AUGUST - 8TH STEP ASSIGNMENT

August 2020-8th Step Assignment:

We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

In step eight, we begin to rectify our wrongs. We begin to accept responsibility for our actions by listing all the people we have harmed and becoming willing to make amends to them all. We are involved in a process designed to free us from our past so that we are able to live fully in the present. The eight step is the beginning of a process that lets us feel equal to others.

Are there any resentments in the way of your willingness to make amends? If so, what are they?

Before we actually begin making our list, there’s one final concept with which we must familiarize ourselves: the meaning of “harm” in this step. Harm is a deliberate injury or damage to someone or something. Harm can mean an act that causes loss or pain. There are many different ways we can inflict deep emotional harm: neglect, withdrawal, exploitation, manipulation, and humiliation. However, we have caused harm during our addiction and recovery whether we intended to or not doesn't matter. What matters is that harm was done.

Are there people you believe harmed you and do they belong on your list? If so, why?

Through the process of recovery we have more than likely made a list of people we have harmed more than once. The word process means a gradual change towards a particular result. Making the list is not the amends process it is the situations and the players. This act of humility will reverberate in our recovery as soon as we make the list, however, the list is not for us to evaluate, that is for our sponsor; the person we have trusted with our fourth step issues. Since you have been recovering, who are the people that keep ending up on your list? So you made the list or you may have taken it from your fourth step. The new willingness needs to bloom from I'm sorry to an active change in your character from the inside out. Behavioral changes that show the results (yes results matter in NA) of your efforts to change from the previous 7 steps the consequences of your decisions from negative to positive. It may help to ask our Higher power to give us the willingness to make these amends. What would your life be like if you didn’t willingly add all the names to the list?

As addicts what we want most is to feel good about ourselves. Step 8 creates the opportunity to practice self- acceptance, surrender, and a new perspective of our place in the world. Practicing the principles of honesty, courage, willingness and compassion contained in this step will give us a chance to begin to be free of our past so we quit robbing our present. God and the program did not bring us this far to drop us off now, and we must be as honest and thorough with our list as we can. These principles begin the process of being able to look the world in the eye and feel free from our past.

How has identifying the exact nature of your wrongs helped you to be more honest and thorough in making your list?

It is suggested that we discussed each amends on our list with our sponsor for his or her insight and encouragement. We need our sponsor’s vision and hope before we move on to the 9th step of making the amends.