Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step Four is the vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what the liabilities in each of us have been, and are. I want to find exactly how, when, and where my natural desires have warped me. I wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and myself. By discovering what my emotional deformities are, I can move toward their correction. Without a willing and persistent effort to do this, there can be little sobriety or contentment for me.

To resolve ambivalent feelings, I need to feel a strong and helpful sense of myself. Such an awareness doesn’t happen overnight, and no one’s self–awareness is permanent. Everyone has the capacity for growth, and for self–awareness, through an honest encounter with reality. When I don’t avoid issues but meet them directly, always trying to resolve them, they become fewer and fewer.