The Twelve Steps
Program Of Recovery Used By Impact Recovery Center
If you have realized that you need help and have been searching for a program that is right for you, you likely are feeling overwhelmed by the options. Every facility approaches recovery differently, and there are many different ways to to seek help, even though some are not very effective.
Although there are numerous options available for people in need of help, there is one method that is more common than others: The 12 steps. The 12 steps are widely used in rehabilitation programs nationwide, because they work. At Impact Recovery Center, we use the unadulterated 12 step process to allow residents a chance to transform their lives. Contact us to learn more about our unique approach to the 12 steps and how to begin your journey to recovery today.
Rather than taking several months to complete treatment, our residents can complete our program in 35 days. We will still work through every step of the program, and you will experience the complete benefits of the 12 steps. We also offer an after care program that allows our alumni to participate in the continuous work that living in recovery requires.
We are available to answer any questions you may have about the 12 steps and our approach. Please contact us if you or a loved one are in need of drug and alcohol rehab in Birmingham.
1. We Admitted We Were Powerless Over All Mind-Altering Substances — That Our Lives Had Become Unmanageable
In my first year and a half of recovery, my understanding of the first step was quite different from what it is today. Then, it was a generic idea of being powerless to my drinking and using. I thought my abnormal physical reaction to drugs and alcohol, or phenomenon of craving, made me powerless, and my mental obsession for more no matter what made my life unmanageable. With this logic, once the mental obsession was removed I would no longer put alcohol and drugs in my body, thus no abnormal reaction, and my life would become manageable. All went well for 18 months but then something began to transpire — I became disconnected from my first step.
I began to feel a great deal of uneasiness. I was easily annoyed by individuals and circumstances and had this overwhelming notion that I would never be satisfied. I became bored with recovery and life. Ironically, I was sponsoring many men, attending at least 5 meetings per week and holding a service position at my home group — but something was missing. Today, I call that something the missing piece — an experiential understanding of my spiritual malady, current unmanageability, or conscious separation from God. The pain and suffering I experienced during this time drove me to seek out a man with a different understanding of the first step — a three dimensional perspective, not two dimensional. Page 64 of The Big Book states, “We have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.” Clearly, the authors of the book stress a three-part problem.
I was presented with the consideration that I am powerless because I have a physical craving coupled with a mental obsession and spiritual malady. This can make my life unmanageable from an internal state first, and has the potential to manifest itself in my external life situations second. This spiritual malady, a conscious separation from God, shows up in the unmanageability of my life — stressed personal relationships, judgment of others, fear, misery, depression, feeling useless, not being able to make a living, not enjoying what I do to make a living, inability to be of real help to others, inability to control my emotional natures, and unhappiness. This internal condition is the breeding ground for the mental obsession. After making this realization, I gained a new degree of willingness and urgency to grow along spiritual lines because in an unfit spiritual condition my old master, crack cocaine, lurks in the shadows waiting for me to fall asleep. Today, he wears a new mask and dresses himself as the spiritual malady — my current unmanageability.
Consequently, I find it imperative to investigate my current unmanageability on an annual basis because it is only by illuminating the darkness that we are able to embrace the shadows and move forward. As part of this analysis, I revisit my powerlessness around cocaine and alcohol and become reacquainted with my first step experience on all three levels: Physical, mental, and spiritual. This new experience thrusts me into the remaining steps, which launch me into the spiritual dimensions of steps 10, 11, and 12. The first step is the major foundation stone in personal recovery. With rock solid first steps, we can build happy and purposeful lives walking hand in hand in the light and the darkness, without falling prey to the delusion that the darkness is not there. Darkness can be a massive spiritual tool used by God to refine our character but we must understand and experience the first step on all three levels to move through this type of evolution.
When I put alcohol and drugs in my body, I lose power, choice, and control over how much. When I sobered up, and I always did, I could not stay away from the first one no matter how great the necessity or the wish to do so — this is my physical and mental powerlessness. They are symptoms that erupt out of a broken, unmanageable internal condition brought on by my spiritual malady. The program and our personal relationship with God treat the internal condition and arrest the mental and physical components of the illness. This is how I concede to my innermost self that I am alcoholic and addict. I must relinquish grudgingly the idea that somehow, someday I will control and enjoy my using and drinking, and the notion that I will ever be like non-addict and non-alcoholic people — physically, mentally, or spiritually. This is the first step in the program of recovery.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
Coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity is much easier than it sounds once we fully grasp that Step Two isn’t asking us to understand or define that power. All it is asking us to understand is that alone we cannot restore ourselves to sanity. We desperately need a power greater than us if we hope to have any sanity in our lives.
Step One should have shown us that each time we tried to make something sane and rational out of our lives, we failed. A good sponsor will help us see the insanity behind our ideas and decisions. And without a power greater than us, we will continue to fail at building a sane life. Whether we are trying to make a living, mend a relationship, or just stop using and drinking — without this power, there’s no hope any of it will ever look like anything close to sanity. Without this power it will continue to look like drama, failure, and “their fault”.
So what stops us from accepting God? Our insane prejudice. We think we know what God is, what God should and will do for us, and what He won’t. The sooner we come to realize we have a lot of ideas about God and that they are probably all wrong, the better.
The Big Book promises us that “the consciousness of my belief will come to me” as we work through the steps. This means God will reveal his power to us as we work these steps. We will come to understand God slowly as we write inventory, make amends, learn to meditate, etc.
If this step is difficult, use the Set Aside Prayer: “God, please set aside everything I think I know about You, the steps, and my own sanity. Help me see the truth so that I may have an open mind and a new experience.”
And remember, we don’t get the promise of being restored to sanity until Step Ten. Keep going!
– Anonymous
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him
“Being convinced we were at Step Three, which is we decided to turn our will and our life over to God as we understood Him.” (page 60 in The Big Book).
This is a lofty goal for alcoholics and addicts. We have been living only to benefit us and our addictions. Turning our will and life over to a God that we may or may not have a relationship with is far from easy. We have made many decisions — time and time again we decided to stop drinking or using for good. We made a decision to only drink or use so much before we would stop and go home. We made a decision that if we did certain things we would go to a treatment center. We made decision after decision and never followed through with the action required to consummate these decisions.
It has been our experience that while working the steps, individuals are in and working Step Three when they start writing inventory. They have done the first two steps, the reading, and the writing, and they see how they have been consumed with selfishness and self-centered fear. They have prayed The Third Step Prayer earnestly in whatever fashion suits them and launched on a course of vigorous action. A rocket launches, and that is how we like to see individuals approach step work, with the same explosive intensity. In the work lies a conscious contact with God so much better than any high we could ever imagine. All of us have spent years and enormous amounts of money searching for the perfect chemical mixture that would relieve us from the bondage of self. Just like everything that is truly priceless, you do the work and It shows up. The action taken in steps 4-9 turns our will and lives over to the care and direction of the God we discover when we follow up our decision with a course of deliberate action. The step work confirms our Third Step Decision.
– Anonymous
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Step Four directs us to “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves,” but without the steps immediately preceding this step and the steps that follow, we are surely to experience the ‘nil’ results indicated in the instruction portion of the book aptly named “How It Works.”
Step One is just the beginning of understanding and identifying the problem. Step Two is the admission that “something” may restore us to sanity if we complete the remaining steps. Step Three is simply the commitment to that “something” that we intend to go through with the remaining steps. Step Four is the start of the commitment to actually perform some sort of action. If “our troubles… are basically of our own making” and the only way to overcome “the root of our troubles” (selfishness & self-centeredness) is to “launch out on a course of vigorous action,” then Step Four has to be the launching pad. And, although the Step Three “decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face and be rid of the things in ourselves which had been blocking us” from God and those about us.
As part of the spiritual journey and our recovery, it is imperative we constantly seek to further deepen our relationship with the “something” that is keeping us clean and sober. The best way for us to seek and experience God is through analyzing our conduct and interaction with all of God’s children. We face our resentments, fears, and gross misconduct towards others in relationships and see how our selfish, dishonest, self-centered, and fearful behaviors dominate our lives and lessen our ability to experience God and his children. Step Four makes this possible.
If we are unable to see and experience how our behaviors impact those about us (on a consistent and regular basis through repeated inventory), our hope for “the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience” which may be necessary for a happy and contented life may never be realized. An on-going analysis of the first three steps and repeated inventories smash the ego and keep it in its right proximity — present and necessary but not running the show. Regular inventory is vital if we are to invoke, maintain, and deepen conscious contact with that “something.”
– Anonymous
5. Admitted to God, to Ourselves, and to Another Human Being the Exact Nature of Our Wrongs
I hear the same answer from someone who has just relapsed: “I was working on my fourth step.” It reminds me of Jim’s story in “More About Alcoholism”. The Big Book tells us that Jim admitted that he was an alcoholic. He even had much knowledge of the condition. However, he found himself drunk because he failed to enlarge his spiritual life. I have often asked myself: Why do so many people relapse during the first four steps?
The book mentions several times that “faith without work is dead,” meaning that this is a program of action. The first 3 steps are really just a set of considerations. Do I believe that I am powerless over my addiction and that my life is unmanageable? Do I believe that a power greater than myself can restore me to sanity? Am I willing to make a decision to follow a course of action that will turn my life over to the care of God as I understand him? After the third step decision, we launch out on a set of directions that produce a spiritual experience. This vital spiritual experience does not begin until we take the 5th step: “We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience.” (page 75)
What The Big Book tells us lines up with my own experience. I was in and out of the rooms for several years, going to meetings almost daily, and talking with a sponsor on a regular basis. Yet, I could not put together even 24 hours of sobriety. I had read through the first four steps and I had much knowledge that I was an addict. I even had a belief in God, but that knowledge and belief were not sufficient to produce a state of recovery. When I sat down with a competent sponsor, he explained that as an addict I will use again, unless I experience a vital spiritual experience. He taught me that steps 4-9 are a designed plan of action that would generate the spiritual experience.
After writing inventory, I had little fear in sharing my inventory with my sponsor. I knew it was a “life-and-death errand”. There were plenty of things on my inventory that I was ashamed of at the time, but I knew that I wanted to live and be free. I had always looked away when I was talking to people. After completing the fifth step, I was able to look people in the eye. There was nothing left to hide.
– Anonymous
6. Were Entirely Ready to Have God Remove All These Defects of Character
In The Big Book, Step Six is one small paragraph between our completion of Step Five, when we return home, and our readiness to approach God in step 7 and humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings.
“If we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at Step Six. We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all – every one? If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.”
In my first pass through the steps, Step Six came and went rather quickly and abruptly — it was difficult for me to differentiate Step Six from Step Seven. Looking back, it seems as if I took both steps simultaneously. My sponsor asked, “Are you willing?” and I answered, “Yes.” He then instructed me to review the list of broad and general defects which became apparent during my fifth step. The list included selfishness, dishonesty, jealousy, envy, and inconsideration. Since I was willing, I asked God to remove them in Step Seven and we moved on to Step Eight. Don’t misunderstand me, it was exactly how I was supposed to work the step but since then Step Six has proven to be so much deeper than my initial experience with it.
For the next 18 months when I heard other members say, “These are the steps (6 & 7) which separate the men from the boys,” I discounted the statement and directed those people to get off their asses and go help someone work the steps. Why did I exhibit so much hostility? I believe it was due to my lack of experience with Step Six.
Around the same time, I was introduced to the concept of revisiting the step work process, mainly the first nine steps. Since I was suffering a great deal, I found myself very open to the idea. My suffering was: Easily annoyed by most, often uneasy, and dissatisfied with my life. When I reflect, it’s evident to me in the beginning: The only thing which truly changed was my willingness to do whatever I had to do to recover from addiction. At the outset, little else about my character changed because I was not entirely ready. This is the departure point for me. Step Six is not only about willingness, although it’s crucial — it’s about asking myself, am I entirely ready?
Over the last 7 years, I’ve discovered the vitality and necessity of reworking the first 9 steps on an annual basis. In that work, I uncovered the difference between willingness and being entirely ready. I’ve been willing to have many defects and shortcomings removed but entire readiness only emerged when they became objectionable. The defect’s last flicker of value must be snuffed out before it becomes objectionable; otherwise, it will remain. I also discovered defects are usually removed while causing a great deal of pain and suffering.
As long as we are getting something of value from the defects and/or shortcomings, they will continue to show up. We will not be entirely ready and will be unable to ask God, with humility and authenticity, to remove them. We will continue to believe we can do something to change ourselves. We become ready when we experience our utter powerlessness to remedy the situation and change ourselves.
Let me end with this: My attitude has changed regarding defects and shortcomings. These personal struggles are now blessings and I thank God for them because it is He who is refining my character by blessing me with the pain caused by my defects and shortcomings. In short, it is these very things which bring me back to the table with God. Without the struggles, we would not know where the growth needs to take place. Without the darkness of struggle, we would not know the light of victory.
7. Humbly Asked Him to Remove Our Shortcomings
For years, our greatest character defect and shortcoming was our addiction, and it has now been suppressed. It’s been arrested and we no longer suffer from two of addiction’s symptoms: Loss of control after we start (physical) and an inability to stay away from the first one no matter how great the necessity or the wish (mental). Our desire to seek a deeper relationship with our Creator through practical application of The Twelve Steps treats the third symptom: Restlessness, irritability, and discontentment (spiritual). But recovery from the spiritual malady is an on-going evolution. We live in a recovered state because we no longer suffer from the seemingly hopeless condition of body and mind. If we stop taking the actions required to live life on a spiritual basis, the diseased internal condition will return. If it festers long enough, the mind will begin to tell us that a drink or drug will make things better. Consequently, our addiction to drugs and alcohol will come out of remission, and we will begin to act out in our worst defect of character.
Using this logic, it stands to reason the same principle should apply to all of our defects of character. They can be suppressed by living a spiritual program of action but like our addiction, if we steer away from the program they will return and begin to run the show. The Big Book states that selfishness and self-centeredness are at the root of our problem and they are two of our worst shortcomings. The book also states that we can’t reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We must have God’s help. So, we can’t remove our character defects or practice the opposite of our defects, but what we can do is live the way of life described in The Big Book. This basis of life, or foundation, creates an existence in which being selfish, indignant, self-absorbed, narcissistic, and judgmental is not conducive to the new way of life, sobriety, or freedom. All we can do is humbly offer myself to our Creator and ask him to remove what we find objectionable about our character. Refinement of our character is left up to Him and how He lives through us.
In my first pass through the steps, Step Six came and went rather quickly and abruptly — it was difficult for me to differentiate Step Six from Step Seven. Looking back, it seems as if I took both steps simultaneously. My sponsor asked, “Are you willing?” and I answered, “Yes.” He then instructed me to review the list of broad and general defects which became apparent during my fifth step. The list included selfishness, dishonesty, jealousy, envy, and inconsideration. Since I was willing, I asked God to remove them in Step Seven and we moved on to Step Eight. Don’t misunderstand me, it was exactly how I was supposed to work the step but since then Step Six has proven to be so much deeper than my initial experience with it.
Step Seven is Step Three with teeth. Not only are we abandoning ourselves to Him and agreeing to be a testimony of His Power in our lives, but we are conceding that God can and will change or remove anything that stands in the way of us being useful to Him. The reality is, some of our most glaring defects make us attractive and useful to others. So, they may or may not be removed, especially if we do not find them objectionable. In the end, our defects bring us full circle and sit us back down at the table with God. What immense grace and mercy, our very struggles keep us seeking God.
Around the same time, I was introduced to the concept of revisiting the step work process, mainly the first nine steps. Since I was suffering a great deal, I found myself very open to the idea. My suffering was: Easily annoyed by most, often uneasy, and dissatisfied with my life. When I reflect, it’s evident to me in the beginning: The only thing which truly changed was my willingness to do whatever I had to do to recover from addiction. At the outset, little else about my character changed because I was not entirely ready. This is the departure point for me. Step Six is not only about willingness, although it’s crucial — it’s about asking myself, am I entirely ready?
Over the last 7 years, I’ve discovered the vitality and necessity of reworking the first 9 steps on an annual basis. In that work, I uncovered the difference between willingness and being entirely ready. I’ve been willing to have many defects and shortcomings removed but entire readiness only emerged when they became objectionable. The defect’s last flicker of value must be snuffed out before it becomes objectionable; otherwise, it will remain. I also discovered defects are usually removed while causing a great deal of pain and suffering.
8. Make a List of All Persons We Had Harmed, and Become Willing to Make Amends to Them All
Until now the steps have been preparing us for a level of humility beyond our conception: A level of humility before God and God’s kids that truly sets us free to live in the sunlight of the spirit. Admitting our powerlessness — and doing some work to access that power — we now must humble ourselves before that power and clean up the mess we made of other people’s lives. There’s no room for ego. There’s no room for pride. There’s no room for “me”. Just God.
We, of our own power, would never consent, much less commence, to making amends, to add to, to take away from, or to set right our harms. But with the willingness that can only be accessed through God, we can face the people we’ve been avoiding, blaming, and resenting for a lifetime.
I have my list. It was given to me by my sponsor after my fifth step. But do I have the willingness? Am I willing to go to any lengths for victory over dope? If I want to live free, I must. So I pray. I meditate. I ask for the willingness to humble myself. To walk up to that person I used, I cheated, I lied to, and admit my wrong. To ask how the action made them feel. To ask if I’ve left anything out. To ask what I can do to make it right. To be willing to go to any length for victory over dope. And as the willingness creeps in, the fear is pushed out. As I trust God, all doubt leaves me.
As God comes in, I go out. Then more God in, more me out. And then the courage born of grace catapults me, rockets me, into the next step. The 9th step. The step when I’m finally back with God’s kids. But this all comes as a result of humbly asking God for the willingness to make the amends. Humbly accepting that I am nothing without God.
– Anonymous
9. Make Direct Amends to Such People Whenever Possible, Except When to Do So Would Injure Them or Others
Up to now we have been walking hand in hand with a recovered sponsor on a path to freedom. We have developed a close bond with another person in the program and have hope that this program will work for us too. We have begun to have spiritual experiences, but the time has come for us to take actions which will propel me into the world of the Spirit.
We’ve admitted powerlessness and conceded that God is everything. We have turned our will over and made an honest inventory of our lives. We’ve shared those often painful details with another person. We have made a list of our defects and asked God to remove them. We now have a list of those whom we have harmed and are now willing to face each and every one of them to make right our wrongs. We cannot do this on our own power. We have to have God’s help.
This is the step where we begin to walk hand in hand with our higher power. It has been our experience that the amends which required the most humility are the ones that have brought about the most freedom. We have been delusional most of our lives. The steps shed light on that delusion, and the 9th step has freed us from so much of it.
As we continue to seek God on this path to freedom and truth, we pray that more freedom from delusion will come. This may require more discomfort and increased humility as our spirits continue to awaken, but we can thank God for that gift. The humbler and more willing we are to face our fellows and right our wrongs, the more freedom we live in and the closer to our Creator we get to be.
– Anonymous
10. Continued to Take Personal Inventory and When We Were Wrong Promptly Admitted
The tenth step as discussed in The Big Book is not just about taking inventory once a day. It’s about taking our own inventory constantly as we walk through the day. It’s as if we were above ourselves, watching ourselves having a human experience, making the mistakes that all humans make. The difference between other humans and us is that we have run out of choices, whether or not we seek God’s power. The truth revealed out of our experience with powerlessness/unmanageability has removed the options of our lives run by self-will and self-reliance. We are without choice. Therefore, the tenth step is vitally important to the continuing awareness that we need “to grow in understanding (spirit world/6th sense/God Consciousness) and effectiveness (human life)”.
The first 9 steps are the launching pad into the spiritual dimension of steps 10, 11, and 12. The tenth step is about staying awake and present in our daily lives. Several spiritual practices are embedded in this step. We can take any one of them and practice it for months. WATCH. We observe our internal space and look for resentment, fear, selfishness, and dishonesty. When these crop up, and they will, we ASK God at once to remove them. They may not be removed at once but our task is to ASK at once. We resolutely TURN our thoughts to someone we can help or we TURN our thoughts to the task at hand. When we fall asleep and harm another, we quickly make amends. We practice a code of love and tolerance. We CEASE fighting drugs, alcohol, people, and circumstances. All suffering is resistance to what is. This step allows us to see this and practice a moment by moment submission.
By far, the tenth step is the most difficult one to practice but the results are magnificent. We experience the greatest promise in The Big Book — the POSITION of NEUTRALITY. We stop fighting. True humility emerges. But the tenth step does not stop there. The authors of The Big Book believed in VISION work. They state on page 85: “Every day is a day when we must carry a VISION of God’s will into all of our activities.” This is the proper use of the will. Most people in the rooms pray, some pray and meditate, but very few pray, meditate, and work with vision. With these practices, the possibilities are endless. Our responsibility is to develop these spiritual skills so we can grow in understanding and effectiveness.
– Anonymous
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
“Silence is God’s first language.” -John of the Cross, 16th century Christian mystic
Some time ago, I conceded to my innermost self, I am an addict. Once on this path, the step work was laid out for me. I cleaned house and began to trust God. I began working with others. I prayed daily. But… I did not meditate (though I did try). In fact, I tried and I tried and I tried again. It seemed impossible. Every few weeks I would sit for a few minutes and become impatient as my mind attacked and fled like a crow flying, drawn to all the shiny bits flashing around in a very full skull. I became frustrated and simply gave up.
The process repeated itself over and over for nearly nine months. Though I had not had a drug or drink, I began to suffer intensely. My psyche was battered and bashed with all the things others ought or ought not to be doing. “Mark can’t talk to me that way!” or “That’s not how this is supposed to work!” or “Doesn’t she know how to behave?” The world did not suit me. My lot did not suit me. Others were stupid, insensitive, and generally (edited for vulgarity). Something had to change, and that something was me.
There are 12 steps. And here’s the truth: I did 11 and a half of them. Meditation was off the board. Yet it was clear from my experience that 95.8% of the work is not enough for a real addict like me. Through good sponsorship, it became apparent that I must begin to truly meditate. The method didn’t matter so much — from breath awareness, to chanting, to silent attentiveness. I was instructed that whatever method God led me to was fine.
I began a daily practice of 20 minutes of centering meditation every morning. I set the timer and did not move no matter what. This was very difficult for several weeks. Then all began to change — twenty minutes didn’t seem that long at all. Life became easier. I was not so easily swayed nor bothered by the vicissitudes and vagaries of daily existence. Here are some of my previous belief systems: “I’m a good meditator because my mind is still,” or “Meditation is very hard,” or “I’m not very good at meditation.”
All of these are false statements. Moreover, they are somewhat foolish statements. You see, they are false (and foolish) because there is no such thing as good or bad meditation. If one wants to be good at meditation, one simply has to do it and do it regularly — at a set time everyday, for a set period. This is the pure measure and mean of so called “good” meditation. The Big Book is clear in the 11th step instructions: “We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in this simple way…” (page 88).
May God bless you.
– Anonymous
12. Having Had a Spiritual Awakening as the Result of These Steps, We Tried to Carry this Message to Alcoholics and Addicts and to Practice the Principles in All Our Affairs
“The point is, that we were willing to grow along spiritual lines.” (page 60). This may be our mission statement.
The twelfth step may be our statement of purpose. It has three points: 1) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, 2) we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and 3) to practice these principles in all of our affairs.
The path for accomplishing purpose #1 occurs when we work steps 1-11 precisely as detailed in the book from “The Doctor’s Opinion” (8 pages) through “Into Action” (88 pages). The details for accomplishing purpose #2 is found in Chapter 7, “Working with Others” (15 pages). Therefore, the plan for purpose #3 — practicing these principles in all of our affairs — must be contained in the last four chapters (60 pages).
We too often hear people say they have worked all of the steps, but they have not sponsored as much as one person. We also hear people refer to the twelfth step as service, but they fail to mention sponsorship. By watching their actions, they hardly practice the principles in all of their affairs.
If we simply review the number of pages dedicated to each step, the twelfth step occupies 75 of the 172 pages of the recovery portion of the book, or 41%. If we have completed steps 1-11, we have only accomplished 59% of the purpose, and if we sponsor one person, we still only accomplish 65% of the purpose of the program. So, practicing the principles in all our affairs is where we actually become whole again.
My experience was that until I actually started sponsoring others, and fully understood what it means to truly practice the principles in my home, occupation, and other affairs, I did not have a contented life with the potential for permanent recovery. Once I was willing to practice the principles in all of my affairs, growing along spiritual lines just happened.
– Anonymous
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