The AA Promises Explained: Full Text and What Each One Means

The AA Promises are a passage on changes in attitude, in relationships and in spiritual life in Alcoholics Anonymous (often referred to as the Big Book). The full text is available on the AA Promises page on the AA website. The following is an explanation of the content in plain English.

You may have heard this passage at a meeting and noticed that its confident tone doesn’t always match your own experience. Some parts might feel familiar, while others seem strange. It’s normal to have both reactions and to be honest about how you feel.

This article shares the original reading without any editorial comments or reflection questions. It also includes two published stories from long-term members, using their original names.

Where can you find the full text of the AA Promises?

The passage is on printed pages 83-84 of the Big Book, chapter 6 ‘Into Action’. If you open up the official AA chapter PDF then you’ll find it on those printed page numbers (the PDF page count is different).

You can find the full passage in AA’s linked FAQ above. This page and its printable version offer explanations and prompts instead of the full text.

The phrase “a new freedom and a new happiness” sums up the tone of the passage. It’s important to read the whole chapter for context, rather than focusing on just one sentence or graphic.

If you want broader definitions, our guide to sobriety and recovery explains how people use those terms in different ways.

Are the AA Promises an official numbered list?

AA’s FAQ explains that the Big Book doesn’t have a formal list of promises. The well-known passage is written in plain prose. The twelve-point structure below is just to help with reading; the numbers aren’t in the original book.

This helps explain why different handouts might split the sentences in various ways. When comparing versions, check the official text instead of assuming the numbered one is the final version.

What does each of the twelve promises mean?

These are paraphrased summaries, followed by the original discussion questions. They do not replace AA’s wording, predict your recovery, or serve as a checklist.

Reading theme	Plain-language meaning	A question to explore
1. Freedom and happiness	Life may feel less confined and more satisfying.	Where would I like more room to choose?
2. Your relationship with the past	The past can be acknowledged without continual regret or denial.	What can I discuss honestly with someone trustworthy?
3. Understanding serenity	Serenity becomes something understood through experience.	What does steadiness mean to me today?
4. Experiencing peace	A sense of peace becomes possible.	What does a manageable afternoon look like for me?
5. Experience that helps others	Difficult experience can become useful to another person.	What could I share without exposing more than I want?
6. Feeling useful	A sense of worth and purpose can replace discouragement.	Which contribution feels realistic this week?
7. Interest in others	Attention extends beyond personal concerns toward other people.	Whom would I like to listen to?
8. Less self-serving behavior	Decisions become less driven by personal advantage.	Can I help without expecting recognition?
9. A changed outlook	Your perspective on life can shift.	Am I responding differently to anything lately?
10. Fear about people and money	Social and financial fears lose their hold.	What support would help with a specific worry?
11. Handling difficult situations	Previously confusing situations become easier to navigate.	What question can I ask before deciding?
12. Help beyond oneself	Change is understood through a relationship with God.	How do I respond to the spiritual language?

This version separates out the concept of understanding serenity from the concept of experiencing peace (though they are of course in the same sentence in the original). Other versions may well present the wording in a different way. Use the actual reading in conjunction with any summary. The closing assertion is that contentment is the result of ongoing effort.

How do you reflect without turning the reading into a scorecard?

Pick one row that strikes you. Make a specific observation, a question or a point of disagreement. You don’t need to assign yourself a mark or decide whether your entire life fits the description.

A reflection on purpose might be as simple as making a cup of coffee, helping with transport or simply keeping an appointment. Does it matter to you? Do you have the time and the energy to do it? More activity is not necessarily the better answer.

The bits on the past and helping others also need to be handled with care. You can talk about an experience without giving any identifying details, turn it into a public story and take no responsibility for anyone else’s recovery. Be very deliberate about the context and the person you’re talking to.

Why are they called the 9th Step Promises?

The passage is in the section on making amends, prior to the move into Step Ten. That’s why it’s referred to as the ‘9th Step Promises’ page. It’s a page reference in a chapter, a reading reference, not a 9 month or 90 day timetable.

As to the wording of Step Nine itself, go to AA’s official Twelve Steps. Read the warning about causing harm in conjunction with the amends section. This article doesn’t tell you who to contact, what to say or when to have the amends conversation.

If the question is one of safety, abuse, legal duties or someone else’s boundaries then you should seek proper advice rather than acting on the basis of a brief online summary. Just reading about amends doesn’t in any way create an obligation to put yourself or someone else at risk.

What do the long term members have to say about these themes?

These are summaries of first person accounts that were previously published, not interviews conducted as part of Recovery Rumble. The sober time reported is that of the date of the original publication, not extended to the present day.

Joyce C.: service and a renewed sense of purpose

In the Woodbridge District 28 newsletter for August 2024 Joyce C. wrote that she got sober in August 2000 and was approaching her 24th anniversary.

She was told she was worthy of what AA had to offer and found purpose through service. “I’ve been doing service in AA ever since” was her succinct way of putting it. She also spoke of being grateful and at peace at the end of the day.

Her account is just one person’s take on belonging and contribution. It doesn’t establish a result that every reader is going to get or a timeline for getting it.

John P.: an ordinary contribution within difficult circumstances

In the AA Winter 2021 Sharing From Behind The Walls newsletter John P. (Eastern Canada) reported 26 years clean.

He spoke of his involvement in the AA group at his facility and mentioned that he was the one who made the coffee for the group. He said he really liked that role and wanted his own Big Book as he took sobriety very seriously.

His letter talks in very concrete terms about service without in any way presenting the recovery of service as the erasure of all the hardship. Making coffee is a perfectly valid contribution, the difficult circumstances of his life are very much part of the story.

Keep those examples at their proper scale (two people’s published experiences). You can find something useful in them without your own story having to be any similar at all.

Do you have to believe in God to read the Promises?

The passage is full of explicitly spiritual language. A proper explanation would recognise that as language and not just quietly substitute it with some kind of claim about willpower or psychology.

You can read it and pick up where you feel a connection, where you feel uncertainty and where you feel disagreement. A very useful discussion question is simply ‘what do I want to understand better?’ You don’t have to come up with a very refined spiritual account of yourself to pose that question.

AA publish ‘Many Paths to Spirituality‘ which sets out the members’ own experiences from a variety of religious and non-religious viewpoints. For AA’s own take on the matter, see that resource rather than regard this article as an authoritative statement of belief.

If you’re looking at groups then our guide to finding recovery support will help you get started. Always ask a group you’re considering about their approach and how they meet.

When do the AA Promises happen?

The passage talks about differing rates of change rather than any calendar deadline. It doesn’t state that you have to experience every theme in a certain number of days.

Don’t use someone else’s anniversary as your deadline. If you’re concerned about ongoing distress, money, housing or a relationship then simply describe the problem and get the appropriate help. A reading on financial fear won’t pay the bill; a reading on peace won’t assess your mental health.

You can put a very specific question to a sponsor, a trusted person or a qualified person depending on the issue. For instance you could ask about something that’s happened this week and what sort of support you require rather than asking whether you’re sufficiently grateful or spiritually advanced.

Is there an AA Promises PDF to print?

There are two different resources here:

• The original reading: use AA’s chapter PDF linked above and go to printed pages 83–84. Follow AA’s guidance for personal use of its literature.
• The companion guide: download our two-page reflection PDF, with a paraphrased overview, questions, and writing space. It is an independent editorial resource, not an AA publication or a full-text reprint.

Use the worksheet to pick one theme, note something specific and then write a question for a conversation. You can leave any prompt blank. If the exercise makes you feel judged then just put that to someone you trust.

What if the promises don’t actually match how you feel?

You don’t need to pretend they do. Just say which part feels remote and tell them what’s going on in your life. That gives them far more to respond to than a verdict that you’re doing it all wrong.

For words to mark a significant or meaningful date, we have our sobriety quotes and milestone messages to draw on (you can of course adapt them). Neither a quote nor a worksheet in any way replaces the need for professional assessment or care when that’s what you actually need.

U.S. treatment information and referrals: SAMHSA’s National Helpline is 1-800-662-HELP (4357). It provides free, confidential, 24/7 treatment-referral and information services in English and Spanish, as confirmed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is not an emergency service. In immediate danger, contact local emergency services; outside the U.S., use an appropriate local resource.

Bring the question you actually have to the next conversation. You can read a hopeful passage and still be perfectly honest about having had a tough day.

Sources

• Alcoholics Anonymous: What are “The Promises”?. Full official reading and clarification that the Big Book contains no formal list.
• https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdfAlcoholics Anonymous, chapter 6, “Into Action”, printed pages 83–84. Original context and passage; the numbered table is an editorial aid.
• Alcoholics Anonymous: The Twelve Steps. Step Nine context and its safeguard concerning harm.
• Alcoholics Anonymous: Many Paths to Spirituality. Members’ varied perspectives on belief.
• Woodbridge District 28 newsletter, August 2024, page 1. Joyce C.’s published account, approaching twenty-four years sober.
• AA General Service Office: Sharing From Behind the Walls, Winter 2021, page 1. John P.’s published account, reporting twenty-six years sober.
• HHS Office of Population Affairs: Mental Health Resources. SAMHSA helpline details.