[Step 1] [Step
2] [Step 3] [Step 4] [Step
5] [Step 6]
[Step 7] [Step 8] [Step
9] [Step 10] [Step 11] [Step
12]
- We admitted we were powerless
over our eating disorder - that our lives had become unmanageable. We
finally had to admit that what we were doing wasn’t working.
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- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves
could restore us to sanity. We began to believe that we could get better,
that there was a fundamental healing power.
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- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood God. We decided to trust that
as we let go of rigidity, we would not fall. As we took (and continue to
take) careful risks, our trust grew -- in God, in ourselves, and in others.
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- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory
of ourselves. We looked at why we had gotten stuck, so we would be less
likely to get stuck again. We looked at our fears and why we were afraid,
our lies and why we told them, our shame and guilt and why we had them.
(This step is the searchlight that reveals the blockages in our connection
to God.)
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- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another
human being the exact nature of our wrongs. We "told on ourselves."
This established our authority as responsible people; we began to feel like
we belonged to the human race. (This step is the bulldozer that clears the
blockages in our connection to God.)
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- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these
defects of character. We began to accept ourselves as we really were,
and to take responsibility for our actions. We realized we couldn’t "fix"
ourselves. We had to be patient with effort, not results. We realized the
results were up to God.
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- Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
We asked God to help us accept our imperfect efforts. We began to focus
on what we were doing right. As we did so, the "right" things began to increase.
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- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and
became willing to make amends to them all. We made a list of people
whom we had injured or who we thought had injured us, accepted our part,
and forgave them for their part. Forgiveness brought us peace.
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- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others. After prayer and counsel
with a sponsor, we went to the people we had injured (and fully forgiven)
and admitted our fault and regret. Our statements were simple, sincere and
without blame. We expected nothing in return. Accountability set us free.
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- Continued to take personal inventory and when
we were wrong, promptly admitted it. We listened (and continue to listen)
to our conscience. When troubled, we get honest, make amends and change
our thinking or behavior. We continue to notice what we do right, and we
talk about that, too.
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- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve
our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge
of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out. We listened (and
continue to listen) to our heart. We earnestly seek to understand and do
God’s will, whatever that may be on any given day. We continue to give ourselves
credit for earnest effort, however imperfect.
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- 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. Having learned to trust at last,
we share our experience strength and hope with others, and work to live
at peace with ourselves, with God and with life.
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