Building a Lasting Practice of Prayer and Meditation: Living the 11th Step

Recovering alcoholics once sober often ask, “What now?” In other words, they seek something more than sobriety. Others, in recovery, have tackled prayer and meditation, the 11th Step, in different ways and end up with an on-again/off-again-practice that is unsatisfying.
In Building a Lasting Practice of Prayer and Meditation, Geoff Colvin draws on his own experiences, studies of spiritual and addictive literature, participation in retreats, and meditation groups (including 11th Step Group Meetings) to offer recovering alcoholics practical ways to not only to maintain sobriety, but also to grow spiritually, and to enrich the quality of their lives.

The purpose of this book is to explore more fully how the 11th Step can bring to life and put into action these beginning Steps 1, 2, and 3. Specifically, the focus is how to grow our connection with our higher power and, most importantly, learn ways to follow the will of our higher power leading to continued sobriety and a richer spiritual life.
The 11th Step has at least three main messages:

• Through prayer and meditation, we try to improve our connection with our Higher Power.
• Our understanding of our Higher Power varies from member to member and can change over time.

The intent of prayer and meditation is to not only hear the will of one’s higher power, but also receive the grace to carry it out during the day.
To address these core messages from the 11th Step, this book is divided into two sections. Each section is composed of chapters that explore what it means to develop a prayer and meditation practice that leads to living the 11th Step more fully throughout our day.