Spiritual principles abound in Step 8. Forgiveness, honesty, courage, will, responsibility, humility and compassion are some of the important points. In step 4, you made a catalog of your past, and in step 6, you admitted them and freed yourself from guilt and shame. Step 7 is to be willing to be freed from your past.
In step 8, you ask God, or another higher power, for forgiveness. Love is empathy and compassion, and step 8 asks you to make a list of all the people you've hurt on your journey to where you are now. You also have to be willing to make peace, which shows that you really care about the people on your list. Practicing your sobriety with the principle of love means that you not only exist for yourself, but that you are at the service of the people you care about.
Whether you're following the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Al-Anon, or any other program, step 8 can be humiliating, but it can also lead to growth. The eighth step is to make peace with others who may have been harmed by alcohol or drug use. This step is an opportunity to grow and improve your relationships with your friends and loved ones, which will only help you move forward in your recovery. The spiritual principles of recovery are a guide to fulfillment and strength in recovery that correspond to the original 12 steps of 12-step recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Gambler's Anonymous, etc..
These principles are presented as a path for those who seek to achieve spiritual growth and personal improvement while navigating addiction recovery. Recovering from addiction in a 12-step recovery program requires honesty, an open mind, and a will. The spiritual principles of recovery are guiding principles that heal us from the inside out, and they teach us the importance of things like patience and gratitude. People in recovery can practice these principles with ease, as they often need to remember that their purpose as addicts and alcoholics is not just to stay away from drugs and alcohol, but to improve themselves.
Using the 12 spiritual principles of recovery and following the 12 steps and guidance of other alcoholics or addicts who have succeeded in establishing and maintaining a sober lifestyle is the path to recovery. Several times throughout the day, things may not go as planned. Practice acceptance when you've just missed the bus to work or when you run out of coffee in the office. Acceptance is by far one of the most useful principles to practice.
Practicing faith can be like praying, meditating, talking to your higher power, and so on. To place hope in a power greater than yourself is faith. Be courageous in defending what you believe in today, whether you set a limit or tell your boss an idea you have. Practicing courage can be scary, but it's also rewarding.
Instead of honking the horn in the car in front of you, take a deep and deep breath and exhale. Instead of arguing about whether you're right (even when you know you're wrong), practice humility by apologizing for your mistakes. It may feel like a defeat, but then you'll feel good about yourself and the way you treat others. In addition, all of our treatment options at Royal Life Centers encourage living your life guided by the spiritual principles of recovery.
In fact, our intensive therapy is combined with an introduction to the 12-step recovery model to help you on your path to spiritual growth and overall well-being during recovery. Many other principles also apply to Step Eight, such as forgiveness, calm, brotherhood, honesty, thoroughness, responsibility, humility, acceptance, tolerance, and objectivity. We don't even think about making peace, but instead focus on exactly what the Eighth Step says, which is to make a list and be willing. AA, of course, focuses heavily on the principles of Christianity, but many of today's groups have modernized the principles to reflect a more diverse audience.
Reaching the eighth step of AA means that you've spent a lot of time working on yourself, reflecting inwardly on your character's flaws, admitting them aloud, and finally, you've ceded control to your higher power to eliminate them. With AA, not everyone has the ability to understand what it means to consider all the steps after completing them. Therefore, as we practice these spiritual principles, we transition to the best versions of ourselves as a result. As they move through the 12 steps, people should apply each principle and take time to reflect on the meaning of the practice and how it can improve their life in recovery.
Living by the principle of service means that it is your responsibility to help others as they helped you when you first started working on the 12 steps. . .