EGO (Easing God Out)

This is one of the first “alkanyms” I learned in AA, and it has stuck with me. If I’m letting my ego get control of me, I’m not leaving room for God to come in.

How do I know when ego is in charge instead of God?

-- I expect to be thanked for service -- Service is something I do because I want to, not because I should and not because I expect the undying gratitude of the people I am serving. I do it for me, and for the sheer delight it gives me to help someone else.

-- I expect people to love me -- All I can do is be the best me I can be. If that’s not enough for people to love me, I can’t force them to love me or to tell me they love me.

-- I want credit for the things I do -- Some of the greatest pleasures I have derived in sobriety are things I have done anonymously. My sponsor used to tell me to do something for someone every day that no one knows about. It’s a challenge, but I try to do it.

-- I fault others when things go wrong -- If I’m in a bad mood, and someone doesn’t say hello to me in the way I think they should, I’ll blame them instead of realizing that the slight was not on their part, it was only my perception.

-- I think it’s all about me -- This is the most dangerous thing for me to do. No matter what has happened to me, no matter how I feel , or my state of mind, if I forget the greater good, then my ego has taken full control. At that point, I am not being helpful to others, and I am not considering the welfare of all over my own.

 The only way I can keep my ego in check is by maintaining my spiritual condition. I have to keep the communication between me and my Higher Power open so that I don’t lose focus on the important things--and in the great scheme of life, I am not the most important thing.

It isn't by mistake that our little program of action was designed to deflate ego......

Thanks Carol.

I think I'll need to reread this one occasionally and add it to my inventory for a while. It "hurt in all the right places".

Of cousre the fist thing I wnated to be able to say was "Well I got all those things down pat."

I don't know which comes first ~ me easing God out, and then feeling fear and therefore a desire to control; or me feeling fear which creates a desire to control, which causes me to ease God out.  All I know is right now, I have been easing God out and attempting to impose my will.  And I've been doing that because I'm scared about a particular situation (the well-being of a loved one) and when I'm in fear it brings to light that I really don't fully trust God.  Or, maybe it's not that I don't trust God, but that I want God's will to align with my will, not visa versa.  And that's because I'm in fear.  I feel like I'm going in one big circle and keep coming back to fear!  Yikes.  I feel like a newcomer sometimes.  I guess that's good for my humility but real bad for my spinning head!  Time to step up my prayer and meditation, folks.

Thank you for this. It is always a situation like this that I start easing God out, only  when  I  don't apply  the  first  step. I am one of   those people that really hates being powerless. I  have no problem being powerless over my addiction, so the first thing I have to remember is that I am Powerless over other situation as well. When step one is applied  i  can  then, and only then Let go and Let God.Elisa  S.      Soberwolf77

On one of those long discussions that happen on a weekend retreat with no fixed agenda we had the topic of "What's the most important step" come up. With gents with sobriety ranging from 30 days to 35 years we came to the conclusion, "It's the one you are on now."