I got to go to a meeting at noon, the topict was step 6. I had the following thoughts about this step:

Entirely ready: to fully accept that my defective thinking is harmful.
To have God remove: I don't change by trying real hard, I ask God to remove them by his power.

Normies can just start with a list of character defects and strive to do better.
We have an excessive problem with perspective unmanageability so we can't see them at first.
We also suffer from powerlessness over them.
When we do an overhaul inventory we see them.
But we can't just act better by effort.
We have to focus on accessing power.
So we become entirely ready and we ask God for willingness.

Other thoughts about something else...
We do self examination.
We need to get to the core problem, to deconstruct self.

Today I also thought about the issue of blaming psychological issues particularly childhood trauma.

I have seen this misdirection in 3 forms:
1. I drink (or use) because of what happened to me when...
2. I have these character defects because of what happened to me when...
3. Because of what happened to me when... I can't trust God.

These statements are all true. But the cause is not the problem, the disorder is the problem.

It doesn't matter of I was born alcoholic or if I drank my way to be an alcoholic, the disease is still the same, I have a disorder, a mental obsession. The treatment is still the same, a spiritual experience.

The same can be said for my emotional sobriety, it doesn't matter if my life got unmanageable because of something that happened to me or because of a mental disorder or because of my drinking. I have a disorder of emotional control, I have obsessions that can be treated by a spiritual experience.

In either case I am not cured but have a reprieve. I might need more treatment for my traumatic issues but it should not prevent me from being free from the need for mind altering substances and from emotional insanity.

By the process of continual self examination and de-construction of self I can find peace and serenity to get through the time it may take for substantial healing. This process brings about emotional control on a daily basis.

The removal of character defects may come in degrees. Psychological healing and substantial re-formation may be long-term but also can be brought about simply by th e process,