The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous :

click here for printable PDF Version

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 these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.

Click on the Link below for the web page of
the original manuscript of How It Works.
You'll find some of the wording very interesting.

HOW IT WORKS

click here for web page

click here for printable pdf version

Originally I had the entire old version of how it works on this page.
I have put it on a page of its own since it is very long in length
and it made this page you are looking at seem to long!

The Old AA Meeting Preamble

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for printable PDF Version (Adobe Acrobat)

We are gathered here because we are faced with the fact that we are powerless over alcohol and unable to do anything about it without the help of a Power greater than ourselves. We feel that each person's religious views, if any, are his own affair. The simple purpose of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is to show what may be done to enlist the aid of a Power greater than ourselves regardless of what our individual conception of that Power may be.

In order to form a habit of depending upon and referring all we do to that Power, we must at first apply ourselves with some diligence. By often repeating these acts, they become habitual and the help rendered becomes natural to us.

We have all come to know that as alcoholics we are suffering from a serious illness for which medicine has no cure. Our condition may be the result of an allergy which makes us different from other people. It has never been by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently cured. The only relief we have to offer is absolute abstinence, the second meaning of A.A.

There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Each member squares his debt by helping others to recover.

An Alcoholics Anonymous is an alcoholic who through application and adherence to the A.A. program has forsworn the use of any and all alcoholic beverage in any form. The moment he takes so much as one drop of beer, wine, spirits or any other alcoholic beverage he automatically loses all status as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. A.A. is not interested in sobering up drunks who are not sincere in their desire to remain sober for all time. Not being reformers, we offer our experience only to those who want it.

We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree and on which we can join in harmonious action. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our program. Those who do not recover are people who will not or simply cannot give themselves to this simple program. Now you may like this program or you may not, but the fact remains, it works. It is our only chance to recover.

There is a vast amount of fun in the A.A. fellowship. Some people might be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity but just underneath there lies a deadly earnestness and a full realization that we must put first things first and with each of us the first thing is our alcoholic problem. To drink is to die. Faith must work twenty-four hours a day in and through us or we perish.

In order to set our tone for this meeting I ask that we bow our heads in a few moments of silent prayer and meditation.

I wish to remind you that whatever is said at this meeting expresses our own individual opinion as of today and as of up to this moment. We do not speak for A.A. as a whole and you are free to agree or disagree as you see fit, in fact, it is suggested that you pay no attention to anything which might not be reconciled with what is in the A.A. Big Book.

If you don't have a Big Book, it's time you bought you one. Read it, study it, live with it, loan it, scatter it, and then learn from it what it means to be an A.A.

THE STEPS OF A.A. - AN INTERPRETATION
Written by Clarence H. Snyder, January 1972

Click here This is now on its own web page

Written by Clarence H. Snyder, January 1972
Click here for a printable version
adobe acrobat PDF File

This is from Mitchell Ks Book on Clarence Snyder

The Twelve Steps in Reverse (From the AA Grapevine)
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The Twelve Steps in Reverse

1. I declare my complete control over alcohol and everything else; and further declare that my life was in perfect order
2. I recognized no power as great as I was; nor any person as smart as I was, and if you don�t like it come outside
3. I made a decision to run my life and everyone else�s to suit only me and pity those who got into my life.
4. I made a searching and through inventory of my fellow man and found him to be woefully lacking in all respects; nor did I ever hesitate to tell him so.
5. I admitted to no one, including, God and Myself, that there could possibly be anything wrong with my actions or me.
6. I bent every effort toward increasing my defects of character�and did a little drinking besides.
7. I continued my obnoxious arrogant air of asking no one for anything�my Big Eye was for telling, not asking.
8. I kept a complete list of all persons who had harmed me, either real or imaginary, and swore to get even and did a little drinking besides.
9. I got even where possible, except when to do so might injure me.
10. I continued to bitch about everything to everyone and, when I was right, was prompt to admit it and had a little drink.
11. I sought through scheming and conniving to materially improve myself-at the expense of my fellow man. Nor did I ever hesitate, when the opportunity presented itself, to bring disaster and misery to anyone who happened to cross my path.
12. Having had a complete moral, physical, financial and spiritual breakdown, all of my remaining effort was directed toward dragging those near me and dear to me down to these same depths of despair; And I did a little drinking too.

I received this list of AA Acronyms from Bernie R., I don't know where he got them from.

Click here to print your own copy of this list. or save pdf copy to your own hard drive. Adobe Acrobat Pdf file

AA = Absolute Abstinence
AA = Adventurers Anonymous
AA = Altered Attitudes
AA = Altruistic action
AA = Attitude Adjustment
ABC = Acceptance, Belief, Change
ABC = Ashtrays, Broom, Coffee
ABC = Ashtrays, Broom, Chairs
ACTION = Any Change Toward Improving One's Nature
ALCOHOLICS = A Life Centered On Helping Others Live In Complete Sobriety
ANONYMOUS = Actions Not Our Names Yield Maintenance Of Unity and Service
ASK = Ass-Saving Kit
BAR = Beware Alcohol, Run
BAR = Beware Alcoholic Ruin
BIG BOOK = Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge
DEAD = Drinking Ends All Dreams
DENIAL = Don't Even Notice I Am Lying
DETACH = Don't Even Think About Changing Him/Her
DUES = Desperately Using Everything but Sobriety
EGO = Easing God Out
EGO = Edging God Out
FAILURE = Fearful, Arrogant, Insecure, Lonely, Uncertain, Resentful, Empty
FAITH = Fear Ain't In This House
FEAR = Few Ever Arrive Rejoicing
FEAR = Failure Expected And Received
FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
FEAR = False Expectations Appearing Real
FEAR = Fear Expressed Allows Relief
FEAR = Feelings Every Alcoholic Rejects
FEAR = Fighting Ego Against Reality
FEAR = Forget Everything and Run (polite version)
FEAR = Fuck Everything and Run! (not recommended--it's what we used to do)
FEAR = Face Everything and Recover! (definitely recommended)
FEAR = Forgetting Everything's All Right (not really!)
FEAR = Frantic Effort to Appear Real
FEAR = Frantic Efforts to Appear Recovered
FINE = Faithful, Involved, knowledgeable and Experienced
FINE = Feeling Insecure, Numb and Empty
FINE = Frantic, Insane, Nuts and Egotistical
FINE = Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
FINE = Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
FINE = F--cked, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
GAYS = Go Ask Your Sponsor
GIFT = God Is Forever There
GOD = Good Orderly Direction
GOD = Group of Drunks
GOYA = Get Off Your Ass
GUT = God's Undeniable Truths
HALT = Honestly, Actively, Lovingly Tolerant
HALT = Hope, Acceptance, Love and Tolerance
HALT = Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired: Fix these situations before you make any decisions.
HALT = Horny, Arrogant, Lazy and Tragic: if you're any one of these, get to a meeting!
HALTS = Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired and Stupid
HALTS FEAR = Hope, Acceptance, Love and Tolerance Stops Forgetting that Everything's All Right
HELP = His Ever Loving Presence
HELP = Her Ever Loving Presence
HELP = Hope, Encouragement, Love and Patience
HOPE = Happy Our Program Exists
HOPE = Hearing Other Peoples' Experience
HOPE = Hang On! Peace Exists...
HOW = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness: that's how we do it
HOW = Honest, Open-minded and Willing
ISM = I, Self, Me
ISM = Incredibly Short Memory
ISM = Inside Me
ISM = I Sabotage Myself
KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid
KISS = Keep It Simple, Sugar
KISS = Keep It Simple, Sweetheart
KISS = Keeping It Simple, Spiritually
MMM = Meetings, Meditation and Masturbation (recommended for the first year)
NUTS = Not Using The Steps
OUR = Openly Using Recovery
PACE = Positive Attitudes Change Everything
PAID = Pitiful And Incomprehensible Demoralization
PMS = Poor Me Syndrome
PMS = Pour More Scotch
PROGRAM = People Relying on God Relaying a Message
RELATIONSHIP = Real Exciting Love Affair Turns Into Outrageous Nightmare, Sobriety Hangs In Peril
RID = Restless, Irritable and Discontented
SLIP = Sobriety Loses Its Priority
SOB = Sober Old Bag
SOB = Sober Old Bastard
SOB = Sober Old Biker
SOB = Sober Old Bitch
SOBER = Son Of A Bitch, Everything's Real
SPONSOR = Sober Person Offering Newcomers Suggestions On Recovery
STEPS = Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety
STEPS = Solutions To Every Problem, Sober
STOP = Sicker Than Other People
TIME = Things I Must Earn
WILLING = When I Live Life, I Need God
YET = You're Eligible Too