Step 1

What makes the 12 Steps so adaptable is that of all the 12 Steps, only Step One mentions the problem the group is formed to deal with. The rest of the eleven steps are spiritual in nature. The first step, the honesty step, states "We admitted that we were powerless over (a specific behavioral symptom), that our lives had become unmanageable." A person who comes to a 12 Step program will place in the parenthesis the addiction that they arrived with. This helps them to see that their lives have been out of control and that on their own they do not have the power or resources to change it. For our purpose we can change the wording of this step to read “We admitted that we were powerless over the events and their components that affect our lives and not accepting them has made our lives unmanageable.” What this tells us is that we are powerless over people, places and things. We can then expand upon this concept and state that we are also powerless over our own thoughts and feelings. The lesson that this step is teaching us is that the only power we have is the power of action. It is this choice to either surrender and walk towards our Higher Power or not surrender and walk away that sets the course and degree of progress along our spiritual path.

 

The reason this step comes first is that it lays the foundation for the remainder of the steps by introducing the idea of surrender. This idea is built upon and utilized in the other steps in order to teach us how to live life on life's terms. This creates the paradoxical concept, popular in 12 Step fellowships, of surrendering to win.

 

Another part of the foundation that is formed by Step One is the implied message that we who are working this step have not yet realized the ultimate end that God's will for us leads to. By honestly admitting that we are powerless and that our lives are less spiritual than they could be, and by admitting that we have no control over the people and events in our own life, we disqualify ourselves from having realized that ultimate conclusion. It is this disqualification that leads to Step Two.

 

STEP ONE   to download or print click here  To download or print click the PDF icon

 

"We admitted that we were powerless over the events and their components that affect our lives and not accepting them has made our lives unmanageable."

 

1. Create two columns. Work this Step by going from a listed item in column one to the feelings and effectiveness in column two. This allows you to connect on a more direct basis with your feelings and evaluation of the behavior that you are listing.

 

2. In the first column list the major things that you can think of that:

        A. You attempt to control.

        B. You attempt to manipulate.

        C. You attempt to change.

        D. That angers you.

        E. That frustrates you.

        F. That you wish would be different.

 

3. In the second column, along side the item from number two, describe how you feel after you have engaged in the conduct listed and how effective was your attempt.