12 Steps

They say that by working on ourselves and letting go of the focus of others, we can live happier and healthier lives. This is all done one day at a time. I am posting the “12 Steps” as I learned them through a difficult time in my life. Most people know these steps in connection to alcoholism, however these principles can work to heal almost anything – they have that broad an effect and appeal.

(1) I admit I am powerless over others – that my life have become unmanageable;  (2) I believe that a power greater than myself can restore me to wholeness;  (3) I have made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand God;  (4) I have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself;  (5) I have admitted to God, to myself and another human being the exact nature of my failings;  (6) I am entirely ready to have God remove my defects of character;  (7) I have humbly asked God to remove my shortcoming.  (8) I have made a list of the people I have harmed and have become willing to make amends with them;  (9) I have made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others;  (10) I continue to take personal inventory and when I am wrong, promptly admit it;  (11) Through prayer and meditation, I have sought to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand God, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out;  (12) Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, I have tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all my affairs.

SERENITY PRAYER:  God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.