Write on any one or more of the following 12-Step questions for 20 minutes or more and then read aloud what you have written to the group or to another individual. Blank = any thing, person, place, habit, addiction, illness, thought, emotion, or defect of character in your life that is causing you problems. For more information, call 310-428-0904 or e-mail info@12stepsforeverybody.org.
(The 12 Steps are adapted and reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. The questions are reprinted with permission of The 12 Steps for Everybody, Inc.)
Step 1: "We admitted we were powerless over whatever – that our lives had become unmanageable." Do you realize that you are powerless over blank and that your life has become unmanageable?
a) List all of the ways that you have attempted, and failed, to control blank.
b) List all of the ways in which your life has become unmanageable, due to blank.
c) Describe how your life would be, if you did not have blank.
Step 2: "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Have you come to believe that a Power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity and take away your blank?
a) Discuss what makes you believe that your Higher Power can take away blank.
b) Discuss any reservations that you have, regarding your Higher Power's ability to take away blank.
c) Discuss the attributes and characteristics of your Higher Power.
Step 3: "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood God." Have you made the decision, on a daily basis, to turn your will, your life, and blank over to the care of God, as you understand God?
a) Discuss what you do on a daily basis to turn your will, your life, and blank over to the care of God, as you understand God.
b) Discuss what you do not do, but should be doing, on a daily basis to turn your will, your life, and blank over to the care of God.
c) Discuss examples of incidents in which you have turned your will, your life, and other things over to the care of God, and it has benefited you.
Step 4: "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Have you made a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself regarding blank?
a) List your resentments, including who or what you resent, why you resent them or it, how it affects you and your life, your prayer that God gives you tolerance, pity, and patience toward the person or thing, your prayer that God removes your anger toward the person or thing, and your part, or mistake, regarding your resentment toward the person or thing.
b) List all of your fears, including who or what you fear, how it affects you and your life, and your prayer that God removes your fear and directs you as to what God would have you be.
c) List any selfish or hurtful sexual and romantic behavior you have done in the past, including how it has affected you and others, and your prayer that God removes your harmful sexual and romantic behavior in the future and directs you as to what God would have you be regarding your sexual and romantic behavior.
Step 5: "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Have you admitted to God, to yourself, and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongs (defects of character, shortcomings)?
a) Make a list of the exact nature of your wrongs (defects of character, shortcomings).
b) List what actions you plan to take regarding these wrongs (defects of character, shortcomings).
c) List how you would like to behave in the future regarding your wrongs (defects of character, shortcomings).
Step 6: "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character." Are you entirely ready to have God remove all of your defects of character?
a) Make a list of all your defects of character that you are entirely ready to have removed.
b) Make a list of all your defects of character that you are not entirely ready to have removed.
c) Describe the reasons why you want to hold onto the defects of character in Column 6b.
Step 7: "Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings." Have you humbly asked God to remove your shortcomings?
a) Write out a prayer for each shortcoming that you are entirely ready to have removed, humbly asking God to remove it.
b) Write out a prayer for each shortcoming that you are not entirely ready to have removed, humbly asking God to make you ready to have it removed.
c) Describe how you would be without the shortcomings that you have prayed to have removed in Column 7b.
Step 8: "Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all." Have you made a list of all persons you have harmed and become willing to make amends to them all?
a) Make a list of all persons you have harmed and to whom you are now willing to make amends.
b) Make a list of all persons you have harmed and to whom you are not yet willing to make amends.
c) Discuss why you are not yet ready to make amends to those persons you listed in Column 8b.
Step 9: "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others." Have you made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others?
a) Using old records, telephone books, people you know how to contact, and the Internet, tell how you plan too seek out the persons listed in Step 8a above and make direct amends to them wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
b) Write out and recite a prayer to God to make you willing to make direct amends to each person listed in Step 8b above, except when to do so would injure them or others.
c) Describe how it makes you feel to be unwilling to make amends to each person listed in Column 9b.
Step 10: "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." Have you continued to take personal inventory regarding the practice of your defects of character, and when you are wrong promptly admitted it?
a) Discuss all of the incidents and situations during the past week, when you have practiced your defect(s) of character.
b) Discuss all of the incidents and situations during the past week, when you have promptly admitted you were wrong when you practiced your defect(s) of character.
c) Discuss how you would like to act and behave in future incidents and situations without practicing those defects of character.
Step 11: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out." Have you sought through prayer and meditation to improve your conscious contact with God, as you understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for you and the power to carry that out?
a) List all of the incidents and situations during the past week, when you have sought (or should have sought) through prayer and meditation to improve your conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for you and the power to carry that out.
b) Describe the various forms of prayer and meditation you have used in certain incidents and situations during the past week.
c) Describe any positive results you have had through prayer and meditation during the past week.
Step 12: "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Have you had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, and are you trying to carry this message to all those who wish to work the 12 Steps on anything, and to practice these principles in all your affairs?
a) Describe any thoughts or feelings you have had regarding a spiritual awakening you have experienced, as the result of these steps.
b) Describe the ways in which you have tried to carry this message to all those who wish to work the 12 Steps on anything.
c) Discuss what these "spiritual principles" are and how you practice them in all your affairs.
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