One of the seemingly most difficult aspects of the Twelve Steps appears to be Step Eleven. Particularly, when it comes to meditation. I’ve heard a number of people through the years, who have said they don’t or can’t meditate. Bill talks about this very thing in the Eleventh Step in the 12&12.
Meditation is a kind of discipline we teach ourselves or learn from others. In fact, I believe, many of the folks in AA are doing that very thing, when attending meetings. We hear them say, and I’ve experienced this myself, how troubled they could be before a meeting and how peaceful and content at the end of a meeting.
My guess would be that we’re thinking about what people say. Or we’re thinking about maybe a solution. Or we’re considering a Step being talked about. Maybe we’re thinking about the mention of a higher power. But we end up thinking about something. Maybe something we wish to say about a subject. And literally, that’s meditation.
Meditation can open the mind up, so that we can hear what we need to hear. Meditation in my thoughts is exactly what the words describing the Eleventh Step say. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him… Really? A conscious contact? Yes and no.
As I understand it, we’re trying to improve that contact. I never go into meditation with any expectations of anything. Not even results. I just know that as a result I am changed.
Bill W. presents a formula in the 12&12. A suggestion. The Prayer of St. Francis. To think about one of the sentences or a phrase. One that jumps out to me immediately is “It is by forgiving that we are forgiven”. Taking time out to sit quietly and think about it. Letting it takes us to wherever it will.
All it takes really, I have found, is to be willing and have the intention to do this. Do what? Try to improve our conscious contact with God.
Anyway, there are seemingly endless methods of meditation. Like all of the program’s spiritual principles, it takes some discipline on my part to practice meditation. Not always easy for me, because my lazy, self centered mind wants to tell me that my time is too valuable to just sit and be quiet. But, when I can force myself to do it, I’m the one who benefits from it.
One of the rewards I know is that it contributes to the maintenance of my spiritual condition. One of the essentials of staying sober. But, like I said before, it brings about a change within me, which is often reflected on the outside in my attitude towards life and others.
It’s all about sobriety and sober living. Always.