Step Help: Step 8
Source: 12step.org
This is a list of questions to help you to work the 12 Step program for recovery from addictive behaviour. This article contains a list of questions that you may find useful for with Step 8. You are invited to use it only if it works well for you. Remember to be gentle with yourself, always get outside help if you need it and make time for nurturing activities.
Step 8 – I make a list of persons that I have harmed and become willing to make amends to them all
- How have you hurt yourself by practicing your addiction?
- What important relationships did you destroy or damage because of your addictive behaviours?
- How much time and energy have you lost from your addictive behaviours? What do you think you would have done or become had it not been for your addictive behaviours?
- Make a list of all those that you have possibly harmed by your addictive behaviours. List the effect on them as individuals and on your relationship.
- Take the list of people that you have harmed and make a list of possible amends for each one of them.
- From the list of possible amends, choose the ones that seem most appropriate, and mark them according to level of difficulty.
- What consequences do you fear in making amends? What is the worst thing that can happen? What is the best thing that can happen? What is likely to happen?
- Do you feel angry or resentful towards any people on your amends list? If so, write them a letter of anger, but don’t send it to them. Describe here any other ways that you have used to get rid of the anger and resentment towards anyone on your list.
- Describe any dreams that relate to making amends to others.