Just For The Day
Just For The Day
#13 - August 26, 2025 - The Power of Daily Inventory
Jay reads the NA Daily Reader and discusses how Step 10 serves as a maintenance step in the NA program, transforming recovery principles into daily practice through personal inventory and prompt admission of wrongs.
Question: What is your tenth step process?
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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Just For the Day. I'm Jay and I'm a recovering addict. Today is August 26th and it's going to be just me. Diane is not feeling well, sorry for not being able to post over the last couple days, but we're going to do our best to try to get this to daily and you know, uh, practicing the principles of recovery one day at a time, focused on what we have within our control, and, uh, satisfied with the progress that we can make. So today, august 26th, the reading is labeled 10th step inventory. Ooh, I love a good 10th, love a good 10th step.
Speaker 1:The quote is we continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. A daily 10th step keeps us on a sound spiritual footing. While each member asks different questions, some questions have been found to be helpful to almost everyone. Two key 10-step questions are am I honestly in touch with myself, my actions and my motives, and have I prayed for God's will for me and the power to carry it out? These two questions, answered honestly, will lead us into a more thorough look at our day. When focusing on relationships with others, we may ask have I harmed anyone today, either directly or indirectly. Do I need to make amends to anyone as a result of my actions today? We keep it simple in our inventory if we remember to ask where was I wrong? How can I do it better next time? Any members often find that their inventories include other important questions. Was I good to myself today? Did I do something for someone else and expect nothing in return? Have I reaffirmed my faith in a loving higher power?
Speaker 1:Step 10 is a maintenance step of the NA program. The 10th step helps us to continue living comfortably in recovery. Just for today, I will remember to review my day. If I have harmed another, I will make amends. I will think about how I can act differently. Oh, this is such a good reading. So step 10 is a powerful step. Fundamentally, it is a daily step four. Instead of taking your overall moral inventory, you're taking a daily personal inventory of when you were wrong and promptly admitted it. It is how you. It's quite literally. It's like the maintenance step. It's the 10 step. The step 10 is a maintenance step of the NA program. I love it.
Speaker 1:My journey through step 10 has been an interesting one. I love this question at the beginning here, where it says two key questions are one, first and foremost am I honestly in touch with myself, my actions and my motives? How frequently did I realize that the way I had been behaving and reaching for whatever I was from my partner, from my kids, from my boss, from friends, from family I wasn't actually in touch with why I was doing those things? And slowly, as I began to observe and watch myself and watch my behavior and watch the motives, I realized, oh, you know, one key memory is coming to, is being recalled at this time, when I was, you know, working with my wife on some issue and there had been some opportunity to. You know, we were cause, we, we share our feelings, open with each other. We have a really well oiled way of communicating our struggles, where we can hear each other.
Speaker 1:And Diane was being particularly vulnerable and there was a part of me that was like I could sense, was trying to want to make her feel bad, and I caught it trying to want to make her feel bad, and I caught it, didn't try to make her feel bad, but then later had a really serious conversation with myself and wondered how often am I trying to make my wife feel bad Just because that's a very narcissistic trait, very narcissistic personality, because, you know, it gives me a sense of that. That's fundamentally what it was is. It gives me a sense of control over her emotions and thus a sense of control over her. And it was an ugly thing to realize. And yet how long had that been plaguing? I had not noticed it and it had been plaguing our relationship for so long. And so, you know, I started, and there have been so many instances of that where I realize, you know that, where I realize, you know, through rigorous self-reflection and honesty, that there's a lot of things that I didn't know are going on and operating in my program, my internal mental program, that I hadn't thought of, that I need to root out and I need to end up in the process is the same. It's a direct amends, right, so I love that they called that out.
Speaker 1:Um, and the second question have I prayed for God's will for me and the power to carry it out? Because that also assumes another interesting aspect, which is we have an issue with the fact that we think we know the answer. How often do we, as addicts, think we have the right answer and yet we're ending up in locations and scenarios that we don't love, how silly of it is to of us to assume that we think we have the right answer. And so, um, you know it's important to notice. As a part of that is checking your motives, checking your actions and your behaviors and then praying for god's will because you don't know in of yourself what to do. You've been acting, you've been operating an automatic program for how many years, throughout your addiction? And if you're going to really want to unwind that and get rid of it, uh, or put uh, get ready to give it, get rid of it it's probably an inappropriate way to say that I'd probably more accurately say put it to better use in your life those energy, those energy flows then you've got to really think and ask your higher power what is his, her or it will, its will for you in your life. I love this second question as well.
Speaker 1:In the second paragraph, when focusing on the relationships with others, we may ask have I harmed anyone today, either directly or indirectly, and do I need to make amends to anyone as a result of my actions today? The type of growth, the type of growth, the type of recovery growth that one gains when a person adopts a intentional approach daily of assessing their behavior and how it impacted others is unparalleled. I would impress anyone listening here today to just implement that process. Have a reflection point during your day or week about how you are impacting the people around you and work to be rigorously honest and honest in that space. We definitely have a tendency to deceive ourselves there because we don't want to look at it. It makes us feel like a piece of crap and yet, and yet, facing it is what gives us freedom. I love this.
Speaker 1:It is a maintenance step, it's it's, this is step 10 is I love. You know, when I think about the 12 steps of NA or the 12 steps of any recovery program, it starts with big hitters. Right, do I have faith in a power greater than me? Do I believe it can help me and will I let it right? Okay, now let's tackle the bigger items, the moral inventory, and are we going to go through and all the harm that's been done to me and done to others, the resentments I hold, and work through making amends, the things that have been waiting years? Right, you're working through like baggage upon baggage upon baggage, and then you get to the later steps and it's like, okay, now it's time. I'm just going to read them here.
Speaker 1:Now it's time, after you've worked through those major um elements in your life, the baggage, then you've worked on identifying your character defects and asking to remove them and making amends. Um, now let's do that daily. Let's take all that process and and do it in a micro format daily effort Uh, I just love it. I think it's great. Um, so, yeah, just for today, remember how to review. Remember, review your day, implement this, make this a commitment, review your day at the end of your day. If I've harmed somebody, make amends and think about how you can act differently.
Speaker 1:I hope that you guys are enjoying this. I really am looking forward to connecting with and or interacting with any of you, all of you, as many of you as are willing. I know that Diane and I are so excited to build a recovery community that is focused on maintaining healthy relationships. We're hoping that you gain some strength from our relationship and that we can gain some from yours. Please interact with us anywhere that you find access to us. In any of the podcast platforms that we're posted on, you can also find an access link to communicate with us directly, which we eagerly await those who are willing to do so. So thanks for joining me, and I'll see you next time.
