step 4 difference? difference in general
I was in AA for 16 years. I did step 4 in an AWOL , a faster way of doing it.. and i was past of a big book step study group.. I was involved in another fellowship that my sponsor did steps out of the big book. I did a step 4 with him as well. At 16.5 years i went to an NA meeting and heard a clear message of NA recovery. I have recently completed the 4th step out of the step working guide. just as a little back ground
that being said.. in the beginning of the book. it says the only way to do the steps is alone.. and so.. i do NOT recommend just getting the step working guide and looking thru it.. I know people who have relapsed by doing this. you really should go thru it with a qualified person.
my experience and the experience of people who i value their opinion says that it really doesnt matter how you do the steps. as long as the person qualified. this means that if your sponsor in AA and has not done NA steps, that person has no business leading you thru the NA process. and if your sponsor in NA and really only NA, that person most likely will not be doing steps thru the big book. However if your sponsor is doing both fellowships. It is my experience that they usually think there is no real difference in the fellowships.
this is not true.
AA is a substance specific program. NA is about the disease of addiction. which means that we deal with obsession and compulsion and the MANY ways in which the disease of addiction can manifest.
drugs are only a symptom of the disease.
Working steps thru the NA step working guide is much more indepth than any other way I have done it.. it is slower yes. that is true. however the relief is more powerful. They say START the steps as soon as you are ready.. on the other hand THIS IS NOT A RACE!! not something to be rushed. You may run into something that you are not ready for. and if your are not ready, if you do not have a clear and strong enough relationship with your higher power AND your sponsor, u might find yourself in trouble. its important to trust your sponsor with this step. but that means to investigate their recovery.. how strong is it? or is it not strong? i find that people who do both fellowships can be more confused. Such as saying I am an alcoholic and addict.. IN NA we consider alcohol a drug, so the phrase alcoholic and an addict is redundant. its like saying I am a German Shepard and a dog.. or I am a ford and a car.
I trust my sponsor in a very deep way. I was able to share everything about myself with him.. but i was able to do this because i was able to work the first three steps in a deep way with him. and thru that process i came to a stronger relationship with my higher power.
Because my sponsor was more clear about the disease of addiction, he was able to guide me in a better way, in a way that was more than drugs, so more stuff was able to be revealed thru the fourth step process.
In NA we write all the steps, not just 4 and 8. in the NA literature, it says that we write the steps because it can unlock things that just talking or theorizing about will not do. You will have it written down in black and white, or whatever color pen u use.LOL.. stuff came out for me in my fourth step and writing the other steps that would not have come out just by talking about it. talking about things, you can say. well i didn't really say that. or i meant this/ that or whatever.. when u write the steps you can explore more thoroughly what u mean and you go deeper in order to reveal more things.
That never happened with the AA process because I didnt write steps 1, 2 and 3.
I AA they used to talk about and i believe its in the AA literature that we want to make a firm foundation. not on a bed of sand. so if u are just talking about the first three steps. I dont think its a very firm foundation. it can be firm, but maybe not firm enough.. its really up to the individual and the person sponsoring you. However.. this has just been my experience.
I did the 4th step in AA with some worksheets, but they werent very clear about what i was supposed to do. the guidance wasnt very strong either..IN NA with the step working guide and the other sponsor I had in NA the questions asked thru the 4th step were VERY clear. and so it became very thorough.
the 4th step is supposed to fearless and thorough. If it doesnt seem thorough enough to you, or not clear enough what is expected of you, or you dont trust your sponsor somehow. I would not go thru it .. its better to wait until you have a qualified person..
my other question.. just throwing it out there.. IF you are a member of NA why why why would you be doing steps thru AA literature? we have our own literature. NA has been around long enough that there are sufficient ways of doing it without AA literature.. it seems like it would be a confusing message. I am not anti AA by the way. I am simply pro NA.. and I do have experience with both fellowships as I have said.
According to NA literature the purpose of the fourth step is to clear up confusion and contradiction. therefore if you are in one fellowship and doing steps thru another fellowships literature, that would be conflicting and confusing..
thank u.
E