How to Work the 12 Steps of a 12-Step Fellowship

The 12 steps can be a path to enlightenment.

Twelve-step fellowships are designed to help people recover from addiction. Alcoholics Anonymous was the first 12-step group, and from that has sprung programs such as Narcotics Anonymous, Over-eaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Nicotine Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous and countless others. These programs are based on simple principles that can be practiced in your everyday life to help you abstain from any kind of harmful behavior. The principles are based on a spiritual program meant to enhance the life of the addict and to increase awareness of his addiction and the mental obsession that comes along with it. Through 12 simple steps comes a path to freedom. Seek out a sponsor that is familiar with the 12 steps and is in recovery from what you are trying to recover from before trying to start the 12 steps yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Step sponsor
• Pen
• Paper
• Twelve steps guide book

Instructions

The Steps

1. Admit that you are powerless over your addiction, and that your life had become unmanageable--this is the first step. Make a list of all the ways that your life is unmanageable. Next, make a list of all the ways you are powerless.

2. Believe that a power greater then yourself can restore you to sanity. What is your concept of a Higher Power? Describe what spirituality means to you. Write a list of spiritual attributes.

3. Decide to turn your will and your life over to the care of your Higher Power as you understand Him. Write down all the ways you continue to run the show, how you live by self propulsion and how you can try to turn your will over to your Higher Power.

4. Create a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself. Make a list of all the people you have resentments towards. Why do you have these resentments? Next, look for your part in the resentments--what role did you play in the situation? Where were you selfish, dishonest or self-seeking?

5. Admit to yourself, to your Higher Power and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongs. Share your fourth step with a sponsor who is familiar with the steps, and who should have been guiding you through the first four as well. Reveal to him all that you wrote down in step four, leave nothing out. All skeletons come out of the closet in this step. You are cleaning away the wreckage of your past here.

6. Become entirely ready to have your Higher Power remove all these defects of your character. When looking at your fourth step with a sponsor, look for patterns and flaws in your character. What defects do you see? Have you been self-seeking and resentful, dishonest and selfish? Write down these defects on paper, so you can see them.

7. Humbly ask your Higher Power to remove your shortcomings. Having made a list of all your defects, ask your Higher Power to remove them from you. Pray that He may take away from you any defect of character which stands in the way of your usefulness to Him.

8. Make a list of all persons you have harmed and become willing to make amends to them all, usually drawing off your fourth step. This prepares you to clean house in the ninth step. Anyone that you can think of that you may have injured in any way belongs on this list.

9. Make amends to the people in step eight, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. At the discretion of your sponsor, you can proceed to make amends to the people on your eighth step. This can be a very long process--do not try to rush it. It will happen in its own time.

10. Take personal inventory, and when you are wrong, promptly admit it. This step is a continuation of the eighth and ninth steps. After you have made your amends, continue to look for harm that you have committed, and try to make things right. Every night, take a daily inventory, and try to make up for any previous misdeeds the next day in an effort to keep your side of the street clean. This will keep your conscience in a good place.

11. Seek, through prayer and meditation, to improve your conscious contact with your Higher Power, as you understand Him, praying only for His will for you, and the power to carry that out. In this step, you practice prayer and meditation. You grow in your relationship with your Higher Power. Continue to pray and seek out your spirituality. What is your Higher Power asking of you? Are you doing His will? Try meditating for ten minutes every morning and night in an effort to get closer to your Higher Power.

12. Carry this message to others. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, you now practice these principles in all your affairs. This step is about service. Now that you have completed the 12 steps, your job is to carry the message to others who are trying to gain what you have gained from the program. You can only keep what you have by giving it away, so offer help to newcomers and volunteer for commitments in an attempt to be of service to the fellowship.

Tips & Warnings

• Go to meetings for support.

• Get a sponsor to guide you through the steps.

• Keep a journal to record your step work.

• Keep track of your days abstinent from the given behavior.

• Remember, it's progress not perfection!

References

• Twelve Steps: Resources and Information About the Twelve Step Program