What are the 12 Stages of Serene Empowerment?
The 12 Stages of Serene Empowerment, which is a holistic program for reducing stress and alleviating anxiety, is inspired by the structure of 12 step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous.
The Original Six Steps of AA
The first 12 step program, pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, was originally just 6 steps. These were:
1. We admitted that we were licked, that we were powerless over alcohol.
2. We made a moral inventory of our defects or sins.
3. We confessed or shared our shortcomings with another person in confidence.
4. We made restitution to all those we had harmed by our drinking.
5. We tried to help other alcoholics, with no thought of reward in money or prestige.
6. We prayed to whatever God we thought there was for power to practise these precepts.
These 6 steps were later broken down and expanded into 12 steps.
Although the 12 stages of Serene Empowerment are similar in format to the 12 steps, the content and context are somewhat different.
The first 6 stages of the Serene Empowerment program are about healing our relationship with our self. Stages 7 to 12 concern, amongst other themes, our relationship with others.
Why treat conditions like anxiety and depression as if they are addictions?
We normally define addiction or addictive behaviours as having a compulsive need for a habit-forming substance such as alcohol, nicotine or heroin, for example.
We also may define addiction as having a compulsive need to perform a particular activity such as gambling, online gaming or shopping in order to get some kind of high.
We don’t normally define anxiety as an addiction because it’s not a guilty pleasure or indeed any kind of pleasure at all. It doesn’t bring you to a high and there is no short-lived payoff.
However, we can also define an addiction as something that we just can’t stop doing, no matter how hard we may try. So, if you can’t stop worrying or having anxious thoughts, for example, then in that sense, anxiety can be described as a kind of addiction.
As I said in a previous blog post: Why are negative thoughts and emotions are addictive:
“Just as our body becomes accustomed to the taste and flavour of certain foods and craves more of the same, our body also becomes accustomed to the “taste” and “flavour” of certain thoughts, feelings and moods – even those that we view as being negative.
The body/mind complex can become addicted to certain feelings - pleasurable or painful - and then the cells of the body cry out to be fed with more of that emotion…”
Why is it called 12 stages and not 12 steps?
Steps, States & Stages
Steps are like instructions. They can make up a formula or a recipe. You follow each step and hopefully attain a successful outcome.
A state of mind is usually temporary or fleeting. For example, you can be in a peaceful state of mind for a few days when you’re on holiday or on a retreat. Then when you get back home and have to return to work, you may enter an anxious state of mind which may last until the weekend when you have a couple of days off.
I see stages as being more permanent. A stage can be described as an understanding that you come to embody. It is a continual and ongoing way of being rather than just being a temporary mood or state of mind. The 12 Stages aim to bring about sustainable transformation.
The statements for the 12 Stages are not instructions or steps in the sense of being a recipe for success. The statements are also not really affirmations. They are more like realisations that you move into as you progress with each stage of development.
The titles of each stage are more like Truth Statements. Truth statements can be described as something that we already know to be true or that we are committed to bringing into our experience.
Read the truth statements for the 12 Stages of Serene Empowerment in full.
Why use spiritual methods to deal with stress and anxiety?
The 12 Stage program of Serene Empowerment is not affiliated with any specific religion and it’s not a religious process.
However, it is a spiritual program in the holistic sense. This is spirituality in the sense of having a deep connection with the Natural Source of Our Being, the part of our consciousness that existed before we were born and that will continue to exist after our body has expired.
Just as we have a physical, emotional and mental part of the self, we also have to include our spiritual self as part of who we are. This Essential Original Spiritual Self has never been hurt, never been scared, never been traumatised and can be a reservoir of wisdom and healing when we learn how to connect with it.
Just as we need food to nourish our bodies, we need our spiritual resources to nourish our minds and give us an innate sense of wellbeing.
When we ignore or neglect the spiritual part of ourselves, we’re ignoring the most important part, the part that gives us strength, power, innate wisdom and inner healing.