Living with the Spirit
“Some Telltale Signs you are paying attention to the Spirit: (1) Your imagination wakes up, (2) You think you can see a pattern, (3) You contemplate all sorts of questions, (4) You feel more patient, (5) You are definitely more fun to be around, (6) You want to learn something new, (7) You believe less is more, (8) You are trying to read way too many books, (9) You smile more often for no reason, (10) You think you are tougher than fear, (11) You can literally see love in endless forms all around you, (12) You are a work in progress.”
Bishop Steven Charleston
Do you see any similarities between Charleston’s list of living with the Spirit with the Promises of AA when you live a new life without a kind of “spirit” that was at the center of your life?
“12 Promises of AA
1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through.
2. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
3. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
4. We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace.
5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
7. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
8. Self-seeking will slip away.
9. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
10. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
11. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.”
Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous pp. 83-84
Joanna joannaseibert.com