The key ingredient in Step Seven is humility. In fact, completing Step Seven might be the greatest act of true humility you ever take. You are essentially granting control of your recovery to God. The good news is if you are at Step Seven, you have successfully worked Steps 1, 2, and 3. In admitting your powerlessness over your addiction, coming to believe a higher power could restore you to sanity, and making a decision to turn your will and your life over to him; you got sober. With this knowledge you can trust that you will get the same result if you work Step Seven with great humility on any problem you have.

According to the Twelve and Twelve, humility is a clear recognition of who we are followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be. That is humility is seeing ourselves as we actually are, good and bad, strong and weak, and acting authentically on those truths. Why is it so essential to foster this quality when taking Step Seven? Here are three good reasons.

1. So we do not deny the severity of our character defects and minimize the pain they inflict. Pride causes us to live in denial and hide out from living our best authentic lives.

2. So that we can acknowledge we cannot fix these defects with our human powers such as intellect, will power, or reasoning. Didn’t we try that for years to manage our addiction?

3. So that we can recognize and appreciate the enormity of God’s power to transform our lives. We can lean in and live with a serenity that would be impossible through sheer human will.