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In this episode I’ll be speaking about number four of the five procedures. The number four procedure is: restitution.

Restitution, of course, at first blush, comprises two of the steps in the 12-step program. Those steps would be steps eight and nine where I make a list of everyone I have harmed in step eight, and then I proceed to go through that list, trying, as best I can, to make amends to those people I harmed. The fact is (I believe) there are three more steps that this word restitution applies to. I’m sure that when I did the fourth and the fifth steps, I could not really avoid including some of the people I had harmed through my drinking. Also, I think when doing the 10th step, continuing in inventory and immediately making things right that I did wrong. I have found over the years that many of the things I discover in step number 10 require making amends some people.

My advice here is to try our best to recognize and deal with whatever wrongs I do, and try to right them before they become a problem. I don’t know about you, but this is something I failed to do, especially before I said “yes” to God. The things that I had been doing wrong, especially where I did wrong people, were allowed to build up within me and form great big ball of guilt and self-loathing. So, I would drink, take anything that might have been important to me, and leave. Thus began another cycle of drinking, running out of resources, detoxing, and probably going to some kind of recovery situation. This was my life, for many years.

Now, I have learned to deal with any of the issues by either not letting them remain within me or dealing with them as soon as they crop up. I cannot afford to allow that ball of guilt and self-loathing to form again.