JeffreyAK

Taking whatever the word is supposed to mean in AA out of it, "amends" means compensations for loss or injury. In my experience, I cannot compensate for injuries I caused as a drunk (for me, mostly hurt feelings and disappointment, to varying degrees with different people) except by not doing them any more, and continuing to not do them in the future. So, amends follow from not drinking any more, and trying to live an honest and honorable life consistent with who I am, not who the alcoholic me was.

That doesn't mean I didn't feel bad about some of the things I did, but that was true even for people who seemed to really forgive me, and so it was really my own internal issue, "grandiose thinking" as Fly N Buy phrased it. My own ego. It faded for me over time, but a big part of helping it fade was staying involved in recovery world and trying to help other folks who were in the same place I had been. And, of course, continuing to not drink.