The inventory phase many times is met with fear
We are only as sick as our secrets. When we keep something bottled up inside our heads, we are as sick or sicker than the memory. It rolls around the head bumping into and then crushing all other thoughts that may be considered. To discover just what they are, we need to take an inventory of ourselves.
Enter the 4th Step. So many enter the inventory phase of the Program with fear and avoid doing it altogether. If they continue in the Program and have even memorized large portions of the Big Book and talk a great program, they are not sober. They are DRY. When a grocery store takes an inventory, do you believe that they just wish to count the fresh meat and vegetables? No, they need to list it ALL, old meat, dented cans, and all. What’s next?
Enter Step 5. Now that we have written down all about ourselves, the good, the bad, and the ugly, we have to give this list a decent burial. We do this by sharing our inventory with God, ourselves, and another human being. Why tell someone else you may wonder? Because, then, they are no longer our secrets and we no longer have to bear the burden of them all wrapped up in our heads.
These secrets are like telephone poles. If a pole is laying on the ground, I could not move it at all. Too big and heavy! If a group of us grabbed onto it, we could carry it as far as needed. My catalog of secrets is my mental telephone poles. Alone, they just lay there hindering any and all that wish to move around there. When I share it with another, the weight is cut in half.
Now comes Step 10. By this time, we are beginning to feel and do a lot better with life. I no longer need to even think of doing another 4th Step. If things come up now, AFTER doing a proper 4th and 5th Step earlier in my program, I simply take care of it RIGHT NOW! Even if it is something that maybe happened before my 4th Step. Just do it NOW, and all will be well.
Once again, this is a very simple program for very complicated folks. So, stop trying to complicate things and just continually try to do the next right thing. “Ya, but what will that get me?” How does peace and serenity sound to you? Thank you, God
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