Mapping the 12 AA Footholds to the Three Key Principles of Alcohol Recovery
The June 2 entry in Daily Reflections from Alcoholics Anonymous reminds us that recovery is not about rigidly following the 12 Steps as a fixed, sequential rulebook. Instead, it emphasizes personal discovery:
“There is a way for me to become sober, and that is a way I shall have to find.”
The Three Keys of Alcohol Recovery offer a framework to help individuals interpret and apply the 12 Steps in a way that resonates with their own journey. By grouping the Steps into three foundational principles, this model provides a clearer lens through which to understand and communicate the essence of recovery.
Below is a mapping of the 12 Steps to the three key principles:
1. Powerlessness
Accepting that you are powerless over alcohol—and that no amount of willpower or help from another human being can fix it.
- Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
2. Surrender
You turn your will and your life over to the care of God, accept the things you cannot change, find the courage to change the things you can, and seek the wisdom to know the difference.
- Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Step 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
3. Inventory and Growth
You take inventory of your root-cause weaknesses—not just the justifications and excuses that alcohol once helped you mask. You take prayer-powered action to heal those weaknesses and build on your strengths.
- Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
APRT V TRINITY LENS & 12 STEPS
About Jason Bresnehan
Jason is the founder of Evahan, a consultancy dedicated to helping individuals and organizations build both financial and legacy wealth. With over 30 years of leadership across sectors and continents, he brings commercial acumen, strategic insight, and lived experience to every engagement. His work spans business transformation, venture management, and M&A, always grounded in a belief that ideas—shared with clarity, balance, and respect—can improve individuals, families, communities, and society.
A strong advocate for freedom, limited government, and enterprise-driven progress, Jason also draws deeply from his personal recovery journey—an experience that reshaped his life and fuels his commitment to growth, contribution, and principled living. Through writing, speaking, and service, he continues to learn, share, and speak with purpose.
I can be engaged (on a remunerated or volunteer basis) to sit on Boards, Committees, Advisory and Reference Group Panels, and to speak to Business, Community, and Youth groups. I’m also open to providing comment to media on topics where I have relevant experience or insight. Please feel free to make contact.