Promises of Working the 12 Steps
Step One
It may seem incredible that we are to become happy,
respected and useful once more. How can we rise out
of such misery and hopelessness? The practical answer
is that since these things have happened among us,
then they can happen with you. Should you wish them
above all else, and be willing to make use of our
experience, we are sure they will come (153).
We saw what really worked in others and had come to
believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had
been living it (25). Yes, there is a substitute and it is
vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in EDA and
here you will find friendliness and an understanding
which is indescribably wonderful.
Life will mean something at last (152). We shall be with
you in the Fellowship of the Spirit and you will surely
meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy
Destiny.
There is a solution (25).
Step Two
As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a
Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying
the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a
new sense of power and direction (46). In the face of
collapse and despair, in the face of total failure of our
human resources, we found that a new power, peace,
happiness, and sense of direction flowed into us (50).
Its main objective is to enable us to find a Power
greater than ourselves which will solve our problem
(45). Rarely have we seen someone fail who has
followed our path (58).
Step Three
As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of
mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully,
as we became conscious of our Higher Power’s
presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow,
and the hereafter (63).
More and more we became interested in what we could
contribute to life (63).
Step Four
In meditation we ask our Higher Power what we should
do about each specific matter (69). We ask to have our
fear removed and direct our attention to what we are to
be (68). The right answer will come if we want it and
we begin to outgrow fear (68, 69).
Step Five
We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we
begin to have a spiritual experience. Once we have
taken this step, withholding nothing, our fears fall from
us and we can be alone and at perfect peace and ease
(75).
Street Address
Company Name
Address 2
City, ST ZIP Code
Phone: 325.555.0125
Fax: 325.555.0145
E-mail address
Step Nine
If we are painstaking about this phase of our
development, we will know a new freedom and a
new happiness. We will not regret the past nor
wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend
the word serenity and we will know peace (83).
No matter how far we have fallen, we will see
how our experience can benefit others. That
feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain
interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip
away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life
will change. Fear of people and of economic
insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know
how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that our Higher Power is
doing for us what we could not do for ourselves
(84).
Are these extravagant promises? We think not.
They are being fulfilled among us – sometimes
quickly, sometimes slowly but they will
materialize if we work for them (84).
Step Ten
We have ceased fighting anything or anyone,
even our eating disorder (84). We react sanely
and normally and we will find this has happened
automatically. We are no longer fighting it,
neither are we avoiding temptation. We have
not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has
been removed. It no longer exists for us and we
will see that our new attitude towards bingeing,
purging, and starving has been given to us
without any thought or effort on our part. It just
comes! That is the miracle of it (85).
Step Eleven
The “Lost Chapters”
We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up
energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to
arrange life to suit ourselves. We are then in much less
danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or
foolish decisions (88).
We want to leave you with the feeling that no situation
is too difficult and no unhappiness too great to be
overcome (104). Sometimes you must start life anew.
We know others who have done it, and if we adopt a
spiritual way of life our road will be smoother (114).
What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration
gradually becomes a working part of the mind (87). In
thinking about our day, we may face indecision. We
may not be able to determine which course to take.
Here we ask our Higher Power for inspiration, an
intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it
easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how
the right answers come after we have tried this for a
while (86).
Barriers which have sprung up between you and your
friends will disappear with the growth of sympathetic
understanding. You will no longer be self-conscious or
feel you must apologize as though you were a weak
character. Your new courage, good nature and lack of
self-consciousness will do wonders for you (115). You
will lose the old life to build a better one (120). Joy at
our release from a lifetime of frustration knew no
bounds and giving rather than receiving will become
the guiding principle (128).
Step Twelve
Now we try to put spiritual principles to work in our
lives. When we do that, we find it solves our problems
too; the ensuing lack of fear, worry and hurt feelings is
a wonderful thing (116). We are sure our Higher
Power wants us to be happy, joyous and free. (133)
When we look back we realized that the things which
came to us when we put ourselves in our Higher
Power’s hands were better than anything we could
have planned (100).
Our job now is to be at the place where we may be of
maximum helpfulness to others (102). As practical
experience shows that nothing will so much insure
immunity from our eating disorder as intensive work
with other eating disordered people. It works when
other activities fail (89).
To watch people recover, to see them help others, to
watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up
around us, to have a host of friends this is an
experience you will not want to miss (89).
We have stopped fighting anybody and anything. Life
has taken on new meaning (103, 89).
Promises of
Working the
12 Steps
For more information please visit
our website at:
www.4EDA.org
Material in this brochure is reprinted and adapted from the first 164
pages of AA’s Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd edition, with
permission from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Permission to reprint and adapt this material does not mean that
AA has reviewed or approved this or any other EDA material. AA is
a program for recovery from alcoholism only. Use of AA material in
the program of EDA, which is patterned after that of AA but which
addresses other issues, does not constitute endorsement by or
affiliation with AA.
March 2015