12 steps of aa: steps 4 and 5

We are going through a brief synopsis of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.  If you missed the previous posts on this series, you can catch up here:

step 1

step 2

step 3

step 4

We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

You must write the biting commentary of your life.  To know oneself.  You must take stock.

To painstakingly detail your wrongs.  Your flaws.  Your faults.

You need to write these down.  You need to start small and then grow them bigger.  Start with your day and then branch out to the past.   Success will only come from brutal honesty.  Fearless.

The purpose of this is not for you to wallow in self pity.  But to come out of denial, to understand your past and your present, so that you can survive to see a future.   You will be surprised at the relief you will have when finished with this step.

What kind of person do you seek to be?  Honest?  Upright?  Someone that others can count on? Hardworking?  Comical?  Joyful?

To get where you are going, it’s best to know where you are.

Get it out, write it down, and be done with it.  Start now.

step 5

We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Now that you have taken inventory and admitted your faults to yourself, It is time to turn them over to God.  Don’t hold back.  It’s time to be free of these things.

But you aren’t done yet.  You must now share with someone else.  Someone you trust. Normally this will be your sponsor.

So to make this simple-

step 4: write it down

step 5: get it out

Now, it’s time to heal.