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“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” — Alcoholics Anonymous (1939) · Chapter 5 · How It Works

Step Four as printed in Chapter 5 — which then spends pages showing exactly how: resentments, fears, and harms, written down.

A business that never takes inventory goes broke without knowing why. “Searching and fearless” doesn’t mean brutal — half of a real inventory is assets, and skipping those is just fear wearing humility’s coat. The page can hold what your head can’t: written down, the monsters get exact sizes. Most turn out smaller than they sounded at 3 a.m.

Quote from the 1939 first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (public domain). Reflection original to marylandsober.com. This site is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.