FIFTH STEP GUIDE

 

“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”

 

The exact nature of our wrongs, when we have fearlessly exposed them, must then be expressed to God, ourselves and another person.  Although we have admitted the exact nature of our wrongs to ourselves and God, the process of clearing away the wreckage of the past is not complete until we have shared these wrongs with another human being.  It is only when we include another person in this healing process that we are able to become aware of our own self-delusion.  The other person, if carefully chosen, will show us where we have not been totally honest in the digging out of our wrongs.  We must be candid, to the best of our ability, with this person and lay out all our wrongs that we are aware of.

 

After completing Step Five, many benefits will be ready for us if we have done a thorough and honest job.  Our ability to remain sober/clean will be increased.  Step Five is part of the footwork that allows the grace of God to enter us and expel the acquired destructive obsessions.  No longer will we feel that terrible sense of isolation.  The willingness to forgive, not ourselves but also other people, will be enhanced.  This healing tranquility will be a greater awareness of the presence of God within our lives.

 

The fifth step should be written since most of us have many wrongs to uncover.  The fact of putting these wrongs in black and white shows us that they are not as big as we had blown them up to be.  Also, we will need a reference from which to tell our story.  The written inventory of the fourth step with the exact nature of our wrongs will help us in making a list of the people we have harmed.

 

1. We must clear our house.

 

2. The following are checks for when we are not living the steps on a daily basis within our lives:  fear, negativity, irritability, anxiety, remorse, depression, accusing our friend of the very defects we are trying to conceal and not living in the now.

 

3. More realism and more honesty about ourselves is gained by admitting the exact nature of our wrongs to another person.

 

4. With the help of God and another person, we can be more certain of the fact that we will not be as self-deceived.

 

5. We must sit down and talk aloud about what we have kept long hidden.

 

6. The exact nature of our wrongs includes:

• the pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them
• certain distressing or humiliating memories
• fearless admission of the acquired defects of character
• awareness of the trouble self-delusion was, and still is, causing us
• using the written inventory, which was done in Step Four, to find these wrongs.

 

7. The benefits of doing an honest Step Four and Five are:  ability to stay clean and sober; sharing of the first accurate self-survey; doing part of the work to allow the grace of God to enter and expel the acquired destructive obsessions; beginning of true kinship with God and man; getting the feeling that we will be forgiven no matter what we did; the ability to truly be able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt that they had wronged us; beginning to experience and grow in humility; healing tranquility; and the beginning of the awareness of the presence of God within our daily lives.
8. At the completion of Step Five, it is suggested that:

• We remain quiet for an hour and carefully review what we have done in working and living Steps One through Five.
• We thank God that we know Him better.
• We carefully reread Steps one through Five and ask ourselves if we have omitted anything.

This is from:   http://peeltheonion.tripod.com/id5.html