Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   February 2                                                        Goodwill

   "Goodwill is best exemplified in service; proper service is 'Doing the
                    right thing for the right reason.'"

                                                            Basic Text, p. xv

                           ----=----

   The spiritual core of our disease is self-centeredness.  In dealing with
   others, the only motive our addiction taught us was selfishness-we
   wanted what we wanted when we wanted it.  Obsession with self was rooted
   in the very ground of our lives.    In recovery, how do we root
   self-obsession out?

   We reverse the effects of our disease by applying a few very simple
   spiritual principles.    To counteract the self-centeredness of  our
   addiction, we learn to apply the principle of goodwill.   Rather than
   seeking to serve only ourselves, we begin serving others.   Rather than
   thinking only about what we can get out of a situation, we learn to think
   first of the welfare of others.  When faced with a moral choice, we learn
   to stop, recall spiritual principles, and act appropriately.

   As we begin "doing the right thing for the right reason," we can
   detect a change in ourselves.  Where once we were ruled by self-will, now
   we are guided by our goodwill for others.  The chronic self-centeredness
   of addiction is losing its hold on us.  We are learning to "practice
   these principles in all our affairs"; we are living in our recovery, not
   in our disease.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:   Wherever I  am, whatever I do, I will seek to serve
   others, not just myself.  When faced with a dilemma, I will try to do the
   right thing for the right reason.