Steps 6 & 7 with Brandon Lane | RecoverEDSteps 6 & 7 with Brandon Lane | RecoverED
The Magdalen House Podcast
Brandon Lane talks with Laura Wilson about AA’s Steps 6 and 7, sharing his experience of fear, character defects, and emotional sobriety. The conversation explains how willingness and humility shape both early recovery and life years into sobriety.
54:54•6 May 2026
Letting Go of Armour: Brandon Lane on Steps 6 & 7 and Emotional Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Steps 6 and 7 are an internal bridge between inventory and amends, focused on willingness and humility rather than visible actions.
- Most defects grow out of fear, and those fears become "armour" that feels protective but actually keeps people stuck and resentful.
- Long-term sobriety can bring a "Step Six crisis" where life looks good outwardly but feels empty until defects are faced again.
- Service, sponsorship, and regular step work are essential to prevent the build-up of resentment and disconnection from a higher power.
- Humility means accepting that self-reliance has failed and honestly asking for defects to be removed, one day at a time.
“"If I am not humble, I will be humiliated. And if I'm greedy, I will never be satisfied."”
Brandon, a recovered alcoholic, shares how his drinking took him from small-town Texas to homelessness and incarceration, and how the state "had to drag me in and set me down before I would finally stop." He walks through Steps 1–5 in plain language, then explains why Steps 6 and 7 are the quiet bridge between inventory and amends – the point where no one else is watching and "it happens all inside of you." You’ll hear how fear sits underneath most character defects, how self-protection becomes "armour" that keeps people sick, and why willingness in Step 6 can start strong in desperation but quietly fade a few years into sobriety.
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? In this RecoverED episode from The Magdalen House, Brandon Lane sits down with host Laura Wilson to unpack the often-rushed Steps 6 and 7 from the Twelve Steps, showing how they can shape long-term emotional sobriety, not just early recovery.
Brandon talks honestly about his own "Step Six crisis" around four years sober, when life looked great on the outside yet felt miserable inside, and how returning to service and sponsorship pulled him back.
Step 7, he explains, is less about perfect virtue and more about real humility: accepting that self-reliance has failed and asking a higher power to remove what "stands in the way of my usefulness." With plenty of practical examples—from work gossip to control in relationships—this conversation makes the spiritual ideas feel very down-to-earth and even a bit funny at times.
If you’ve ever thought you’d "already done" Steps 6 and 7, or you’re scared to start the steps at all, this honest chat might be the nudge to look again. Where might fear and old armour still be running the show in your own recovery?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.