How It Works
from Chapter 5 of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book of AA

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our
path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not
completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and
women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with
themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they
seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of
grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous
honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too,
who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of
them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what
happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want
what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it -- then you
are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier,
softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our
command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very
start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result
was nil until we let go absolutely.

Remember that we deal with food -- cunning, baffling, powerful!
Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power
-- that One is God. May you find Him now!

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We
asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

1.We admitted we were powerless over food -- that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2.Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us
to sanity.
3.Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
as we understood Him.
4.Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs.
6.Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of
character.
7.Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9.Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to
do so would injure them or others.
10.Continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong,
promptly admitted it.
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 a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried
to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these
principles in all our affairs.

Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it."
Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain
anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints.
The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The
principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual
progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our
personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent
ideas:

a) That we were compulsive overeaters and could not manage our own
lives.
b) That probably no human power could have relieved our compulsion.
c) That God could and would if He were sought.

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Adapted from the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous"
Copyright (c) 1939, 1976, A.A. World Services, Inc.