The 12 Steps of A.A.

After posting about a dozen blogs on a website called, "12 Steps And A Winding Road", it occurred to me that there were a lot of readers who were not familiar with the 12-Step Program. Some might wonder... "Why would someone subject themselves to following a path like this?"

When someone comes into a 12-Step Program it is most often a "last resort" to try and get past an addiction of some kind....alcohol, drugs (although alcohol IS a drug), sexual compusions, gambling, eating disorders, internet addiction, etc.... More often than not, the decision is surrender to a Spiritual program or suffer further loss, even perhaps death. The 12-Step program was developed by the founders of A.A. and is based on some basic Christian principles.

I thought, as I continue to blog about addiction and various life issues that it would be good to lay out exactly what the 12 steps are. For some of you it will be "old hat", and for some it will be the first time you've seen them......Try to imagine, if you will, how they might apply to your own life, whether you're in a recovery program or not.



1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol (insert your own addiction/struggle)...and 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 whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong, promptly admit it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God (as we understand Him), praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.


12. Having had a Spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we try to carry this message to alcoholics (as originally written), and to practice these principles in all our affairs.