Step 4 of AA: Make a Moral Inventory Of Yourself

Step 3 of Alcoholics Anonymous removes the stigma of surrendering control over your life within addiction. Instead, you invite a higher power to guide you to a healthier place, with people who are meant to support you along the way. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a twelve-step program and community-based support group that can help you recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership in AA is a desire to remain clean and sober. Some people may find this step harder than others, and that’s okay.

Surrendering to another’s care allows you to trust that loving hands guide you toward a sober life. In fact, this decision is maybe the most independent expression of free will you’ve made throughout your struggle with alcohol. Instead of the addiction making your decisions for you, you are choosing this path for yourself. A common misconception about AA Step 4 is that this step is meant to tear you down and make you feel bad about yourself and your past. Writing down a moral inventory is intended for you to confront the issues you’ve been avoiding so that you can then let them go and move on.

Your higher power is there to support you, but you are doing the work. Step seven is important because it requires you to actively participate in your recovery and be responsible for the things you do. You’ve changed and you continue to change, but it https://rehabliving.net/ happens slowly. But as you grow more aware and take action, they do fade away. If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at Now you need to make amends to others so that you can start fresh with them as well.

It’s not a competition or a race—you will complete Step 4 when you are ready, and sometimes, that readiness doesn’t come easily. Regardless, it’s important not to rush through AA Step 4 because doing a thorough job on Step 4 will set you up for success throughout the rest of the steps. To find out, it’s important to carefully explore the principles of AA. For Wilson and Smith, surrendering to a ‘higher power’ was an integral part of their plan’s development.

1. The Oxford Group had a broad focus and was designed to help people overcome their problems by confronting their fear and selfishness.
2. You don’t have to pay any fees or meet any qualifications to join—all you have to do is show up.
3. Perhaps the biggest misconception of Step 3 is that you must believe in a Christian God to practice it.
4. By 1950, the organization could boast of having helped 500,000 people overcome their dependence on alcohol.

Today, some critics of the program find that aspect of AA problematic, arguing that self-empowerment is an effective way to manage addiction and achieve lasting recovery. We do not receive any commission or fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a caller chooses. Many AA members work with a sponsor who can guide them through putting the 12 Steps into practice. Sponsors have typically gone through the recovery program themselves and can lend firsthand insight and support. Indeed, members may wish or find the need to revisit the 12 Steps throughout their sustained recovery—rather than a one-time process, they simply become tenets of everyday life. Often, one of the hardest parts of taking control over alcohol addiction is knowing where to begin or how to move through the recovery process.

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ASL – Step Five

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. Step 4 of AA lays the groundwork for the rest of the steps because without identifying your moral defects, you can’t begin to admit them to others, rid yourself of these shortcomings, and make amends with those you’ve harmed. All of the AA steps after Step 4 are dependent upon approaching Step 4 with the intention of truly interrogating your character and behaviors. The first part of step seven is asking for the removal of your defects of character, but that’s just the beginning. You must also be aware of what you’re doing and make different choices based on your moral inventory. Like the two previous steps, AA’s Step 3 is meant to help alcoholics realize they don’t have control over their drinking.

Step seven gives you an opportunity to exercise your newfound freedom from addiction. You develop your assets, live without your defects, and make new choices that allow you to live soberly. Step 11 is about moving forward without losing track of a higher power. The continued awareness this demands makes it easy to pair the step with its accompanying principle. You can practice integrity in your recovery by talking through everything that you feel guilty about and your mistakes. The main text of Alcoholics Anonymous, or “The Big Book” as AA members call it, goes step by step through 12 distinct phases, each crucial in achieving sustainable recovery from addiction.

Sponsorship

You can find a local meeting using the directory—simply choose your state and city to connect with a group near you. The only thing Alcoholics Anonymous requires to attend a meeting is the desire to stop drinking—nothing more, nothing less. While AA is faith-based and the original language of the 12 Steps refers to God, many chapters instead ground their programs in the broader concept of a “higher power” to help them move through their recovery. Members are free to choose for themselves what their higher power is. You can attend meetings, or you can attend meetings and getinvolved with helping out, such as by sponsoring, sharing experiences, taking on 2month service positions, etc. Don’t let anxiety about speaking in front of a group ofstrangers deter you.

The 12 Steps of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous)

By 1939 and the publication of The Big Book, Wilson and Smith revised their principles, expanding them to reflect their work and its progress. AA is, of course, heavily focused on principles of Christianity, but many of today’s groups have modernized the tenets to reflect a more diverse audience. Even so, the 12 Principles of AA have remained its central guiding influence. Many people suffering from alcoholism continue to find success in recovery by participating in AA’s program. Rehabs that offer 12 step facilitation offer a powerful toolfor long term recovery – an introduction to the power of community-basedsupport. Research shows that people who get introduced to the 12 steps intreatment attend more meetings post treatment and have better overall outcomes.

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. You may crack withdrawal timeline have heard some myths about AA like you have to be religious or you’re required to get a sponsor, and these are fundamentally untrue.

Finding an Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

Walking into your first AA meeting takes a lotof courage, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately, a little foreknowledge can ease your anxiety. Read afew of the 9 short articles below (pick and choose those that interest you) andyou’ll feel better about taking that first important step that precedes all the others– walking into a meeting for the first time. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. BetterHelp offers affordable mental health care via phone, video, or live-chat. In step 4, you made a catalog of your past, and in step 6, you admitted them and released yourself from the guilt and shame.

The Big Book also outlines the 12 AA principles, which are single words encompassing the virtues needed to pass each step. The Oxford Group had a broad focus and was designed to help people overcome their problems by confronting their fear and selfishness. Ultimately, Wilson broke away from the group to develop an organization specifically formed to contend with alcoholism, a problem rampant during his era and one that continues to plague millions in the U.S. and abroad. The 12 Steps of AA are designed to be completed in order, but there’s no timeline by which all 12 must be finished. Some AA members find they need or want to stay on one step longer than another; others may need to pause between steps to before being ready to move onto the next.