Step 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."
Step 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.
Step 12: Service
Living with the principle of service means it's your responsibility to help others as you were helped when you first started to work the 12 steps.
The 12 spiritual principles of recovery are as follows: acceptance, hope, faith, courage, honesty, patience, humility, willingness, brotherly love, integrity, self-discipline, and service.
The 12 Steps are a path to recovery, and the AA Steps and Traditions can be found in the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book. Alcoholics in AA live their lives in line with a set of “promises,” which also can be found in the AA Big Book. These 12 steps are outlined in Chapter 5, “How It Works,” of the Big Book.
Different for Each Individual. Beyond the initial timeframe for attending meetings, there really is no set amount of time for you to go through the 12 steps of AA. Some of the steps involve making amends to those you may have hurt as a result of your alcoholism. For some people, that may take a day or two.
Step 7 asks people to humble themselves and acknowledge that they are not perfect. This is accomplished by asking a higher power to help remove these shortcomings. It is important to remember that for some people, this may involve asking God, as they understand Him, for help.
AA step 9 of the 12 steps is a call for those working towards to make amends with those who they harmed during the throes of alcohol addiction. It builds on step 8, which required the individual to make a list of everyone he or she has harmed throughout the battle with alcohol addiction.
Benefits of Step 12 of AA
Working with others as part of Step 12 helps you keep your own sobriety in check. According to The Big Book, “Nothing will so much ensure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics.”
According to The American Society of Addiction Medicine, 12-Step recovery programs offer a proven approach that addresses a person's psychology, spirituality, and personal values. These programs encourage connectedness to others, a willingness to engage with others, and the courage to humbly ask for help.
Addiction specialists cite success rates slightly higher, between 8% and 12%. A New York Times article stated that AA claims that up to 75% of its members stay abstinent. Alcoholics Anonymous' Big Book touts about a 50% success rate, stating that another 25% remain sober after some relapses.
Step Four of the 12 Steps: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. The use of the qualifier “fearless” acknowledges that Step Four of the 12 Steps is frequently approached with sweaty palms and trembling legs.
These daily practices are the subject of Step 10 of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." Here the word "inventory" means taking stock of our emotional disturbances, especially those that can return us to drinking or other drug use.
Step 8: “Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.” The pathway toward renewal and personal growth in recovery is a gradual one. The 12 Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous provides the framework to slowly but surely attain this new mindset.
So Step Six—“Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character”—is A.A.'s way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order to make a beginning on this lifetime job. This does not mean that we expect all our character defects to be lifted out of us as the drive to drink was.
The first step in addiction recovery is the hardest step. It is admitting that you have a problem. Why is this step so hard for many addicts?
Bill Wilson, a former member of Alcoholics Anonymous, created the 12 Steps in 1938. During his experience, he wrote down his ideas and tips regarding sobriety. After combining these tips with a few other teachings and Christian inspiration, Wilson put the 12 Steps into action.
The 13th Step of AA is an unofficial term referring to longer-standing members attempting some sort of romantic involvement with 12 Step newcomers (newcomers are considered those who've been sober for less than a year).
Alcohol or drug addiction, also known as substance use disorder, is a chronic disease of the brain that can happen to anyone.
About the Big Book
Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as the “Big Book,” presents the A.A. program for recovery from alcoholism. First published in 1939, its purpose was to show other alcoholics how the first 100 people of A.A. got sober.
Step Eleven in Alcoholics Anonymous. Step 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.”