{"id":16159,"date":"2020-10-10T20:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T00:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=16159"},"modified":"2020-10-21T11:38:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T15:38:40","slug":"aa-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aa-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"AA Themes: Key Principles and Actions in the 12 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are the main AA themes? How do the 12 steps fit into each of the AA themes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 12-step program has 3 major themes. The AA themes are acceptance, amends, and ongoing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the AA themes and principles that support these themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Are the AA Themes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Largely speaking, the steps fall into three themes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Steps 1-5: Acceptance and Soul-Searching\u2014you accept the principles of the program, and you make a complete list of your shortcomings.<\/li><li>Steps 6-9: Righting Past Wrongs\u2014you seek to remove your shortcomings, and you make amends with people you\u2019ve hurt in the past.<\/li><li>Steps 10-12: An Ongoing Process\u2014having overcome your past, you go into the future, seeking to continue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/develop-yourself\/\">improving yourself<\/a> and becoming an agent of good by helping others.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Accept Uncontrollable Cravings<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of alcoholism as an uncontrollable craving for alcohol. This craving is beyond the mental control of alcoholics. As a result, <strong>alcoholics can never safely use alcohol in any form at all<\/strong>. They cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving, and it becomes virtually impossible to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This craving is not a matter of willpower. <strong>Most alcoholics have lost the power of choice in drink.<\/strong> Willpower is basically nonexistent as it relates to alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This craving is hard to understand for people who don\u2019t feel it. Moderate drinkers often think of alcoholics, \u201cthese people are weak. <em>I <\/em>can take or leave alcohol\u2014why can\u2019t he?\u201d Moderate drinkers don\u2019t have this problem of an uncontrollable craving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ongoing Success Requires Absolute Abstinence<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To recover, an alcoholic must be sober for the rest of his life. A single drink can kick off a vicious cycle of drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s tempting for an alcoholic who has been sober for some period of time to believe that he can drink in moderation. This is a delusion. The book cites an alcoholic who had stayed sober for 25 years, and that he might give alcohol another try. Within two months, he was in a hospital, puzzled and humiliated. Within 4 years, he was dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only way to escape the clutches of alcohol is to never drink again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>AA Themes Are Not Religious<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>AA is not a religious organization. It demands <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/believe-in-something-bigger-than-yourself\/\">belief in a higher power<\/a>, but you can choose your own conception of what that means, whether that\u2019s a religious god or not. You need only believe in some power that is greater than yourself, because, as a mere individual, you have no effective mental defense against drinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the main AA themes? How do the 12 steps fit into each of the AA themes? The 12-step program has 3 major themes. The AA themes are acceptance, amends, and ongoing work. Read more about the AA themes and principles that support these themes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,7,43],"tags":[137],"class_list":["post-16159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-lifestyle","category-self-improvement","tag-alcoholics-anonymous-the-big-book","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>AA Themes: Key Principles and Actions in the 12 Steps - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Each step of the 12-step program requires its own work, but there are some common themes. 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