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this out on my own, never used to seem as if it was an ego-driven statement. even today, after a minute clean, i cringe when i hear my peers sharing about **ego** and how it needs to be destroyed in order for them to recover. it is my contention that ego is not necessarily a bad thing, however, self-obsession van certainly be seen as ego warped out of proportion. self-obsession and its attendant traits: entitlement, denial, conceit, superiority and self-sufficiency, might be what they are speaking of. by using ego as a convenient and easily understood shortcut to that snake nest of less than desirable effects, is something i get, “breaking the ego” of the men i sponsor, is NEVER anything i choose to do and i NEVER use that phrase when i speak to them about how i believe this process works. none of my sponsors have ever spoken to me about having to destroy my ego, although they were always focused on my obsession with self and how that played out in my real life.
learning to ask for help, by sharing my problems with my closed-mouth friends, my sponsor and my peers, was something i slowly came to see was something that i needed to do. coming to believe that i did not have all the answers, in fact the answers i did have may have been formulated under the flawed reasoning of self-obsession, was a huge step forward in my life. coming to actually listen to the answers and evaluating them with in a rational manner, instead of viewing them as threats to my overly sensitive self, was an even bigger one. day after day, it is not my ego that is being busted down, but rather the false defenses i built because i believed i was under attack from all sides. the reality is, at least for me today, that the advice i get from those i trust and respect is worthy of being evaluated, rather than dismissed out of hand. when i spin and twist, a better path to take is to ask for input form those who have walked through this stuff before me, even if i do not know who that may be. my path forward goes through the gate of sharing whatever i=t is that has set me off and listening to what i am given, just for today.

∞ DT ∞