Daily Inventory Charts our Progress

“Kindness and intelligence don't always deliver us from the pitfalls and traps. There is no way to take the danger out of human relationships".”
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

Step 10 is our first maintenance step. We start to put our first 9 steps into practical use.

We continued to take personal inventory and when wrong we promptly admit it.

Can we have emotional stability and begin to live on purpose and awake on a daily basis? We see the progress we have made and develop gratitude for our ability to live life on life’s terms.

We must continue to check our balance sheet. We look to see if those shortcomings are dominating us and have our defects hurt others on a daily basis.

Having arrived at step 10 we have our list of assets and liabilities in hand. We know how we have responded in the past to situations. We have begun to take responsibility for our part in our own discomfort.

We do not allow our shortcomings to dominate us any longer. We do a spot check inventory whenever we find ourselves getting too caught up in the "moment". When we find ourselves drifting backward and falling into the behaviors that caused us grief, we do a check up. We may do our bookkeeping at the end of the day when we balance out the days happenings. We see where we fell short and where we did the "right thing".

This exercise of taking stock of our daily activity does not have to be a joy killer. It is good to keep our house in order. We do not have to allow ourselves the unhappiness of debris accumulation.

Before we took the first step we justified our anger and resentment or retaliation. We are now no longer holding on to those methods of joy killers. We have been letting go and find no use for them in our lives.

We must avoid falling into the pit of discouragement when we miss the mark. Non of these disciplines are easy. Remember we are growing and letting go of our rigidness and temper and vengeful natures. We are discovering self restraint.

We develop better ways to deal with being hurt by others or find what used to hurt us has no effect on us at all.

Our sensitivities have changed. Our being all consumed with what people think about us or how they treat us has disappeared. We begin to practice kindness and courtesy. We begin to develop a sense of understanding.

We make any and all amends when we find ourselves in error. We examine our motives behind those mistakes. We find pride causing us the trouble that we create, whether in the commission or omission of our "sins".

An honest sense of regret for the harm we brought on others should be our mainstay. We check for those blessings we do have in our lives and become grateful.

Gratitude Becomes our Attitude

Lord, help me to live sanely. Bring me clarity, remove selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. Help me to live life on life's terms. Show me where I can be of use to someone else. I ask you today to live better and be of service to You.

“Joy fixes us to eternity and pain fixes us to time. But desire and fear hold us in bondage to time, and detachment breaks the bond.”
Simone Weil

Sought through Prayer and Meditation

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