1. Be gentle. It’s an act of trust.

2. Trust yourself. Intuition is your brain working behind your back.

3. Get help. Sometimes things are too much.

4. Create space for yourself–use environment, time and boundaries.

5. Cocoon yourself for transformation. Survival is not enough.

6. Embrace your antagonists. Struggle, anger, and disagreements lead to renewal.

7. Admit mistakes, including the ones no one else would know.

8. Keep focused. Grandiosity works only for the messianic.

9. Stop doing things that don’t work. Trying harder only creates shame.

10. Sustain your visions. You will become your images.

11. Avoid catastrophizing. A stranglehold on reality helps you, as well as others.

12. Finish things now. Incomplete transactions make for obsession.

13. Care for your body. It is the primary spiritual act.

14. Act to contain disasters. If too late, watch.

15. Plan for surprises. Only victims are surprised.

Patrick Carnes, A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps, p. 224.