Step Five

Admitting our wrongs to a higher power and ourselves is one thing. To actually tell the exact nature of our wrongs to another person can be frightening. After years of keeping secrets and hiding our shortcomings, openly admitting them -out loud - to another human being is a drastic turnaround.

Once we have the “integrity” to become honest with God and ourself, being completely honest with another human being becomes easier. Perhaps more than any other, step 5 offers an opportunity to begin to grow up spiritually. It allows us an opportunity to unload the burdens of the past and be free of them.

Rather than looking at this activity fearfully, we see it as an opportunity to free our conscience. We can now associate this step with freedom and a new sense of peace.

When we share our deepest secrets with a sponsor, they will usually reveal some of theirs. And we will see that we are more alike than we are different.

Working step five taxes the brain's frontal cortex. Efforts to follow this type of activity exercise the part of the brain responsible for our willpower. This contributes to our overall recovery.