Step 7

Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

Spiritual Principle: Humility

 

Assignment 1:

  1. Read, highlight, and jot down questions/comments from Into Action, page 76, second paragraph, of the Big Book.
  2. Read, highlight, and jot down questions/comments from the AA 12 & 12, Step 7.
  3. Answer the following questions.
    • Humility is the foundation principle of each Step. “Nearly all AA’s have found, too, that unless they develop much more of this precious quality than may be required for just sobriety, they still haven’t much chance of becoming truly happy.” (AA 12 & 12, pg. 70) Stark-raving abstinence refers to abstinence without happiness or peace, which is not a sustainable solution. How can humility help you to become truly happy?
    • Humility is the eradication of selfishness and self-centeredness. You can do this by letting go of the conscious and unconscious belief that you are the center of the universe, that everything is about you. Do you see that humility is the opposite of the unmanageability talked about in Step 1?
    • “We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves. As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question.” (AA 12 & 12, pg. 72) Do you see that humility is just realizing and accepting that you are not God?
    • “We have been making unreasonable demands upon ourselves, upon others and upon God.” (AA 12 & 12, pg. 76) What are your unreasonable demands? Examples may be demanding others do what we want and/or demanding that God give us what we want, like making recovery easy and painless. Can you see that you have been making unreasonable demands?
    • “Where humility had formerly stood for a forced feeding on humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing ingredient which can give us serenity.” (AA 12 & 12, pg. 74) What is the difference between humility and humiliation?
    •  Without expectations or unreasonable demands, there is no longer any basis for fighting anything or anyone. Getting our way becomes irrelevant. Can you see how developing humility will help you stop fighting yourself, other people and God?

 

Assignment 2:

  1. “A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse all at once.” (AA 12 & 12, pg. 74) We need to ask for guidance from our HP.
  2. Learn about two-way prayer from the pamphlet.
  3. Take each of your character defects into two-way prayer. Focus on only one character defect per day. For each of your character defects, pray for its removal and meditate to get guidance from your HP on how to cooperate with the removal of each defect. What attitudes does your HP want you to have, what actions do you need to take?
  4. When ready, kneel, stand, or assume a position meaningful to you and pray the 7th Step prayer (Big Book, pg. 76) or a similar prayer of your own.

 

Optional Extra Credit:

  1. Read highlight, and jot down questions/comments from  A Study Guide for Overeaters, Step 7.
  2. Watch Surrender School’s video on Steps 5, 6, and 7.
  3. Listen to one or more of these OA podcasts/videos.
    • Steps 6 & 7 by Pete B. from A Design for Living
    • Step 7 from Overeaters Anonymous: “The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps” podcast series
    • Into Action: Step 7 by Kearstin H. from from Choose your Own Conception: OA Big Book Study
    • Into Action: Step 7 Melissa B. from Choose your Own Conception: OA Big Book Study
    • Into Action: Step 7 by Victoria W. from Choose your Own Conception: OA Big Book Study

 

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE COMPLETED STEP 7. YOU ARE NOW READY FOR STEP 8.