My Higher Power is about doing the next right thing. It is the essential part inside myself where peace and joy are. It is the Creator, not destroyer.

So your Higher Power is inside you then? I thought your Higher Power was something that was bigger than you, that you seek or look up to to give you the power you need to stay strong?

Your HP is whatever your HP is. Period.

Once upon a not so long ago alcohol was a HP to us, and it ran us into the ground. With step 2 the question is do you believe that something...an idea, program, angel, god, behavior, magic spell, change of thought patterns...can free you of alcohol?

You don't have to define or understand what or how at this point, just do you believe SOMETHING can free you of alcohol.

What that something is will be revealed as you go along, and might change as you go along. Most people who have worked the steps do say that their understanding of their HP has changed as they continue to work the program. And many will say to stay open, don't put our HP into a box but be open to what it is, how it operates and what is revealed to us about our HP and about ourselves.

Many people who are not religious, and have no understanding of a god (a supernatural being) use the steps and get recovery. Some use the program itself. Some use their "sober self" that they feel lies inside them and wants health and happiness for them.

I had a friend years ago who was vehemently against any idea of a god, or supernatural power. She didn't just not believe, she was angry and spiteful. Her sponsor told her that she didn't have to believe in god, she just had to be open to the idea that something could restore her to sanity. So she decided she would "show him" and when she prayed, she prayed to a door knob. She talked to that door knob. No one was more surprised than her when she began to heal, when prayer itself, not the thing prayed to began to bring her peace and healing.

The act of prayer (which is not just asking something to take away bad stuff in our lives) is healing, and enlightening. We surrender our preconceptions and open ourselves to new possibilities.

I have run into people in the program who have taken my HP's inventory. This has led to a great deal of frustration and loss of fellowship. I have found it wiser to not share my HP with the group at large, but only with people I know well. Some people feel they should define HP for other people, or that other people need to have the same HP as they do. I've had several people tell my that my HP simply won't work, but it does! I guess they are powerless over my HP!

Remember, at this point you do not have to define it or understand it, just believe that something can free you from alcohol, and be willing to work with it.

Good to have you on board

Great post Lefton. I suppose I'm just new and still learning about it all and I guess my post was just really to understand that part a little bit better and you really have. I do believe there is a HP but I'm still not sure what?

My HP is the inner core of my spiritual being!

I actually have a better answer then that but it's kinda long and I don't have the time, so will bbl.

There are resources and support outside of myself and it is up to me to put these positive things into my life to live a better life without alcohol...Nothing outside myself can restore me to sanity without my cooperation...I have the power to decide what works best for me and I reap the benefits and negative consequences of my decisions and actions...When I encounter a problem I ask me how do I respond with the right action(s).

I spent ages at step 2 trying to find a higher power, make myself believe in god, have some sort of spiritual revelation etc. Then someone pointed out to me that the whole point of the 12 steps was to connect you to a power greater than yourself so that if I did all 12 instead of expecting to have a spiritual awakening at step 2 I might have more success. All I needed to start was the willingness to believe that there might be a power and it could restore me to sanity if I made a decision to do the rest of steps. I did that and it worked for me. I don't believe in god but by applying the spiritual principles of the steps and being open minded I have developed a wonderful spirituality which works well for me and continues to grow.

I am my higher power. It resides in me and just needed to be awakened.

"Unsuspected inner resource" - Big book appendix II

Nicky explained it to perfection.

Siritual development does not require us to except any traditional concept of God yet the word God or Power Greater then Ourselves appears in 6 of the 12 steps but we have to make a distinction between God and Power Greater then ourselves as we each individually understand Him, and the most traditional concepts of God.

The spiritual Program of the 12 steps is based on developing our Faith and eventually, our trust in a Power Greater then ourselves, and this Power is refered to as God in the Steps. However the word God is used for the sake of convenience only because many people already believe in the existance of God when they come into the Program.

Atheists and agnostics have nothing to fear when they come into the Program. Their Higher Power may be a tree, a mountain or the ocean, or the AA group they are in or the Program as a whole, whose members contain the accumulated wisdom of the ages.
The choice is up to each individual to use whatever Power Greater then themselves that works best for him.her.

The EHA book explains this exceptionally well, called "the 12 steps for everyone" It has become my spiritual Bile and I highly recommend.

God Bless!