Practicing Principles - Recovered 700

My sponsor taught me that we don't think our way to right action, we act our way to right thinking.

If we habitually do right things, we change because they become second nature. So we need to practice right things. This is where the 12 steps are our guide and teacher.

The 12 Steps of AA ARE the Principles of the Program that we practice. The principles are listed on Big Book pages 59 and 60 in the form of the 12 steps! Over the years many lists of virtues that correspond to each of the Twelve Steps and their underlying spiritual nature have been published. The origins of these lists are unknown, although they are used by many Twelve step members.

So, this is what we are going to talk about tonight, the principles we practice in recovery

Each step we practice includes a recovery principle we need.

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So here they are:
The AA Principles in the steps

In Step 1, the Principle is Honesty
Step 1 We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

In Step 2, the principle is Hope
Step 2 Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Hope: Step 2 is the mirror image or opposite of step 1. In step 1 we admit
that alcohol is our higher power, and that our lives are unmanageable.
In step 2, we find a different Higher Power who we hope will bring
about a return to sanity in management of our lives.)

In Step 3, the principle is Faith
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Commitment: The key word in step 3 is decision.)

In Step 4, the principle is Courage
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Honesty: an inventory of self.)

In Step 5, the principle is Integrity
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Truth: candid confession to God and another human being.)

In Step 6, the principle is Willingness
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Willingness: choosing to abandon defects of character.)

In Step 7, the principle is Humility
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Humility: standing naked before God, with nothing to hide, and asking that our flaws – in His eyes – be removed.)

In Step 8, the principle is Brotherly Love
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Reflection: who have we harmed? Are we ready to amend?)

In Step 9, the principle is Justice
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Amendment: making direct amends/restitution/correction, etc.)

In Step 10, the principle is Perseverance
Continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Vigilance: exercising self-discovery, honesty, abandonment,
humility, reflection and amendment on a momentary, daily, and periodic
basis.)

In Step 11, the principle is Spirituality
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.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Attunement: becoming as one with our Higher Power.)

In Step 12, the principle is Service
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.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Service: awakening into sober usefulness.)

We Have Calls!
Kurt
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_DfqnLYge2I5AfvWt0GY7DC_yi2Wrc-fYSnZu-mTp84IA74fdz28UNvsgS_fjBhsKRgdgd1kjfiWO-uulSaSOVbLbC3Qki1L3QYYTL1eGE1rByTK9znV4GfIqFILlJ73yEwMwlE9nCJr9jjUmSpMJ8FyZShKg

Marty
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_D2ZDN4JwTGNMGUqMolD8e16Ye4clkmEZvtfCV-8EUJdWYP4Zh-ntxUEbnPbocNTkwNWR95bW_UMioL8X8_cTluqQz-DmFo6sRXUP-vryecqQf7uJQ1HhfSzDdragnqA_Xfa9_IU5UDpSx9nIMOsaHBHlwcJQ

Clyde
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_Do6Eb40VgkwC0wgyE5qPFT4ozjWddghxri6LTeHk0mQUx3u1cF6rgSQq90D085J3Juox_Sk_rJeKXvVQBtUK5AwjRG3NzrdJlJYMs_da05L6s3ttiMeaAUpyKStEROHFBLC6FwLBpM81uBn5YrlP_TXuHzrg

 

What would you say to the new guy about this topic?