Step 11

Motive:  Some inner drive, impulse, intention, etc.  that causes a person to do something or act in a certain way; incentive; goal,.

"On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead."

If I must.  If I must to stay sober.  Although I do like that we're gently reminded of the importance of the one day at a time thing.

"We consider our plans for the day."

My plans for the day revolve around me, getting what I want, avoiding what I do not want.  If somebody gets trampled as I pursue these aims, so be it.  I'm not afraid to break a few legs or take out the occasional eye if my needs are satisfied.  

So far so good.  I wake up; I plan my victories; I rule triumphant.

"Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives."

There are so many things wrong with this sentence I don't know where to begin.  I mean, the whole thing, all of the qualifiers accurately describing my motives assume that if I remove self-pity, self-seeking, and dishonesty from them that there will be something left.  There won't be.  Those are all of my motives.  I don't have any other motives.

"Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives."

Ah, there it is: the carrot, the reward.  My thought-life was on an exceptionally low plane and brought me no pleasure whatsoever; I could stand to have my thought-plane - whatever that is - raised slightly.   My history is one of avoiding any work that I find distasteful or unpleasant.  The Steps have to be intensely practical for me.  I have to get relief or I'm not doing the work.

I'm just sayin'.