Reddit reviews The Little Book: A Collection of Alternative 12 Steps

PS: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Collection-Alternative-Steps/dp/0991717406

I have a kindle book with a number of alternative versions of the Steps. Here is one example:

“We Agnostics

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol –that attempts to control our drinking were futile and that our lives had become unmanageable.
   
2. Came to believe that even though we could not fix our problem by ourselves, circumstances and forces beyond our personal control could help restore us to sanity and balance.
   
3. Made a decision to accept things that were outside our control, especially what already is and to do the best with it.
   
4. Made a searching examination and a fearless inventory of ourselves.
   
5. Admitted to ourselves with total openness and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
   
6. Became willing to let go of our behaviors and personality traits that could be construed as defects and were creating problems.
   
7. With humility we acknowledged that we had these shortcomings and with openness we sought to eliminate these 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.
   
9. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
   
10. Sought through contemplation and meditation to improve self-awareness and adopted a spiritual approach to life as our primary purpose.
    
11. Having had a profound change in consciousness as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
    
    This version can be found on the We Agnostics website. The site states that these Steps originated in Cleveland and describes them as “training wheels” for the recovering alcoholic seeking his or her own spirituality.”
    
    The book is The Little Book: A Collection of Alternative 12 Steps
    
    Edit: sorry for the garbage formatting. I swear it looked different before I hit post.

I purchased this alternative 12 step book and it has been pretty helpful!

I'm struggling with the idea of AA myself for the very same reason, but every therapist or life coach I talked to gently recommended AA regardless. I finally went to a meeting and it clicked WHY that type of system works. The sense of community is important, along with simply knowing that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Even without the spiritual aspect of it, the things the women said really resonated with me (I chose a women-only meeting to start with, at the recommendation of my therapist).

I'm still at the beginning of my journey and working every day at it. I need to reset my number again, but am gradually building up an arsenal of tools to help me stick with it for longer - I'm beginning to believe that AA will be the lynchpin if I can approach the twelve-step program from an atheist's point of view.

In that effort, I visited AAAgnostica.org and read a bit about them, and then also picked up the following books and have been working my way through them:

• The Alternative Twelve Steps: A Secular Guide to Recovery
  
• The Little Book: A Collection of Alternative Twelve Steps
  
• Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life (a daily reader)
  
  I am not affiliated with the authors. I just desperately needed some material of my own that aligned with all the twelve step information I was learning, but that let me approach it without all the "god stuff".
  
  At the very least, try the first book. See if the steps as written without the inclusion of religion and god start to make sense to you. Note that the concept of "spirituality" is still present but not in the sense of following a religion or believing in a god. In my case, the thing that clicked the most for me was a creative visualization tool I learned while doing a meditation (completely unrelated to AA). Meditation is a somewhat "spiritual" practice, but for me, the power comes from within and makes itself known through my deeper understanding of myself. This is just one of many tools I am leveraging to help me stay sober on the days when it is particularly hard.
  
  There's a reason the program works, so it made sense for me to try my damnedest to make it work for ME. Maybe it won't work for you, but consider just reading the steps and then decide.
  
  Step Two is going to be harder for me because I'm a bit of a hermit and social interaction with new groups can be so damn hard, but the meeting I went to didn't dwell on god much at all - the only real mention was when we said the Lord's Prayer at the end, but I hear that not all meetings do that. Simply going to the meeting helped me understand why Step Two is important. Traditionally, that step sounds like you need to give up responsibility for your life to a higher power. Just for example, one of the alternative steps states something slightly different.
  
  
• Traditional Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  
• Just one of many alternative interpretations of Step Two (from "The Little Book" I linked above): I came to believe that realistic and rational thinking could restore me from the insanity of addictive drinking
  
  It isn't "God" or any spiritual power to ME that makes that step important. It's simply looking outside yourself for help. Going to the meeting made that click. The very act of taking that step - seeking out a community of others for support - the power beyond myself is the wisdom of communities like that, or communities like THIS one, too. For many, the community is where the power lies if we can acknowledge that. For others that may not be the case, but the point is to find something that provides you with that power, regardless of what you believe or don't believe.
  
  Is it private, personal meditation, or getting together with people who share your struggles and simply leaning on them for support? Is it a combination?
  
  Now my challenge is to quit making excuses and start going to regular meetings. There are at least a half dozen going on in my town on any given day. This is the path I feel I need to take.
  
  I hope you are able to find yours and that you find the strength to keep at it. Good luck to you!