Spiritual Principle a Day for February 22, read by Chris M.

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February 22

Building Trust through Intimacy

"Having honest, open dialogue with our sponsor brings us to a new level of trust. As we experience intimacy in that relationship, our ability to be intimate with our partners and with others increases as well."

—Living Clean, Chapter 4, “Sex”

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It’s impossible to paint all recovering addicts with the same brush when it comes to our experiences with relationships. To state that we are all permanently damaged and have never had a healthy relationship or experienced intimacy is an overstatement. What we can say is that most of us are shut down when we get to NA. We bear scars from unhealthy relationships. Many of us are certain that sustaining a romantic partnership or being the parent our kids deserve (and vice versa) are impossibilities, considering the injury and chaos we’ve caused. We don’t want to get too close to anyone for fear of rejection. Trusting people? Being honest about our feelings? No way.

If intimacy is a spiritual principle we value and a quality we want to bring to our relationships, then we need to practice it. We must surrender to learning new skills and refining existing ones: being honest, sharing feelings, owning our part, listening to and integrating feedback into our behavior, and accepting where our partner is in their growth.

Ideally, the relationships we forge in NA allow us to explore intimacy in a safer environment than what we’re used to—with other recovering addicts who are striving to do the same.

For many of us, it’s the relationship with a sponsor guiding us through the Steps that inspires us to know ourselves more intimately and to experience intimacy with others in new ways. However, this role isn’t limited to our sponsor. As we start to open up, we may find multiple members we can learn to trust.

We addicts may bear the scars from previous attempts at trusting others, but not all scars are permanent.

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Spiritual Principle:

I will make today a day of healing from my past relationships. I will do this by being willing to share intimately with someone I can trust.

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© NA World Services

This podcast is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, and is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom

Just for Today meditation for February 22, read by Chris M.

Donations via PayPal and questions may be directed to:

voicesofrecoverypod@gmail.com

February 22

God's will, or mine

"We continued to take inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."

Step Ten

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In Narcotics Anonymous, we've found that the more we live in harmony with our Higher Power's will for us, the greater the harmony in our lives. We use the Tenth Step to help us maintain that harmony. On a daily basis, we take time to look at our behavior. Some of us measure each action with a very simple question: "God's will or mine?" In many cases, we find that our actions have been in tune with our Higher Power's will for us, and we in turn have been in tune with the world around us. In some cases, however, we will discover inconsistencies between our behavior and our values. We've been acting on our own will, not God's, and the result has been dissonance in our lives.

When we discover such inconsistencies, we admit we've been wrong and take corrective action. With greater awareness of what we believe God's will for us to be in such situations, we are more likely to live in greater concord with our Higher Power's will for us and with the world around us.

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Just for today:

I wish to live in harmony with my world. Today, I will examine my actions, asking, "God's will or mine?"

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© NA World Services

This podcast is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, and is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom

Just for Today meditation for February 21, read by Stacy

Donations via PayPal and questions may be directed to:

voicesofrecoverypod@gmail.com

February 21

Self-pity or recovery-it's our choice

"Self-pity is one of the most destructive of defects; it will drain us of all positive energy."

Basic Text, p.77

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In active addiction, many of us used self-pity as a survival mechanism. We didn't believe there was an alternative to living in our disease-or perhaps we didn't want to believe. As long as we could feel sorry for ourselves and blame someone else for our troubles, we didn't have to accept the consequences of our actions; believing ourselves powerless to change, we didn't have to accept the need for change. Using this "survival mechanism" kept us from entering recovery and led us closer, day by day, to self-destruction. Self-pity is a tool of our disease; we need to stop using it and learn instead to use the new tools we find in the NA program.

We have come to believe that effective help is available for us; when we seek that help, finding it in the NA program, self-pity is displaced by gratitude. Many tools are at our disposal: the Twelve Steps, the support of our sponsor, the fellowship of other recovering addicts, and the care of our Higher Power. The availability of all these too; is more than enough reason to be grateful. We no longer live in isolation, without hope; we have certain help at hand for anything we may face. The surest way to become grateful is to take advantage of the help available to us in the NA program and to experience the improvement the program will bring in our lives.

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Just for today:

I will be grateful for the hope NA has given me. I will cultivate my recovery and stop cultivating self-pity Just For Today Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts

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© NA World Services

This podcast is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, and is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom