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Step Ten
"Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."
As we work the first
nine Steps, we prepare ourselves for the adventure of a new life. But when
we approach Step Ten we commence to put our A.A. way of living to practical
use, day by day, in fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we
stay sober, keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all
conditions? A continuous look at our assets and liabilities, and a real
desire to learn and grow by this means, are necessities for us. We alcoholics
have learned this the hard way. More experienced people, of course, in all
times and places have practiced unsparing self-survey and criticism. For
the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching
becomes a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds,
and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong.
When a drunk has a terrific hangover because he drank heavily yesterday,
he cannot live well today. But there is another kind of hangover which we
all experience whether we are drinking or not. That is the emotional hangover,
the direct result of yesterday's and sometimes today's excesses of negative
emotion--anger, fear, jealousy, and the like. If we would live serenely
today and tomorrow, we certainly need to eliminate these hangovers. This
doesn't mean we need to wander morbidly around in the past. It requires an
admission and correction of errors now. Our inventory enables us to settle
with the past. When this is done, we are really able to leave it behind us.
When our inventory is carefully taken, and we have made peace with ourselves,
the conviction follows that tomorrow's challenges can be met as they come.
Although all inventories are alike in principle, the time factor does
distinguish one from another. There's the spot check inventory, taken at
any time of the day, whenever we find ourselves getting tangled up. There's
the one we take at day's end, when we review the happenings of the hours
just past. Here we cast up a balance sheet, crediting ourselves with things
well done, and chalking up debits where due. Then there are those occasions
when alone, or in the company of our sponsor or spiritual adviser, we make
a careful review of our progress since the last time. Many A.A.'s go in
for annual or semiannual housecleanings. Many of us also like the experience
of an occasional retreat from the outside world where we can quiet down
for an undisturbed day or so of self-overhaul and meditation. Aren't these
practices joy-killers as well as time-consumers? Must A.A.'s spend most
of their waking hours drearily rehashing their sins of omission or commission?
Well, hardly. The emphasis on inventory is heavy only because a great many
of us have never really acquired the habit of accurate self-appraisal. Once
this healthy practice has become grooved, it will be so interesting and
profitable that the time it takes won't be missed. For these minutes and
sometimes hours spent in self-examination are bound to make all the other
hours of our day better and happier. And at length our inventories become
a regular part of everyday living, rather than something unusual or set
apart. Before we ask what a spot-check inventory is, let's look at the
kind of setting in which such an inventory can do its work. It is a spiritual
axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there
is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are
in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What about
"justifiable" anger? If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad?
Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk? For us of A.A. these
are dangerous exceptions. We have found that justified anger ought to be
left to those better qualified to handle it. Few people have been more
victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. It mattered little whether
our resentments were justified or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day,
and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we
ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw
it, our wrath was always justified. Anger, that occasional luxury of more
balanced people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These emotional
"dry benders" often led straight to the bottle. Other kinds of disturbances--jealousy,
envy, self-pity, or hurt pride--did the same thing. A spot-check inventory
taken in the midst of such disturbances can be of very great help in quieting
stormy emotions. Today's spot check finds its chief application to situations
which arise in each day's march. The consideration of long-standing difficulties
had better be postponed, when possible, to times deliberately set aside for
that purpose. The quick inventory is aimed at our daily ups and downs, especially
those where people or new events throw us off balance and tempt us to make
mistakes. In all these situations we need self-restraint, honest analysis
of what is involved, a willingness to admit when the fault is ours, and
an equal willingness to forgive when the fault is elsewhere. We need not
be discouraged when we fall into the error of our old ways, for these disciplines
are not easy. We shall look for progress, not for perfection. Our first
objective will be the development of self restraint. This carries a top
priority rating. When we speak or act hastily or rashly, the ability to be
fair-minded and tolerant evaporates on the spot. One unkind tirade or one
willful snap judgment can ruin our relation with another person for a whole
day, or maybe a whole year. Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and
pen. We must avoid quick-tempered criticism and furious, power-driven argument.
The same goes for sulking or silent scorn. These are emotional booby traps
baited with pride and vengefulness. Our first job is to sidestep the traps.
When we are tempted by the bait, we should train ourselves to step back
and think. For we can neither think nor act to good purpose until the habit
of self-restraint has become automatic. Disagreeable or unexpected problems
are not the only ones that call for self-control. We must be quite as careful
when we begin to achieve some measure of importance and material success.
For no people have ever loved personal triumphs more than we have loved
them; we drank of success as of a wine which could never fail to make us
feel elated. When temporary good fortune came our way, we indulged ourselves
in fantasies of still greater victories over people and circumstances. Thus
blinded by prideful self confidence, we were apt to play the big shot. Of
course, people turned away from us, bored or hurt. Now that we're in A.A.
and sober, and winning back the esteem of our friends and business associates,
we find that we still need to exercise special vigilance. As an insurance
against "big-shot-ism" we can often check ourselves by remembering that we
are today sober only by the grace of God and that any success we may be
having is far more His success than ours. Finally, we begin to see that
all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well
as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real
love for our fellows actually means. It will become more and more evident
as we go forward that it is pointless to become angry, or to get hurt by
people who, like us, are suffering from the pains of growing up. Such
a radical change in our outlook will take time, maybe a lot of time. Not
many people can truthfully assert that they love everybody. Most of us
must admit that we have loved but a few; that we have been quite indifferent
to the many so long as none of them gave us trouble; and as for the remainder--well,
we have really disliked or hated them. Although these attitudes are common
enough, we A.A.'s find we need something much better in order to keep our
balance. We can't stand it if we hate deeply. The idea that we can be
possessively loving of a few, can ignore the many, and can continue to fear
or hate anybody, has to be abandoned, if only a little at a time. We can
try to stop making unreasonable demands upon those we love. We can show
kindness where we had shown none. With those we dislike we can begin to
practice justice and courtesy, perhaps going out of our way to understand
and help them. Whenever we fail any of these people, we can promptly admit
it--to ourselves always, and to them also, when the admission would be helpful.
Courtesy, kindness, justice, and love are the keynotes by which we may come
into harmony with practically anybody. When in doubt we can always pause,
saying, "Not my will, but Thine, be done." And we can often ask ourselves,
"Am I doing to others as I would have them do to me--today?" When evening
comes, perhaps just before going to sleep, many of us draw up a balance
sheet for the day. This is a good place to remember that inventory-taking
is not always done in red ink. It's a poor day indeed when we haven't done
something right. As a matter of fact, the waking hours are usually well
filled with things that are constructive. Good intentions, good thoughts,
and good acts are there for us to see. Even when we have tried hard and
failed, we may chalk that up as one of the greatest credits of all. Under
these conditions, the pains of failure are converted into assets. Out of
them we receive the stimulation we need to go forward. Someone who knew
what he was talking about once remarked that pain was the touchstone of
all spiritual progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we
know that the pains of drinking had to come before sobriety, and emotional
turmoil before serenity. As we glance down the debit side of the day's
ledger, we should carefully examine our motives in each thought or act that
appears to be wrong. In most cases our motives won't be hard to see and
understand. When prideful, angry, jealous, anxious, or fearful, we acted
accordingly, and that was that. Here we need only recognize that we did
act or think badly, try to visualize how we might have done better, and
resolve with God's help to carry these lessons over into tomorrow, making,
of course, any amends still neglected. But in other instances only the
closest scrutiny will reveal what our true motives were. There are cases
where our ancient enemy, rationalization, has stepped in and has justified
conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we
had good motives and reasons when we really didn't. We "constructively
criticized" someone who needed it, when our real motive was to win a useless
argument. Or, the person concerned not being present, we thought we were
helping others to understand him, when in actuality our true motive was
to feel superior by pulling him down. We sometimes hurt those we love because
they need to be "taught a lesson," when we really want to punish. We were
depressed and complained we felt bad, when in fact we were mainly asking
for sympathy and attention. This odd trait of mind and emotion, this perverse
wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one, permeates human affairs
from top to bottom. This subtle and elusive kind of self-righteousness can
underlie the smallest act or thought. Learning daily to spot, admit, and
correct these flaws is the essence of character-building and good living.
An honest regret for harms done, a genuine gratitude for blessings received,
and a willingness to try for better things tomorrow will be the permanent
assets we shall seek. Having so considered our day, not omitting to take
due note of things well done, and having searched our hearts with neither
fear nor favor, we can truly thank God for the blessings we have received
and sleep in good conscience.
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