Secular, Alternative Twelve Steps: The Proactive 12 Steps

This is the 4th edition of the Proactive Twelve Steps. It is an alternative version of the Twelve Steps, in which the steps are described as a mindful, proactive process. Click on link under each step for visual version of step and commentary.

Step 1:

There is a big split between who I want to be, and what I do. I am stuck in what I do.

Original wording (AA): We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 1: Visual | Commentary

Step 2:

To heal the split, I need to face reality mindfully.

Original wording (AA): Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step 2: Visual | Commentary

Step 3:

Pausing is how I do this, moment by moment.

Original wording (AA): Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Step 3: Visual | Commentary

Step 4:

I look at my life systematically, to see patterns in how I have been relating to people and situations.

Original wording (AA): Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 4: Visual | Commentary

Step 5:

I dig deeper into these patterns. I seek to understand the emotional logic that is behind them.

Original wording (AA): Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 5: Visual | Commentary

Step 6:

I see how these patterns have been ways of coping with what feels overwhelming.

Original wording (AA): Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step 6: Visual | Commentary

Step 7:

I learn to accept the sense of vulnerability that comes from facing what feels overwhelming.

Original wording (AA): Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step 7: Visual | Commentary

Step 8:

I explore alternative behaviors, and rehearse them in safe settings.

Original wording (AA): Made a list of all the people we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 8: Visual | Commentary

Step 9:

I practice these new mindful behaviors in real life.

Original wording (AA): Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step 9: Visual | Commentary

Step 10:

I live mindfully, paying attention to the causes and effects of my actions.

Original wording (AA): Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step 10: Visual | Commentary

Step 11:

I stay in touch with a broader sense of who I really am, and a deeper sense of what I really want.

Original wording (AA): 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.

Step 11: Visual | Commentary

Step 12:

A growing sense of wholeness and contentment motivates me to keep at it, and to share this process with others who need it.

Original wording (AA): Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Step 12: Visual | Commentary

Also: Printable PDF of the Proactive 12 Steps

Alternative 12 steps | Online Workbook

See: FAQ about the Proactive 12 Steps

Follow @proactive12step