x2 Step 173 - Today I will do what is necessary. – Journal – Step 172

Today: Step 173 - Today I will do what is necessary. (MP3)

“Today I will do what is necessary.” Step 173

DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY WILL ENGAGE YOU with vitality in life, for life in the world, in all its forms, is engaged in what is necessary. This at first seems oppressive to human beings, for they are accustomed to living in fantasy, where everything is preferential and nothing is really necessary.

YET, IT IS WHEN SOMETHING IS REALLY NECESSARY IN LIFE, even if it is a dire circumstance, that people are able to liberate themselves momentarily from their fantasies and feel purpose, meaning and direction. This, then, is a gift to humanity, but people usually give themselves this gift only under dire circumstances.

IT IS UNDER HAPPIER CIRCUMSTANCES that you must now learn to receive this and welcome necessity as a saving grace in your life, for you wish to be needed, you wish to be included, you wish to be vital and you wish to be an essential part of community. This is all necessary. It is not merely a preference on your part. It cannot be born of a casual choice but of a deep conviction, for your greater giving must be born of a deep conviction if it is to be great and complete. Otherwise, at the sight of the first adversity or disappointment, you will be cast away and will withdraw back into fantasy and illusion.

WELCOME, THEN, THE NECESSITIES OF THIS DAY. Do small tasks without complaint, for they are small. Follow your procedure today in preparation, for it is necessary and it is great. Do not confuse the great and the small, for the small is only to express the great. Do not try to make the small great or the great small. Understand their true relationship with one another, for within you is both the great and the small. Within you, the great wishes to express itself through the small.

THEREFORE, CARRY OUT YOUR MUNDANE ACTIVITIES TODAY. Do what is necessary today. Remind yourself upon the hour of our idea for today, and give yourself to your practice so that your day may be a day of giving and receiving. In your deeper meditation practices, enter into stillness using the word RAHN to take you deep into meditation. Do this because it is necessary. Do this with necessity and you will feel the power of your own will.

PRACTICE 173: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

From the journal Step172 - I must reclaim my Knowledge.   

6:20 a.m. February 7, 2001 – On waking – all I'm trying to do is follow my heart.

Accomplishment – I feel like I am crossing a desert. Regions – regional alignment…that's what I need to contribute too …where is that door? Where is the energy to get something to the door?

7:10 a.m. I am a slow student, but I persist.

9:50 p.m. Bummed out – …

The relationship is sad, but practical. I see no way out. If my Knowledge leads in another direction – OK – but, I seem to be needed here…so…here it is.

Practice #2 – I must reclaim my Knowledge.

11:03 p.m. I am unhappy with myself.

After many years as a Steps student, I’m rarely unhappy. Still confused by the world and its relationships, but there’s only so much that can be done in one life time. As we were told back at Step 106 – “There are no Masters living in the world.”  Still, we keep that streak of idealism. Let us continue.

NNC

 

Note: 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.