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The EQI 12 Step Program

An Alternative to the Traditional 12 Step Recovery Programs

The EQI 12 Step Program - An Alternative

The Traditional 12 Steps
1. We became aware that the emotional dysfunction in our childhood families damaged us greatly -- to the extent that our lives had become unmanageable. 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to see a need for changes in our lives, and to believe that we had the power and resources needed to make these changes. 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Decided to take responsibility for improving our emotional health and happiness. 3. Made a decision to turn our lives over to "God" as we understand him.
4. Made a thorough & realistic assessment of our lives, including our feelings and beliefs about ourselves; about our past actions; about others; about our families; about our cultures; religious organizations and countries, and about life itself.

Began to use a standard of healthy or unheathly, rather than right/wrong, good/bad make this assessment.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Acknowledged painful memories, feelings and actions to ourselves and shared them with another person. 5. Admitted to "God," to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Felt ready to improve ourselves, to decrease the pain in our lives and to increase our happiness. 6. Were entirely ready to have "God" remove all of these defects of character.
7. Began working on ourselves. Began asking people we trust for honest feedback about us and began to listen, even when we felt hurt, scared or insecure and defensive by what they said. 7. Humbly asked him to remove my shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons who had harmed us and who we had harmed and became willing to directly express our true feelings to such people in both cases. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to people wherever possible and practical. Asked how we could make restitution; what would help them feel better. Apologized and asked for forgiveness. Forgave ourselves when we had done all we could, yet were not forgiven. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
10. Continued to identify and express our true feelings and unmet needs, and to become more emotionally honest, including promptly admiting our mistakes and asking others how they felt regarding our actions. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought healthier ways to manage our negative feelings and thoughts, and worked to strengthen our belief that we each can make a unique contribution to evolution and survival of the human species. 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 an emotional awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to share our experience with others, and to practice high emotional enlightenment in all our affairs. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

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