Emotions Anonymous

• We come to EA to learn how to live a new way of life through the twelve-step program of Emotions Anonymous which consists of Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, concepts, the Serenity Prayer, slogans, Just for Todays, EA literature, weekly meetings, telephone and personal contacts, and living the program one day at a time. We do not come for another person — we come to help ourselves and to share our experiences, strength, and hope with others.
• We are experts only on our own stories, how we try to live the program, how the program works for us, and what EA has done for us. No one speaks for Emotions Anonymous as a whole.
• We respect anonymity ‹ no questions are asked. We aim for an atmosphere of love and acceptance. We do not care who you are or what you have done. You are welcome.
• We do not judge; we do not criticize; we do not argue. We do not give advice regarding personal or family affairs.
• EA is not a sounding board for continually reviewing our miseries, but a way to learn to detach ourselves from them. Part of our serenity comes from being able to live at peace with unsolved problems.
• We never discuss religion, politics, national or international issues, or other belief systems or policies. EA has no opinion on outside issues.
• Emotions Anonymous is a spiritual program, not a religious program. We do not advocate any particular belief system.
• The steps suggest a belief in a Power greater than ourselves. This can be human love, a force for good, the group, nature, the universe, God, or any entity a member chooses as a personal Higher Power.
• We utilize the program ‹ we do not analyze it. Understanding comes with experience. Each day we apply some part of the program to our personal lives.
• We have not found it helpful to place labels on any degree of illness or health. We may have different symptoms, but the underlying emotions are the same or similar. We discover we are not unique in our difficulties and illnesses.
• Each person is entitled to his or her own opinions and may express them at a meeting within the guidelines of EA. We are all equal ‹ no one is more important than another.
• Part of the beauty and wonder of the EA program is that at meetings we can say anything and know it stays there. Anything we hear at a meeting, on the telephone, or from another member is confidential and is not to be repeated to anyone ‹ EA members, mates, families, relatives or friends.

Copyright © 2003 Emotions Anonymous

THE TWELVE STEPS OF EMOTIONS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over emotions, that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to our selves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our 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.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The Twelve Steps reprinted and adapted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.