“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
Step 5 is the act of giving away our Fourth Step inventory. This step is a giant step on the road to integrity, a practice of being the same person on the outside as we are on the inside.
For some of us, the sharing of our Step 4 inventory has been a process that we have delayed due to fear or procrastination.
Congratulations on getting to this stage of the Steps where it’s time to share your inventory with your sponsor.
We feel there isn’t just one way to do this, however.
As it says in Step Into Action:
“For us, Step Five became a giant step on the road to integrity…Some of us are directed to share our inventory first with our Higher Power, in prayer, at a place we consider sacred. This might be a house of worship, meeting place, meditation room, or outside in nature where we feel we could meet the God of our understanding. Next we take time to review the inventory again with ourselves. Finally, we schedule a lengthy, open-ended time to meet and share with our sponsor or other person we have chosen. Others of us share our inventory only once, with another person.” (p. 77, 86)
Whether you read all the suggested readings first and then schedule your Step 4 reading or schedule the inventory first is up to you and your sponsor.
Reading Assignment:
The White Book, p. 111-112
Writing Assignment: