Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   December 21                                          Acceptance and change

      "Freedom to change seems to come after acceptance of ourselves."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 58

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   Fear and denial are the opposites of acceptance.  None of us are perfect,
   even in our own eyes; all of us have certain traits that, given the
   chance, we would like to change.   We sometimes become overwhelmed when
   contemplating how far short we fall of our ideals, so overwhelmed that we
   fear there's no chance of becoming the people we'd like to be.
   That's when our defense mechanism of denial kicks in, taking us to the
   opposite extreme:  nothing about ourselves needs changing, we  tell
   ourselves, so why worry?  Neither extreme gives us the freedom to change.

   Whether we are long-time NA members or new to recovery, the freedom to
   change is acquired by working the Twelve Steps.    When we admit our
   powerlessness and the unmanageability of our lives, we counteract the lie
   that says we don't have to change.  In coming to believe that a Power
   greater than we are can help us, we lose our fear that we are damaged
   beyond repair; we come to believe we can change.  We turn ourselves over
   to the care of the God of our understanding and tap the strength we need
   to make a thorough, honest examination of ourselves.  We admit to God, to
   ourselves, and to another human being what we've found.  We accept the
   good and the bad in ourselves;  with this acceptance, we become free to
   change.

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   Just for today:  I want to change.   By working the steps, I will counter
   fear and denial and find the acceptance needed to change.