ELUL and the Steps

Last weekend, the student rabbi of my congregation gave me an ELUL journal. She had shared that we would have some opportunities to look at ways to journal in this month getting ready for the High Holidays. Since we didn't get to it as a group, she shared it with me. It was truly a gift.

I love how my religion, just like any religion or spiritual practice, matches so closely with the 12 steps.

Here's what I read about the four steps of Selichot, the quest for forgiveness:
1. Honestly admit the harm we have caused.
2. Make amends unless doing so causes further harm.
3. Ask forgiveness from those we have hurt.
4. Turn away from the hurtful behavior and do good.

For me, this fits exactly with my steps, though just not in the same order.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
9. Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Then, there's Teshuvah, returning to God and godliness. For me, this fits with these steps:
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood him.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us, and the power to carry that out.

I am supposed to be almost finished with this journal, since Rosh Hashanah starts tomorrow night. But here I am again, doing it perfectly imperfectly. And now I have yet another tool for my toolbox. Thank God!