Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   April 20                                                        Detachment

    "Addiction is a family disease, but we could only change ourselves."

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   Many of us come from severely damaged families.   At times, the insanity
   that reigns among our relatives feels overwhelming.   Sometimes we feel
   like packing our bags and moving far, far away.

   We pray that our family members will join us in recovery but, to our great
   sadness, this does not always happen.  Sometimes, despite our best efforts
   to carry the message, we find that we cannot help those we hold most
   dear.  Our group experience has taught us that, frequently, we are too
   close to our relatives to help them.  We learn it is better to leave them
   in our Higher Power's care.

   We have found that when we stop trying to settle the problems of family
   members, we give them the room they need to work things out in their own
   lives.  By reminding them that we are not able to solve their problems for
   them, we give ourselves the freedom to live our own lives.  We have faith
   that God will help our relatives.   Often, the best thing we can give our
   loved ones is the example of our own ongoing recovery.   For the sake of
   our family's sanity and our own, we must let our relatives find their
   own ways to recover.

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   Just for today:  I will seek to work my own program and leave my family in
   the care of a Higher Power.