NA JFT - APRIL 2014

[MajestyJo]

April 14

A New Vision

"Do we really want to be rid of our resentments, our anger, our fear?"

Basic Text p. 33

Why do we call them "shortcomings?" Perhaps they should be called "long-goings" because that's often what it takes for them to fade from our lives. Some of us feel that our shortcomings are the very characteristics that saved our lives when we used. If this is true, then it is little wonder that we sometimes cling to them like old, dear friends.

If we are having trouble with resentment, anger, or fear, we may want to envision what our lives could be like without these troubling defects. Asking ourselves why we react in a certain manner can sometimes root out the fear at the core of our conduct. "Why am I afraid to step beyond these aspects of my personality?" we ask ourselves. "Am I afraid of who I will be without these attributes?"

Once we have uncovered our fear, we are able to move beyond it. We try to imagine what our lives could be like without some of our more glaring shortcomings. This gives us a feeling for what lies past our fear, providing the motivation we need to push through it. Our Higher Power offers us a new vision for our lives, free of our defects. That vision is the essence of our own best, brightest dreams for ourselves. We need not fear that vision.

Just for today: I will imagine what my life would be like without my character defects. I will ask for the willingness to have God remove my shortcomings.

The steps originated with Bill W. when he started AA and were adapted by NA.

They said that Bill didn't like using the same word twice, and that defects of character and short comings meant the same thing.

I saw it as a different thing, the defect of character is the thought in my head and the short coming, is me acting out in my disease, and following the thought with action.

An example would be me, talking to a friend and saying, "My ex-husband is an a$$hole. That would be a defect of my character. The shortcoming would be, my ex-husband walking into the room and me going up to him and saying, "What's up a$$hole?"

It is about me and my attitude, which needs to be changed in order for me to recover from that hopeless state of mind and body.