12 Steps
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What are the twelve steps and traditions?
The twelve steps and twelve traditions are the cornerstones of recovery. With the use of the steps and the guidance of the traditions we can find our recovery, one day at a time. The Twelve Traditions are the glue that binds a very “disorganized” organization. As we continue in recovery the wisdom and practical application of the Traditions becomes more apparent.
“When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being.
He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not something to be endured or mastered. In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which he had hitherto denied himself.” ©Alcholics Anonymous
It is that strength which we gain from the 12 and 12. They are here presented in several languages. Take what you like and leave the rest.
These are the 12 Steps and Traditions of SLAA. We reprint them here in several languages. This is English but you may also see the steps in other languages.
| Language | Steps | Traditions |
|---|---|---|
| English | 12 Steps | 12 Traditions |
| ITALIAN | Dodici Passi | Dodici Tradizioni |
| GERMAN | Die 12 Schritte | Die 12 Traditionen |
| SPANISH | Doze Passos | Not yet available |
| SWEEDISH | De Tolv Steg | De Tolv Traditionerna |
| FRENCH | Douze Etapes | Not yet available |
| DUTCH | De Twaalf Stappen | De Twaalf Tradities |
| PORTUGESE | Doze Passos | Doze Tradições |
The Steps in English are published with a copy of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as part of a copyright agreement
| Step | Step text |
|---|---|
| 1 | We admitted we were powerless over sex and love addiction – 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 God. |
| 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 God to remove our shortcomings. |
| 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 whenever 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 a Power greater than ourselves, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out. |
| 12 | Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to sex and love addicts, and to practice these principles in all areas of our lives. |
12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
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 shortcomings. 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 those steps we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. By arrangement with AA their steps are reprinted with SLAA Steps.
* REPRINTED FOR ADAPTATION BY PERMISSION OF A.A. WORLD SERVICES, INC.
12 Traditions
We often talk of the traditions as our relationship between us and the world, as oppossed to the 12 Steps which speak more to the relationship between us and our Higher Power.
| Number | Tradition |
|---|---|
| 1 | Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon S.L.A.A. unity. |
| 2 | For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as this Power may be expressed through our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. |
| 3 | The only requirement for S.L.A.A. membership is the desire to stop living out a pattern of sex and love addiction. Any two or more persons gathered together for mutual aid in recovering from sex and love addiction may call themselves an S.L.A.A. group, provided that as a group they have no other affiliation. |
| 4 | Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or S.L.A.A. as a whole. |
| 5 | Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the sex and love addict who still suffers. |
| 6 | An S.L.A.A. group or S.L.A.A. as a whole ought never to endorse, finance, or lend the S.L.A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose. |
| 7 | Every S.L.A.A. group ought to be fully self – supporting, declining outside contributions. |
| 8 | S.L.A.A. should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers. |
| 9 | S.L.A.A. as such ought never to be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve. |
| 10 | S.L.A.A. has no opinion on outside issues, hence the S.L.A.A. name ought never to 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, TV, film, and other public media. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all fellow S.L.A.A. members. |
| 12 | Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. |