# data[].attributes.body
The home of the Awakening Program is the "We Recover Together" meetings.

You can email us here: werecovertogetherinslaa@gmail.com

We began in 2020 with a meeting each day, in 2025 we had twelve meetings a week, and as of April 2026 we have seventeen meetings each week.

Some of our meetings are now face to face and online hybrid meetings.

Our meetings are run from the UK, Australia, Europe and East Coast USA.

To find a meeting, and a Sponsor, in your timezone please email the phrase WRTPass to: werecovertogetherinslaa@gmail.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Sponsor's Guide to SLAA Awakening DRaft v2.5 B&W

# data[].attributes.headline
How can I find a meeting or a slaa awakening sponsor?

# data[].attributes.subject
How can I find a meeting or a slaa awakening sponsor?

# data[].attributes.body
I'm grateful to be alive today 🙏

# data[].attributes.body
The program that has been put together is simple, clear but not easy. It has taken much hard work but the rewards are life changeing.
Thankyou.

# data[].attributes.body
Designed to be:

As short as possible, a quick read manual for any part of the Awakening.

Cover all major important aspects of Awakening Sponsorship.

A guide that anyone can use even if they have not sponsored before.

A co-sponsorship and group sponsorship resource.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Sponsor's Guide to SLAA Awakening DRaft v2.5

# data[].attributes.headline
As soon as possible after the Step Three Ceremony: (1) Go through the Step 12 Readings and (2) Write your answers to the questions. 

# data[].attributes.subject
As soon as possible after the Step Three Ceremony: (1) Go through the Step 12 Readings and (2) Write your answers to the questions. 

# data[].attributes.body
Hi,
I'm M. I'm working on translating the Daily Awakening Routine for me local people. We have a misunderstanding about the first "Just for today" card. It says "appal" which means horrify, shock. Wasn't this supposed to be "appeal" like something good for my recovery? Thank you for the program.
I'm waiting for you to comfirm.
Have a good day,
M

# data[].attributes.body
I am grateful for sobriety!

# data[].attributes.body
You are also welcome to do the 2-minute stepping up share after:

Step 5

Step 8

Step 9

Step 11

# data[].attributes.body
After

Step Five

You should book in for a 20-minute share at your home group. This is a great time for you to share your rapid and early progress, the gifts of recovery which you have so fair gained. A newcomer is often far more receptive to hearing someone with a few months sobriety.

# data[].attributes.body
I love my new way of life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#002 - Radical Positivity Step 12 Workshop Structure & Questions V3.0

# data[].attributes.body
Carl Jung again (who had some important input into the formation of the 12 steps in AA).

His system of individuation is one centred around coming out of denial about who we are, and integrating our shadow selves.

Here is a good thumbnail article about some of the work that can involve.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Key points

Acknowledge the limitations that have been placed on you in your childhood.

Immerse yourself in a multitude of experiences.

Practice everyday mindfulness.

Seek counseling.

Who am I? Who am I really?

It's the question we often ask ourselves and usually find difficult to answer with full and authentic honesty. Instead, we may opt to conform: to do what we think is right and be the kind of person we believe will be most accepted by our peers. Such behavior is deeply rooted in us, reflecting the biology of our primal ancestors. As a result, when someone tells you to disregard what others think and "just be yourself," you are, in a way, working against an internal need to be liked and accepted by others.

Carl Jung wrote extensively about the process of individuation, which, in short, is the layered process of finding your true, authentic self. Individuation occurs when you recognize and acknowledge your persona (the personality that you present to the world) and integrate it with the contents of your unconscious mind, including your shadow (the disowned and hidden part of you that exists in the background of your everyday life). By connecting to your inner voice -your authentic self-you become conscious and aware of your true vocation. This is the journey toward the person you are meant to be, your journey to wholeness.

But how do we get there? How can we work toward individuation so that we may live the lives we are destined to live and be the people we are meant to be?

As adults, we have a more challenging road toward individuation than children, since we have spent decades layering on defenses; however much they may work, they keep us stuck in our persona masks as we push away from the unconscious. However, at some point, the unconscious will bleed through and cross the boundary into consciousness-moments when you may have that accidental loss of temper or that unaccountable misbehavior. Only through the process of taking back your disowned and projected shadow material do you have an opportunity for self-actualization.

By following these simple tasks, you can listen tand hear your authentic voice and begin the process of individuation.
Acknowledge the limitations that have been placed on you in your childhood.
Moving forward often requires looking back. Did you really enjoy those years of dance competitions or did you continue on only because they made your parents happy? What experiences did you miss out on earlier in life that you regret now? Take some time to sit with your unconscious, and listen to what you really think about your history and what you would have done differently with that awareness.
Immerse yourself in a multitude of experiences and remind yourself of the interests and hobbies of your youth.
It's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. Read, paint, attend concerts, scuba dive, and attend cooking classes. Trying a variety of new things, even things you think you might not enjoy, allows you to discover inner talents and passions you may not have known existed when your parents or even your spouse was calling the shots.
Practice everyday mindfulness.
There is a reason so many people turn to yoga and meditation, and it is not just for the health benefits. These practices allow you to learn how to reach the unconscious in ways you may not otherwise be able to. Meditation, mindfulness, Chi Gong, Yoga, Tai Chi, Tai Kwan Do-all are ways to access your unconscious in a safe, unhurried space, a space in which you can connect and listen to your inner voice without the interruption of the outside world.
Write in a journal.
When you combine the inner work of journal writing with the goal of individuation, you connect to your unconscious with direction and purpose. This gives you the opportunity to unlock your unconscious from within and pour out into your writing. Your journal can be your mirror, reflecting back your true self -how you really feel about people and situations.
Seek counseling.
As an adult, it is often difficult to ask yourself the questions that need to be asked and to face the hard truths you must face on your own. Professional counseling can help you catch a glimpse of your inner self and discover the patterns of your life.

An important step toward individuation is a willingness to recognize and acknowledge your behavior patterns. Once you begin to work toward your authentic self, you can begin to live as only you can live and be the person you are meant to be. Then, what others think about you won't bother you.

When you discover your true self, no one else can tell you who you are. You reunite those parts of yourself that people often project onto others. You gain the full thrust of your power.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When you discover your true self, no one else can tell you who you are.

# data[].attributes.headline
Just For Today Card Easy Scroll + Numbers!

# data[].attributes.subject
Just For Today Card Easy Scroll + Numbers!

# data[].attributes.body
I've found the "inner child" work from Carl Jung, and adopted or developed by Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoA) very powerful. Especially working on creating a nurturing inner parental voice to talk to myself with when in emotionally difficult states such as rage and fear.

You can find some of these activites on YouTube.

# data[].attributes.headline
Step 11 is the step where you decide everything!

# data[].attributes.subject
Step 11 is the step where you decide everything!

# data[].attributes.body
God's will is your will here! (!!!)

I like mindful meditation, and listening to Alan Watts for example, and the Zen readings, I really like connecting in nature and visiting holy places and ancient monuments for Step 11, I also go to church on Sundays as I like the sense of community worship, I'm not heavily into any given doctrine tho, and over the years I've enjoyed being a part of Islamic communities and Quaker ones as well for extended periods of time.

However you may not like any of those things it's fine, I've known people do meditation while running, and all sorts of things that wouldn't suit me, I can say without hesitation that anything you do with a sincere intention to connect to a higher power, and with that sole purpose in mind, will bring about unexpected rewards of growing self-confidence and sense of "all rightness" in the world.

# data[].attributes.headline
Are you willing to go to any lengths for your recovery? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Are you willing to go to any lengths for your recovery? 

# data[].attributes.body
We ask this question because, in order to recover, you are going to have to do work that it's frankly highly unusual for the vast majority of people to do in their lives.

You will have to engage in a level of honesty and self-searching which no one would normally do unless they felt they had no choice.

The 12 steps requires us to take a long, hard and honest look at ourselves, and it also requires us to work hard to help others to travel the road we have begun walking.

This will require a lot of humility and a lot of self-sacrifice - it will often feel like we would rather be doing something else. For recovery to be successful it needs to impose itself on our lives, it needs to literally get in the way of our own schemes and ideas, our own plans and designs, because they have all become infected with the disease of addiction, we need something that will start to cut back our addictive thinking, and the 12 step program will do that. But we need to fit our lives around it, not fit it around our lives. For this recovery to work, we need to make it the centre of our lives, and we need to want it above anything else.

The good news is that, if you take this attitude to heart, and give yourself entirely to this way of living, you are certain to recover: and you will soon begin to enjoy a freedom and joy in living, which it's unlikely you've ever experienced before.

# data[].attributes.body
Before you begin the 12 Steps you need to answer a simple question to the best of your ability, without hesitation. You should listen to your first intuitive answer to this question because it will tell you and your sponsor a lot about how successful this program is going to be for you.

The question comes from both the SLAA and the AA BAsic texts.

It's a question that should always be asked of a sponsee before any work begins because it will indicate how successful the sponsee / sponsor relationship is going to be.

So - the question is....

# data[].attributes.body
Before dating ask yourself if the following are in place:

* A Daily 12 Step Routine or 'Program'.

* Regular Service where you focus on helping other addicts to get well.

* Sponsoring others, with commitment.

* Regular Step 10 Inventory.

* Have made some Amends.

* Regular Step 11 prayer and meditation.

* Regular Meetings where you focus on carrying a message of recovery to the still suffering addict.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why is this method called "The Awakening"?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why is this method called "The Awakening"?

# data[].attributes.body
Because it's designed to produce - and maintain - three essential awakening results:

1. A Spiritual Awakening:
We get to work on this straight away by using the "Daily Program of Steps 1-3" . You will immediately start on your road to spiritual awakening - the most fundamental part of the Steps, and the whole reason for doing the Steps. In this method we don't wait around to have a spiritual experience, or consider it to be inaccessible to those who are just beginning the program. We don't place an arbitrary wait time on anyone's progress (for example no one has to wait 30 days to do Step 3). We get on with the key work of the steps immediately, because each step is another life-saving tool, we have no right to hold back anyone's prgress.
As an essential part of this we even  start a rudimentary form of "moral inventory" (Step 4 & 10) straight away. This helps to clear our resentments, and give us a more neutral thinking space.

2. Waking up to our Symptoms & Needs:
The "Setting Bottom Lines" questions are designed to help wake you up to your symptoms - all of them - of Sex and Love, Fantasy and Anorexia Addiction. Also, we look at Top Lines and Self-Care in a more systematic and in-depth way.

3. Waking up to the Patterns & Causes of our addiction:
The "27 Questions for the Withdrawal Experience" were written in 2020, by myself and a small working group of SLAA members.  The questions are designed to facilitate the awakening of deeper self-knowledge, and of our own personal journey into addiction, from our earliest experiences.  They are designed to open up an understanding of how we became addicts in the first place, and why certain dysfunctional patterns of relating may have become entrenched. When we know who we truly are, it is not possible to harm ourselves, or others. Understanding our unique patterns leads us to be far more safety conscious and, in a good way, more self-involved in the meeting of our own needs at crucial times of disregulation, instead of desperately trying to ignore our needs, which can tend to lead to chasing validation to feel good again.

"Then why not just do part three?" you may ask:
Because self-knowledge alone is not enough to keep us stopped - we need a spiritual experience for that to happen, in order to keep the knowledge we acquire, we need to live a spiritual experience. If we don't do this, our knowledge will become muddy and confused over time, and in the face of our subtle destructive addictive thinking, we will find rationalisations for why we "need to use".

# data[].attributes.body
The SLAA Awakening Program is based on a synthesis of two things:

1. A very well-established AA approach, elements of which stretch back to the 1937 AA basic text, and newer elements of which have been around for at least 50 years, and which has been the powerhouse behind some very long-term sobriety in the UK, and some of its largest and most successful UK AA groups, and

2. A number of very useful and robust approaches/ideas from SLAA literature and fellowship. Especially setting one's own bottom lines, an expanded approach to Step 4, including Shame, Fantasy, and Anorexia inventories. Also, an optional Withdrawal resource to help integrate an awareness of our personal history.

The SLAA Awakening Program is highly structured, and focuses on keeping things as simple as possible, and also not adding unnecessary extra work where it is not needed - there are only four compulsory written pieces of work to do (Setting Bottom Lines, Step Twelve, Step Four, & Step Eight.)

The reason for this is that there is a lot of work to do, this is undeniable. So, there is no need to add to the burden by creating more. For example, Steps 6 & 7 were originally very quick simple steps in the AA literature, (see the relevant columns in this Padlet for details on this), and the Awakening Program hasn't seen any benefit to making them more extended exercises, and so they have remained short and simple in this program.

We have found that simple actions are the primary means by which we begin to experience a Spiritual Awakening.

Since a Spiritual Awakening is the total goal of the 12 Steps, we immediately focus on the main source of your recovery - the Higher Power, and the main thing that will stop us from experiencing that Higher Power - our defects of character and the ensuing emotional turbulence they cause!

We begin our recovery in the way that both the AA and the SLAA text tells us is most effective, a daily routine, a spiritual rhythm, which will be the mainstay of the gradual return to self-regulation:

The essential DAILY PROGRAM.

"Time and daily consistency are the tools with which we fashion our release .... from the tyranny of the psychic realm." P111 SLAA BT

"We are not cured of [addiction]. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition." P85 AA BT

The Daily Program of the SLAA Awakening is a set of small, simple actions that will repeatedly re-connect us to our initial state of surrender and acceptance of our illness, in these actions we visit Step  1, 2 and 3 on a daily basis, so that we never need to "lose step one" ie relapse because we have lost touch with the fundamental truths of our condition. The daily program works because it becomes a set of actions that are instantly calming and settling, which produce the sense of serenity and connection to a Higher Power which we need to get through life, a day at time, especially when we are stressed and life is difficult.

Also, we emphasise early on in the Awakening Program two key spiritual necessities:

1. Getting into Service in SLAA, and

2. Learning how to work Step 12 effectively to make sure you get the most out of any 12 Step meeting, how to always come away  feeling positive and uplifted - no matter what!

Although the above are very common and successful strategies for recovery in AA and other very well-established fellowships, they are not widely practiced in SLAA.

I saw what I learned in AA  working so well for me and many others for over 20 years, and I constantly noticed how little clarity other methods seemed to grant others, although people worked just as hard on them as I did. So, starting with this very rigorous and structured AA method, the SLAA Awakening then incorporates anything I've found in SLAA that has produced Recovery from Sex, Love, Anorexia and Fantasy Addiction - anything that has added to, and hasn't contradicted, what worked in my substance recovery in AA.

For example the idea of Setting Bottom Lines questions.

This program was created/compiled largely between 2020-2021, with the oversight of a small SLAA group, my new SLAA sponsor, the help of my old AA sponsor. The resources continue to be improved as feedback accumulates.

The set of Bottom Lines and 27 questions for withdrawal were first created and compiled  in 2020. Feedback and ideas were taken from a  working group of around 12 SLAA members, men and women, sex love addicts and anorexics around this part of the project. Both documents have gone through major evolutions, to a pretty stable state as of 2023.

We do the steps in a way that has a logical, rather than numeric, order - we don't make people wait too long to do Step 10 for example, we do it immediately after Step 5, because it's essential to prevent relapse, and Step 10 is just a regular or daily Step 4.

Lastly, the SLAA Awakening is not connected in any way with "The AA Big Book Awakening" or the "SLAA (AA) Big Book Awakening".

# data[].attributes.headline
Do I need to beleive in God to do this program?

# data[].attributes.subject
Do I need to beleive in God to do this program?

# data[].attributes.body
No!

You may not even have a Higher Power yet, and you may know of some you definitely do not want to have! That's fine - contrary to popular misconceptions about the 12 Steps you don't actually need any specific concept of a Higher Power to do the work and to get well.

So long as you are willing to take some simple actions, you will begin to experience the changes that the actions bring about, and you may well remain completely atheist forever, and yet this simple program will still change your life - it's all about the actions we take, nothing to do with what we do or don't, can or cannot believe.

Hence: anyone can recover. Even you.

# data[].attributes.headline
It's recommended that after Step 5, you make a note of any names that you may need for your Step 8, and then BURN or otherwise destroy your inventory. 

# data[].attributes.subject
It's recommended that after Step 5, you make a note of any names that you may need for your Step 8, and then BURN or otherwise destroy your inventory. 

# data[].attributes.body
Print the card and keep it in your pocket, so you can use it whenever needed throughout the day and so that you can memorise it rapidly!

The Daily Actions are a daily repeat cycle of Steps One, Two & Three.

Unlike other ways of working the Steps, we live these steps each day.

We grow our Step One, Two, and Three, every day, in daily practice, so that they deepen and strengthen as our recovery progresses, and we keep changing and improving our mindset.

If you can follow these suggestions, you will stay sober in good times and bad, regardless of where else you may be on the Steps.

They take about 20 minutes a day at a minimum.

We do them to the best of our ability each day, doing our best may mean 100% some days, and 80% gets done other days, but each day our ambition is to ut these simple actionsa t the top of our schedule.

When Sponsees start struggling in early recovery, it's invariably because they aren't doing some of these simple actions.

A key part of a Sponsor's role is to keep reminding the Sponsee of these simple, effective, actions.

# data[].attributes.headline
Daily Program of Steps 1-3 Double-Sided Pocket Card - Please PRINT and keep in your pocket. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Daily Program of Steps 1-3 Double-Sided Pocket Card - Please PRINT and keep in your pocket. 

# data[].attributes.body
To print this as double-sided pocket card, select "print on both sides of paper" and also "flip on short edge."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SLAA Awakening Daily Program of Steps 1-3 Pocket Card CP V10.5

# data[].attributes.body
One of the simplest and best I've seen.

# data[].attributes.body
After Step 5 we "spent an hour" evaluating our work on the 12 Steps so far.

If we are happy with the work we've put in so far, then we now read on from there and spend about a week considering Step 6, using the few questions the AA Text lays out for us at this point - are we entirely ready to have a Higher Power remove all these defects of character?

With this in mind, over the next week, we do the following things:

1) Consider if we want to be rid of all of these defects of character.

2) Allow anything else we may have forgotten in our Step 4 & 5 to come out - and we share this with our sponsor.

3) While this week unfolds, we take any more inventory as we go - in other words, we start Step 10.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
AA - Step 6 & 7 For WConverted CORRECTED

# data[].attributes.body
Although I've enjoyed these books etc, they are presented as some places to look if you are interested, they aren't a part of the sponsorship as such!

# data[].attributes.body
Although I've enjoyed these books etc, they are presented as some places to look if you are interested, they aren't a part of the sponsorship as such!

# data[].attributes.headline
What Are Some Key Features of the SLAA Awakening Program?

# data[].attributes.subject
What Are Some Key Features of the SLAA Awakening Program?

# data[].attributes.body
We start working Steps 1-3 straight away, and we keep doing this each day in recovery.

This gives us the essential Daily Spiritual Routine spoken about in the SLAA (p111) & AA (p85) Basic Texts. This keeps us Sober.

We begin using a very simple form of emotional inventory (Steps 4 and 10) immediately - in the "daily program of Steps 1-3".

This begins to regulate our emotions.

We do a specific gratitude practice each day to help reduce our sense of missing out.

We make a practice of service and fellowship early on.

This gets us connected to others in meaningful activity.

We use a very in-depth Step 4 that stays focused on Step 4, and doesn't attempt to do Step 8 at the same time.

We use a set list of 16 defects of character drawn from AA & SLAA literature.

We do Step 8 as a shorter in-depth exercise.

We don't use long lists of compulsory questions on any of the Steps - we find ways to live the Steps in Daily Actions, which we don't leave behind in long-forgotten essay work.

Studying the 12 Traditions is an integral part of this way of working the Steps, you will be aided in developing an in-depth understanding of how and why each Tradition came about.

All of this teaches us how to live just for today, one day at a time, from the beginning - a spiritual experience doesn't have to take a long time, we can begin to have one straight away!

We start getting early rewards:

we stop being guided and dominated by fear.

we learn how to cope with our emotional turmoil.

we learn how to settle our emotional turmoil.

we begin to gain mastery over our feelings and actions.

we gain the power to act soberly.

we start learning how to live in the present moment.

We also learn more as we go further, about how to work effectively, and productivity with our 12 Step group. Working in groups is a key area of  stress and fear for addicts. The 12 Traditions and Steps show us how we can reverse our history and experience meaningful, healthy and safe interactions in groups.

The SLAA Awakening addresses Social, Emotional, and Sexual Anorexia at the same time as Sex and Love Addiction - there is no need to do another set of steps afterwards.

We don't experience a limited "honeymoon period" of recovery - we continue to grow, and experience increasing freedom and happiness.

We don't slip or relapse - we remain Sober.

We let the most useful and important aspects of both the AA and the SLAA Basic Texts guide and inform us. We don't ignore the unique value of the SLAA Basic Text.

# data[].attributes.body
Before you step up any sponsee at a meeting they must have:

Done Step Three

And must have 30 days continuous sobriety.

They may also (by then) have

Gone over Step 12.

Tradition 5.

Appendix II with a sponsor.

This is not essential for the first Stepping Up Share, but the Step 12 work should happen ASAP after the Step Three Ceremony has been taken.

# data[].attributes.body
It's highly recommended that you PRINT THIS List, until you have memorised all 16 defects of character!

# data[].attributes.body
For anyone who has already done some work on the bottom lines etc., it can be a good idea to just use Q4 alone to tweak and tidy up the Step One framework. (Rather than going through the whole of the "Setting Bottom Lines" document).

# data[].attributes.body
Step 8 is, in a way, the opposite of Step 4. In Step 4 we often wrote about how we were harmed in life. In Step 8 we focus on how we have harmed others.

You may find some of your Step 4 names useful here!

# data[].attributes.body
Step 4 is where we inventory all of the events from our lives that have caused emotional turbulence of any sort.

This could be confusion, anger, sadness, fear, craving, shame, lust, impatience, jealousy ... etc.

We don't just inventory resentment - this is a moral inventory, so we'll cover everything.

Often it will be about how life has harmed us, but also about how we have harmed others, we will begin to see our real motives in life...and begin to realise that there is a whole new way of seeing these events, our addiction and our recovery - and finally, an objective way to evaluate our thinking!

# data[].attributes.body
TRAUMA RECOVERY

The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel Van Der Kolk

You are the one you've been waiting for: Internal Family Systems, Richard Schwartz.

This Jungian Life (YouTube)

SEX AND LOVE ADDICTION

Facing Love Addiction - Pia Melody

Facing Codependency - Pia Melody

The Intimacy Factor - Pia Melody

# data[].attributes.body
This is not offered as a religious comment - far from it.
It's a very practical talk about Step Three, tackling the fantasy of a higher power vs the reality of recovering.

# data[].attributes.body
The Book: on the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are - Alan Watts

Zen Mind Beginner's Mind Shunryu Suzuki

# data[].attributes.body
Read this book as a precursor to Step 11 Studies. The history of the 12 Traditions. How and Why they came into being.

The first 100 or so pages are a bit of a drag. The rest is excellent!

# data[].attributes.body
You have lots of work to do elsewhere, so don't do extra work here when you don't need to!!

The AA Basic text makes these Steps extremely simple, quick and accessible - only asking us to take an hour preparing for Step 6.

So don't (at this stage) add to your burden by finding questions on the internet etc. and in other methods of working the Steps.

1. After your week considering the questions of Step 6, get together with your sponsor.

2. Read the following extract from the AA Basic text and:

3. Give your sponsor your answer to all the Questions in the two orange boxes.

5. Recite the Step 7 Prayer together.

# data[].attributes.body
"A business that fails to take regular inventory usually goes broke."

The SLAA Awakening Step Ten takes the opportunity to deepen the effectiveness of Step Ten by encoding what Chapter Six tells us about Step Ten, but also turning again to Chapter Five of the AA Basic Text & extracting this time, every question it asks us to ask ourselves in inventory.

The SLAA Awakening also recognises that the AA Basic Text explicitly brings some Step Eleven practice into the Step Ten routine.

In the five-column inventory, we ignore column #4 at first, only coming back to it once we have filled out Columns #1, #2, #3, and #5 first.

We then use column #4 to add any supplementary inventory that links to the previous inventory just listed.

We take regular inventory on fears; resentments; fantasy etc. anything that has unsettled us in the recent past, today, last week etc. or that still comes back to us from years ago. Anything.

This is also an excellent way to have an ongoing evaluation of our relationships. Are we spotting red flag behaviour in our relationships? Is it reoccurring? Do we need to address this explicitly?

Anorexia & Avoidance Inventory.

1. Avoidance can be not doing things (not going out, not washing, not phoning people, not making arrangements to meet up with people)...

2. When we go deeper It can also be doing things that diminish us, and that get in the way of how we want to live, for example gazing, mobile phone over use, unhealthy eating, over-sharing, visiting places that are for the moment not good for us or with an unhealthy intention.

3. Hence, we may see our "middle circle" areas here for a while, or the Top Line behaviours we have been ignoring.

4. This inventory is meant to be helpful only, a means to extend what we are taking inventory on. If you have any confusion about which one to use on something you know you want to inventory, don't hesitate to ask or outreach, but also don't worry about "getting it wrong" because ultimately, the most important thing is to do the actions ... As you become more practiced you will grow in intuition and confidence about which inventory suits what areas of our lives.

Afterward, we Pray for the Happiness and Success of any person or institution etc. that we have harboured resentments, or fantasies, shame etc., about and....

We then say the Step complete AA 7 Prayer.. "My Creator, I am ready for you to have all of me now, Good and Bad....."

# data[].attributes.headline
3) The 16 Defects of Character (for phone)

# data[].attributes.subject
3) The 16 Defects of Character (for phone)

# data[].attributes.body
Our inventory of Harms.

# data[].attributes.body
In Step 9 we discuss and plan each amends in advance with our sponsor. This is especially important for the first lot of amends, if we strike out with the wrong attitude on this vital Step, impatient and ill-informed, then our spiritual awakening will soon become a rude awakening! So, be warned - this Step is not as simple as it may at first appear!

Our amends should take a very definite & structured format; as given below.

# data[].attributes.body
Sadhana - Anthony DeMello

Mindfulness in Eight Weeks - Michael Chaskalson

# data[].attributes.headline
1) The Step 4 Inventory Templates: PRINT THESE (1/2)

# data[].attributes.subject
1) The Step 4 Inventory Templates: PRINT THESE (1/2)

# data[].attributes.body
Step Four is a moral inventory - in other words, not JUST resentments! It's an inventory of your entire back catalogue of anger, sorrow, weirdness, unresolved feelings of loss, longing and regret, craving, confusion etc.

Anything and everything that still sits somewhere in your mind. It is not restricted just to the things we are angry about - put in anything you still remember.

Some of this may also end up on our Step 8 - you can circle the names that will be needed for Step 8, but focus on your own emotional inventory for now, rather than harms.

The templates from the SLAA Awakening have page references to the AA Basic Text so the sponsee can see where the four-column structure comes from.

Try and keep each inventory separate as far as possible, and organised.

1. General 'Resentments'

2. Sexual Resentments

3. Shame

4. Fantasy

5. Fear

6. Anorexia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#004 - Step 4 - The Inventory V7.5 - 4 Column New Print

# data[].attributes.body
Read the AA Text on Step 5. It makes two things clear:

1. We usually take Step 5 with our sponsor or co-sponsor, but, as the reading explains, it's not essential - we can pick someone else if circumstances make it hard to do Step 5 with our sponsor. We pick a close-mouthed, trustworthy person who will not be harmed by our disclosures, and we tell them our whole story.

2. When Step 5 is over, we head home, and spend an hour reviewing our work so far - the AA Basic text explains how to do this in the following extract.

It's also recommended that you record any names from your Step 4 that you may need for your Step 8 and now BURN or otherwise destroy your Step 4.

# data[].attributes.body
To take the Step Three Ceremony a sponsee must be at least 7 days Sober.

We celebrate together & mark the transition from living on self-will to trying to live according to the will of a power greater than ourselves.

The Step Three ceremony will take between 20 minutes (short version) and 80 minutes (full version), depending on which pathway you take.

The shortest, 20 minute pathway is highlighted in the document.

It is a process which can be done one to one, or worked with a group of sponsees going through together.

# data[].attributes.body
In this exercise, you write your own Step One - what exactly are you powerless over?

What behaviours cause you to become unmanageable and powerless? You can use the "Setting Bottom Lines" document to go into as much detail as you personally need, in order to answer these essential questions.

# data[].attributes.headline
Questions for Withdrawal:  Origins of Addiction (Optional)

# data[].attributes.subject
Questions for Withdrawal:  Origins of Addiction (Optional)

# data[].attributes.body
Firstly - these questions are optional. They are not Step Work.

These questions were first developed in 2020 and have been updated numerous times up until 2025.

They are specifically to have a framework to gain more self-understanding of your own personal background to SLA.

The questions were first developed with feedback from a small working group of about 10-12 interested male and female SLAA members, including Anorectic members.

They have been honed and developed further as a result of feedback from those who have worked through them.

The questions are a good resource for looking at some of the origins of our trauma and where that has led to resultant, linked, behaviours.

They are particularly useful when tackled while in withdrawal.

The process of acknowledging our real history is of course, completely essential for the healing of our trauma, so this exercise will strengthen our recovery - provided we are ready for it, but in a more subtle way than the 12-step work.

However, they are optional, and anyone who feels this is too much for them at the moment is welcome to just pick what questions they want to, or to leave the exercise perhaps for another time, and move on to the Step Three Ceremony etc.

If you decide to just do some of the questions, then map out which ones in advance, so that you have a clear idea of how soon you should be progressing to Step Three.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
#001 - Trad Five, Step 12, Ch7, Appdx II, Prayers- Easy Read - Highlighted

# data[].attributes.headline
Step 12 Readings that go with the above Questions!

# data[].attributes.subject
Step 12 Readings that go with the above Questions!

# data[].attributes.body
These Readings coupled with the questions above this post, will answer the following CRUCIAL questions:

What is our deeper purpose for being at meetings?

How can we make sure that a meeting will always leave us feeling better?

How can we keep that "honeymoon" period of early recovery in our lives as a permanent feature of our experience?

How and Why do we carry a message of Recovery?

When are we "ready" for Step 12?

How can we tell we've had a "Spiritual Awakening"?

The answers are all in Step 12, Tradition 5. and the Appendix II of the AA Basic Text.

You've been sharing at meetings for a while now and you've found it useful to structure your thoughts, and share your story, to connect with your feelings, and your fellows.

There are other vitally important reasons to share at a meeting, and if we don't start understanding them soon, we will eventually become bored of sharing our story and getting current at meetings, we will lose that feeling of being lifted by a meeting, because we are too focused on what we can take, and not focused enough on what we need to be bringing to the meeting to give.

Key parts of the text are highlighted.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#001 - Trad Five, Step 12, Ch7, Appdx II, Prayers- Easy Read - Highlighted