JFT August 3 - Trusting People
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Posts: 1,714
JFT August 3 - Trusting People
"Many of us would have had nowhere else to go if we could not have trusted NA groups and members."
Basic Text, p.81
Trusting people is a risk. Human beings are notoriously forgetful, unreliable, and imperfect. Most of us come from backgrounds where betrayal and insensitivity among friends were common occurrences. Even our most reliable friends weren't very reliable. By the time we arrive at the doors of NA, most of us have hundreds of experiences bearing out our conviction that people are untrustworthy. Yet our recovery demands that we trust people. We are faced with this dilemma: People are not always trustworthy, yet we must trust them. How do we do that, given the evidence of our pasts?
First, we remind ourselves that the rules of active addiction don't apply in recovery. Most of our fellow members are doing their level best to live by the spiritual principles we learn in the program. Second, we remind ourselves that we aren't 100% reliable, either. We will surely disappoint someone in our lives, no matter how hard we try not to. Third, and most importantly, we realize that we need to trust our fellow members of NA. Our lives are at stake, and the only way we can stay clean is to trust these well-intentioned folks who, admittedly, aren't perfect.
Just for today: I will trust my fellow members. Though certainly not perfect, they are my best hope.
pg. 225
Just For Today Daily Meditation is the property of Narcotics Anonymous©
Basic Text, p.81
Trusting people is a risk. Human beings are notoriously forgetful, unreliable, and imperfect. Most of us come from backgrounds where betrayal and insensitivity among friends were common occurrences. Even our most reliable friends weren't very reliable. By the time we arrive at the doors of NA, most of us have hundreds of experiences bearing out our conviction that people are untrustworthy. Yet our recovery demands that we trust people. We are faced with this dilemma: People are not always trustworthy, yet we must trust them. How do we do that, given the evidence of our pasts?
First, we remind ourselves that the rules of active addiction don't apply in recovery. Most of our fellow members are doing their level best to live by the spiritual principles we learn in the program. Second, we remind ourselves that we aren't 100% reliable, either. We will surely disappoint someone in our lives, no matter how hard we try not to. Third, and most importantly, we realize that we need to trust our fellow members of NA. Our lives are at stake, and the only way we can stay clean is to trust these well-intentioned folks who, admittedly, aren't perfect.
Just for today: I will trust my fellow members. Though certainly not perfect, they are my best hope.
pg. 225
Just For Today Daily Meditation is the property of Narcotics Anonymous©
Vision of Hope
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Living on This side of the green!!
Posts: 1,057
WOW!!! The reflection always comes back to me.. To look for what I expect out of my fellow member in a sence of trust, I should always trust the same from myself. Now that is deep!!
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