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.
Spiritual Awakening
A spiritual awakening means we are changed. We no longer crave alcohol. We are of use to humans and our community. We live a better life. Our character defects no longer define us. We rely on a higher power for every life decision. By working the 12 steps of AA, we have experienced a life-changing event: we live life on life’s terms.
Everyday life is full of regular events with our family and workplace. We are available to our families, show up, and have a whole new set of skills for living life.
Remember the 9th step promises:
We will know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of usefulness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations that used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do ourselves.
The recovery process of working the steps clears things that block us from our Higher Power and enables us to have a spiritual awakening.
Those living sober are not only carrying the message of Alcoholics Anonymous. We live the message of Alcoholics Anonymous. We live a life of joy that attracts others to the program. We’re always happy to share our message: The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Working With Others
The twelfth step of Alcoholics Anonymous is based on carrying the message to other suffering alcoholics after experiencing a spiritual awakening. Step 12 can only be accomplished once we have worked steps 1 – 11 with a sponsor or recovering group of alcoholics.
Bill W. describes in the AA Big Book on page 93 how he would work with other alcoholics in great detail. He says to tell them exactly what happened and to stress the spiritual aspect freely. They do not need to agree with your definition of a Higher Power. The main thing is that they are willing to believe in a power greater than themselves and live by spiritual principles. The 12-step worksheet will help define a message you can share with newcomers when you talk and tell them about your experience.
As a recovering alcoholic, we are the only people who truly understand what it is like to be an alcoholic. We can help when no one else can. Life takes on new meaning. We now have a purpose in life. We get to watch people recover and grow and begin to carry the message to newcomers. You will make new lifelong friends, and your life will be full.
Download the Step 12 Worksheet
You Have A Sense of Purpose
As a result of these steps, we are to carry this message to other alcoholics. Ok, so how do we do that? We let go of our desire to control others and let our Higher Power take control.
One way is to attend newcomer AA meetings. In these meetings, newcomers attend their first 12-step program meeting. You can talk to them before and after the meeting, offer them your phone number, get their phone number, and tell them a little about your personal experience. It’s always a good idea to ask the person if they want to talk first. Only some people are ready to have the conversation. If you approach a person not ready to discuss their disease, they may not return to A.A. Use discretion when approaching newcomers.
Other places to find alcoholics are at your doctor’s offices. At your next check-up, tell your doctor you’re in recovery in AA and ask if they have any patients with a drinking problem. Let them know they can give your phone number to anyone with a substance use disorder. Churches and hospitals are also good places to find alcoholics. The leadership will be able to meet with you and guide you to find alcoholics to help. And remember, after talking with a newcomer, even if this person does not stay sober, you are sober.
Serenity Prayer
Saying a prayer before speaking with a newcomer or someone amid their disease can help give you the strength to find words of wisdom to share your own story and relate to their situation. The serenity prayer works in almost every situation for the twelfth step:
God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the Courage to change the things we can, And the wisdom to know the difference.
We want to help, but we cannot change others. Help us know who we can help and who we cannot help. This prayer guides us in our efforts to carry the message to alcoholics.
Twelfth Step Promises
Each step has promises. The twelfth step promises come from the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book: “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics.” (page 89) and “When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.” (page 100).
The Step 12 Worksheet
Step worksheets are available for each step here. The following questions for the twelfth-step worksheet are also provided in a PDF format to download. Worksheets for all the steps can be found on the worksheet page.
The real work of the 12th step is carrying the message to alcoholics. But to do that, the following exercises help to strengthen your message when you speak to the alcoholic.
Carry the Message to Alcoholics
1. Think about what carrying the message means to you. We have many opportunities to carry the message at meetings and beyond AA. We carry the message of recovery with us wherever we go.
2. How can you carry the message in a way that relates to other alcoholics?
3. Name three experiences you can share with someone new in recovery.
Experience 1:
Experience 2:
Experience 3:
4. When did you sponsor someone and how was that experience?
5. If you haven’t sponsored anyone, are you willing to sponsor in the future?
Practicing the Principles in All Our Affairs
1. What principles of the program have you learned in your recovery journey? (Name 3)
2. How do you practice these principles each day?
3. How do these principles lead you on a better path in your life outside of recovery?
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- 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.
- 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.