MY ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON STEP
FIVE
1. Why is Step Five necessary to sobriety
and peace of mind in recovery?
Step four revealed those experiences I did not want to
remember I know how wrong thinking and wrong actions have hurt others as well
as hurt myself All the steps deflate our egos and for me step five was what I
needed the Ego to be deflated I could not find any real peace of mind if I were
to continue to be the ruler of the universe I had to find the power greater
than myself in order to accept my character defects and short comings given me
peace of mind and freedom from self
2. Is step five considered a confession an
ancient discipline?
When I had to look at my mistakes in step four God had
already known what they were it was no problem talking to God about my mistakes
but to get the real benefit of step five I had to seek out that other human
being to share my assets as well as all my many liabilities to try and do this
on my own I would only be looking at myself thru my own eyes and not much of
the truth would come out I needed a real house cleaning and could only get that
by sharing with another human being I also discovered that relief never come by
confessing the sins of other people I had to confess my own character defects
and short comings
3. Why is a fearless admission of all our
defects important to our sobriety?
For me I needed to find my real flaws in my character and had to
be shown what my shortcomings were and I needed an understanding and
trustworthy person to share them with this person being trustworthy and honest
gave my the insight to go over all my defects and he could point out where I
was being dis-honest with myself I believe God put the right person into my
life when I needed to take this fifth step
4. What do we receive from Step Five?
For me I did get rid of that sense of
isolation loneliness and despair I knew I now belong to a fellowship that truly
loved me and wanted the best of life for me I stopped suffering with the
feeling I didn't quite belong I started to open up to many others sharing my experiences
of losing the fear and loneliness the horrible feeling of guilt and shame I had
the new found faith I now had in my higher power who I chose to call God all
loving and understanding most of all I can now share the hope of a new way of
life to anyone who wants this program
5. Do we learn humility?
Our first practical move toward humility must consist of
recognizing our defects. No defect can be corrected unless we clearly see what
it is. But we shall have to do more than see. The objective look at ourselves
we achieved in Step four was, after all, only a look. All of us saw, for
example, that we lacked honesty and tolerance, that we were beset at times by
attacks of self-pity or delusions of personal grandeur. But while this was a
humiliating experience, it didn't necessarily mean that we had yet acquired
much actual humility. Though now recognized, our defects were still there.
Something had to be done about them. And we soon found that we could not wish
or will them away by ourselves humility was needed to get honest and share with
that other human being
6. Do we gain honesty and realism about
ourselves?
Honesty about others and myself was
the relief I got by doing Step Five. Taken my own inventory I found how much
trouble self-delusion had been causing all my life when I tried to lie to
others as well as lie to myself. Taken this fifth step gave me the feed back
from this other human being as to when I was deceiving he showed me where I was
to look in my defects and how really admitted them, even to myself was going to
relieve Because we were still bothered by fear, self-pity, and hurt feelings,
it was probable we couldn't appraise ourselves fairly at all. Too much guilt
and remorse might cause us to dramatize and exaggerate our shortcomings. Or anger
and hurt pride might be the smoke screen under which we were hiding some of our
defects while we blamed others for them. Possibly, too, we were still
handicapped by many liabilities, great and small we never knew we had.
7. What are the biggest dangers of
rationalization?
The biggest
danger in rationalization is when I go into my own head alone I am in very
dangerous territory I needed to have another person to be with me to get his
thoughts on my inventory going it alone in spiritual matters is dangerous
because we always look for the easy way out doing in alone having a sponsor
helps to be able to sort out the truth from what I thought was the truth in my
own sick mind
8. How do we choose the right person to
confide in for this step?
For me I had a lot of trouble with this at first my sponsor knew almost everything about me but I did hold back on some things I did and had fear of telling about this I told him that and he said when we go on the spiritual retreat why don’t you ask the priest to listen to your fifth step you already have gone over most of it with me its time to get all the garbage out and you will feel save doing it there so that’s how I chose the right person or should a say people to share my fourth step with I did do a complete one with that priest like the step said we need to make a beginning as soon as we can then you can choose someone else for the more difficult and deeper revelations and my choice was the retreat and the priest
9. Are the results of this step true tranquility
and consciousness of God, as we understand Him?
To me it was
the first time I felt completely at peace with myself shortly after that fifth
step I had a true spiritual experience I felt the presents of God enter my life
this was the most wonderful thing I ever felt in my life it was total serenity
absolute peace with in me like God came down and pick me up and held me in His
arms I have felt His presence in my life on other occasions but never like that
first time it was pure love that day
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