Getting Humility from Step 7 After the Ego Collapsed – Mike F.

About This Speaker Tape

A lifelong obsession with substances, from high school binge-drinking to a heroin habit, became the primary manifestation of Mike B.'s spiritual disconnection. He describes the 'alcoholic insanity' of trying to outrun his own skin moving from New York to Maryland and Connecticut and the wreckage of a carjacking homelessness and a near-fatal overdose that left him with third-degree burns. Mike dismantles the myth of the 'trench coat alcoholic,' instead tracing his path through the 'firing lines' of York Pennsylvania and the discipline of a sponsorship family that drove him to meetings across state lines.

He works through the reality of being a father and the terrifying realization that a beautiful daughter is a human power—not a spiritual one—and emphasizes that the only way to stay out of the wreckage is a rigorous daily relationship with a Higher Power.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Mike B. opens with a joke about his attire and his relationship with J.D.
• 3:45 Discussion of 'incomprehensible demoralization' and the failure of handcuffs to create lasting change.
• 7:12 Recounts the 'Cisco' bottles at the junior prom and the immediate loss of the power of choice.
• 12:30 Describes the transition from alcohol to heroin to shut off a racing brain.
• 17:40 The overdose and the accident with the cigarette that led to third-degree burns and skin grafts.
• 21:15 The experience of being driven to meetings in Baltimore, D.C., and New Jersey by a principled sponsorship family.
• 26:40 Discusses the 'firing lines' in York, PA, and the importance of working the steps quickly.
• 31:10 Laughter: Reflecting on the '15-year bachelor's degree' and the low expectations of others in early sobriety.
• 35:20 The realization that a child is a 'human power' and the necessity of spiritual centering.
• 40:15 A powerful Seventh Step experience involving the transformation of hatred into love for an enemy.
• 44:30 The danger of the 'ego in AA' and the consequences of stopping daily prayer and meditation.