Step 6: We Are Entirely Ready to have God Remove All of the Defects of Our Character

In step four, we made a mental inventory of ourselves. In step five, we revealed our character defects to another person, taking accountability for them.

Now in step 6 it’s time to take action and allow God to remove those defects from our character.

Some examples of common defects of character include:

Anger Gluttony Greed Pride Envy Lust Sloth Arrogance Boasting Cheating Close-mindedness Criticizing

Dependency Dishonesty Fear Gossiping Hopelessness Impatience Insulting Intolerance Lying Negative Thinking Self pity

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Maybe It Is Time to Let Go of the Defects in Your Character That Are Destroying Your Life

Definitions:

1. Defects: blemish; fault; imperfection
2. Character: the complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person or a group

“Maybe the world is not hostile toward [me]. Maybe the world isn’t full of idiots. Maybe it was [me] who was declaring war against millions. Maybe it was crazy to enter a war with those odds. Maybe [I] am not the Chairman of the Board of the Universe, in charge of Space and Time. Maybe [I] fought the war of life and lost. Maybe it’s crazy for [me] to keep fighting a war that [I] have already lost. Maybe God can negotiate a peaceful settlement between the opposing forces.”

- Quoted from the Sixth Step Chapter of the book by Mark Houston and Floyd Henderson, A Twelve Step Journey to Self Transformation.

When You Reinvent Yourself, You Reinvent Your Life

Many have said that the definition of insanity is doing the same think over and over again yet expecting different results. If we continue to harbor all of the character defects we admitted that we had in steps four and five, how can we possibly expert our results to change? In order to transcend that which causes us to drink, we must release that which consumes our character.

The previous step - step 5 of 12

The next step - step 7 of 12

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