STEP FOUR

[krafty]

"Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. "





Step Four was a daring look deep into the mirror, writing down what we saw. The purpose of the exercise was to let us recognize and sort through the chaos of our lives. By taking an inventory we got a clear picture of the disorganization and unmanageability that had held us captive in our addiction.



Our inventory also included our good qualities, our assets, which, when we first stopped smoking were almost impossible for use to see.

The word "inventory" comes from a Latin word which means to come upon or discover. Among the definitions of "moral" is one which means to make the distinction between right and wrong in conduct.

These literal definitions were good guidelines to keep in mind while doing the step. By means of the look in the mirror we attempted to discover what behavior and attitudes worked and what did not work in the way conducted our lives.

According to the language of Step Four, our moral inventory was to be "fearless." Yet, most of us were afraid as we stood on the threshold of this step because of the negativism that filled our lives. We were deeply frightened of taking the hard look ourselves that was called for the by the Fourth Step. We knew our selves as bad people, as failures, as losers, and imposters and we really did not want to look all of that in the face.

But we were on the way to being done with those self-destructive notions. Reflecting back over Steps One, Two and three, we realized that we had the positive energy and guidance of a Higher Power to help us take a hard look. And we recalled we were no longer alone.



We heard others in Nicotine Anonymous share their experiences with the Fourth Step and learned they discovered they were not as wretched as they had feared. Trusting in the experience of others and, with



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This material came from “Nicotine Anonymous: The Book”