"We don't have to settle for the limitations of the past. We can examine and reexamine our old ideas."
Basic Text, p.11
Most of us come to the program with a multitude of self-imposed limitations that prevent us from realizing our full potential, limitations that impede our attempts to find the values that lie at the core of our being. We place limitations on our ability to be true to ourselves, limitations on our ability to function at work, limitations on the risks we're willing to take-the list seems endless. If our parents or teachers told us we would never succeed, and we believed them, chances are we didn't achieve much. If our socialization taught us not to stand up for ourselves, we didn't, even if everything inside us was screaming to do so.
In Narcotics Anonymous, we are given a process by which we can recognize these false limitations for what they are. Through our Fourth Step, we'll discover that we don't want to keep all the rules we've been taught. We don't have to be the life-long victims of past experiences. We are free to discard the ideas that inhibit our growth. We are capable of stretching our boundaries to encompass new ideas and new experiences. We are free to laugh, to cry, and, above all, to enjoy our recovery.
Just for today: I will let go of my self-imposed limitations and open my mind to new ideas.
Thanks Jayson that is a good reading. I can relate. I destroyed my self confidence and self worth while i was out there and when i first got clean my thinking was negative...always thinking about what i dont have, what i wont have, and why i cant do anything about it cause i am a failure. This reading just reminded me that if i let my past dictate my future i am going to live a pretty shit life. Thats why i got to re visit old dreams and goals of mine because if i can stop using drugs, which i think is the hardest thing in the world, then i can achieve the things i thought were out of my reach if i keep doing the next right thing. Thanks for letting me share!!
Thanks again Jayson, I will try to let go of some self inflicted stoppers. I will continue to use the good things I have been taught all my life, honour, dignity, respect for others and myself.
Yours in recovery, Kenh
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God is the only one you can depend on in recovery.