Step Two: Came to Believe, Higher Power, God, Sanity

Embarking on the road to recovery often means facing the harsh truth that we can't go it alone. This episode unravels the second step, where we confront the chaos of addiction and the epiphany that our willpower is not the sole warrior in this fight. We traverse the concept of entrusting our journey to a higher power, which for many serves as the bedrock for regaining a sense of sanity amidst the turmoil. Whether you find solace in spirituality, the solidarity of support groups, or the guidance of seasoned professionals, we delve into the importance of seeking strength beyond ourselves.

As we navigate the waters of Step Two, we address the hurdles of defiance and the diverse spiritual paths our listeners may walk. The episode is not just a conversation but an intimate exploration of faith, trust, and hope. It's a testament to the power of help and humility, featuring personal anecdotes and the wisdom of guests who've weathered the storm of addiction. Join us as we discuss the transformative power of acknowledging our limitations, the courage to ask for help, and the profound realization that life can indeed become more manageable with the support of others.

Chapters

• 0:01 Understanding Step Two in Recovery
• 9:45 Step Two

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Step two this is the big one, where the original steps is talking about higher power of God and also talking about sanity. Welcome again to another episode of the 1% in recovery podcast, where we encourage you to laugh every day, to work hard, work hard in your recovery, in your relationships, in your jobs, in your businesses, and to love love unconditionally. Now out the recovery growth scorecard, the scorecard that's designed to get you to start to rewire your brain, to start recovery, to start healing immediately, even before you understand anything else, because we are using natural hormones natural dopamine, oxytocin, endorphin, serotonin to get you to start to feel more alive and to more feelings. So you're in the moment Can also book a free 15 minute call with me to talk about the steps to recovery relationships. Everything is on the website wwwlifeiswonderfullovegov, or you can email me at hugovilifeiswonderfullove. Now let's get into this week's episode, step two.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Step two comes on the heels of step one, and usually these are these three big steps. If you're just working the original steps, if you're working with me on my 12 steps, explain where I combine the both. But right now we're talking about the original 12 steps written by Bill Wilson, where step two talks about came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Let's take that first part. What does that mean? Came to believe? Because a lot of people. Because. Then it says about a power greater than ourselves, which is also higher power of God, that we are talking about higher power of God. And if you truly read the literature the 12 and 12, the big book and also gambling literature, where there is a lot reference. Now Bill Wilson references a lot about spirituality, but the real meaning behind it is about trying to stop someone from being so self-centered. An addict is always about themselves, about their next high, whatever they have to do, whether it's getting money to buy the drugs, alcohol to bet, or it's just about them and just let them be them because they can control their addiction. That's how far gone they are. They are insane. Because you cannot control an addiction, you cannot control your body and your mind. Once it's crossed over that line, that is where truly step two begins. Because if we go back to step one and we're still reading the literature and this is what Bill Wilson starts talking about that step one there's more of a defiance, even though a lot of people keep trying to force people to say you know, admit that you're powerless over alcohol, gambling, drugs. There's always going to be a defiance, and he writes extensively about this defiance. It's also about this defiance with higher power of God, because you're talking about atheists, agnostics, people who are in the church and then left, or the people that have remained in the church but then fell into these cycles of addiction. All four of these people are going to have issues and certain amount of defiance.

Speaker 1: 4:06

When you start bringing up that this is a spiritual program, we're not telling you what to believe. We're encouraging you to explore your spirituality, your spiritual beliefs, your spiritual goals. But it all starts with that not being self-centered. Once you get outside of yourself, then you can kind of explore certain things, whether in the beginning you're just relying on the rooms to kind of get you through the next day. Now, for other people, you need other types of human help Could be recovery coaches, could be therapists, could be psychologists, could be going to treatment centers. And there's also that divine help, whether you're using more prayer or meditation or journaling. These are the activities to start to get you to start thinking, because whatever is happening now has to change, because once you've crossed addiction, your whole body, mind, resources, relationships have to be looked at. You have to look at where your mind is, your body is, your spirituality, your finances, your relationships with family, friends, business. This will get you to the other side. So once you start thinking outside yourself, then you can really start to ask for help.

Speaker 1: 5:43

I'm a big believer. The way I wrote step two is is you ask for help? You need help, we all need help. Here's the thing, the other part where people struggle so much and I did too where we all try to stop our addiction. Mind was about gambling and alcohol, where we always would say these things to ourselves I'm not that bad, I can control my drinking, my drugging, my gambling, I can stop anytime. These are all lies, and that's where the addict really has to really understand that their self-sufficiency, their self-will, their self-knowledge none of that and their willpower, none of that can help you stop an addiction. You need help. In reality, it's almost as like you have to understand that concept before you actually work.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Step one Now I talk about step one is what do you truly want to do with your life? What are your goals, your dreams? But you have to realize to get there, you need help, you have to move forward and so I'm a big stressor is that you have to start breaking that mentality, because unfortunately, that is what hangs people up where people don't wanna move forward, where they think they got it, or they get a little bit of time and then they either stop going to meetings, stop working the steps, stop working with any coaching or therapist or psychologist, because now they got it and they got a little bit of knowledge, they've got a little bit of strength, but they're not moving forward, especially emotionally and spiritually. Because that is the true foundation of any person If they want to achieve contentment, happiness, joy, success. It all begins with your emotional intelligence and your spirituality, and a lot of step two also talks about faith and fear.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Faith is really the beginning and it starts at the edges of understanding. It's almost like when we get to the edges of our solar system, something else is out there. We have to have faith. You have to have faith in yourself, faith in your talents, faith that things will work out, because and part of faith is about trust, because really what is fear? Fear is that you don't trust yourself, you don't trust others, you don't trust your talent, you don't trust your gifts and you live in that fear that something negative is going to happen. Now, something negative could happen, but if you have faith and you work and you ask for help, more than likely you will have a much better outcome and probably a positive outcome.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Now the 12 steps also like to say that we just give you suggestions around step two, that no one is actually forcing someone to understand God or higher power. Yet a lot of times in rooms and this is what frustrates people it almost feels like they are yelling about surrender. In reality, it's not about surrender, it's about trying to understand. This is that you have to stop being so self-centered, you have to stop being self-sufficient that you don't have all this willpower and all these answers. Otherwise you wouldn't have gotten down to the cycle of addiction which is taking you in all different levels, and each different cycle is worse than the previous one.

Speaker 1: 9:45

So step two is came to believe because you're gonna start to think about other ways of what you need in your life, and spirituality is part of it. And they talk about restorous to sanity Hell. All addicts almost everybody on this planet has a bit of insanity. Now, it is true, when you are in an addiction, that part is the insane part that needs to stop. And that's why, even if you just stop for 90 days the drinking, the gambling or the drugging, so you can start to answer these questions, you can start to get some clarity, so your brain starts to get out of that fog, because otherwise, without any type of detox or clarity, you could not understand what you need.

Speaker 1: 10:44

And in essence, that is what all these steps are about. It's about self-awareness, it's about self-reflection, it's about getting you to live your best life. That's what I always talk about. The steps are about growth and about getting you to understand yourself better and to heal the pain and to ask for forgiveness and to move forward. So you're taking full responsibility of your life and in essence, that is what we're working for. So we're gonna embrace. Step two came to believe, come to believe that you need help, help is available and life is so much easier with it. With that we're gonna end this episode of the 1% in recovery podcast.