Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   June 4                                              Build, don't destroy

   "Our negative sense of self has been replaced by a positive concern for
                                   others."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 16

                           ----=----

   Spreading gossip feeds a dark hunger in us.  Sometimes we think the only
   way we can feel good about ourselves is to make someone else look bad by
   comparison.   But the kind of self-esteem that can be purchased at
   another's expense is hollow and not worth the price.

   How, then, do we deal with our negative sense of self?   Simple.   We
   replace it with a positive concern for others.  Rather than dwell on our
   low self-esteem, we turn to those around us and seek to be of service to
   them.

   This may seem to be a way of avoiding the issue, but it's not.
   There's nothing we can do by dwelling on our low sense of self except
   work ourselves into a stew of self-pity.  But by replacing our self-pity
   with active, loving concern for others, we become the kind of people we
   can respect.

   The way to build our self-esteem is not to tear others down, but to build
   them up through love and positive concern.   To help us with this, we can
   ask ourselves if we are contributing to the problem or to the solution.
   Today, we can choose to build instead of destroy.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:   Though I may be feeling low, I don't need to tear
   someone down to build myself up.  Today, I will replace my negative sense
   of self with a positive concern for others.  I will build, not destroy.