aa Spoken Here Community Group
Fellowship Where you can share your thoughts, feelings, stories and get support to gain and continue sobriety.
"THE ACID TEST"
As we work the first nine Steps, we prepare ourselves for the
adventure of a new life. But when we approach Step Ten we commence
to put our A.A. way of living to practical use, day by day, in
fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we stay sober,
keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all
conditions?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 88
As we work the first nine Steps, we prepare ourselves for the
adventure of a new life. But when we approach Step Ten we commence
to put our A.A. way of living to practical use, day by day, in
fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we stay sober,
keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all
conditions?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 88
The last 3 steps (10-12) are exercises to keep spiritually fit.
"We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition."
Honesty 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol â that our lives had become unmanageable.
Open 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Willing3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Honesty 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Open 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Willing 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Honesty 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Open8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Willing 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Honesty 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Open 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.
Willing 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.
With a good foundation you can build your life any way you want.