Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   February 28                                              The greatest gift

    "Our newly found faith serves as a firm foundation for courage in the
                                   future."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 96

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   When we begin coming to meetings, we hear other addicts talking about the
   gifts they have received as a result of this program, things we never
   thought of as gifts before.  One such gift is the renewed ability to feel
   the emotions we had deadened for so long with drugs.  It's not difficult
   to think of love, joy, and happiness as gifts, even if it's been a long
   time since we've felt them.   But what about "bad" feelings like
   anger, sadness, fear, and loneliness?  Such emotions can't be seen as
   gifts, we tell ourselves.  After all, how can we be thankful for things we
   want to run from?!

   We can become grateful for these emotions in our lives if we place them in
   their proper perspective.   We need to remember that we've come to
   believe in a loving Higher Power, and we've asked that Power to care for
   us-and our Higher Power doesn't make mistakes.  The feelings we're
   given, "good" or "bad," are given to us for a reason.  With this
   in mind, we come to realize that there are no bad feelings, only lessons
   to be learned.   Our faith and our Higher Power's care give us the
   courage we need to face whatever feelings may come up on a daily basis.

   As we heard early in recovery, "Your Higher Power won't give you more
   than you can handle in just one day." And the ability to feel our
   emotions is one of the greatest gifts of recovery.

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   Just for today:   I will try to welcome my feelings, firm in the belief
   that I have the courage to face whatever emotions may come up in my life.