Posts by Paul Maner

“Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.” Made a list – only make the list first. we had harmed – those we identified in Step Four willing to make amends – willing to take responsibility for our actions and make things right Step Eight…

“Humbly asked God [Higher Power] to remove our shortcomings.” Humbly asked – meaning we do not feel we are better than other people. our shortcomings – meaning our faults, weaknesses, and character defects. In this step, we recognize the need to overcome our character defects, negative behaviors, and emotional or psychological weaknesses that may have…

Step Six: “We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” entirely ready – The dictionary states ready as: in a suitable state for an activity, action, or situation; fully prepared God remove – This means in “God’s” (or Higher Power’s) time, not our time. defects of character – As defined…

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Admitted to God – the God of our understanding. to ourselves – we need to admit these things to ourselves. and to another human being – a sponsor or accountability partner. exact nature of our wrongs – what we…

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. searching and fearless moral inventory – This may be the first time we have ever really looked at ourselves.  Step Four involves engaging in a thorough and honest self-examination. It is a step of introspection and reflection where we take a deep and fearless inventory of…

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God. Made a decision – The dictionary defines a decision as a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration. Turn our will and lives over – We need to replace self-will with “God’s will.”  God as we…

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Came to believe – The statement means that this is a process and does not have to happen overnight.  Many of us find this as we work the other steps.  We just have to be open at his point. a Power…

We admitted we were powerless over addictive compulsive behavior, that our lives had become unmanageable. Powerless – The dictionary defines powerlessness as the lack of ability, influence, or power.  What that means is that we cannot change by ourselves. We may have tried to stop on our own but came back to our addictive ways.…

I have been working at the Twelve Steps for nearly 20 years.  Why the Twelve Steps, you may ask?  What did it do for you?  Can I get anything out of them? The Twelve Steps changed my life from living a dual life of my addict and the person I showed the world to help…