“…in April 1939…the spiritual ideas of the Society were codified for the first time in the Twelve Steps…a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.” (“Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions“, by permission of AAWS)

“Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

• Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol…
• Step 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves…
• Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over…
• Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory…
• Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being…
• Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove…
• Step 7. Humbly asked Him…
• Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed…
• Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible…
• Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory…
• Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve…
• Step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result…

“Many of us explained, ‘What an ordeal!  I can’t go through with it!'” ;-)

Oops, please excuse the above typo and…

“… Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.” (“How It Works“, page 60)