LeƧon 1
Step 1: We Admitted We Were Powerless Over [__________] ā that Our Lives Had Become Unmanageable
In this lesson, we discuss the significance and plurality of the word āwe,ā and how this relates to acceptance and surrender. We define what it means to be powerless over alcohol, drugs, other substances, and how unmanageability is prevalent in our relations with all people, places, and things. We talk about the process of empowerment that commences when we admit something. We also talk about the principle of honesty and how it is essential if we are to achieve lasting recovery.
LeƧon 2
Step 2: Came to Believe that a Power Greater than Ourselves Could Restore Us to Sanity
In this lesson, we talk about personal opinions and beliefs about a Higher Power and where these things come from and how they can be changed. We discuss the topic of sanity as a harmonization of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. We also talk about the principle of hope for a new way of living life in recovery.
LeƧon 3
Step 3: Made a Decision to Turn Our Will and Our Lives Over to the Care of God as We Understood Him
In this lesson, we talk about how to let go of ideas, notions, limited beliefs, conditioned behaviors, and other long-held paradigms that no longer serve our highest good. We learn to trust that we will be supported and upheld and lovingly embraced by what we choose to call a Higher Power. We also talk about the principle of faith and what this means to us each day in recovery.
LeƧon 4
Step 4: Made a Searching and Fearless Moral Inventory of Ourselves
In this lesson, we talk about morality, in addition to resentments, attachments, and expectations. We learn how to take a mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual inventory. We examine fears, financial issues, safety, security, and more. We also discuss the principle of integrity in relation to how our actions can either be selfish and self-centered, or altruistic and in service to others.
LeƧon 5
Step 5: Admitted to God, to Ourselves, and to Another Human Being the Exact Nature of Our Wrongs
In this lesson, we discuss the term admitted, and we learn that throughout recovery we will continue to admit things about who we are, why we are here, and what we are here to do within our lifetime. We talk about trusting others, in addition to building spiritual community or brotherhood/sisterhood with likeminded seekers in recovery. We also talk about the principle of courage and how this relates to truth-telling and congruency.
LeƧon 6
Step 6: Were Entirely Ready to Have God Remove All These Defects of Character
In this lesson, we come to terms with default and defense systems in relation to how we have lived life up to this present moment. We learn how to cultivate eagerness and enthusiasm to take contrary actions. We examine how human defects manifest within everyday situations. We also talk about the principle of willingness and how this relates to recognition and renovation.
LeƧon 7
Step 7: Humbly Asked Him to Remove Our Shortcomings
In this lesson, we learn how to seek change; how to develop new patterns for living; how to embrace the unknown and uncomfortable. We figure out how to recognize that on our own individual power we may not be able to make lasting changes, yet a Higher Power can and will create lasting change ā if we can remember to ask with sincerity. We also discuss the principle of humility and how this step can secure freedom and contentment within all aspects of daily living.
LeƧon 8
Step 8: Made A List of All Persons We had Harmed, and Became Willing to Make Amends to Them All
In this lesson, we talk about restoration, resistance, and wholeness in relation to the oneness or interdependence of all things and people. We talk about how to begin to prepare ourselves to face past wrongs in order to live rightly in the present and future. We also talk about the principle of forgiveness of self and others.
LeƧon 9
Step 9: Made Direct Amends to Such People Wherever Possible, Except When to Do So Would Injure Them or Others
In this lesson we discuss directness and indirectness. We talk about being responsible and owning our faults and mistakes as well as our assets and achievements. We talk about loving speech and compassionate listening. We also talk about the principle of discipline in regard to righting wrongs and living in a way where we no longer create harms unto ourselves or others.
LeƧon 10
Step 10: Continued to Take Personal Inventory and When We Were Wrong Promptly Admitted It
In this lesson, we discuss the importance of daily practices and healthy/productive disciplines. We talk about how to make lists; how to utilize a journal; how to tell others about our faults or mistakes; how to let go of things we wish were different. We talk about putting the needs of others above our own as a pathway to restoration. We also talk about the spiritual principle of perseverance and how to build healthy habits to stay on task one day at a time.
LeƧon 11
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
In this lesson, we discuss different ways to approach prayer and meditation. We look at motivations for doing spiritual practices. We begin to make lasting commitments to practices that will support and maintain the integrity of our recovery. We discuss the topic of continuous unfoldment or development throughout recovery. We also talk about the principle of spiritual awareness and how this is the heart of recovery.
LeƧon 12
Step 12: Having Had a Spiritual Awakening as The Result of These Steps, We Tried to Carry This Message to Alcoholics [or others who are suffering], and To Practice These Principles in All Our Affairs
In this lesson, we talk about the journey that we have been on and where we will be going from here. We think about how we can be useful in the world and how our lives can have meaning and purpose. We discuss how to help others. We talk about the principle of service and we make a personal promise to try to love and serve ourselves and others as best as we can each day.
