Stepping Stones Workshop – Part 2 of 14 – 2010 – Peter M.

About This Speaker Tape

Stepping Stones Workshop - 2010

A floor in a hallway knees buckled and a total collapse of the ego—this is where Peter M. found his way out. After seven treatment centers and a stint living in abandoned buildings he describes a June 23 1988 moment of absolute desperation where he stopped fighting and begged a Higher Power for mercy. He moves through the tension between the 'mind' and the 'soul,' arguing that the mind is a trap that only knows how to drink or obsess while the soul is where the divine connection lives. Peter discusses the practicalities of Step 3 the danger of 'playing Higher Power' in meetings and the necessity of service—from making coffee to quietly paying for the meals of a broken-down couple at a diner—as the only way to stay out of his own head and keep the 'isms' quiet.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening jokes about the 'NFL' (early bedtimes) and the logistics of flying in from Florida.
• 4:15 Discussion on the 'forest' metaphor: seeking complete transformation versus just getting comfortable.
• 8:30 The wreckage: living in abandoned buildings and the loss of self-respect as a man.
• 12:45 The moment of surrender: June 23, 1988, and the prayer of a drowning man.
• 18:20 The 'Three Legacies Meeting' in Minnesota and the shift from operating out of the mind to the soul.
• 24:10 The 'rabbit hole' of alcoholic thinking and the danger of self-reliance.
• 31:00 Step 3: The process of writing a personal interpretation of the Third Step prayer with his sponsor.
• 36:40 The 'boulder' story: a lesson on effort versus results and letting go of the outcome.
• 42:15 The 'mustard seed' of willingness and the decision to stop 'playing Higher Power'.
• 48:10 A story about paying for a meal for an elderly couple at a diner as an act of representing a Higher Power.
• 54:30 Closing thoughts on the freedom of being 'broken and flawed' and the danger of returning to the mind.