Step Five, Week One: May 1st, 2024

This week’s reading assignment:

Yellow workbook pages 184-187, the Appendix titled “Hearing a Fifth Step” OR BRB pages 631 – 636

Red Book pages 108-111, the heading titled “Inventory Steps and Realizing Generational Abuse”

Yellow workbook pages 106-111, through the section titled “Reparenting Ourselves”

Red Book pages 295-302, through the section titled “Loving Parent,” and pages 326-327, “What We Can Expect From Reparenting Ourselves”

Recommended weekly reading:

“The Laundry List” or “The Problem,” “The Solution,” and “The Promises” on pages 587-591 of the Red Book or in the first several pages of the yellow workbook;

“The Twelve Steps” on pages 91-92 of the Red Book (also on pages 1-2 of the workbook); and

“The Twelve Traditions” on page 592 of the Red Book

Tradition Five (the tradition for the month of May) in depth starting on page 513 of the BRB

Suggested supplemental reading:

Melody Beattie, “Codependents’ Guide To The Twelve Steps,” pages 83-91 of the Step Five chapter, through the heading titled “Admitted To God And To Ourselves.” See ACAWSO’s Literature Policy: “It has always been accepted that ACA should remain eclectic in choosing literature. That is, ACA meetings may draw from various sources without censorship.”

This week’s step study questions are adapted from the yellow workbook, Red Book Chapter 8, and from “Codependents’ Guide” with Melody Beattie’s permission:

1. Have you taken a formal Fifth Step? If so, what was the impact of that on your life and your feelings about yourself? If not, what steps have you taken to prepare for completing your Fifth Step? (Copyrighted by Melody Beattie, “Codependents’ Guide to the Twelve Steps.”)
2. How did you (or will you) balance complete honesty with fairness and compassion for yourself in completing your Fifth Step? (Adapted from ACAWSO’s yellow workbook.)
3. How did completing your Fifth Step break your family’s dysfunctional “don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel” rules? What did you learn about trust in the process of completing your Fifth Step? Which of your family’s dysfunctional messages about trust did you unlearn while completing your Fifth Step? What impact has that had on you and your life today? (Copyrighted by Adult Children of Alcoholics World Service Organization.)
4. Are you in the habit of sharing yourself ~ who you are ~ with other people? When was the last time you called someone because you needed to talk about something? Do you talk to people about what you’re going through when you’re going through it, or do you wait until you’ve resolved the incident yourself, then report it after the fact? (Copyrighted by Melody Beattie, “Codependents’ Guide to the Twelve Steps.”)
5. What are five traits of a Loving Parent? Name a way you can meet your Loving Parent.

© Adult Children of Alcoholics World Service Organization

Deep Dive questions:

A. What risks did I take to complete Step Five?

B. What walls have I built to hide the person I am from others?

C. How does honestly sharing the secrets of my past help me to recover from the emotional damage I endured?

© Al-Anon’s Reaching for Personal Freedom Workbook