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Faith

  Faith can be defined as hope in something not seen.  It can also be defined as complete trust or confidence in someone or something.  Faith is a necessary component of the 12 Step program.  After being beaten under the lash of addiction and finding ourselves at a crossroads in our life we must make

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Sloth

Sloth is usually equated with laziness.  This is very true.  However, it could be said that it pertains more to procrastination than just plain old-fashioned laziness.  Addicts and alcoholics are notorious for being procrastinators.  In active addiction, the only thing on their agenda is the next drink, pill, or fix.  Nothing gets in the way

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Greed

Greed is another thing which besieges mental health sufferers.  We want more than our fair share of something without having to put out any effort to get it.  We feel a sense of entitlement to things of this world.  Greed is usually associated with money but there are all types of greed.  We can want

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Envy

Envy is another one of the Seven Deadly Sins that causes a lot of grief for alcoholic/addicts.  We squander time and energy obsessing over the possessions of others.  We also do this same thing with things we think we should have.  We don’t stop to realize that maybe that person with the big house that

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Department of Children & Family Service Cases

People coming into the DCFS system who had had their children removed from their home are rightfully bewildered and confused.  Even in justifiable cases of removal it is still a traumatic event.  Removal of the children is necessary at times to protect their wellbeing.  At other times the removal can be an error on the

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Step 5

Step 5 reads as follows “Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”  This is where we share our written inventory with our sponsor or a closed mouth friend.  Some people may want to share their inventory with someone in the clergy.  The point is to share

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Waiting

One of the most challenging things for an alcoholic/addict to do is to wait for something.  We want things immediately and in the moment.  This can be waiting for something to happen, waiting for something to change or just plain waiting for anything.  Most of us have poor impulse control and we expect things to

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Resentment

According to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (pg.66) resentment is the number one offender for the alcoholic.  Resentment comes from a Latin word “resentire” which means to “re-feel.”  Surely resentment is an act of re-feeling past hurts and slights.  For the alcoholic these resentments can be “fancied or real.”  We can resent something that

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Step 10

Step 10 directs us to continue to take personal inventory and when wrong to properly admit it. The goal here is to rid ourselves of negativity quickly which could turn into resentment. We don’t want to end up with a long list again of persons we need to make amends to. Step 10 could be

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Step 11

  Step 11 goes as follows: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve out conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for the knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out.  Let’s break this step down.  First of all, it assumes that we have incorporated a period

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