We rarely, if ever, can work through each of the steps just once and claim that we've "done" the steps, never to return again. In every facet of our daily lives, we find ourselves back at one of the steps, learning how they might help us deal with an issue or problem.
Being back at Step One in recovery doesn't mean that we've lost ground, or that our recovery is suffering. It simply means that these steps are dynamic...never static. They are always there for us to use as tools. We should never be ashamed to go back to Step One.
Let's look at the twelve steps in groups.
One way of looking at the steps is to group them into three's. The first three steps talk about "giving up." Steps 4, 5 and 6 deal with "cleaning up." Steps 7, 8 and 9 are about "making up." And Steps 10, 11, and 12 have to do with "keeping up."
Here's another way of looking at the Steps:
Steps 1, 2 and 3 are the acceptance of reality and acceptance of our limitations...that we are powerless over things outside of ourselves: alcohol, the alcoholic...fill in the blank! That our lives have become unmanageable. That a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity, and that we need to turn our will and our lives over to that power. That's the reality of the situation and it is the spiritual foundation of recovery.
Steps 4, 5 and 6 are a commitment to truth and self-honesty. We make a fearless and moral inventory of ourselves. We admit our shortcomings, we are ready to be released from the bondage of these shortcomings. Continuing on our commitment to truth and self-honesty, Steps 7, 8 and 9 show us the way to make amends when our shortcomings have caused us problems, rifts in our relationships with family, friends, co-workers.
And the final steps, 10, 11 and 12, are a commitment to wonder and to service of others. We learn the importance of prayer and meditation: we seek a continually growing spiritual connection to a higher power, and we have a desire to carry the message of spiritual growth to other seekers.
These Steps, taken in any order we need to take them in, are the crux of recovery. They are our blueprint for life when there was no other: none from family who could not show us the way to a full life because their own lives were troubled and confused. None from religious groups that perhaps had fallen short of providing us with a spiritual message.
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