JFT April 11 - A Closed Mind

[Gmoney]

April 11

A closed mind

“A new idea cannot be grafted onto a closed mind.... Open-mindedness leads us to the very insights that have eluded us during our lives.”

Basic Text, p. 93

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We arrived in NA at the lowest point in our lives. We’d just about run out of ideas. What we needed most when we got here were new ideas, new ways of living, shared from the experience of people who’d seen those ideas work. Yet our closed minds prevented us from taking in the very ideas we needed to live.

Denial keeps us from appreciating just how badly we really need new ideas and new direction. By admitting our powerlessness and recognizing how truly unmanageable our lives have become, we allow ourselves to see how much we need what NA has to offer.

Self-dependence and self-will can keep us from admitting even the possibility of the existence a Power greater than ourselves. However, when we admit the sorry state self-will has gotten us into, we open our eyes and our minds to new possibilities. When others tell us of a Power that has brought sanity to their lives, we begin to believe that such a Power may do the same for us.

A tree stripped of its branches will die unless new branches can be grafted onto its trunk. In the same way, addiction stripped us of whatever direction we had. To grow or even to survive, we must open our minds and allow new ideas to be grafted onto our lives.

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Just for today: I will ask my Higher Power to open my mind to the new ideas of recovery.



Copyright © 1991-2008 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[REZ]

Open-mindedness is one of the great spiritual gifts over recovery. When I was using drugs, I thought I was open-minded but I wasn't. I was open to what I wanted to hear, but closed to ideas and people that didn't fit my distorted world view. I was especially not open to anyone who had anything bad to say about using drugs. Since coming to NA, I have learned the importance of open-mindedness, and I am much more receptive to what other people have to say, especially other people who have some experience with staying clean.

[Gmoney]

I, actually, never considered whether I was open-minded or not...that is, before coming to NA. But since I've been clean and recovering, I've learned that in the past I was very, very closed-minded. Today, as a result of the 12 steps, my HP and the fellowship, I'm much more open to new ideas and alternative points of view. I even share in meetings that I'm so open-minded nowadays that I have to keep a hat on to keep my brains from falling out!! LOL!! Truth is...I'm still GarryW and I can be very bullheaded at times, but I'm no where close to where I once was.

[REZ]

I'm not sure I considered myself open-minded per se when I was using drugs, but I did think of myself as more liberal, tolerant, flexible, etc, than the straight people that I regarded as stuffy and uncool.

Open-mindedness has its limits too. You've got to know what you stand for or your will fall for anything.