Call Recovered About Step 8
Feb 27, 2016
Step 8 is concerned with our personal relationships. It is an examination of how we have dealt with people in the past and, more specifically, how we have harmed them. This step is the basis for developing a more productive and satisfactory way of dealing with others. The AA 12 and 12 says that step 8 is the beginning of the end of isolation from our fellows and from God.
According to the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 and 12, steps 8 & 9 involved this process:
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we take a look backward and try to discover where we had been at fault,
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we make a vigorous attempt to repair the damage we have done, and
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have a thus cleaned away the debris of the past, we consider how, with our new found knowledge of ourselves, we may develop the best possible relations with every human being we know.
This is a very large order.
The Eighth steps suggest that we prepare an amends list. This list should be in writing and include the names of all the people we have harmed who appeared in our fourth step inventory. We add the names of anyone we had forgotten or overlooked. Have we included everyone whom we can remember? Is there anyone to whom we did something that we still feel guilty about? The Alcoholics Anonymous 12 and 12 says that we ransack memory for the people to whom we have given offense. To put a finger on the nearby and most deeply damaged ones shouldn't be hard to do. Then, as year by year we walk back through our lives as far as our memory will reach, we shall be bound to construct a long list of people who have, to some extent or another, been affected. Our objective is to make the list as complete as possible.
What is the purpose of this step?
Have you ever put yourself on this list?