Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   April 28                                           Who really gets better?

   "We can also use the steps to improve our attitudes.  Our best thinking
           got us into trouble.  We recognize the need for change."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 55

                           ----=----

   When new in recovery, most of us had at least one person we just
   couldn't stand.  We thought that person was the rudest, most obnoxious
   person in the program.  We knew there was something we could do, some
   principle of recovery we could practice to get over the way we felt about
   this person-but what?   We asked our sponsor for guidance.   We were
   probably assured, with an amused smile, that if we just kept coming back,
   we'd see the person get better.   That made sense to us.  We believed
   that the steps of NA worked in the lives of everyone.  If they could work
   for us, they could work for this horrible person, too.

   Time passed, and at some point we noticed that the person didn't seem as
   rude or obnoxious as before.   In fact, he or she had become downright
   tolerable, maybe even likeable.  We got a pleasant jolt as we realized who
   had really gotten better.  Because we had kept coming back, because we had
   kept working the steps, our perception of this person had changed.   The
   person who'd plagued us had become "tolerable" because we'd
   developed some tolerance; he or she had become "likeable" because
   we'd developed the ability to love.

   So who really gets better?  We do!  As we practice the program, we gain a
   whole new outlook on those around us by gaining a new outlook on
   ourselves.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:  As I get better, so will others.  Today, I will practice
   tolerance and try to love those I meet.