:::
How It Works :::
Rarely have we seen a person fail who
has thoroughly followed our path. Those who
do not recover are people who cannot or will
not completely give themselves to this
simple program, usually men and women who
are constitutionally incapable of being
honest with themselves. There are such
unfortunates. They are not at fault; they
seem to have been born that way. They are
naturally incapable of grasping and
developing a manner of living which demands
rigorous honesty. Their chances are less
than average.
There are those, too, who suffer from grave
emotional and mental disorders, but many of
them do recover if they have the capacity to
be honest.
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood
at the turning point. we asked His
protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are
suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our
addiction, that our lives had become
unmanageable.
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.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral
inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to
another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove
all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our
shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed,
and became willing to make amends to them
all.
9. Made direct amends to such people
wherever 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.
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.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the
result of these steps, we tried to carry
this message to alcoholics, and to practice
these principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order I
can't go through with it." Do not be
discouraged. No one among us has been able
to maintain anything like perfect adherence
to these principles. We are not saints. The
point is, that we are willing to grow along
spiritual lines. The principles we have set
down are guides to progress. We claim
spiritual progress rather than spiritual
perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the
chapter to the agnostic, and out personal
adventures before and after make clear three
personal ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not
manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have
relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were
sought.
"Reprinted
from (Alcoholics Anonymous Page
58-60), with permission of A.A.
World Services, Inc." Official
Alcoholics Anonymous Website: aa.org
|
