A friend in OA recently commented on the treatment of Step 10 in the AA Big Book. Seeing that it recommended practicing Step 10 continuously, he commented, "Well, that can scarcely be called a normal way of life -- constantly monitoring how I'm feeling or what I'm thinking."

Is it normal?

Oliver Sachs, the famous neurologist, reports on a woman who lost the sense of "proprioception" -- the almost unconscious ability we have to know the position of our bodies and our limbs. With this sense lost, the woman could barely move at all at first, and even when used to the loss she still had constantly to monitor (using her other five senses) her posture and her balance to avoid falling over or collapsing. Something we do naturally -- sensing our physical position -- was something she had to work at consciously and constantly.

The difference between us and this woman is that she knew she had experienced a significant loss. In much the same way, we've lost -- or perhaps never possessed -- the routine awareness of what we're feeling or thinking moment by moment. But because we've never had this faculty, or lost it long ago, we don't miss it. Or at least we don't miss it until it gets us into trouble. We speak the harsh word, we take umbrage at someone else's thoughtless remarks, we are hurtful or become victims ... and only afterwards do we realize what went wrong.

In short, it doesn't really matter whether the constant watching of ourselves using Step 10 is "normal" or not. If we don't do it, we'll get into trouble. So it's probably best to practice it and let the experts worry about just who's normal and who isn't ....