Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Searching holds the possibility of fun, but for intimacy anorexics, searching can be extremely painful. When you search, you intend to find something. For example, when you lose your keys, you go searching with the intent of finding the keys. As you begin your search inventory, you search, scrutinize, and seek with intent to find something that is quite significant.
In this context, “searching” indicates that you will have to expend some energy. This is the beginning of what is often referred to in the program as the “action steps.” You now begin to take action on your own behalf. Note that this step is also in the past tense. As you begin your inventory, you can know that others have passed this way before; they survived and got better. You are not alone.