I wrote a shorthand for the Twelve Steps - not as good as the original, but
a useful study guide. - Bill G.
- SAW THE PROBLEM. This is a big issue, often involving intervention. It is the sick person's problem. Alcoholism and other addictions tend to blame concerned persons, family members, and others, for the trouble. Though it is also a family disease or disorder, the sick person's own responsibility must be clearly seen by him or her.
- HEARD THERE WAS HELP. Belief in a Power greater than ourselves can come in all sorts of ways. Someone else caring, sharing good information, going to Al-Anon, and the Church can also have a strong positive influence. The Johnson Institute Grew from a Christian concern.
- DECIDED TO TRUST THAT HELP, THE BEST WAY I COULD. Maybe the commitment initially is no more than to go to an A.A. meeting. It is a matter of making a start. Many people "hang around the Program" for a while, some for years, before making the decision. The person has to say to himself/herself, "I am an alcoholic; I need the program; I will commit to A.A. and to abstinent behavior."
In the light of that decision...
- TOOK A GOOD LOOK AT MYSELF. Emphasize good. THe more thoroughly this is done, the better chance of dependable sobriety.
- SHARED MY FORTH STEP WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING. GOD IS INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS. I don't believe the 5th step has to be done with a chaplin or other religious functionary.
The prime need is for a caring and understanding relationship - that is, the person who hears the confidences of another has to respect the transaction, and respect and care for the person who makes the 5th step. It should not be confused with confession and absolution. the guarantees of confidentiality must be absolute. However: one caveat - if the hearer of the 5th step feel he/she is being deceived or used, or being given information he/she should not hear, the 5th step should be broken off.
- PRACTICED TRUSTING HIGHER POWER. Getting ready to go foward to dealing constructively with our defects; carthasis is only half the battle.
- ASKED FOR HELP IN SPECIFIC WAYS. Step 6 and 7 are a pair. The one begins and the other completes; getting ready and getting to it. A paramount need is to get to a deeper relationship with your Higher Power. The A.A. and Al-Anon programs are selfish, in the sense that sobriety has to come first and the individual in that way has to put his/her health ahead of everthing - but it cannot be a shallow program. Tillich says that an atheist is a person who has no depth in life. The Program is not concerned with whether we are atheists, agnostics, or if we profess religious belief...but we have to be belivers in the necessity of a spiritual program and a dependence on Higher Power.
- THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE WE HAD HARMED. Again 8 and 9 are a doublet. We have to think carefully and responsibily where we have been. It is not good to be sentimental, leaving things out. And then there's something completely basic that gets neglected - on your list of people you have harmed, put yourself on top of the list. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. You cannot love God or Higher Power or your sobriety unless you love and accept yourself.
- MADE IT RIGHT WHERE WE COULD. I have a case in point, having just visited my mother on her 105th birthday. I wished to make amends and to demand satisfactions, but I could do nothing because she is senile. Sometimes we can make it right - not always.
- REGULAR CHECK-UPS. The keep well KIT. KIT means Keep In Touch with your feelings.
- GROWTH IN TRUSTING HIGHER POWER. Prayer and meditation at the simplest level are Talking and Listening.
- LIVE THE PROGRAM. It has to be a full-time, whole-hearted, all-or-nothing commitment.
Bill Goddard - 1984
Webmaster's note: Bill G is a clergyman, born in Canada. He recently celebrated his 21st year of sobriety.
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