Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   June 20                                           Meditation for beginners

    "For some, prayer is asking for God's help; meditation is listening
     for God's answer....  Quieting the mind through meditation brings an
       inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us."

                                                        Basic Text, pp. 46-47

                           ----=----

   "Be patient when you're learning to meditate," many of us were
   told.  "It takes practice to know what to 'listen' for."

   We're glad someone told us that, or many of us would have quit after a
   week or two of meditating.  For the first few weeks, we may have sat each
   morning, stilled our thoughts, and "listened," just as the Basic Text
   said-but "heard" nothing.  It may have taken a few more weeks before
   anything really happened.   Even then, what happened was often barely
   noticeable.  We were rising from our morning meditations feeling just a
   little better about our lives, a little more empathy for those we
   encountered during the day, and a little more in touch with our Higher
   Power.

   For most of us, there was nothing dramatic in that awareness-no bolts of
   lightning or claps of thunder.    Instead, it was something quietly
   powerful.  We were taking time to get our egos and our ideas out of the
   way.  In that clear space, we were improving our conscious contact with
   the source of our daily recovery, the God of our understanding.
   Meditation was new, and it took time and practice.  But, like all the
   steps, it worked-when we worked it.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:  I will practice "listening" for knowledge of God's
   will for me, even if I don't know what to "listen" for yet.