Step 4 Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves

"A moral inventory can be described as a systematic examination of all the beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and actions that have shaped our lives from our earliest years." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 32
"In taking inventory, we may write about the many ways that these feelings have ruled our lives using specific examples from our experience." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 35
"We may want to write down the things we've done that brought us shame or embarrassment." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 36
Shame keeps us from breaking the secrets and thus, we are stuck (which is why we cannot recover on our own). How has shame kept me from doing the right thing?



What action do I have the most shame about?

"We may also choose to inventory our resentments." "Resentment means holding on to old hurts, anger, and grudges." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 34
How have I misused anger by raging, holding resentments, denying my anger, or using that anger to cross boundaries onto other people?

"When examining loneliness, we may write about the ways in which we have isolated ourselves." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 36
How have I used loneliness to drive me to seek out someone to act out with? Do I have fear of intimacy? How have I used the illusion of sex or pictures to hide my need for relationships?

"In the case of fear, we may write about times in which we risked our lives, health, careers, or relationships, while denying that we were in danger." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 35
How have I risked much while in my addiction?



Fear keeps us from taking the right actions. How has fear kept me from taking the correct actions for my life?

".. listing the ways we've abused our bodies, our emotions, and our spirits. We look at how we have neglected our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 36
How have I hurt myself or neglected my needs? How has that neglect added to my addiction?

"A moral inventory would not be complete without some acknowledgement of our positive aspects." Sex Addicts Anonymous pg 36
How have I acted with courage, caring, love, self giving, self caring, faith, correct anger, heading proper fear, and gratitude?