Fourth Step Guide Program Theory Alcoholics Anonymous Cleveland

He seemed to think I did it all wrong, and I suppose technically he was right. After all, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the book does suggest that we list our fears and ask ourselves why we have them.

• Therefore, thoroughness ought to be the watchword when taking inventory.
• AA understands that this can be a difficult process, and many AA groups offer workbooks to help members work through this step.
• Nearly every Alcoholic Anonymous participant will agree—that takes unusual courage and uncommon humility.
• You need to be able to write and feel in an unfiltered manner and not hold anything back.
• This helps you learn more about the severity of your substance abuse.
• Step Four provided me not only with some insight into who I was, but it also gave me some understanding and forgiveness of others.

However, that can define spiritual growth, harmony within ourselves, and, most importantly, lasting sobriety. So move through the fear and do a moral thorough inventory of yourself anyways. Your future self will thank you for taking the courageous steps toward emotional well-being. While this may seem daunting, releasing these secrets has proven to be quite healing for the user. Keeping secrets to ourselves, however, proves to destroy a person’s mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. That is why taking a thorough moral inventory in Step 4 can be essential to producing lasting sobriety. Working Step Four means examining how your own thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behaviors have made you an active participant in your own addiction.

What Does “Make a Searching and Fearless Moral Inventory” Mean?

This does not necessarily include the negative mental or emotional impulses that cause you to drink, but the thoughts you harbor that cause detrimental emotional or mental experiences from the past to the present. Usually, resentments are oriented towards a person, object, place, or thing and, in this sense, having a specific list via pen and paper is essential for listing these items. No doubt it’s going to take courage to take a good hard look at yourself, but on the other side of that self-examination will be the ability to release your past and move forward into a happier, sober life. All of the AA steps after Step 4 are dependent upon approaching Step 4 with the intention of truly interrogating your character and behaviors. It’s important to note that some people will try to avoid writing their moral inventory, feeling embarrassed or fearful about their writing ability or even about someone else reading what they wrote. Until you put it in a tangible form, you still haven’t done your Fourth Step. If there are things that you think are so “bad” that you just can’t include them in your Step Four inventory, you are not alone.

Admit to God, to yourself, and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongs. As well as other groups like Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, and other drug-related or addiction-related groups (shopping, eating, etc.) that have adopted these principles themselves.

The Process of AA Step 4

Make a list of the ways fear or anger has taken over your actions. The only thing I can say that has really helped was obtaining the questions to the step on the internet. The online 4th Step Guide is of course just a suggested guide that is intended to be helpful to those doing an inventory. It is not intended to be shared with anyone, it is for “your eyes only,” according to the directions. There are tools available to help in the 4th step process. There is a 4th Step Guide available online for all 12-step members.

Step Four – “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” In working the 12 Steps, there is what is alcoholics anonymous a certain amount of uncertainty and fear that you can feel when you encounter each step for the first time.

Residential Treatment – Extended Care

It was Step Four that helped me find my way out of the fog and haze of alcoholism, and gave me enough clarity to at least make a beginning in understanding the truth about myself. Many thoughts will race through your head as you approach the time that you need to approach the Fourth Step of AA.