The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
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The 12 Steps & 12 Traditions


Copyright AA World Services Inc. © 1952
Reprinted with permission


What are the 'Twelve Steps'?

The "Twelve Steps" are the core of the A.A. program of personal recovery from
alcoholism. They are not abstract theories; they are based on the trial-and-error
experience of early members of A.A. They describe the attitudes and activities that
these early members believe were important in helping them to achieve sobriety.
Acceptance of the "Twelve Steps" is not mandatory in any sense.

Experience suggests, however, that members who make an earnest effort to follow
these Steps and to apply them in daily living seem to get far more out of A.A. than do
those members who seem to regard the Steps casually. It has been said that it is
virtually impossible to follow all the Steps literally, day in and day out. While this may be
true, in the sense that the Twelve Steps represent an approach to living that is totally
new for most alcoholics, many A.A. members feel that the Steps are a practical
necessity if they are to maintain their sobriety.

Here is the text of the Twelve Steps, which first appeared in Alcoholics Anonymous, the
A.A. book of experience:

The 12 Steps

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become
unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our short-comings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to
them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. 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.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this
message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.


What are the 12 Traditions?

The "Twelve Traditions" of A.A. are suggested principles to insure the survival and
growth of the thousands of groups that make up the Fellowship. They are based on
the experience of the groups themselves during the critical early years of the
movement.

The Traditions are important to both oldtimers and newcomers as reminders of the true
foundations of A.A. as a society of men and women whose primary concern is to
maintain their own sobriety and help others to achieve sobriety:


The 12 Traditions

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may
express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do
not govern.

3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A.
as a whole.

5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the alcoholic
who still suffers.

6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related
facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us
from our primary purpose.

7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service
centers may employ special workers.

9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or
committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name
ought never be drawn into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need
always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place
principles before personalities.