A member asked another member to be their sponsor. The response was, “Are you willing to do what I did for as long as I did it to get what I have?” What would your answer be? Where does that willingness come from?
- Definition
- What does this word mean to me today?
- How is that different from how I understood it in the past?
- Where does willingness appear in the Steps?
- Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- But also: Step 4 — willingness to look deeply at ourselves.
- Step 5 and 6 — willingness to change.
- Step 11 — willingness to deepen our relationship with a higher power.
- In fact, we can find it in all the steps!
- Eric noted that you can put the word “willing” in front of each step: Step 1, “Became willing to admit we were powerless…”, etc.
- Acronym: HOW — Honest, Open, and Willing. This is HOW the program of recovery works.
- How did I become willing?
- Examples of others — your stories of using the principles of the program in your own recovery helped me be willing to try them for myself.
- Pain — “hitting bottom” over and over in different ways. Eventually willing to try something, anything new.
A few tidbits from the episode:
Psychology Today article: 5 Ways to Really Get Closer to Each Other
And the quote from Marilyn Monroe that Spencer mentioned: “Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
Please call us at 734-707-8795 or email feedback@therecoveryshow.com with your questions or experience, strength and hope. Or just leave a comment right here.
Music from the show
Prince: Willing and Able
Jason Mraz: I'm Yours
Rush: One Little Victory
I am listening to podcast on willingness. I heard the last part of a speaker mentioning a 7 minute meditation. How can I find this? It sounded awesome. I’m trying to meditate a little at a time – One Day at a Time
Thank you
Janice, a very grateful member of AlAnon