when you pray, what are you praying for? The Step tells us praying only for knowledge of his will for us. knowledge of his will for us. That just sounds kind of because it seems like God always wants me to do something, right. It seems like in my mind, God is all about broccoli, and not very much about hot fudge sundaes. And it seems like through life, that's God's choices. But what I've found is that it's not true. And when I pray for God's will for me to know what it is, and I forget the end of the step, I pray for the power to carry it out. We're back to knowing God. God is not like they there's a saying they say the will of God will never lead you where he as Grace cannot keep you, if God wants you to do something for him, God will give you the power to do it. When I was first in relationship with God, I would go to my mailbox and this little elderly lady would come out. She always was at her mailbox at the same time. Coincidence? No, she was watching for me. I didn't know it, then. I was naive. And I just thought, it just kept happening that I saw her. But I had told her about my experience, I had had a spiritual experience with God. And it was not a God of my understanding. I didn't have any understanding. I was just had a spiritual experience, it was trying to kind of figure out what had happened to me. And she would come out every day and talk to me, her name is Viva clay. And she said to me,this one day, what are you afraid of? Beth? Why are you afraid to be in relationship with God.

And this is a long time ago, people so they used to have TV commercials that had children in Africa with the distended bellies from hunger. And those, those, those commercials would really upset me. And I'd say, Oh, Mrs. Clay, I, you know, I'm afraid that if I really give in to God, he's gonna make me go to Africa, and feed those babies with those big bellies, and I don't think I can do it. And she said, Oh, honey, you just don't know God yet. Because if that's what God's will is for you, it'll start gently, you'll read a book, and Africa will be in the backdrop. And it will make you curious about it. And she goes, and then you'll meet someone, and they'll talk to you about an African country where they just were, and you'll want to go, you'll just want to see what they saw. And she goes, and then something else will happen. Where in your heart, you realize, Wow, I could really make a difference over there in Africa. And she goes in, by the time you're getting on the boat, or the plane, to go to Africa to feed these babies, we wouldn't be able to keep you off the boat or the plane, you will be so sure that that's what you want to do. That's how God imposes his will. He opens your mind. He opens your mind to new truths, to new understandings. And he pulls you into the experience. That has been my experience. Mrs. Clay was right. No, I never did go to Africa to feed the babies with the distended bellies. But I've been a lot of other places, doing things I can't believe I've done to help people find connection to help people not be alone. And how do I come up with the gumption or the courage, or the power to do that day in and day out? I seek connection with my higher power, using prayer and meditation. And for the first time in a long time, I usually want God's Will before my own. I hope that will come true for you. It's another one of the steps that practice, practice, practice. You never get it down perfectly. Because as long as we're wearing a skin suit, we will be more human than we are spiritual. But I'll tell you what the spiritual world is, as Bill Wilson said in one of his writings, the spiritual world is you've got to live it. Don't sell yourself short. Start working step 11. Every day we're almost to the end. We're going to talk about step 12. Next, I hope you join us for that for today. Thanks for listening

Hi, I'm Beth WV, co founder of Beth web.com. And I'm here today to talk to you about the 12 steps to wholeness. Today we're talking about step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to fellow seekers, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. I don't know if I told you in every one of the other steps, there's been a principal assigned to each of the 12 steps. The only place I've ever seen it really written was in an old grapevine years ago. I think it was in the late 50s. A grapevine is a magazine put out by Alcoholics Anonymous. If you're interested, you can go to www.ada.org you can find a myriad of things that will help you with that. But in this grapevine, this man listed the principles behind each of the steps. Step one was honesty and self acceptance. Step two hope Step Three faith. Step four is courage. Step five is integrity. Step Six willingness step seven, humility. Step eight, justice and brotherly love. Step nine, a careful sense of timing. Step 10. Perseverance, step 11. Awareness. You ready? Step 12. Love and service. So here we are at step 12. And we're trying to put these principles in our lives. And how can we do it? The Easy, easy answer is that we've had a spiritual awakening. As we work through the first 11 steps, our Spirit began to wake up and become alive again. And so having had a spiritual awakening, we tried to carry the message. Do we always carry it? No. But we try. We tried to practice these principles in all our affairs. Can we do it 100% of the time? No, but we keep trying. And why? Because the joy of living that has come to us and working the 12 steps to wholeness is something you will want to share with others. There is nothing like it, especially if I look back to my own life where I was before I started practicing the 12 steps to wholeness. Oh, my goodness, I wouldn't trade it. I wouldn't trade the journey. Nor would I trade the darkness so that I can see how bright the light is now. You know, if nothing else, I want you to always remember, your source is crazy about you. And these 12 steps are designed to bring you closer to that understanding. Don't skimp. Step 12. Be the message. Be recovery. Be unity, be service. That's the legacy of the 12 steps, be that and you'll be practicing step 12. Thanks for coming along the journey with me. And by all means, if you have more questions, or you need more support, we have a shear wall at Beth w e.com. Get on it. Write us a note. We'll answer I promise. Thanks for listening, and come see as often. www dot Beth w e.com. Thanks