STEP FOUR IN NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS

1 WORKING step four IN NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS World Service Conference Literature Committee Approval literature fr.,. wc:.r. 'AA I. P. No. A-10 lltis is a mcxlel of whac a thorough Fourtl1 step inventory might b e. While we strive cowards thoroughness, we may find, especially in our firs t aucmpc, chal we are nm able co answer all of these questio ns. In fact, many of us may feel over-w helmed, buc w e do no t lee Lhis deter us from being as 'thorough as we can possibly b e. Copyright 1987 by World Service Office, Inc. P;Q. Dox 9999 Va n Nuys, Califontia 91409 All rights reserve d \VORKING step four IN NARCOTICS ANONThlOUS "lVe nwde a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

2 " 'fhis guide is intended to be used as an aid ro writing a fourth step inventory. It is extremely ilnponant that \Ve work with an sj1onsor. If you don't have one yet, this is a good time to find one who can help guide you through these steps. After reading through this guide on your own, we suggest you read it again with your sponsor before beginning t11e Fourth step . It is also very helpful to use other literanue and step meetings to gain more infonnation about tJ1e Fourth step . 'fhere are many n1~thods of writing inventories, and no one way is right for everyone. This guide represents the experiences, strengths, ~nd hopes of many addicts who have found recovery in NARCOTICS Anonyrnous.

3 Regardless 9f the method, OU~ Fourth step will be successful if we are searching and fearless . and fearless .. step four calls on us to be searching and fearless . We are asked to look carefully at ourselves and to get beneath the seJf-deceptions we have used up to now to hide the. tnith from ourselves. We search within, as if entering a dark house with a sin g l e c~ndle to guide u s _ \Ve move :lhe:ld, despite onr fear or resistance to tJ1e unknown. \Ve need to be willing to illun1jnate eve1y comer of every roon1 of our nlinds as if our lives depend on it, because they do. 1 What \\'e arc searching for here is a complete and total picture of ourselves.

4 We have found that this re-quires honesty-honesty to ex~unine our behaviors, feelings, thoughL.:;, and n1otives, regardless of how u1tin1portant they n1ay appear. Our self-honesty is n1os t iinportant since it "vill lead us to discover how our disease has affected our lives. We have operated w ith a distorte d self-in1agc, never fully looking at the \\1hole picture all at once. Now, p ossibly fo r the first time in our lives, we will begin to sec ourselves as we really are, rather than as we in1agined or fcmtasized. 111e n1ore accurate and con1plete this picture is, the 1nore freedom we .f 'vill gain. ' . At this point we n eed to en1phasizc that being thorough is not the same as being perfect.

5 111:..:re aren't any perfect fourth Steps. We do the best we -ctm to be as thorough as possible. With diligence and perseverance , we .write as honestly as we can. Expecting p e rfection fron1 ourselves can son1etiJnes be a \.vay of putting off writing our f ounh step . We may also have heard people say "If you don't d o a thorough inventory, you'll use again." But here we have to go back to our Third Ste p and trust God wid1out any reservations. If we focus on our fear that our invento1y won't b e good enough, or worry about what our sponsor will say \vhen we share it, we 1nay never get going. lnis won't be the las t inventory we '\vrite.

6 It's not neccss'uy to write a best-selling novel; it's only necessaiy to rnake an honest beginning and be as thorough as we can be. One of the things w e learned in the Third step was to tn1s t God. Now we can be fearless and write the truth. This Fourth Ste p is a .freeing process as well as a healing one . We put our faitl1 in a loving God and trust that whatever we write w ill be exactly what .. vve're supposed to write if we are truly searching and fearless . 2 .. Afo ra l bzvento1y .. In step four we are asked to take a n zoral invento1y. \Vh e n we first heard the word moral, some o f us had rnisc o nceplions of what tha t n1eant, w hile o thers h ad no unde rswoding at all.

7 Morals are sin1ply va lues, the principles that we c hoose to live by to d ay in ecovery. I t is no t the purpose of this gu id e to d e fine 1no rality no r to define a set of mo r als that others sho uld li ve by. \Ve recognize that each of us p ossesses our ow n internal valu es. We may c hoose to de fine good as that w hich has the po~rer to bring out the best in us and affirm our r ec overy and bad as that w hi ch h as the power to bring out rhe worst in us and works against our recovery. L00king at our feelings c an be very _helpful here too. In w riting our fourth Ste p , we will need to take a look, no t only at what we did, but also at how w e felt.

8 Our m o rals may h iive been vague o r unde fined , but even in o u r active addictio n we had the m. In sin1atio ns where we felt b ad, o r felt that something was w r o ng, it was n1ost likel y because we con1promised our m o rals or Y\re r e unable to upho ld then1. w h en we can1e to chat unde rs tanding, we saw how the step s fit together. We began to see tbe exact nature of our w r ongs. ' flla t meant n1o r e than just tlle w roi1g things we did. It rneant looking beneath the wro ng thing we did, to the nature of that _w rong. for ex an1ple, if we sto le 1noney frorn our parents to buy drugs, that was a wr o ng.

9 \Xlh at was rhe nature of tha t w ro ng? The nature o f that w ro ng our self-centeredness, our fear, our dis h o nesty an d unkindness. \Ve were self-c ente red in that we want:ed what we wanted at anothe r p ersori's exp ense. \Ve wer e fearful that we ' c get what we wanted. We wer e disho nest in that we rook 1no ney w ithout the othe r person's knowledge or pennissio n. We were unkind in tha t we did som erhing rh~r hurt ~nothec hun1an being. 3 .. 0 f 0 urselves . It is i111porta11t to 1re1nen1ber that this is our inve ntory. It is not a place to list the faults or 'vrongdoings of others. When we look at our lives in this way, we sec that the nature of our wrongs, our character defects, are the characteristics in our lives that ai~e in opposition to spiritual principles.

10 Our inventory, then, is a process of discovering how our character defects bring not only us, but also others, pain and discomfort ,.and how our new life, founded on the Twelve Steps, is one that can brir~g us serenity, contfort, and joy. Out of the Fourth step we discover those tltlngs d1at get iri our way and those things that work for us. GENERAL GUIDELINES When '~'e are ready to begin, we ask God to help us to be searching and fearless in this inventory. Some of us even write a prayer. at the beginning of our jnvcntory. 111e import~1t point is that we sit down and start writing. As feelings surface we rnust be willing to face the1n and keep writing.