However, if you are searching for answers related to AA’s Step 9, you’ve come to the right place because, as mentioned, the 12 steps are the same. In Celebrate Recovery Step 8, we learned all about making a list of amends. If you haven’t read that lesson, please do so before continuing on so that you can keep it one step at a time in the recovery process.
Changes in personal behaviors
Many of us find it helpful to reflect on Oxford House our amends after making each one. Some of us do this by writing about how it felt to make the amends and what we learned from the experience. Restoration means bringing something back to its former state, usually things that have been damaged. This can mean restoring our reputations, and even restoring trust in a relationship. Step Nine is that biggie step, the one we likely have created some anxiety over because it involves making amends.
Step 4 – Why it’s Important and What a ‘Searching and Fearless Moral Inventory’ Means
- While making amends is apologizing, living amends means living a completely new, sober lifestyle, and being committed to that lifestyle for both yourself and those you’ve harmed in the past.
- Whatever the situation, there are a few ways to get started in the process of repairing wrongs with the people you most care about.
- Tragic events happen every day, and in ways we least expect.
- At Eudaimonia Recovery Homes, we provide personalized recovery support with comfortable sober living Austin, Houston, and Colorado Springs.
- Positive reinforcement is a great motivator to practice the spiritual principle of forgiveness as much as possible.
Through diligent work, you have made steady progress in admission, accountability and surrender of the power addiction once held over you. That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. Each program is designed to exceed industry standards and provide the highest quality care.
- According to Alcoholics Anonymous, living amends occur when you decide to “live out” the changes you have agreed to in your recovery journey.
- If we are painstaking about this phase of our development we will be amazed before we are halfway through.
- Step Nine states that we make amends “except when to do so would injure them or others.” We don’t want our actions to cause further damage, harm or stress.
- If they take my words for granted, sometimes, I take a break from talking.
Navigating Step Nine: Living Amends
This is where a 12-Step “sponsor” or even a counselor’s feedback could be helpful in checking your motivation. Sometimes stepping back is the best way you can make amends. Giving a person space and honoring their right to feel what they feel about the living amends definition impact your addiction and the connected behaviors has had on their lives.
These promises focus on rebuilding your relationship with a loved one and moving forward from the pain of the past. Join our supportive sober community where each day becomes a step towards personal growth and lasting positive change. Living amends represent the long-term actions you will take to remain committed to recovery. Sometimes, you may not have the opportunity to make direct amends to the person you harmed. Perhaps the person is no longer living, or you no longer have https://ecosoberhouse.com/ contact with them and reestablishing contact would cause more harm. How you start these conversations depends on your relationship with the person you harmed and the circumstances in which you plan to make direct amends.
- They provide individuals with a roadmap to recovery and personal growth.
- The main difference between the two recovery programs is that Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered recovery program.
- In most cases, the offender owes apologies to the people closest to them, like their friends, parents, and children.
- In these instances, the best thing you can do is to focus on your behavior and remain faithful to your commitment to live an honest, sober life.
While many people are receptive and supportive to attempts to make amends, some are not. And some people in your life may not be receptive on your timeline. Communicating about the way you harmed others can evoke strong emotions. There are a lot of fearful feelings before, during and after making amends in the ninth step. While working step nine it’s really important to understand that the way things feel is not necessarily the way things are.
