[nandm]

uniquenss

"There never were, since the creation of the world, two cases exactly parallel." Lord Chesterfield

Whenever we are confronted with a challenge that involves letting go of our own opinions and being willing to follow a plan suggested by someone else, we immediately begin to see all the glitches, all the exceptions we're sure do not apply to us.

"My case is different!" we cry. It is so necessary for us to preserve our own uniqueness, our own specialness, that we're sure that letting go will plunge us into a sea of nothingness. Right? Wrong.

We are, all of us, unique. We have our own special sense of identity that has been with us since birth. Some of us have positive self-images. Others of us suffer from low self-esteem. However, we are still uniquely "us," and we're afraid of anything that might take that feeling of "us-ness" away.

This step, and those that follow, have been carefully designed to help us get to know the very important and precious individual we really are. This process scrapes away the facades and subterfuges we thought were necessary for our survival. It allows us to see ourselves as free, productive and worthwhile human beings; to see that while we are different, we also share many facets of sameness with other human beings. These similiarities allow us not only to profit by the experience of others, but also to recognize that so many of our actions have been the result of misguided ideas and faulty information. We can cherish our uniqueness while still learning from the experience of others.

Todays Step: I know that the path I have chosen is the right one for me, and I will walk it unafraid.[/QUOTE]Step By Step, meditations for living the 12 steps. Muriel Zink