““We don’t think ourselves into a new way of living;
we live ourselves into a new way of thinking.””
My daily devotional, “Living with Christ,” recently mentioned this quote of Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation.
As someone who has been deeply committed to thinking as a way of life, I stumbled over this quote. I dug deeper and learned this philosophy is familiar to anyone active in a 12-step program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, known as AA. Rohr has written extensively on this subject. He explains how the 12-steps and Jesus basically say the same thing, but with a different vocabulary. If we continue to do and act in the same way we always have, we will get the same results. Both Jesus and the 12-Step programs call us to take different steps on a new path. In his Dec. 9, 2019 newsletter called “The Spirituality of Powerlessness,” Rohr said:
““I believe that Jesus and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are saying the same thing but with different vocabulary:
- We suffer to get well.
- We surrender to win.
- We die to live.
- We give it away to keep it.
This counterintuitive wisdom will forever be resisted, denied, and avoided until it is forced upon us—by some reality over which we are powerless—and if we are honest, we are all powerless in the presence of full Reality.
This brings us to Step One of the Twelve Steps: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable…””
We may not be powerless over alcohol, but most of us have some type of addiction. Think about this. Do you really have full control over your behaviors that involve drugs, tobacco, food, gambling, porn, sex, screen time, work hours, approval seeking, control of others, or seeking money and success?
Let me share with you something that could be life-changing. There are 12-Step programs to deal with any issue you may have—and they are FREE and AVAILABLE 24/7, both in person or online. Here is a list and description of the ten most common 12-Step programs.
Alcoholics Anonymous was the first and is most familiar. For any teen or adult whose life has been impacted by addicted family members, there is Al-Anon and Alateen. ACA is the 12-step program for Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families.
Co-Dependents Anonymous, referred to as CoDA, may be new to you. Codependency is a common pattern of behavior learned in childhood and manifested in adults by traits such as denial, minimizing, low self esteem, people-pleasing, controlling, and more. To understand if you may be co-dependent, read this list of common attitudes and behavior patterns. CoDA literature states the only requirement for membership is a desire for healthy and loving relationships.
Is it time for you to stop just thinking about a new way of life and doing something? If so, check out whatever 12-step program speaks to you. Then click, call, or go!
The miracle of these programs is that they offer a path to better mental/emotional health AND a deeper relationship with God, often referred to as your “higher power” in these 12-step programs.
The Serenity Prayer, a valued part of AA literature since 1961, will help you make progress. Here it is:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
SUGGESTIONS:
1. Take a few minutes to open the links I’ve included and learn more about these 12-step programs.
2. Here are some resources to help you better understand the spiritual dimension of the 12-step program: Breathing Under Water, Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, Richard Rohr. Divine Therapy and Addiction: Centering Prayer and the Twelve Steps, Thomas Keating. Short essay by James Finley on “The Power of Admitting,” how our admitting that we cannot fix ourselves is the first step to healing.
3. Read the 12-steps. The 11th shows how deeply spiritual is this program: “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.”
3. Say the Serenity Prayer daily. We all need this prayer during these times.
God bless,
Donna
EXTRAS
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Dr. Donna Chacko promotes health of body, mind, and spirit through her website (serenityandhealth.com), her blog, her podcast/vlog series, “Engaging with a Messy World” and " “Pop-Up Conversations on Health of Mind, Body, and Spirit,” and programs at her church. She is the author of Pilgrimage: A Doctor’s Healing Journey (Luminare Press, 2021), a recent best-seller on Amazon, 2022 Illumination Awards Gold Medal Winner, 2022 Reader Views Literary Award Gold Medal Winner, and 2022 Catholic Media Association First Place Awards.
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