12SR: 12 Step Recovery Process
A podcast helping to demystify the 12-step recovery process and help people along their journey. For fun and for free.
12SR: 12 Step Recovery Process
12SR: What it means to Identify as an Alcoholic or Addict
Our latest episode takes us on an exploratory journey of recovery, highlighting the profound role identification plays in healing across the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. We delve into the shared experiences that bind us, understanding that our true connection emerges from recognizing common thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
Identification is possibly the most important aspect of recovery, especially in the beginning. There's different levels of identification. In the last tape we talked about what it means to be spiritual and we touched on these concepts of higher powers. In doing that, we explored this idea of this fourth dimension and these four dimensions of existence as being physical dimension, mental dimension, emotional, ego dimension, and then this spiritual awareness being dimension. We went into those a little bit. In a sense, everything exists across all dimensions at the same time, so identification similarly exists across all dimensions.
Speaker 1:Now, if that sounds confusing, I'll try and make it really simple. In the forward to the edition of the big book, there is talk where it says about how it's important that we say yes. That happened to me. And then it says it's more important that we say yes, I felt like that and that it's most important that we say yes, I believe this program can work for me too. So that gives an example of three of the layers of identification. The only one that it misses out is yes, I've thought like that. So it talks about how it's more important to identify in the later dimensions.
Speaker 1:It's more important that we have felt the same feelings. It's more important that we felt the same feelings, that we've had the same physical things happen. So, for example, in the rooms of AA, many people come in and when they're new their drinking is different. Sometimes it's the same as everyone else in the meeting and sometimes it's different or it seems different. Sometimes people say, well, I've done that, but I've never done that and you know, I did this but I haven't done a lot of the stuff that they've done. And we kind of get hung up on not having exactly the same identification in the physical sense when it comes to our addiction. Some of us drank every day of drinking your things, some of us didn't. Some of us went crazy when we drank, some of us didn't. Similarly with drugs, some people did this drug, some people did that drug and different things happened to them when they picked up. So if you're really hung up on just purely the physical what happened, it's never going to match exactly with everybody else.
Speaker 1:Now it's important that there is some physical identification. It's important that when I pick up a drink, something happens. I can't put it down. I struggle to put it down, maybe not every time, but at least most of the time, some of the time this physical thing happens. Beyond that. The physical identification is not super important.
Speaker 1:What's more important is that we identify, on the later dimensions, that we identify with this thinking, with this obsessional thinking, with this damaged thinking, with this problematic thinking. How we obsess about it if we're not doing it, how we can't leave it alone mentally, how we always think about it, how our thoughts cause us trouble and we can't seem to control our thoughts and we're overly identified with our thoughts and we're restless and all of this kind of stuff in our minds. That level of identification is more important than what just happened. Then again, more important is the feelings. How did you feel? How did this make you feel about yourself? How is your emotional state? Are you a prey to misery and depression? Do you sometimes feel on top of the world and other times feel incredibly small? Can you not get a grip of your emotions?
Speaker 1:In AA and the Big Book, which is the foundation text of all 12-set programs, they talk about the bedevilments that we're a prey to misery and depression, we can't handle our relationships, we're always having difficulties. Again, it's most important that we can identify there. Then, lastly, comes this somewhat fourth dimension of beliefs and hopes and change. We have this move and we identify in this place, which is that we believe the program can work for us too. The reason why that's so powerful is because most people, when they're new, they don't feel that way. They don't feel as though it's going to work. If you get to that level of identification where you believe that this program can work for you too, it means that something has already happened, that the process is already ongoing. Parts of step two have sort of started to become materialized, and so you've made good progress.
Speaker 1:I wanted to mention that and reference the stuff that's in this foundation text of 12-set philosophy, because many people, as I say they have these questions around not having physically done or gone to certain lengths that other people have, or they've gone to lengths too far. You know further than everybody else. Generally people think they haven't done enough of the substance or the activity, or they think they've done too much. They think they're either too good or too bad. I just wanted to address that. In the original foundation text they say that whilst it is important that we have that physical identification to a degree to the degree that once we pick it up, we can't guarantee what's going to happen and how much we're going to have.
Speaker 1:Beyond that, the more important layers of identification that, if you can get to, will give you a better chance of feeling connected to the programs and being willing to engage in the solutions, is identifying with the thinking, the obsessional thinking, the problematic thinking, the restlessness, the emotional condition, the bedevilments, and then hopefully, once you start engaging with the process, the identification that this program can work for you too. So I hope that helps. As always, these are just my thoughts, understandings, experiences, not affiliated with anything. I hope that you find it helpful, as I have found it helpful. If you do, please like and share it so that other people may be able to find it, and it can help to give people more autonomy in helping them get to a better place. That's enough for today, thank you, take care.