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Step Seven

We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Question 1:		So how do I go about "humbly asking"?
	Answers:	I have listened to a lot of talk about this but for me humbly means simply. I simply pray. Bo P My sponsor pointed out that my attitude of humility comes from a deeper understanding of my powerlessness, which extends far beyond my addiction. He had me read from It Works: "We tried so hard to get it right. We were tired of our shortcomings. We were worn out from trying to manage and control them, and we wanted some relief. Oddly enough this is precisely the attitude we hope to demonstrate in Step Seven, the attitude of humility. We admit defeat, recognize our limitations, and ask for help from the God of our understanding." It Works, How and Why (p.70). Dan P Since I had a hard time demonstrating any humility at all – my sponsor said I was an egomaniac with an inferiority complex - he had me start out by praying for humility. I thought this was a very risky approach, since I figured if it worked at all I would surely end up being humiliated. That’s not what happened. Somehow, very gently, my eyes opened a little and I could see every now and then that I wasn't always right. I could see that other people, especially ones who had been sober for a while, knew some things about living that I didn’t. At first these loving lessons felt like crushing blows to my ego and I thought people wouldn't like me because they could see I was wrong. That didn't happen either. People seemed to still like me just the same – actually they liked me more. Now that I’m beginning to understand a little more about humility I find I like myself more too. Peyton B

Question 2:		So what happens? Do I instantly become a better person?
	Answers:	I wish! I only seem to be able to work on one character defect at a time and, believe me, I have many that need work. What happens is that I become rather intensely aware that I am using one of those defects I listed out in Step 6. I want to stop doing this so I pray and ask God to help me remove this defect. It’s amazing, but the help I get is almost always the same. In rapid succession over the next few days I get presented with many situations where my natural reaction is to rely on the very character defect I had prayed about. These are opportunities for me to change my behavior, to show that I don’t want to lie, get angry, play on your sympathy, or whatever defect I’m trying to get rid of. I can’t believe how many times this has happened. I ask for help with a defect and presto, I get six opportunities to show that I can live without it. Jackie S "The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God. The whole emphasis of Step Seven is on humility. It is really saying to us that we now ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our other shortcomings just as we did when we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. If that degree of humility could enable us to find the grace by which such a deadly obsession could be banished, then there must be hope of the same result respecting any other problem we could possibly have.” Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.76