12 STEPS FOR ALL

There are many paths that lead to enlightenment. When Bill Wilson wrote the 12 steps found in Alcoholics Anonymous he was walking a well trod path. The unique success that AA has enjoyed as a result of the steps is due to their simplicity. The truth is the steps are a basic treatise, a Spirituality for Dummies if you will, that will work for anyone. Having worked with over a thousand individuals from all walks of life, addicted and addiction free, by employing the steps as a foundation for growth lives have been transformed. Follows are the 12 steps reinterpreted for all.

1. Came to believe that we were powerless over life and that life is ultimately unmanageable without help.
2. Came to believe that reliance on a power greater than ourselves could and would restore sanity to our life.
3. Made the decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of a power greater than ourselves, as you understand it. That power shall be called God.
4. Made a fearless and searching moral inventory of our lives, leaving nothing out.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another person the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Seeing the ultimate futility and spiritually fatal nature of our defects of character we became ready to have God remove them.
7. Humbly asked God to remove our defects of character, root and branch.
8. Referring to our inventory we make a list of all we have harmed and become willing to make amends to all.
9. Make direct amends to all, except if in making those amends we cause more harm. Consult with a spiritual adviser before making any amends.
10. Take daily inventory of your life, clearing the path of new mistakes.
11. Seek through prayer and meditation to improve your conscious contact with God as you understand Him, praying for knowledge of His will for you and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a Spiritual awakening as the result of this course of action, carry this message to all, gently, and demonstrate the principles you now embrace in every area of your life.

God as you understand Him. For the steps to work God must meet a simple foundational position from which you can build. God must be: Available, Intelligent and Loving. Start here. From this bedrock you can build a wonderful spiritual experience that will not only transform you but all whose life you touch. One day at a time. Copyright 2009