Just For Today: December 21 - Acceptance and change
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Just For Today: December 21 - Acceptance and change
December 21
"Freedom to change seems to come after acceptance of ourselves."
Basic Text p.56
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.
Just for today: I want to change. By working the steps, I will counter fear
and denial and find the acceptance needed to change.
pg. 371
Acceptance and change
"Freedom to change seems to come after acceptance of ourselves."
Basic Text p.56
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.
Just for today: I want to change. By working the steps, I will counter fear
and denial and find the acceptance needed to change.
pg. 371
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