The third and final session in our Bridge Back To Life series of online workshops, was presented by Peter S., from New York.
The workshop consists of a series of writing exercises, each followed by sharing. If you can, we suggest that you take this workshop with a small group, and share what you have written with each other as you work through it. If you are taking this workshop on your own, then we recommend that share your work with your sponsor, action partner, action group or program buddy.
To take the workshop, you need only a pen and some lined paper to write on, but if you would like to print out a template, please see the Materials section below.
Donations
There is no fee for the workshop, but a donation of $5 is suggested to support the work of New York Intergroup. If you wish to donate, please use the button below:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Some questions that came up several times in the unrecorded sections:
- How can I pray to my Higher Power to help me achieve what I want, when Step 11 calls on us to pray “only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out” ?
- This is a good question, and the answer is three-fold. The first answer is that here we are working on Steps 6 & 7, becoming “entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character,” and then “humbly asking God to remove our shortcomings;” Step 11 will come later in our journey.
- And the second part is that one of our shortcomings is putting the needs of others so far above our own, that we follow other people’s visions instead, or compulsively volunteer our time with no clear benefit to ourselves. So as part of our recovery, we need to learn to ask for what we want and what we need, both from other people and from our Higher Power.
- And thirdly, above all else, UA is a program of action: we take care of the actions, and our Higher Power takes care of the results. If we have turned our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power, then we can pray for what we want, confident in the knowledge that if we take the actions, our Higher Power will give us what we need, even if that is different from our own wildest imaginings.
- When I worked Step 4, my sponsor used a completely different set of labels on the inventory grid—which is right?
- That’s great! They both are! My hope is that by breaking down your fears in two different ways, you came to an even better understanding of them!
- Another good way to break down our character defects is by tracking which symptoms they correspond to (although for that, I suggest adding some common UA symptoms that didn’t make it onto the list on the website—Hiding and Biting, Magical/Wishful Thinking, Feeling Invisible/Not Having a Voice).
- But if you find all that confusing, then “take what you need, and leave the rest”—use the approach that works best for you. As Bill W. wrote in the 12 & 12, even the Steps themselves are only suggestions!
