Step 80 - I can only
practice. (MP3)
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I can only practice. Step
80
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YOU CAN ONLY PRACTICE. Life is practice.
We are merely redirecting your practice so that it serves you and so that it
may serve others. You practice all the time, repetitively, over and over. You
practice confusion, you practice judgment, you practice projection of blame,
you practice guilt, you practice disassociation and you practice inconsistency.
You strengthen your judgments by continuing to exert them. You strengthen your
uncertainties by continuing to emphasize them. You practice your self-hatred by
continuing to influence it.
IF YOU LOOK AT YOUR LIFE
OBJECTIVELY but for a moment, you will see that your whole life is practice.
Therefore, you will practice regardless of whether you have a curriculum for
your benefit or not. Therefore, we give the curriculum which you may now practice.
It will replace the practices that have confused and belittled you, that have
conflicted you and that have led you into error and into danger. We give you a
greater practice so you will not practice those things which undermine your
value and your certainty.
IN YOUR TWO MEDITATION PRACTICE
PERIODS TODAY, repeat the statement that you can only practice, and then
practice stillness and receptivity. Strengthen your practice, and you will
confirm what we are saying. You can only practice. Therefore, practice for
good.
PRACTICE 80: Two 30-minute
practice periods.
Picture: Tiger,
one of our cats, appears to model stillness practice.
The Steps book was busy: "This is the big one - RISK" I wrote.
"True need" stuck a cord.
From the Journal:
Monday, October 4, 1999
...
Step 79 - I will allow
uncertainty to exist today.
I had thought I could speed up
S2K, but each lesson takes a day.
...
I am uncertain about everything
except God. God is and I am.
8:03 a.m. Already I don't care.
The GF/SH message of 10/2 was very positive - the new unlimited is coming. For
whom do I work - it is uncertain? I keep looking back to see where I came from.
That's the wrong direction? I need to look forward. It shouldn't be necessary
to go to Texas to be near my kids to find meaning - yet that is where it is -
that's what motivates me here. A busy week lies ahead. What can I do?
11 p.m. A good day at work, yet
I'm behind... and no energy for the long, long days anymore.
Even as I move in S2K -
immersion, I cannot change the past or thinking in the path. Now must be
replacing the old.
I regularly write the day's
Step in the journal It helps with memory a little. The Steps and life
disappointment go together in the entry. Just working it out, as students are
wont to do.
NNC
Journal
2nd Time Step 79. This is for those who have completed
Steps once. Doing Steps with only the texts, messages and your life experience,
including what you may have studied and practiced is your journey. I’m showing
my first year Step comments after the Step, so as not to influence you in
advance. It is a wilderness trek to be left to your own wits, but then you can
also listen more closely for guides, angels and teachers, always first saying:
“I surround and protect myself with the Love and the Grace of God.” Thankfully,
I was taught this practice in 1989.
P.S. If you’ve some interest due to this or other
Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge
and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. You can
use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in
order in the archives - one post per Step.
Often it takes 18 months to get through the Steps
once. For this blog, the pace is one-a-day, but it really makes no difference
how fast you do it, only that you begin, persist and repeat. Posts here provide
a trail that may let you have a virtual companion when and if you want one. One
may have to study alone, as I did in the beginning. There are other Steps
students blogging their experience and you might find a person more like you as
a companion, or use a number of such Steps journeys. There are options as well
through the Free School of the New Message.
