'The Promises' of 12-Step - A New Freedom and a New Happiness Through the Lense of Soul Recovery

These promises were a seed planted in me by my neighbor years before I was ready for true Soul Recovery- but they spoke to what I wanted so desperately in my life and offered me a life line to what I could have if I was ready to do the work.  6 years later, I have indeed found a new freedom and a new happiness through Soul Recovery- and sobriety, and I am grateful.
The episode ends with a song I wrote about this journey- if you want to watch the music video check the Recover Your Soul YouTube page

For more information about Rev. Rachel Harrison and Recover Your Soul- visit the website www.recoveryoursoul.net  use the code TRYASESSION for 40% off your first Spiritual Coaching session when you book on the website.  Visit the website for all events and groups to get involved in Soul Recovery and the community.

The AA Promises
(From pages 83-84 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous)
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before
we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word
serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we
will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity
will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Selfseeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change. Fear of people
and economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations
which used to baffle us. We will suddenly rea

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not allied or representative of any organizations or religions, but is based on the opinions and experience of Rev. Rachel Harrison. The host claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein. Take what you need and leave the rest.

Chapters

• 0:01 Recover Your Soul Podcast
• 4:20 Journey to Spiritual Healing and Recovery
• 16:11 Soul Recovery and Self-Worth
• 31:44 Join the Recovery Your Soul Community

Transcript

Rev Rachel Harrison: 0:01

Soul Recovery has a inspiration from 12-step and in this podcast I tell the story about how I had a neighbor who gave me the promises that are found in the big book and at that time it just felt like they just seemed impossible, that I needed and wanted what they had to offer, but I didn't know how to get there. What they had to offer, but I didn't know how to get there. And what I want to talk about in this episode is the power of us listening to our spiritual guidance that has brought you here today to do the work because you're worth it it works if you work it and you're worth it and to listen to the promises that we're going to go through that came through the big book from a soul recovery perspective, and see that as you do your soul recovery work, you are indeed healing from all of the complexity of life and stepping into the promises of spirituality and of recovery. Enjoy the episode. And of recovery. Enjoy the episode.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 1:06

Welcome to the Recover your Soul podcast a spiritual path to a happy and healthy life. My name is Rev Rachel Harrison. I started Recover your Soul after having profound changes in my life from my recovery of alcoholism, codependency and control addiction. I was guided to share the tools and principles of spirituality and soul recovery to help others transform their lives, as mine was transformed. For us to overcome external circumstances, we need to turn the attention to ourselves, focusing on our inner change and healing. Positive results in our lives will follow. Welcome to Recover your Soul. I'm Rev Rachel. Thank you very much for choosing to spend time with me today and having me in your ear, in whatever form that takes. Maybe you're on a walk, maybe you're doing some chores, maybe you're driving, maybe you're sitting attentively and having this be a spiritual part of your practice, and I appreciate each one of those things, knowing that these 30 or so minutes that we have together are really valuable time. And I continue just to be honored and so heartfelt, moved by the things that are written as comments, either on Spotify you can leave a message after each one of the episodes and then the different reviews about how this podcast is changing people's lives. And I am very clear that that is not because I'm somebody extraordinary, it's because I've just been willing to share my story with you. These inspirational stories of our healing and growing can positively affect the people around us when we turn the attention to ourselves and we truly, truly put our healing, our spiritual journey, our awareness, our awakening as the focus and then share that from a humble and authentic place. That has been what I've done and you've resonated with me. So, when you know that we're not here to fix or change anyone, but we are here to live authentically from our own experience and our own journey, it really does end up reflecting and offering to others that hope, that lifeline that they too can choose if they choose to see it.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 3:36

And it reminds me that before I got sober the first time, I had a friend who had been sober for a long time. I actually had some neighbors as well that lived right next door and they had a happier family than we did. They had a lot of chaos and craziness with little kids. We did everything together because their kids were the same age. But they didn't have this other level that I couldn't put my finger on. There was just a level of contentedness or maybe connection between the husband and the wife that I had, an awareness that I wanted. And at one point they came over to the house and I offered them a drink and they said they didn't drink and then they didn't say anything more about it and it wasn't.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 4:20

I think for a year or more that I noticed that they really didn't drink. And then I asked more questions and here they were. They were doing that thing. They were living authentically from their experience, from their interpretation of what healing was for them, and I asked them more about not drinking. And then they said that they were members of AA, that they were consciously sober. And then they said that they were members of AA, that they were consciously sober.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 4:46

And then I started asking them some more questions and they never put it on me like, oh good, I'm going to now I'm going to tell you what to do and have judgment of how you should live your life.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 4:57

They were incredibly, incredibly kind and they really waited for me to ask the questions, and what I remember is it wasn't that they gave me the steps, but they gave me a page ripped out of something that had the promises, and those promises that were in the big book, which I didn't understand. Yet they appealed to me and the AA promises are, and again, we're looking at this from the spiritual perspective. So, whether you're an addict or in Al-Anon with somebody who is an addict, or we're codependents or people, pleasers or however you walked through the door. This promise is a promise of wholeness. So listen to these promises in a way that has an opening for how I opened my eyes to them, if you can, has an opening for how I opened my eyes to them, if you can. The? A promises are if we're painstaking about this phase of our development, we'll be amazed. Before we're halfway through, we're going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 6:01

Interesting. I just read that line and it made me cry. Interesting. I just read that line and it made me cry Because I remember when I read this the first time, it just felt so unattainable. It just felt like these promises were like promising a million dollars, you know. It just felt so far away, felt so far away. And now, as I read them, I really feel that real tenderness of gratitude for the changes that have happened in my life. From the work I'm really doing, the deep dive into your spiritual journey. Okay, so let's try that again.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 6:44

The AA promises, If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we'll be amazed. Before we're halfway through we will know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which have baffled us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They're being fulfilled among us, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. And that's on page 83 and 84 of Alcoholics.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 7:57

Anonymous big book.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 8:02

If you're ready for soul recovery. As a spiritual coach, I can support your healing to help make real changes that will bring you a life of peace, happiness, connection and abundance. You can also work in smaller groups by taking a deep dive in a Zoom workshop or with me in person at a retreat or an event. Join others on the Soul Recovery Path, once a month for the free Zoom support group or daily on the private Facebook page. Visit the website recoveryoursoulnet to book coaching sessions with me or find all the information you need about soul recovery dates that are coming up and how to register for those groups and workshops. To support the podcast and the community, check the links in the show notes to make a small monthly donation or a one-time donation of your choice. That will make a huge impact to support this community and the soul recovery mission. Together we can do the work that will recover your soul.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 9:00

I read those pages from these friends and it was a light in the darkness. And again I didn't have a life that was every single day was horrendous. It just had a heaviness. It had a discontentment to it. I didn't have the relationship with my husband that I wanted. I was using alcohol as a way to numb myself, to be in my feelings, because I wasn't able to handle my feelings. I was raising my kids in a way that I was overwhelmed and I loved them. So, so, so, so much. But the friction between my husband and I and how we saw how to raise children came really early. I felt isolated because my husband worked so hard and there he was providing for us in this beautiful way, but I didn't see somebody at home being present with me the way that I wanted, and so I felt overwhelmed, I felt sad, I felt like the fantasy in which I had established what I thought it was going to be like in a family wasn't meeting that criteria. And then I had another friend who also ripped a page out, so maybe they didn't rip the pages out. Somebody ripped pages out. I just remember that, and it was the 12 steps. Now, when I stepped into the rooms of AA the first time, almost 15 years ago, even more than that now and at the end of the meeting they say it works if you work it and you're worth it it felt the same.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 10:37

It felt like you could see that there was something to work towards, there was a reason to work towards it, and these promises that say, if we're painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we're halfway through, when you decide that you are ready, when you decide that you have had enough spiritually speaking. The teachings say that we have to get to a place where we are so affronted with our pain that we are willing to look and see the world differently, that we're willing to look at our belief systems that came from our childhood, that came from how it is to be a human being and we're finally willing to do something different. Now some people will choose to just go even harder on the ego path of trying to get fulfillment through stuff and through other people and making everybody else be the reason why they're miserable and you know I'm not going to judge anybody for whatever's going on with them. But in general I don't see that working. I see that it might have some results at some point and that it always has a crash, because in the end, the spiritual journey that I have been teaching in soul recovery is around us turning the attention to ourselves, connecting to a higher power, recognizing that these belief structures that these patterns that we've been living from are keeping us from being our whole and true self, that these promises are offered to us if we are painstaking in our work, painstaking through this phase of our development. It says developing and working through a new thing we will be amazed. And in listening to the incredible heartfelt messages that come in on Spotify from people responding to certain episodes, or the reviews that come in, or the emails that I get, I'm hearing that you all are amazed halfway through your own development, that you have awakenings. In listening to my story, my sharing my experience, that you are having openings into your own life, and that is such an incredible gift. And what made me cry is to know a new freedom and a new happiness. It almost makes me want to cry again because I feel a freedom and a happiness.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 13:21

At the end of this episode, I'll play the song that I wrote called Calling for Me. I'll play the song that I wrote called Calling for Me, that I wrote the lyrics for it after I got sober because the chorus had come to me before I got sober and the chorus was. I know that you're calling for me. Why am I so afraid? It's fascinating to me that we have this ability to shed our pain of the past, to have a new perception, to see through the eyes of spirit, to choose love, and that will provide us with a happy life. It will give us freedom of our bondage of self and it is not easy of self. And it is not easy. It's not a choice. That is easy Because we are so conditioned to stay in our pain, we're conditioned to stay in our fear, we're conditioned to have grievance, we're conditioned to really have this belief that other people are the reason why we're not okay, and through that we end up hurting ourselves. So the chorus of it is I know that you're calling for me, why am I so afraid?

Rev Rachel Harrison: 14:36

And then, after I got sober, I started writing the verses, and one of the verses says I pray the promises. Are true that these promises that were given to me by somebody in kindness, without pushing, just planting a seed If we can just plant gentle, kind seeds of wholeness and healing and health in those around us that we worry about, as these people did for me, they will blossom when we are ready. They will begin to germinate and grow through our own experiences, until we get to a place where we're ready to tend our own garden. And so this new freedom and new happiness really is. It's mind boggling to me sometimes. I was just sitting on the couch in my backyard under a beautiful umbrella with the sun on my legs, listening to the birds singing, preparing for the retreat and doing the spiritual work, and I was flooded and filled with gratitude. And I'm filled with gratitude in this way quite often, this way quite often, realizing that this process of soul recovery really does release us from what felt like bondage, that I wasn't in the moment, I wasn't present in my life before, in the way that I'm present in my life now, and that these promises have indeed come true. They're available and open to everyone.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 16:11

But the end of the meeting always says it works if you work it and you're worth it. Can we believe that we're worth it? Can we believe that there is something underneath our pain and our struggle and our guilt and our shame for ourselves or our guilt and grievance towards other people that is worth unveiling, that is worth healing, that is worth being kind to? In soul recovery, we're always talking about the importance of letting go of judgment. The importance of letting go of judgment, releasing grievance, opening to this concept that everything that we experience is part of our curriculum of life, that it's essential for us to go through what we go through, to get to a place where we can see the truth of who we are, the beauty of who we are, the wholeness of who we are, and let go of the stories and let go of the past that we feel has harmed us and recognize that only we get to choose whether that is going to be our belief system or not. Nobody can make us feel or do or be anything. We decide every step of the way.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 17:27

So the next one says will not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it Now that I can see the value of everything that I've been through instead of seeing it as these terrible hardships. What I recognize is I needed every, every little bit of it to learn more about myself, for my soul, to have this experience. In spirituality we say we're spiritual beings having a human experience, and that is kind of a crazy concept. What's interesting is now that I have a new project that's going to launch in mid-June called Awaken your Soul, which will be a TV show on the Ethereal Network which I'm really excited about. Once a week I can talk more about those kinds of concepts. So if you're interested in any of this kind of Rev Rachel stuff on that next level or plane of metaphysics, go there and check it out and we will have more of those conversations.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 18:28

So here I will just say that on some level our psyche, our ego, our being needs and wants to have these experiences to truly understand and grow and learn. Muscles don't get bigger and stronger from lack of use. You have to push them. You have to have weights that are always just a little bit stronger. They have to fatigue, that are always just a little bit stronger. They have to fatigue, they have to have that little bit of breakdown to actually grow and get bigger and stronger. And it's the same in our life.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 19:05

But we, as our ego selves, we don't want that. We want it to be easy peasy. Well, our souls don't want it to be easy peasy. Our souls want to have contrast and need contrast to be able to ask for more, to strive for more, to grow for more. And so when we look at not regretting the past, what we're saying is I see that this built me to who I am today. And in soul recovery, we're learning to take the past, that was the woundedness, and we're learning to transform it from a victim story to our hero story. We're learning how to see and have perception around the experiences that we've had from a different angle and to let go of our attachment, our deep attachment, to the woundingness that we feel. That it was and I've said this many times that I couldn't be married to rich if I was still holding on to what our marriage was like in those 15 years. If every time I walked into the house because I'm back here in my little she shed in the back doing my work when I walk into the house if I was carrying with me all of the stuff that was the 15 years of difficult pain I wouldn't be able to see the man that is standing in front of me today and ultimately I am the woman who is standing there today. And if he was always judging me and referring back to me from who I was for him that was equally as painful then we would still be fighting. We'd still be battling each other Because ultimately, the hope is that we clear our thoughts, we clear our minds, we do this work, we release, we let go of our attachment to everybody else being a certain way, we let go of control, we practice step one.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 20:59

We're powerless over everything outside of ourself that our desire to control people, places and circumstances is causing us suffering. Pain is inevitable. That's part of being human. Feelings are part of our soul's journey to have that contrast, whether it's a feeling of joy or a feeling of pain. But what we can see is that these experiences lead to the next line in the promises. We'll comprehend the word serenity and we'll know peace, because we're letting go of the past, but we're not regretting it. We're seeing it for its value, but we're not shutting the door on it, but we're not dragging it with us. And from that comes serenity and peace.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 21:48

And no matter where we've been, it says, no matter how far down the scale we've gone, we can see how our experience can benefit others. And this is that part that I am so grateful that you're here listening to me, because my reflection of how I interpret these concepts, whether it's 12-step concepts or other spiritual concepts or the books that I read, all of this is coming into me to translate for me how I can be my best, fullest, most healed self. And I feel like I was pretty far down there, both in my addiction as an alcoholic, in the level of drinking. That I did, and mostly in my level of victimhood and sadness and depression and despair and anxiety. I was pretty far down, despair and anxiety. I was pretty far down.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 22:41

But there's always the opportunity for us to have a new day, to choose a new way of being. If we can forgive ourself for the past, if we can even begin to forgive others for their experiences and how their actions or words or circumstances around us have affected our life and we can take all the blame off of everything, and then it says, the feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We start to realize our purpose, and some people think the purpose is supposed to be some big save the world thing. I believe the purpose is for you to be your fullest, most authentic, healed self, to be joyous, to be free of pain and suffering on the level of wanting to be somebody else, wanting the world to be something else. That if you could step into your being yourself, your light, your love, and embrace it fully, light your love and embrace it fully, then the uselessness and self-pity disappears because you love yourself tremendously for exactly who you are and you see the value that you have to be here on the planet for whatever that is, you don't have to save the world, you don't have to save your family, you don't have to save the day, you just need to save yourself.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 24:00

And then it says we'll lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. You know, we quit thinking that the rest of the world's going to fill us up and you care more about connection, you care about being kind, you care about having compassion for every living thing. You start to see the beauty in each person, in each moment, in each thing in nature. Self-seeking will slip away. Self-seeking is really our desire to have our pains taken care of by something or someone else. And we start to resource ourself with our spiritual journey, with our knowing that higher power is there for us. And it says our whole attitude and outlook on life will change. I know mine has. I know mine has, and I've heard from so many of you that it's happening and happened for you as well. When we change and shift our perception just a little, just a little, that tacking of that change down the road is an entirely different trajectory than you were going before and that when we look at our lives from this new outlook, can you release anything that came before and say I get to choose today how I'm going to see it. I'm going to choose this minute to feel it and be present with it. Differently, I'm going to choose myself. I'm going to work it because I'm worth it. It works if you work it. And then it says I love this one.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 25:45

Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us. This is the law of attraction, and I will talk a lot more about the law of attraction on Awaken your Soul, on the Ethereal Network coming up. Your life is what you think and feel and believe it is. You attract to yourself the energy and the actions and the words and the vibrational thoughts in which you are putting out there. So when you're in pain, of course you're going to have a attraction of things that bring more pain. So as we heal, we actually are attracting trust in the universe and knowing that we will always be supported and guided. So the insecurity leaves us of people and finances.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 26:28

And then it says we'll intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. I love this one. I don't know what's going to happen this coming. There's so many. Incredibly. What used to be what I would consider difficult things have happened to me, since I've had this change in my life and you know what. You just take it one step at a time. You just answer one question at a time. You just step into that moment without all of the heaviness of the past or the fear of the future and you just ask for guidance for what to do right now. And you're not baffled, you actually have clarity to hear the voice that is within you, that is your innate wisdom, your guidance, your connection to higher power, your truth that comes through you. And there you are, you're handling it, and then it says we will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 27:27

This is step three, which is to co-create with spirit, build with me. This is the part where, when we step out of the belief that it is us personally, our body, our mind, our personality, that has to do, do, do, do, do, and you realize that there's actually an entire network of something that we can't possibly understand. Can we open to what that is? Can we trust what that is? Can we open to the knowing that there is a calling for us to be this full self, this healed, clean energy, whole person that can do and handle and be with whatever, that doesn't need any substances to be able to check in or check out, that we don't need to control others, that we can trust that we can begin to be our full expression and to stop playing small. So when I read these promises now, I see so much more depth in what they were offering. And yet, when they were given to me, they were the seeds that planted a desire to be free and happy.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 28:41

And it has indeed happened. And, like I often say, it doesn't mean that you don't have life continue to show up. It continues to show up. My mother's house burned down. My dad had cancer. My mom actually had cancer too.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 28:57

I had things happen with the kids. There were things in their addiction, in their relationships. There were things that happened with Rich. There's things that have happened financially. The world continues to be in political strife and there still is a lot of, oh so many, painful things happening out in the world. Many painful things happening out in the world, but it changes how you perceive it and the energy in which you take to be able to manage it and to be able to manage yourself.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 29:27

And so I knew that spirit was calling for me, and I hope you enjoy the song that I'll have when I'm done with this, because there was a knowing as I believe there is a knowing for you that there is more, that you deserve more, that you want more in your life, not more from the material perspective, but more from your internal, healed, knowing perspective and that it is indeed calling for you and you are doing the work to make it happen, because you are here listening today Continue to do your soul recovery, continue to be on this journey. I am here to support you in whatever way I can, whether it's with personal coaching, one-on-one with me, whether you come to one of the free support groups once a month, whether you come to a retreat or do the work, the steps on your own program. I want you to live your fullest life. I want you to have a new freedom and a new happiness through soul recovery. We're utilizing all these concepts and all these tools from all these different places to come into a single place where we are remembering who we are.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 30:44

Until next time, namaste, thank you for listening to the recover your soul podcast and, if you loved what you heard here, every friday we have a bonus episode and you can access this by becoming a subscriber through Apple podcasts for only $3.99 a month, or become a Patreon member, and on this platform, you can choose $5, $15 or $25 a month to show what you want to support the show with. On both of these subscriber platforms is an entire catalog of back episodes intended to inspire and support you on your soul recovery journey. I really want to invite everybody to attend the free once a month, every first Monday of the month support group. This is on zoom. Everyone is welcome to attend and by giving a like or a review and sharing this with your friends and family really helps us to share the soul recovery message with even more people.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 31:44

We are on social media. We are on all the platforms. I am on TikTok. You can listen to guided meditations by Rev Rachel Harrison on Insight Timer. Thank you for supporting the show. Thank you for being part of the community. To find out more about soul recovery and everything that's being offered, visit the website wwwrecoveryoursoulnet. Together, we can do the work that will recover your soul.