It Works How and Why by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc

Author:Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2003-04-09T21:37:45+00:00

The principle of unconditional love is expressed in our attitude.

Anyone who reaches out for help is entitled to our compassion, our attention, and our unconditional acceptance. Any addict, regardless of clean time, should be able to pour out his or her pain in an atmosphere free of judgment. Most of us have found that we are able to feel great empathy for those who suffer from our disease precisely because it is our disease. Our empathy isn’t abstract, nor is our understanding. Instead, it is born in shared experience. We greet each other with the recognition reserved for survivors of the same nearly fatal catastrophe. This shared experience, more than anything else, contributes to the atmosphere of unconditional love in our meetings.

Helping others is perhaps the highest aspiration of the human heart and something we have been entrusted with as a result of a Higher Power working in our lives. We would do well to remember to 88

It Works

ask the God of our understanding to continue working through us in our efforts to carry the message. Diligently practicing the principles of recovery will ensure that the connection between ourselves and our Higher Power remains open and that our service to others is firmly rooted in spirituality.

Spirituality becomes a way of life for us as we live by the principles of recovery. The example of a life lived according to these principles is potentially the most powerful message we can carry. We don’t need to wait until we’re “on” the Second Step to practice the principle of open-mindedness. Courage and honesty have a place in our lives even when we aren’t writing an inventory. Humility is always a desirable state, whether we are asking the God of our understanding to remove our shortcomings, conducting business with a co-worker, or talking to a friend.

To practice the principles of recovery in all our affairs is what we strive for. Both in and out of meetings, no matter who is involved, no matter how difficult it may seem, we make the principles of recovery the guides by which we live. Only through the practice of these principles in our daily life can we hope to achieve the spiritual growth necessary to maintain our reprieve from the disease of addiction.

Though this may seem a lofty goal, we have found it attainable. Our gratitude for the gift of recovery becomes the underlying force in all we do, motivating us and weaving its way through our lives and the lives of those around us.

Even in silence, the voice of our gratitude does not go unheard. It speaks most clearly as we walk the path of recovery, selflessly giving to those we meet along the way. We venture forth on our spiritual journey, our lives enriched, our spirits awakened, and our horizons ever-expand-ing. The quintessential spirit that lies inside each one of us, the spark of life that was almost extinguished by our disease, has been renewed through working the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous. It is on the path paved with these steps that our future journey begins.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.