Twelve Steps to Recovery - The Tenth Step

This article summarizes the Tenth Step of the Twelve Steps to Recovery. Refer to the WUMC website for a summary of steps one through nine. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous lists the tenth step from the original Twelve Steps as, “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” Prayers for the Twelve Steps--A Spiritual Journey is a resource that tells us that in step 10 "We will learn how to sustain what we have accomplished, become more confident, and proceed with joy along our spiritual journey." In other words, real change is possible.

Of course, this change is not going to happen instantaneously but with time, it will happen. When fears, resentments, old habits, and old patterns rear their ugly heads, as they will do, the previous steps have taught us not to give in but to struggle forward. Step 10 reminds us that we will continue to make missteps. We will continue to say and do things we do not want to do. When this happens, we must continue to be willing to change. We cannot fall back into the old habit of thinking we can “fix things” by ourselves. Instead we immediately discuss what happened with our sponsor and make amends if we have done harm. It is not that we will not “screw up” but it is that we will not wallow in our past behaviors. We will seek help and guidance from others and from God. Once we have discussed our actions and admitted our wrongdoing, we direct our focus to helping others. Step 10 is one that is done on a daily basis as we “learn” the habit of self reflection and seeking guidance. The following prayer (Taken from Prayers for the Twelve Steps--A Spiritual Journey, page 26) is a helpful reminder of exactly what step 10 is asking us to do. I pray I may continue: To grow in understanding and effectiveness; To take daily spot check inventories of myself; To correct mistakes when I make them; To take responsibility for my actions'; To be ever aware of my negative and self-defeating attitudes and behaviors; To keep my willfulness in check; To always remember I need your help; To keep love and tolerance of others as my code; and To continue in daily prayer how I can best serve you, my Higher Power.

This summary was written by the Faith Partners group of WUMC. It is part of a continuing series of articles on each of the twelve steps.