Wreckage from my past keeps me focused on others. This provides a distraction from my side of the street and my part of the story. Focusing outward means I am still driven by guilt, resentment, or shame. ~ Voices of Recovery (Kindle Locations 2791-2792).

It’s not a natural reaction to see
focus on others as bad, as counter indicated,
as adverse to recovery.
Are we not our brothers’ keepers?
Is not the whole idea, the result
of working these steps
we tried to carry this message
to compulsive overeaters
and to practice these principles
in all our affairs. Others are good,
are necessary for our own recovery…
or at least very beneficial.
But it’s really not the “others”
creating the problem. That word wreckage.That’s code…well, fact…for resentments
located in Step Four, for admissions
to ourselves, to God, and to another person
in Step Five, for character defects
released in Six and Seven, for amends
in Eight and Nine…or really for failure to work these.
Others are part of our lives. But our own wreckage
belongs in a wrecking yard.