Steps adapted from The Twelve Steps for Everyone who really wants them….
These principles are not new. We neither discovered nor invented them. The same principles in different words are found in the Vedic Scriptures of Hinduism, in the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, in the philosophy of the Tao and in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Most of us have known them for a long time, but have given up on or rejected living by them. Others have convinced themselves that they are living by them, and that everything would be all right if everyone else would just do the same. Still others who have come in contact with these principles have rejected them as too demanding or simply unnecessary. A small number of us have never been consciously aware of these basic principles and has yet to discover them.
Whether we are aware of them or not, these principles guide our lives whenever we unconsciously let them, or when ever our self-will becomes insufficient to cope with our lives unaided. During the past few years, a number of searching and hurting people have been rediscovering these fundamental principles through 12-steps programs. The spiritual program of these steps is based on developing our faith, and eventually trusting, in a Creator or Higher Power. The program has members of all religious faiths who find no incompatibility between program principles and their religion. Many report that the program has lead them back to their churches which they had stopped attending at some point in their lives. Many program members do not practice any organized religion but find their spiritual lives developing through practice of the program itself. All are welcome regardless of faith or the lack of faith. Neither agnostics nor atheists have anything to fear, they will not be required to change their beliefs.
Here are the suggested steps:
1. I need to become increasingly open with at least one other person, but preferably more, about all my emotions and emotional patterns as I discover them.
2. I am on a journey to know and share my uniqueness with the world by engaging in an ongoing search toward my spiritual center and allowing my Creator to free the person I am meant to be.
3. When I flow with our Creator, my life becomes beautiful and serene. The choice is entirely mine. I freely forgive all others and myself for the wrongs done or imagined toward me.
4. When I discover that I have wrong, I need to learn to admit it as soon as possible regardless of who else might be wrong too, because that is not for me to judge.
5. I need to realize that I cannot change as fast as my brain thinks I should, but that I can and do change at a rate determined by my own internal rhythm and no one else’s –so long as I am willing to continue searching.
6. I need to realize my brain is only a small part of me, which can neither predict the future nor plan my life to my best advantage. Only my Creator can do that, so I need to come ever closer to the Creator.
7. I need to work with others who ask for my help because only by helping them can I help myself. Only by freely giving away what I discover and receive, can I keep it and use it in all of my life.
8. As this process slowly progresses at my own inner pace, I come to experience increasing inner peace, love and joy, regardless of my external circumstances, which seem to improve continually.