Can I Work the 12 Steps If I'm an Atheist/Agnostic and Don't Believe in God?

"Can I work the 12 steps if I don't believe in God?"I've received this question many times from clients who are trying to get sober but are turned off by the more religious aspects of 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. My answer to it is a resounding "yes." You absolutely can get sober and stay sober using the 12 steps, even if you are an agnostic, atheist, or any other category of human being that doesn't believe in God.The 12 steps are, in short, a series of actions, both mental and physical, that are capable of changing your attitude and mindset sufficiently to keep you from compulsively engaging in certain behaviors. The religious members of 12-step groups will say that the change comes about because we get connected to God or to some other "higher power" that literally removes our desire to engage in our addiction. While this approach is fine for some, for others, it seems unrealistic and too much like magical thinking.For people such as this, I offer a solution: The Practical 12 Steps of recovery. These 12 steps remove the concept of God or a higher power completely and focus solely on tangible actions that can be taken to improve your recovery. Some of it is more related to mentality and thinking, but it is all down-to-earth and simple. Nothing involves any type of belief in anything that can't be seen, heard, or touched.The book I wrote outlines specifically how to work these steps and is currently available here on Amazon. I've listed The Practical 12 Steps below so you can take a gander at what the book delves more deeply into. These steps are all designed to address the same basic areas of self-improvement that are addressed with the original 12 steps. The main difference is that God is not only removed, but substituted with something that is meant to focus more on the core goal of the step. It's easy to re-write the steps without God, but that leaves some things missing. This version attempts to fill in any voids left. For example, if we get rid of the concept of turning our life over to God in step three, what else will give us that sense of freedom and relief? The answer is a profound understanding that we can't control everything and that our focus should be only on what we can control, which is our actions.Feel free to email me if you're interested in learning more about the steps or have any questions.