The Twelve Laws of Life Recovery Wisdom for Your Journey Stephen
1. We admitted we were powerless over our problems and that our lives
had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore
us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of
God.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the
exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of
character.
7. We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to
make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except
when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong,
promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious
contact with God, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and
the power to carry it out.
12. 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.
The Twelve Steps used in The Twelve Laws of Life Recovery have been adapted with permission from the Twelve
Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Introduction
DOES IT SEEM IRONIC that a book about twelve laws could provide you with
more freedom than you have ever experienced? Does it seem
counterintuitive that twelve requirements could guide you toward twelve
outcomes that will fill every day of your life with love, gratitude, and
serenity? Well, that’s exactly what this book is about: finding a level of
freedom that will give you a deeper and richer engagement with life and
with recovery.
When we use the word laws, we’re not referring to legislative action
that is legally binding or to moral imperatives that constrain human
behavior. The laws we have in mind are cause-and-effect relationships that
have been proven over and over again. These laws are woven into the fabric
of Creation and reflect the character of God. (Even if you don’t associate
your higher power with a personal God, the God of the Bible, we believe
you will see that the principles in this book are tried and true, and we trust
you’ll find them helpful and useful.)
Each law has a requirement, and each law produces a reliable outcome.
If you achieve the requirement, you will experience the result—a
predictable, positive result that will make your life better, draw you closer
to God, and connect you more deeply to other people. These laws provide
freedom where there was bondage and direction where there was confusion.
Dave and I have studied these laws since 1982, and we have observed
the positive results in the lives of people we have helped. We have also
found them predictable and reliable in our own recoveries over many years.
If you will incorporate the study of these twelve laws into your Twelve Step
life recovery program, we believe it will enrich your life—perhaps in ways
you never thought possible.
