The Steps and Healing

As I embark on my expanding holistic healing, mind, body, and spirit-centered practice and while I’m getting my Master’s Degree, I’m creating summaries of some of the most profound literature that has contributed to my healing and transformation practice.

Please enjoy a few of the highlights I’d like to surface for anyone interested in further understanding this space. Below are insights into The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, formally titled “Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism,” serves as a foundational text for the AA fellowship designed to help individuals overcome alcoholism.

Central to its message on healing and transformation are several key elements:

Acknowledgment of Powerlessness

• The Big Book begins with the essential admission that alcoholics are powerless over alcohol and that their lives have become unmanageable. This acknowledgment is the foundation of the recovery process and is crucial for transformation.

Belief in a Higher Power

• The text emphasizes the importance of believing in a power greater than oneself. Alcoholics are encouraged to turn their will and their lives over to the care of this Higher Power as understood individually by each person.

Moral Inventory and Admission of Wrongs

• The book outlines a step-by-step process involving a searching and fearless moral inventory of oneself, admitting the nature of one’s wrongs openly, and being willing to have these defects of character removed. This step is about confronting oneself and initiating deep internal change.

Amends for Past Harms

• Recovery also involves making direct amends to those harmed wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. This step aims to mend the relational damage caused by alcoholism and is crucial for personal healing and restoration of social bonds.

Spiritual Awakening

• Through diligent practice of the principles laid out in the steps, individuals often experience a spiritual awakening, described as a profound alteration in their reaction to life. This change is what enables sustained sobriety and can lead to a new perspective on life and relationships.

Service to Others

• The Big Book encourages those who have recovered to carry the message to other alcoholics and practice the principles in all their affairs. Service forms a core component of ongoing healing, helping to reinforce the lessons learned and strengthen one’s recovery.

Through these processes, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous presents a pathway not just for stopping drinking, but for achieving personal growth, self-understanding, and transformation, leading to a renewed and fulfilling life free from alcohol dependency.