My favorites among the literature are The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous and the AA Twelve and Twelve. Both books have helped me, especially with Step Seven. I struggle so much with the character defect of pride, and I find the antidote in the Principle of Step Seven: humility.
Humility is simply awareness and willingness.
Before OA, I didn’t even know how to define humility, much less “work it.” Now, almost every day, I say, “Humility is simply awareness and willingness.” That information is straight out of the Step Seven teaching in the literature.
I’d thought humility was something so different! I’d thought humility was something you either had or didn’t, and I certainly didn’t. Now I see: as I surrender in Step Three (not a one-time surrender, a daily surrender), God gradually and graciously teaches me and gives me a growing awareness, a growing “as-needed” willingness, and a corresponding, slowly-expanding capacity for humility. Progress, not perfection
— Edited and reprinted from Common Bond newsletter, Western Michigan Intergroup, May/June 2014
