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An alcoholic is someone who has developed a physical and psychological dependence on alcohol. This dependency leads to a compulsive need to consume alcohol despite negative consequences on their health, relationships, work, and other areas of life. Alcoholics may exhibit behaviors such as drinking alone, hiding their alcohol consumption, experiencing withdrawal symptoms when not drinking, and being unable to control or limit their drinking despite attempts to do so. Alcoholism is a complex disorder with genetic, environmental, and psychological factors contributing to its development. Treatment often involves a combination of medical intervention, therapy, support groups, and lifestyle changes.

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What are the 12 steps

The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are a set of guiding principles for recovery from alcoholism and other addictions. They provide a structured approach to help individuals overcome their dependency on alcohol and achieve sobriety. Here are the 12 steps:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

Who cares to admit complete defeat? Admission of powerlessness is the first step in liberation. Relation of humility to sobriety. Mental obsession plus physical allergy. Why must every aa hit rock bottom?

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

What can we believe in? AA does not demand belief; twelve steps are only suggestions. Importance of an open mind. Variety of ways to faith. Substitution of AA as Higher Power. Plight of the disillusioned. Roadblocks of indifference and prejudice. Lost faith found in AA. Problems of intellectuality and self sufficiency. Negative and positive thinking. Self-righteousness. Defiance is an outstanding characteristic of alcoholics. Step two is a rallying point to sanity. Right relation to God.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Step three is like opening of a locked door. How shall we let God into our lives? Willingness is the key. Dependence as a means to independence. Dangers of self sufficiency. Turning our will over to a higher power. Misuse of willpower. Sustained and personal exertion necessary to conform to Gods will.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

How instincts can exceed their proper function. Step four is an effort to discover our liabilities. Basic problem of extremes in instinctive drives. Misguided moral inventory can result in guilt, grandiosity, or blaming others. Assets can be noted with liabilities. Self-justification is dangerous. Willingness to take inventory brings light and new confidence. Step four is beginning of a lifetime practice. Common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression. Inventory reviews relationships. Importance of thoroughness.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Twelve steps deflate the ego. Step five is difficult but necessary to sobriety and peace of mind. Confession is an ancient discipline. Without fearless admission of defects, few could stay sober. What do we receive from step five? Beginning of true kinship with man and God. Lose sense of isolation, receive forgiveness and give it; learn humility; gain honesty and realism about ourselves. Necessity for complete honesty. Danger of rationalization. How to choose the person in whom we confide. Results are tranquility and consciousness of God. Oneness with God and man prepares us for the following steps.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step six is necessary to spiritual growth. The beginning of a lifetime job. Recognition of difference between striving for objective and perfection. Why we must keep trying. “being ready” is all-important. Necessity of taking action. Delay is dangerous. Rebellion may be fatal. Point at which we abandon limited objectives and move toward Gods will for us.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

What is humility? What can it mean to us? The avenue to true freedom of the human spirit. Necessary aid to survival. Value of ego puncturing. Failure and misery transformed by humility. Strength from weakness. Pain is the admission price to new life. Self-centered fear chief activator of defects. Step seven is change in attitude which permits us to move out of ourselves toward God.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

This and the next steps are concerned with personal relations. Learning to live with others is a fascinating adventure. Obstacles: reluctance to forgive; non-admission of wrongs to others; purposeful forgetting. Necessity of exhaustive survey of the past. Deepening insight results from thoroughness. Kinds of harm done to others. Avoiding extreme judgements. Taking the objective view. Step eight is the beginning of the end of isolation.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

A tranquil mind is the first requisite for good judgement. Good timing is important in making amends. What is courage? Prudence means taking calculated chances. Amends begin when we join AA. Peace of mind cannot be bought at the expense of others. Need for discretion. Readiness to take consequences of our past and to take responsibility for well-being of others is the spirit of step nine.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Can we stay sober and keep emotional balance under all conditions? Self-searching becomes a regular habit. Admit, accept, and patiently correct defects. Emotional hangover. When the past is settled with, present challenges can be met. Varieties of inventory. Anger, resentments, jealousy, envy, self-pity, hurt-pride – all led us to the bottle. Self-restraint is the first objective. Insurance against “big-shot-ism.” Let’s look at credits as well as debits. Examination of motives.

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.

Meditation and prayer, main channels to a higher power. Connection between self examination and meditation and prayer. An unshakeable foundation for life. How shall we meditate? Meditation has no boundaries. An individual adventure. First result is emotional balance. What about prayer? Daily petitions for understanding of Gods will and grace to carry it out. Actual results of prayer are beyond question. Rewards of meditation and prayer.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Joy of living is the theme of the twelfth step. Action its keyword. Giving that asks no reward. Love that has no price tag. What is spiritual awakening? A new state of consciousness and being is received as a free gift. Readiness to receive gift lies in practice of twelve steps. The magnificent reality. Rewards of helping other alcoholics. Kinds of twelfth step work. Problems of twelfth step work. What about the practice of these principles in all of our affairs? Monotony, pain, and calamity turned to good use by practice of steps. Difficulties of practice. “Two-stepping.” Switch to “twelve-stepping” and demonstrations of faith. Growing spiritually is the answer to our problems. Placing spiritual growth first. Domination and overdependence. Putting our lives on give-and-take basis. Dependence upon God necessary to recovery of alcoholics. “Practicing these principles in all our affairs”: Domestic relations in AA. Outlook upon material matters changes. So do feelings about personal importance. Instincts restored to true purpose. Understanding is key to right attitudes, right action is key to good living.

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Promises of aa 

  1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
  2. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
  3. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
  4. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
  5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
  6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
  7. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
  8. Self-seeking will slip away.
  9. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
  10. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
  11. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
  12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not.

They are being fulfilled among us – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.