For our Step 12 project, we used the following supplies:
My instructions to the group were to first think about what tools have helped them in arriving to a spiritual awakening or to the 12th step. Write or draw one tool on the backs of each of the puzzle pieces. Just as there are twelve steps to recovery, there are many tools that when used together can aid us in staying sober. These puzzle pieces all work together to create a whole self. Here is what I wrote on the backs of my puzzle pieces:
Next, I asked the group to think about the terms "spiritual awakening" and either draw or write about what that has looked like or if you haven't had a spiritual awakening yet, think about what you hope that spiritual awakening will look like.
I experienced what I consider to be my spiritual awakening about 3 years into my recover. One night, I woke up from a dream that I was in a hurry to get to a female friend, to see her before she went away, possibly died. I was rushing and was nearly giving up hope of getting to see her when I finally arrived. I saw an old woman (apparently, the woman I was searching for). She was outside, squatting down, tending a garden. She looked up at me with a beautiful look of peace on her face. In that instant, I knew that she had been waiting for me, and for a long time, and that she would have waited no matter how long I took to get there.
Although I never had a goddess image of my Higher Power prior to this dream, immediately upon awaking, I recognized that the old woman represented my Higher Power. I recalled when I first hit a bottom, at only 13 years of age. At that time, I had felt abandoned by God and felt very angry about having been abandoned. I gave up on the religion that I had been raised under up until that point. And I realized in this moment, waking up from this dream, that I was the one who had turned away from my Higher Power. My Higher Power had not been the one to abandon me after all. Afterwards, I realized that I had also abandoned myself. When I woke up, this realization felt so profound, I was moved to tears and sobbed for several minutes before going back to sleep. This dream would forever change my life, my recovery and my feelings about my Higher Power.
So here was what I put on my puzzle:
What will you put on your puzzle?
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