Like any decision we make, certain steps are going to be required to accomplish that decision. Very rarely does anything worthwhile happen through osmosis. The 12 steps of recovery are exactly that. The step is defined as a movement made by lifting the foot and setting it down again in a new position. It is accompanied by a shifting of the weight of the body in the direction of the new position, as in walking running, or dancing. This is an amazing metaphor for what we are doing when we apply the steps of recovery to our life. We need to do them one at a time and we need to make sure we have our weight properly shifting as we are moving forward so as we do not lose balance. I hope this helps in your understanding of why The steps are vital to personal recovery.
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- 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.
- 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.
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Robert Pardon
Robert is the Recovery Guy. Getting clean and sober on April 25, 1986 has given me the insight and practical skill set to not only stay sober, but to also re-invent myself to the person I always wanted to become. Showing others how to do this is my life goal.
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