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A Guide To
The 12 Steps
This
section describes one method for taking the Twelve Steps of Cocaine Anonymous.
To help us
work the Twelve Steps, Cocaine Anonymous uses a text entitled
Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly referred to as "the Big
Book." When studying this text, some of us find it useful to
substitute the word "cocaine" for "alcohol" and
the word "using" for "drinking," although in the
process, some of us discovered that we are alcoholics as well as addicts.
Because
some of our members believe there are ways to take the steps other
than the method described in the Big Book, we suggest that the reader
seek guidance from a sponsor, an experienced C.A. member, or their
Higher Power, to help them decide on the method that is right for them.
This
pamphlet is not a substitute for using the Big Book and a sponsor.
Its purpose is to shed light on the twelve-step program in the Big
Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, as it relates to our addiction.
Taking the
Twelve Steps prepares us to have a "spiritual awakening" or
a "spiritual experience" (page 569 in Alcoholics
Anonymous). These phrases refer to the change in our thinking,
attitudes, and outlook that occurs after taking the steps. This
change frees us from active addiction.
Applying
the steps in our daily lives enables us to establish and improve our
conscious contact with God or our Higher Power. Many in our
fellowship believe that the greatest safeguard in preventing relapse
lies in consistent application of the Twelve Steps.
Newcomers
often ask, "When should I take the steps?" Page 34 of the
Big Book states, "Some of them will be drunk [high] the day
after making their resolutions [not to use again], most of them
within a few weeks." The choice, ultimately, is up to the reader
of this pamphlet, but a full understanding of Step One can often
provide the willingness necessary to take the other eleven steps.
STEP ONE
We admitted we
were powerless over cocaine and all other mind-altering substances-
that our lives had become unmanageable.
Our
powerlessness operates on three levels: (1) A physical allergy to
cocaine, which makes it virtually impossible for us to stop using
once we start; (2) A mental obsession, which makes it impossible to
stay sober permanently on our own (pages 24 and 34); and (3) A
spiritual malady, which separates us from our Higher Power's ability
to get and keep us sober
Many of us
assumed that Step One meant we couldn't get high anymore because we
couldn't handle using at all. In fact, it really means that barring
divine intervention, we are unable to stay away from that first hit,
line, or whatever (pages 24 and 34) and that we will use again and
again, no matter how much we want to stay sober.
The second
part of Step One refers to how we are unable to manage our lives,
even when we are sober. One example of this unmanageability is being
"restless, irritable, and discontented" (page xxvi; other
examples are found in the second paragraph of page 52).
Step One is
the foundation of the entire twelve-step process. Without a full
understanding of what this step means to us personally, we can't
expect to make much progress on the other eleven steps. For more
information, study Dr. Bob's experience on pages xvi and 155. (Dr.
Bob was one of A.A.'s co-founders.)
Two useful
questions for deciding whether we are really addicts are, "Can I
stop permanently if and when I want to?" and, "Can I
control the amount I use once I start?" If the answer is
"No" to either question, we probably are addicts, according
to the Big Book.
STEP TWO
Came to believe
that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
When we
understand Step One and are convinced that we are addicts (page 30),
we are ready for Step Two. Coming to believe in a Higher Power's
ability to restore us to sanity does not require that we believe in
God. All we need is an open mind and a willingness to believe that
there is a power greater than ourselves (pages 46 and 47).
Many of us
come to Cocaine Anonymous without any religious or spiritual
experience, yet are able to make a start towards what the concept of
a Higher Power might mean to us. Some of us use the C.A. group as a
Higher Power until we can develop a concept of our own. Any concept,
no matter how inadequate we believe it to be at the time, is enough
to make a start with Step Two (page 46).
The
insanity referred to in Step Two is the part of our thinking that
allows us to convince ourselves that we can successfully use again.
Once this "mental obsession" takes hold, we are compelled
to use over and over again, regardless of the consequences that we
know will follow. It is this vicious cycle that helps us become
willing to believe that perhaps a power greater than ourselves can
restore us to sanity (page 48). Being convinced of the "three
pertinent ideas" (the A,B,C's on page 60) brings us to Step Three.
STEP THREE
Made a decision
to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
In Step
Three, we make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the
care of our concept of God at the time. The first requirement is
becoming convinced that "any life run on self will could hardly
be a success" (page 60). That text illustrates the meaning of a
life run on self will by describing the behavior of an actor who
wants to run the whole show. Many of us find it useful to substitute
our own names in this passage and to ask ourselves honestly whether
this scenario doesn't sound similar to the way we are running our own
lives (pages 60-62). The text further suggests that this kind of self-centeredness
is "the root of our troubles" (page 62). After we
understand what running our lives based on self-will means and
acknowledge its futility, we are asked to do the "Third Step
Prayer" (or its equivalent) on page 63, before going on to Step Four.
STEP FOUR
Made a
searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
In Step
Four, we examine the wreckage that is accumulating from our attempts
to run the show and the things that have been blocking us from our
Higher Power. By completing and analyzing our inventory (page 70), we
are able to see where our natural instincts for money, sex, power,
and prestige have gone out of control, as we attempt to satisfy them
in selfish and self-centred ways (page 62). The inventory involves
looking at the people we resent (page 64-67), the things we are
afraid of (pages 67-68), and the people we have harmed through our
misconduct. Step Four enables us to discover, own, and begin to be
freed from the "bondage of self" described in the Third
Step Prayer.
STEP FIVE
Admitted to
God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
In Step
Five, we share our fourth-step inventory with the person of our
choice (usually our sponsor) and continue to discover "the exact
nature of our wrongs." By taking this step, we are able to
identify areas where we have allowed our selfishness, our instincts,
and our fears to control us. Sharing our inventory allows another
human being to help us examine problems that we are unable to
understand by ourselves (page 72). After completing Step Five, it is
suggested that we go home and review the first five steps of the
program and our inventory to see whether we need to add any
resentments, fears, or persons we have harmed (page 75). We ask
ourselves whether we have withheld anything in our inventory. Have we
illuminated "every twist of character, every dark cranny of the
past" (page 75)? If so, we are ready for Step Six.
STEP SIX
Were entirely
ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
In
reviewing our "shortcomings," we ask ourselves whether we
find these defects of character undesirable and whether we believe
God can remove them all. If we feel there are defects we're not
willing to let go of, the Big Book suggests that we pray for the
willingness to have them removed (page 76).
STEP SEVEN
Humbly asked
Him to remove our shortcomings.
When Step
Six is complete, we say the Seventh Step Prayer to have our
shortcomings removed by God as we understand God (page 76).
STEP EIGHT
Made a list of
all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
In Step
Eight, we list all the people we have harmed, and we pray for the
willingness to make amends to them all. Most of the amends we need to
make are disclosed in the resentment inventory (page 67) and our
sexual inventory (pages 68-70). We also include anyone else we have
harmed who isn't listed in our fourth-step inventory.
STEP NINE
Made direct
amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
In Step
Nine, we make amends to the people we have harmed. The Big Book gives
us examples for how to go about making these actual amends (pages
76-83). Counsel from one's sponsor, as well as from others who've had
experience applying this step, is also helpful in showing us how to
repair the damage we've caused in the past.
It is through Step
Nine that we're freed from the guilt, fear, shame, and remorse that
results from the harm we've done others. Taking this step helps us
"to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to Cod and the people
about us" (page 77).
STEP TEN
Continued to
take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Having
taken the first eight steps and made a beginning on Step Nine, we
find ourselves at Steps Ten, Eleven, and Twelve. Although the Twelve
Steps are designed to be taken in order, it is suggested that we take
Steps Ten, Eleven, and Twelve on a daily basis, while making our
ninth-step amends.
The last
three steps encompass much of the first nine steps in their structure
and application. Step Ten involves continuing to take personal
inventory and setting right any new wrongs as we go along. The Big
Book teaches us that when our shortcomings "crop up," we
deal with them by using Step Ten (page 84). The main purpose of Step
Ten is to prevent us from being blocked off again from God, whose
power ultimately keeps us sober (page 64).
STEP ELEVEN
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.
There are
many definitions of prayer and meditation, and a detailed discussion
is not practical within the confines of this pamphlet. Some basic
suggestions, on pages 86-88 of the text, outline a daily and nightly
routine we can apply to allow God to monitor and direct our thinking.
STEP TWELVE
Having had a
spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry
this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Having
taken the first eleven steps, we are now at Step Twelve and are ready
to carry the message to other addicts (pages 89 and 103). Every time
we work with another addict we are reminded just how bad it was when
we first came into the program. In the newcomer, we recognize the
same trembling hands, weight loss, and look of desperation and sheer
terror that we had. We hear the unmanageability in terms of
depression, misery, and unhappiness, whether openly expressed or
feebly concealed. We are reminded of our own past troubles with
personal relationships, as we see newcomers struggle with theirs.
Finally, our faith in God's ability to restore us to sanity is
reinforced, as we see God transform the life of a newcomer, right
before our eyes.
In addition
to carrying the message to other addicts, Step Twelve involves
practicing these principles in all areas of our lives. If addicts who
relapse are fortunate enough to return to the program and analyze
what happened, they may find they had stopped practicing these
principles in all their affairs. That they were no longer examining
their motives, reviewing their days, praying, or carrying the message
(pages 15 and 89).
If there
were one watchword to describe how these steps should be practiced,
it would be "continuously," for it is only through God and
constant application of these principles that we can be assured of
the recovery offered by Cocaine Anonymous.
The Twelve
Steps are reprinted and adapted with permission of Alcoholics
Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the
Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous does not mean that A.A. is
affiliated with this program. A.A. is a program of recovery from
alcoholism. Use of the Steps in connection with programs and
activities which are patterned after A.A. but which address other
problems does not imply otherwise.
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Literature. Cocaine Anonymous World Services, Inc. Copyright 2003. |
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