This has been a particularly stressful end of the old, and beginning of the new year.  Major changes in my life are taking place and it hasn't been the beautiful graceful transition that one would hope for.  It has been more of a total upheaval of everything I hoped for and a disorientation of the turning my plans on their head.

This type of experience can cause the spiralling into despair.  The lessons from these moments are deep and meaningful and with time these dark days will become the most significant moments, but the days before that clarity arises, must be handled with grace.  It is so necessary to get through this time with kindness and gentleness towards oneself.  If you have the chance to retreat from some of life's responsibilities, then do so.  But if you don't, be absolutely sure you are taking time to engage in activities that bring you joy.

There is an exercise developed by Jennifer McClean that is simple and effective.

Make two columns on a paper.  On one side write the things that are causing you stress.  Then give each item a number from 1 to 10 to quantify the degree of stress it is causing.  
In the second column, write down things that bring you joy.  What do you enjoy doing?  Take your time with this side of the list.  This is important.  Then quantify the joy each activity brings from 1-10.

Finally, make sure you are balancing the equation each day.  If you have a number 10 stressor, make sure you include some level 10 joyful activities in your day.  Don't let yourself be consumed by stress.  These dark days will turn to bright faster when you stay in the sunlight of the spirit.  

I love to play music, and so that is what I have been doing these past few weeks.  Some new and amazing songs even came through the darkness.  Some of our most creative impulses can be found there.  

Be patient with the process, know that things are working out for your betterments.  Love yourself.

As the saying goes, "Faith without works is dead."

So true, "Inspiration without action is just an idea."

So come and join us for the New Year's Day as we tune into what we what to achieve this year and then commit to making steps towards that goal.  We will examine 4 areas of life, Spiritual, Social, Emotional and Physical and challenge ourselves to move towards the positive vision in each area.

Any worthy goal is accomplished by diligence and consistency.  Once you have identified your goals, we invite you to participate in our 30 day challenge to get the year started right!

Our group call starts at 1:11 PM and all are welcome.

All attendees get free access to challenge pages, tips and tricks and all that you need to get started towards your goals.

Topic: New Year's Goal Setting
Time: Jan 1, 2024 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

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There is so much fear in the Christian community regarding those who are energy and lightworkers.  Personally I have spent more than 20 years studying and practicing energy healing techniques.  I like to point out to my Christian cohorts that Jesus was the greatest lightworker of all time, and he said that in regards to his own miracles, we too had these abilities, through him.

John 14:12-14
New International Version12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.


As I step onto the Christian path, being convicted in the faith, I do see that there are those who misuse the gifts of our spiritual light for nefarious purposes.  However, it is also my belief that the unconscious ways in which most people direct their energy and drain and misuse their God given spiritual light is more prevalent and more tragic.  

Learning that we are spiritual beings having a human experience is the first step to awakening.  Understanding how our spiritual nature is interacting in this world is the next, and finally learning to work within this matrix in order to do God's will, bringing more and more people out of the enslavement of addiction, depression and delusion, and into the truth of who they are is the ultimate goal of a Christian path.

Why would I denounce all of the work that has been done up to this point in understanding my spiritual nature, when it would leave me without access to the spirit within me?

I have been reading the book of Wisdom.  What a beautiful spiritual text.  It was written about fifty years before the birth of Jesus. It is in the style of Hebrew verse. Some of the text is written as King Solomon, although the author himself is anonymous.  For me it has the power of the writings of Marcus Aurelius and the Stoics to quell the emotional turmoil of dealing with prideful and difficult people.

From Chap 5 8:13

What did our pride avail us?
What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?

All of them passed like a shadow
and like a fleeting rumor;

Like a ship traversing the heaving water:
when it has passed, no trace can be found,
no path of its keel in the waves.

Or like a bird flying through the air;
no evidence of its course is to be found--
But the fluid air, lashed by the beating of pinions,
and cleft by the rushing force
Of speeding wings, is traversed;
and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it.

Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark,
the parted air straightway flows together again
so that none discerns the way it went--

Even so, once born, we abruptly came to nought
and held no sign of virtue to display,
but were consumed in our wickedness.

These words show that the life steeped in a focus on the world, leads to nothing significant.  A life with no impact.  Why does virtuos action alone have any significance in the world?  It must be true that evil also has an impact on the world, selfishness and folly must impact the world negatively.  

But what if this world didn't really exist, or rather was simply here to test one's mettle?  The only thing significant here is that one can demonstrate their ability to connect to Wisdom and live according to her guidance.

Chapter 6 12:19 delves into how Wisdom presents herself to those who seek her.  It also emphasizes the love of discipline.  

12 Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom,
and she is readily perceived by those who love her,
and found by those who seek her.

13 She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her;

14 one who watches for her at dawn will not be disappointed,
for she will be found sitting at the gate.

15 For setting your heart on her is the perfection of prudence,
and whoever keeps vigil for her is quickly free from care;

16 Because she makes her rounds, seeking those worthy of her,
and graciously appears to them on the way,
and goes to meet them with full attention.

17 * For the first step toward Wisdom is an earnest desire for discipline;

18 then, care for discipline is love of her;
love means the keeping of her laws
To observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility;

19 and incorruptibility makes one close to God;

Wow!  What a beautiful truth is presented here.  I have always said that discipline brings rewards.    Care for discipline is the love of Wisdom.  To follow the laws of Wisdom is the basis of incorruptibility.  You will always be in integrity with God in following Wisdom (which comes from God).  Incorruptibility (Integrity) makes one close to God.  These truths are powerful.  When I can live in integrity with virtue, I am closer to God.  This closeness also gives me Wisdom.  They draw together.  They represnt a true duality.  

The most popular reading in the AA 24 hour a day book is January 6th (the Epiphany) and the meditation that follows this text is all about discipline.  Indeed, discipline leads to the path of Wisdom, which leads us directly to the Kingdom of Heaven.

From  Twenty-Four Hours a Day © 1975 by Hazelden Foundation

Thought for the Day
Keeping sober is the most important thing in my life. The most important decision I ever made was my decision to give up drinking. I am convinced that my whole life depends on not taking that first drink. Nothing in the world is as important to me as my own sobriety. Everything I have, my whole life, depends on that one thing. Can I afford ever to forget this, even for one minute?

Meditation for the Day
I will discipline myself. I will do this disciplining now. I will turn out all useless thoughts. I know that the goodness of my life is a necessary foundation for its usefulness. I will welcome this training, for without it, God cannot give me His power. I believe that this power is a mighty power when it is used in the right way.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may face and accept whatever discipline is necessary. I pray that I may be fit to receive God's power in my life.

There is a dangerous path of spiritual belief that has infiltrated our collective thought, that is that since everything is of God, everything is Love and is good.  This statement is dangerous because it allows evil to be seen as good.

The reversal and even celebration of evil as good is demonstrated all around us.  Look especially at the movies in Hollywood.  Are video games that celebrate murder good?  What are we imprinting on our subconscious, or the subconsious of our children?

I have been moving deeply into an understanding of this world from the Christian perspective.  This states that the world was given to the fallen angel of Lucifer who brought with him 1/3 of all the angels in heaven.  Luciferianism is at the core of various secret societies, including the Freemasons.  This video was part of my own introduction into this idea, a powerful testimonial from someone who had been initiated.  It is about the most revealing and expansive expose that I have watched in years, and it truly puts all the pieces together.

youtu.be/gbUK4cFCTPg?si=F-xPOD7ymHW19ShJ

The video by the founder of a children's home in Tanzenia, describes the fact that we are actually in the matrix, but that there are indeed two different matrices.  One Good of God, one Evil of Lucifer.  It is well worth watching.  I like it because it does line up very much with the double torroid of Power vs Force.  You are either in one or the other of the torroids.  
youtu.be/vNBUa-akMtM?si=AZ1gO7nit_5frnUZ

I am not sure how I feel about Steiner's organizing principle behind his 12 senses. We just completed smell and taste, in the Transformative Learning Foundation course, and now we are exploring vision as part of the same category.  I guess Steiner reasons that in each of these senses we take something in from the outside.

From a neurobiological perspective, this categorization doesn't gel.  Taste and smell are confined to such lower, foundational brain networks, with most of their primary efferents connected to brainstem or archicortex. Vision, on the otherhand, first and foremost project through the thalamo-cortical networks, and though this and other neural systems is connected to almost every region of the brain.  Vision researchers say 70-90 percent of the brain is visual depending on who you talk to.  It is a highly dominant and interconnected sense with a strong top-down influence.  

Vision is connected to our inner visual imagination, and this is where so much power lies in our ability to create, and to understand.  Creative people can see their work in their minds eye.  They can then take that image and bring it into reality.  Good leaders and futurists can "see" the big picture of an organization or social structure, and can envision how particular tweaks and changes to an issue will produce differing results.

Many sages and seers have existed across time who have been able to see our unfolding future.  Visions are not uncommon for any intuitive person.  It is a capacity that can be developed through quieting the mind and simply setting the intention.  Visions can come through dreams, or through meditation, or contemplation.

I woke up early this morning and sat out on the hammock under the stars.  It is unusually warm for November, so I got a hat and a blanket and just stared at the sky.  At first I found myself trying to pick out stars, naming, or categorizing.  I then starting thinking about the time of day, cloud cover, dawn and the like.  I decided to really see, I needed to still my mind and stop naming.

I started practicing a new approach to the Wim Hoff breathwork method that has been quite successful for me.  It aligns the breathwork with the fibonacci sequence.  I split my attention between counting and doing the breathwork which was quite effortful and viewing the stars.  One star in particular caught my attention, and seemed more alive than the others.  I had a feeling towards this star, its light seemed to separate and jump down to greet me.

As the breathwork continued, I started to feel a metaphor for this star and our earth life.  God's light having been given, broken off from its source, so that we could experience the illusion of separation.  I felt that this was a great gift.  Although we have done quite a job of it, this Earth project, the trust and love that was present in its creation, is a powerful manifestation of our own creative and destructive tendencies.  

There was a feeling that the entire project came out of the energy of Narcissism.  A desire to know oneself separate from God.  Well, what a disaster that has been.  We are all feeling the pain of alienation from one another and God.  The illusion of happiness coming from fame and glory given to oneself, is so radically demonstrated through the misery of those in Hollywood.  Drug overdoses, domestic violence, self-destructive behavior and a level of self-absorbtion that is then portrayed to the world as something worthy of envy or worship even.

Will we make it out of the suffering we have created?  Can we find our way back to God and the awareness that we are all one?  That seems to me to be the goal of this project.  For myself, I find it necessary to make that effort everyday to quell my own desires for those things of the ego, and to remember that those can never satisfy what I am truly longing for.

++++Wim Hoff Breathwork+++

The next energy level up from Neutrality (Humility) is Willingness.  The associated emotion is optimism, the process is intention, the life-view is hopeful, and the God-view is inspiring.  

It seems to me I like to work in this level.  At the Community House the word Hope is all over the place.  We have intentions setting every week for our house members, and every New Year for our Consciousness Explorations community.  Inspiration is the foundation for the way in which I connect to my creative drive.  

I am sure I waiver, and know I can easily drop down into the negative emotions (especially wanting) but as for my positive counterpoint, Willing seems to fit my profile.

There is something I have read about Hope that was written by Rudolf Steiner and has always stuck with me.  In hope there is also a kind of wanting, a wishing that can keep me stuck.  I am holding on for dear life, rather than trusting and letting go.

He spoke of Hope itself being impotent, but when infused with other aspects of soul-force it would fulfill its promise.

GA 58. Metamorphoses of the Soul: Paths of Experience I — The Mission of TruthWhile the creative thinker unites his Ego with the future and gets free from himself, the reflective thinker can look to the future only with hope, for he has no part in shaping it. He can only hope that things will happen. Goethe shows his deep comprehension of the myth by endowing the marriage of Epimetheus and Pandora with two children: Elpore (Hope) and Epimeleia (Care), who safeguards existing things.
If a Promethean man were to stand before the world and speak of the future, he would say: “I hope for nothing. With my own forces I will shape the future.” But a reflective thinker can only reflect on the past and hope for the future; thus Elpore, when asked whether this or that will happen, replies always, yes, yes.
Goethe wished to show that an understanding of the real nature of truth will unite humanity and foster love and peace among men. Then Hope, also, is transformed in the soul — Hope who says yes to everything but is powerless to bring anything about. The poem was to have ended with the transformed Elpore, Elpore thraseia, coming forward to tell us that she is no longer a prophetess but is to be incorporated into the human soul, so that human beings would not merely cherish hopes for the future but would have the strength to co-operate in bringing about whatever their own productive power could create.

Steiner further describes hope as a part of the feeling life, that flows from us as an expression of the soul.  The difference between the lower aspects of this emotional flow, here he gives the example of impatience, is the involvement of higher aims and goals. 

GA 115. Wisdom of Man, of the Soul, and of the Spirit — At the Portals of the Senses
Observe, for example, those phenomena within the life of feeling that come under the head of concepts like impatience, hope, longing, doubt, even despair, and you have points of contact between these terms and something spiritually tangible. You perceive that the origins of soul processes like impatience, hope, longing, and so forth, are nothing but different expressions of the constantly flowing current in its striving for satisfaction of the forces of desire and for decisions through the forces of visualization.
Impatience is a desire flowing along with the current of the soul, and it does not cease till it terminates in satisfaction. Reasoning powers hardly come into play there. Or take hope. In hope you will readily recognize the continuous current of desires, but of desires that, unlike those of impatience, are permeated by the other element of the soul life, that is, a tendency of the reasoning powers toward a decision.

Hope has a direction that is oriented towards the betterment of mankind.  Hope is the motivator for that positive action.  Hope is a critical force for the advancement of humanity.  Without hope we drop down into despair when we see all of the corruption and negativity in the world.  Perhaps hope itself is not the final piece in the puzzle, but it certainly would make it impossible to move past the current challenges without it.  Without hope, we would be lost in the sea of despair.

GA 130. Faith, Love and Hope — Faith, Love and Hope, the Third RevelationWe know about the future just as much as we need to know. Life would be impossible in the physical world were not future events to be preceded by hope in this rhythmical way. Would anyone make a table to-day without being sure it would not be destroyed in the night; would anyone sow seeds if he had no idea what would become of them? It is precisely in physical life that we need hope, for everything is upheld by hope and without it nothing can be done. 

The energy level of anger falls just below pride.  It is associated with the emotion of hate, the process of aggression, the life view of antagonism, and the God view of vengeful.  

Anger is an emotion I have thought about quite a bit.  Anger, when directly rightly can be the impetus for change.  Through courage, it can fuel determination.  

There is a verse from the Bible that is often misunderstood.  Ephesians 4.
26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.

Most feel like this is a warning to forgive, and not to go to bed angry.  However, it can be taken in another light.  That is that righteous anger is good, and one should not let it be diminished.  Rather we should keep the light of the sun on this anger directed against sin.

There is a much better description of this by the "Righteous Report".
youtu.be/LFcEfVzYhvU?si=9hdopU-XA1YYh1Ro

As someone who has abused the emotions of righteous indigation, it is important that I am aware of the fact that I am indeed working in the negative emotions here.  There is a lot of potential for harm to myself and others if I stay in this space.  

I must be able to have my compass still directed towards the higher goal.  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  expressed extreme anger at the injustices of the world, and used that powerful energy to ignite the Civil Rights Movement.  

Only a few months ago, I opened up the space at the Community House to host a bible study and worship service.  Bishop Rachel (the title is conferred by their Profit) leads the session.  A great majority of the focus is on repentance.  Not surprizing given the title of their ministry is The Illinois Ministry of Repentance and Holiness.  Our first few sessions, I enjoyed the singing, and reading the versus out of the Bible about the ascention, or New Earth.  I was pretty shocked at how well it seemed to align with what spiritual gurus like Dolores Cannon have been saying for decades.  The ascention into the 5th dimension.  

After several sessions though, I started to become more concerned at the level of fear that was being projected.  Bottom line, pretty much everyone is going to hell.  

I have watched hundreds of NDE videos, and am fascinated with what happens when we die.  In 1986 I experienced my own NDE after a suicide attempt.  In my own experience I did actually begin a descent into what I believe could only be hell.  I felt my body sinking into a "black hole in time" and there were all the sounds of people suffering.  So much pain and despair.  In that moment, I remember being like, "Hell No!  Yes, life is hard, but this I cannot take."  My body then rose up, and started dialing 911, as if of its own accord.  Then I started throwing up.  

There were many things that I came to understand from that very brief experience about the multidimensional nature of reality.  My sense of knowing increased, and although I didn't have any super psychic abilities, I had a greater awareness of what this whole thing is about.

One thing I knew was that if I skipped out on my responsibilities, I would have to come back and do it all over.  This seemed like a horrible idea, and so I decided to dig in to the purpose of my life, to try to make the world a better place.

Since 1986 a lot of awareness about NDEs is available to all of us.  The testamonials are incredible, and I have heard some people talking about that dark space -hell.  But even those people, the ones who spent more than the 10 seconds I spent there, did eventually have the chance to go to the light.  It seems also that some of those who get stuck in hell are simply unaware that they can go to the light any time.  

On the otherhand, the vast majority of people go to what we would call Heaven.  Even the atheists and drug dealers end up there (although some take a little detour first).

Everyone who does arrive there says that they are completely loved.  This is the idea of God that feels true to me.

The idea of a vengeful God, the one that comes out of the view of Anger, is difficult for me to comprehend.  However, is there a place to shout from the mountain tops that we must repent.  Is there a place to stop coddling sin?  I do believe that.  We are collectively being led off a cliff by powerful negative forces.  The corruption around us is on par with the greatest evils that ever existed.  Most people are unconscious to the control systems.  They believe they are free and living a good life.  They trust the government and media.  They don't peer around the corner or read between the lines.  

So do we need to do a bit of shaking up?  Maybe we do need a little trembling to happen.  Something definitely needs to change.  Through anger, perhaps some will hear the message, and rise up out of their apathy to create a world of unity and harmony.

​Amen. So Be It.

In the course at TLF we have been discussing the 12 senses of Rudolf Steiner.  We just finished the work with the four senses of the Will: Touch, Being (life force), Motion, and Balance. 

As we shared in our last session, the topic came up for several of us regarding the nature of movement.  Besides movement through space, there was a strong awareness of inner movement.  I found it intriguing, It seemed to me that most of my experience of movement had an associated inward experience, in particular a feeling state that was the director. In my study of attention systems in the brain, the will is associated with the brain region known as the basal gangila.  This system is connected to reflexive and voluntary movement.  It is also connected to motivation and emotional networks. 

How does feeling express itself as related to the Will in this conversation of movement?

Steiner has spoken on this idea in his lecture - Feeling in Relationship to Willing

"To begin with I would like to note that only when we understand the will can we understand even a part of the feelings that move us.  Thus we can ask ourselves, What is a feeling really?  A feeling is closely related to will. Will is only feeling made active, and feeling is repressed will. That part of will that we do not completely express and that remains in the soul is feeling.  Feeling is blunted will.  Thus we can first understand the nature of feeling only when we have penetrated the nature of willing." 
  
Thinking of my descriptions of movement as a child--shy, withdrawn interspersed with bursts of energy and enthusiasm.  These descriptions all demonstrate the connection to the inner movement, or feeling life.  Becoming aware of how these inner movements direct my actions in the world, and making a decision to become consciously aware of how my inner movment leads to my actions is the first step towards living more consciously.  Noticing how my feelings are inextricably tied to my actions gives me a sense of personal awareness to direct my internal energies with purpose.  This is expecially true of the more destructive impulses coming from the lower vibrational feelings.

My mother battled depression her whole life, and so I experienced this energy quite often.  Her primary response to her own depression was to deny it, cover it up with a type of saccharine happiness, or to use destraction other addictions, and medication to supress it.  It is notable that an indicator of depression on a Rorshach test is that the one being tested will often describe things as bright and happy.  Clearly, the healing gesture of these negative feeling states is not to go straight to joy.  The movement of skipping and jumping with enthusiasm does not feel honest.  We can't put a happy face on depression and grief, but we can learn to move through this energy.  What would be the healing movement that could help resolve these inner feelings.   

First, it would be wise to start to understand where the movement lies on some authentic measure.  We can use the map of consciousness by David Hawkins as a framework, with the goal of moving up and out of those negative emotions in an honest and healing way.  So we can ask, "What is the associated energy level of consciousness to the movement?" 

Thinking of my own description of my movement as a child, "shyness, hiding and withdrawing", I believe the associated energy was fear.  Mostly fear of people, of being rejected or hurt.  Taking that into account, when I look at the movement in my adolescent years, "stomping, hands on hips, mosh-pit", I can clearly see that my energy had moved up the scale of consiousness.  Here I was clearly acting out anger. 

In working with adolescents in alternative high schools, I have often seen this same pattern manifested. In our public schools, students who do not achieve academically are often embarassed, generating fear.  These same students often develop coping mechanisms of acting out, and becoming defiant, as a way to avoid being shamed or humiliated in class.  The other pattern is that of developing apathy or learned helplessness. These are all well documented phenomena. 

Typically the students who move into defiance are seen as being the most troublesome, but from the energy level perspective, this move into anger may be a more healthy emotional response.  It is moving up the scale from fear, rather than down into shame, apathy and despair.  

Realizing these patterns can be used as guides for healing.  Probably the best example of this is the globally recognized path of healing from grief that has been described by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.  Can we also provide some pathway for those who are trapped in internal movements of self-destruction?  It is worth investigating.

One step up from Courage on the scale of consciousness created by David Hawkins is Neutrality.  I like the word humility better.

Here is how Hawkin's describes Neutrality (energy level 250)

"Energy becomes very positive as we get to the level that we have termed Neutral, because it is epitomized by release from the positionality that typifies lower levels.  Below 250, consciousness tends to see dichotomies and to take on rigid positions, an impediment in a world that is complex and multi-factorial rather than black and white.  Taking such positions creates polarization, and polarization in turn creates opposition and division.  As in the martial arts, a rigid position becomes a point of vulnerability; that which does not bend is liable to break.  Rising above barriers or oppositions that dissipate one's enegies, the Neutral condition allows for flexibility and nonjudgmental, realistic appraisal of problems.  To be Neutral means to be relatively unattached to outcomes; not getting one's way is no longer experinced as defeating, frightening, or frustrating..."

I guess I am partial to the word humilty, because it seems to be to be more connected to human emotion.  It has less of a cold, robotic feel to it.  Also, I love the 12 steps, and "Humility" is the foundation of the 12 steps.  Also worthy of noting, is that "Anonymity" is the guiding principle of the 12 traditions.  These qualities of humility and anonymity are the ego puncturing tools necessary to move out of the negative toroid and start to live in grace. In my experience, addicts are definitely stuck in the negative toroid--without a doubt.

The thing about humility is that it is often mistaken for humiliation.  This is hardly the case.  Humility is not thinking poorly of oneself.  That is closer to guilt and shame, the two emotions on the bottom of the consciousness map.  Humility is accurate perception.  It is seeing things as they are.  There is a greater detatchment with the emotion of humility.  There is no desire to defend a position in humility.  Things just are as they are.  Neutral.

From the AA 12 & 12:

I find it fascinating that these steps align so well with Hawkin's map of consciousness.  How amazing to realize that without moving into Neutrality, the first level of the positive toroid, then we have no chance of happiness.  This truth has never been more clear than to the addict holding on to the justifications for continuing to use, unwilling to look at the truth of their situation.  They must surrender, and get humble, if they are to get free.

The book continues:

And so it is, that when we step into the energy vibration of Neutrality we free ourselves from the negative pull.  This is one reason I am such a fan of Hawkin's work.  Since addict and alcoholics tend towards selfishness, this map is a way to reach even the most self-serving individual.  With this map everyone can see clearly how their negative attitudes can bring nothing but negative outcomes, then even in the desire for their own happiness and release from suffering, there is the motivation to do this work of becoming humble.

Finally, the 12 & 12 makes the connection between steping on the path of humility as taking a step towards God.  This is how I see the map of consciousness.  Each step up the vibrational ladder, is one step closer to God-Truth-Enlightenment.

I have worked with many addicts who become stuck in pride.  Once my friend who was struggling with pride asked me, "Shouldn't I feel proud of my successes?"  If pride hadn't continued to cause her so much grief, I might have spoken differently, but the truth is, her pride caused her to scoff at everyone around her, and to proclaim her own greatness, causing strife in all of her friendships and usually ending in her isolation and relapse.  

I told her to instead feel grateful.  To take all of that positive feeling and compound it by giving praise to her Higher Power for all the gifts of success she had received.  What a different energy than pride.  It is so true, when we are grateful, we become graceful.  We don't bump up against everyone and everything around us, trying to show our worth.  We can let go of other people's judgment (positive and negative), and be at peace in the world.  We can trust God.

To read all of Step 7 press the black button!