Vocabulary
This word means handing over control of your will and life to a Higher Power — the core action of Step.
What is SURRENDER?
Step 3 asks us to make a decision to turn over these two things to the care of a Higher Power.
What are OUR WILL AND OUR LIVES?
Many people use this short, daily ritual from the Big Book to renew their Step 3 decision each morning.
What is the THIRD STEP PRAYER?
This is the chapter in the Big Book where Step 3 is introduced and worked.
"HOW IT WORKS" (Chapter 5)?
This is the full title of the AA book commonly called "the 12 & 12," which provides deeper commentary on Step 3.
What is TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS?
This is the AA term for a God of your own personal understanding — it does not require a specific religious belief.
What is a HIGHER POWER?
The spiritual principle associated with Step 3 in AA.
What is SURRENDER (or FAITH / TRUST)?
This person in recovery is often used as a guide when working Step 3 for the first time.
What is a SPONSOR?
The Big Book says Step 3 is like this — a door that opens when you are willing, but requires action to walk through.
What is A DECISION (or an opening/doorway)?
The 12 & 12 describes Step 3 as an act of this: choosing to rely on a Power greater than ourselves rather than our own limited thinking.
What is FAITH (or TRUST / RELIANCE)?
This word describes the self-centered thinking and behavior that Step 3 asks us to let go of.
What is SELF-WILL (or EGO)?
Step 3 is described as a decision, not an action. This is the next step that puts Step 3 into motion.
What is STEP 4 (a searching and fearless moral inventory)?
Practicing Step 3 means doing this every time you face a problem — instead of relying only on yourself.
What is TURNING IT OVER (to a Higher Power)?
The Big Book's Step 3 discussion is found within the first this many pages, which outline the core AA program and never change between editions.
What are the First 164 PAGES?
According to the 12 & 12, this is the main obstacle most people face when trying to take Step 3.
What is SELF-WILL (or PRIDE/EGO/FEAR)?
This term refers to the ongoing, conscious relationship with a Higher Power that Step 3 begins to establish.
What is CONSCIOUS CONTACT?
According to the Big Book, this is required before a person is truly ready for Step 3 — being convinced that their life run on this has not been successful.
What is SELF-WILL?
The Big Book says willingness, honesty, and this quality are the three essentials of recovery — all of which are needed to truly work Step 3.
What is OPEN-MINDEDNESS?
In the Big Book, God is referred to by this role in the context of Step 3: "we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our ___."
What is DIRECTOR?
The 12 & 12 explains that Step 3 cannot be fully understood until a person has also worked these two preceding steps.
What are STEPS 1 AND 2?
In the Big Book, this architectural term is used to describe the concept of God as Director — "the BLANK of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom."
KEYSTONE?
In the Big Book, Step 3 is compared to a person in this role — someone who decides to stop directing the show and let God take over as the principal.
What is an ACTOR (or AGENT)?
Step 3 is not a one-time event. This is the ongoing practice that keeps Step 3 alive in daily life, as described in Step 11.
What is PRAYER AND MEDITATION?
The Big Book states that to take Step 3, a person must first be convinced of these three things: that they are alcoholic, that no human power can relieve them, and that this can and will, if sought.
What is GOD (a Higher Power)?
The 12 & 12 explains that Step 3 cannot be fully understood until a person has also worked these two preceding steps.
What are STEPS 1 AND 2?