grudge list
Red,
The point is to discover and uncover what is defective about my personality. The grudge list (resentment list) is one of those key things, for a couple of reasons.
1) Number one killer
2) Someone said, "Resentment is always a 'justice' issue" but it's usually about what I consider just and unjust about what has happened or is happening to ME.
3) Therefore, Resentment is a manifestation of Self, aka Self Will Run Riot, the root cause of my problem.
Resentments may not be the ONLY manifestation of Self (Ego too large) but they are a biggie.
My experience suggests you will comprehend more as you do, and then when you re-read you will comprehend more of what you have done, which will help you do it more and do it over again, ad infinitum. It's not a one-time shot.
Some people claim that everything you write after your first Step 4 is a Step 10, I think that's a bit too literalist. If it's about some minor incident today, it's Step 10, to me. If it delves into my past, where my minor incident or resentment today is reflected by my patterns in my past, same stuff, then I consider it more like Step 4. I think that's not an important point to bicker about.
My experience was that while writing I saw "oh, THIS is what they mean by 'Self Will Run Riot'" and "oh, THIS is what they mean by 'Ego'" and also "oh, so THIS is what they mean by 'God'", these distinctions were discovered in that writing process. So it became a circular and cyclical process, and not all that rigid, more flow.
Bruce Lee taught something like this. First you punch and kick. Then you learn all kinds of exotic forms ... which are necessary for practice. In the end, it's back to the simplicity of a punch and a kick. Maybe keep that in mind, develop the proficiency of the basics, and take that path where it leads you, not by abandoning the basics but by becoming more proficient and expanding your horizon. I love the basics, AND the more complicated "psycho-babble" so long as it's useful psycho-babble and makes sense in light of the basics, and not misdirection.
Starting with Resentments (and my relationship with people) (and places and things and concepts) and my fears and my sexual relations (terms that God and I feel comfortable with, not necessarily "straight pepper" nor "prude") are the basics, because they reveal "huge chunks" about me to me.