Drop The Rock: Removing Character Defects, Steps Six and Seven

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This book also features opinions from various members of AA, men and women, and how they approached working Steps 6 & 7. The audiobook narrator has a great voice, but he doesn't do voices, so when a woman's story is being read, the narrator keeps his same voice. It is a toss up whether this is good or bad. Audiobooks are presentations, and in this case it should not be considered entertainment. Thus feigning a female voice by a male narrator might be considered inappropriate. Your mileage may vary. In this ongoing process, the Program is asking us to go where none of us has ever been before—into lives of lessened fear, diminished anger, fewer resentments, and genuine self-esteem instead of self-pity. There is a price, however: the willingness to challenge and change patterns of thought, speech, and behavior that may have gone unchallenged for ten, twenty, thirty years or more. — Prayer is seeing answers and direction in life. Meditation is listening for answers from a Higher Power and developing the ability within ourselves to accept the answers.” For a long time, it seemed like the burly Samoan actor was on top of the world. But after finding himself at the center of two major studio controversies — and a public feud with Zachary Levi over their crossover potential within the all-but defunct DC Extended Universe — the megastar appeared to be falling from grace. Drawing on his years of lecturing on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Fred H. reveals Step 10 as the natural culmination of working the previous Steps, providing a crash course on renewing your recovery program through the daily practice of Twelve Step principles.

During the early 1980s I worked in the archives at AA Headquarters in New York and one of the most asked questions was, What is the difference between character defects and shortcomings? The answer is that there is no difference. Bill W. and the other authors of the Big Book didn’t want to use the same word in both Steps. The same approach is used in this book— character defects is used interchangeably with shortcomings. As with every other Step in AA, the Sixth Step will challenge you to go to places within yourself that you may fear. Overcoming an addiction to alcohol (or any addiction for that matter) isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. It may seem that once you conquer a mountain, a larger one looms on the horizon and a new set of challenges threatens to throw you off course. You may be tempted to try and bypass this Step or try to go through the motions and give a half-hearted effort, but with working the Steps must be all in. Half-measures won’t help you truly leave your alcohol addiction behind. Understanding Character Defects God give me the courage and strength to know who I really am, to act accordingly in my life, and to refrain from diverting my time, energy, and interest into my character defects.” For those familiar with the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Step program, this book focuses on Steps 6 and 7. That is, "6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character," and "7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." So, after completing Steps 4 and 5, one's inventory of personal character defects becomes obvious. But if God removes all of one's character defects, many of us would be "the hole in the doughnut". What would be left of us? This book goes through the fears one might have before asking one's Higher Power to remove one's character defects, and (as is implied in Step 7) becoming of service to one's fellows... not just one's fellows in AA, but of service to everyone. It seems like a lot of work, but compared to the disaster an alcoholic leaves in his wake and the work it takes to clean up that mess, the spiritual work seems an easy trade. The recording begins with Goldings’s “Mozam-BBQ,” a challenging boogaloo piece that exists in that space between straight and swung eighth notes, highlighting Joseph’s melodic touch. The trio captures the slow burn, pulsing groove of Stax’s soul sound on Hey’s “Sauté.” The beautifully sanctified “Nina’s Lullaby” interprets an improvised lullaby that Joseph’s daughter sang to her pet fish, Crabby. There is a flamenco tinge to Golding’s “Paco’s Theme,” a piece that swings naturally in a 5/4 meter.If we are humble, we are open to new ideas and new ways of seeing things. Open-mindedness is a very important part of humility. We don’t know it all. There is still more we can learn. And maybe even more important, some we need to unlearn.” Step seven is about asking God to help me change the thinking, actions & behavior that stand in my way. I cant keep practicing my character defects and expect God to remove them! I have to develop a new set of habits and practice them. I must be willing to make the choice between my old and new habits. When it comes to will, I must be willing to put God's will in place of my will into action. I also have to be willing to accept that God will take care of me. I have to give up the fear of being comfortable in my own chaos and the unknown of not living the chaotic life. I have to get out of the comfort of practicing my character defects. It is the living of these defects that have hurt others, myself and separated me from God. Practicing my character defects led me to and separated me from Suzie. Another area(s) I have to let go of is belief in self. If I believe in God and believe God made me perfect in mind, body and spirit than I have to accept who I am. This is new for me as I have spent a life making me something I am not. On one hand through self discovery I am happy with what I have found. On the other am appalled at what I see. If I am to grow I have to accept me as God made me. I am to love who and what he has created.

As a young drummer, Joseph came up under the direction of his father’s baton in a wedding band. Joseph wanted something different than his father’s workaday approach to music making. Eventually, the drummer made it to New York and found success in different groups, including those of Kevin Hays, Brian Charette, Binky Griptite, and Michael Bates, in addition to working with Tony Scherr, Chris Potter, Gregoire Maret, and Steve Wilson. As we’re taught in the Twelve Steps, the chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear. Mainly fear that we would lose something we already possessed or that we would fail to get something we demanded. Living on the basis of unsatisfied demands, we obviously were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, we are taught, there will be no peace unless we are able to reduce these demands.” If you are seeking drug and alcohol related addiction rehab for yourself or a loved one, the SoberNation.com hotline is a confidential and convenient solution.Without emotional and spiritual recovery, you don’t have much. You have abstinence, and you may not even have that for very long. If you don’t follow the “clear-cut” directions of our Program, you can’t move into receiving God’s directions.” Sloth is the thief of time. The character defect of putting off actions “until things get better” is one of the most destructive detours we can make. Delays never make problems “go away;” they only make success harder to attain.” Thank you to all those who have contributed to the production of this second edition as we remember that we will always be students in the Program, we remain teachable and open to new opportunities, and we open our minds to accept and our hearts to understand.