October 4: Spiritual Principle a Day, read by Sabina

Spiritual Principle a Day for October 4, read by Sabina

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October 4

Hope and a New Way Forward

"Hope begins when we think that it might be possible for us to stop using against our own will and stay clean."

—Living Clean, Chapter 7, “Living Our Principles”

––––=––––

By the time many of us show up to our first meeting, we have broken the trust of many people in our lives. For some of us, there wasn’t a single person left in our lives who would believe us even if we told them the sun rises in the east. No matter how many people we burned in active addiction, over and over again, one person was more likely than any to be skeptical of anything we said—ourselves.

This is one of the huge stumbling blocks that stops many of us from truly feeling hope when we first get clean. We know ourselves! We can’t be trusted. Sometimes people in our lives looked at the way we used and accused us of having no willpower, but the truth of the matter was that we had so much self-will that we had lost all freedom to choose. There was no space between our impulses and our actions. Getting clean? Sure, no problem—we can do that just fine; that is, just until we feel like using. Then, all bets are off.

One of the most courageous things we have to do in order to get clean is to allow a little bit of hope into our spirit, defying all of the evidence to the contrary we have amassed in our active addiction. People who use the way we use don’t get clean. But then, we find ourselves in rooms filled with people who used the way we used. And they’re clean . . .

allegedly. Maybe, is it possible?

Self-will, impulsive behavior, obsession, and compulsion—even though many of us came to NA blaming the world around us for our problems, a lot of us felt, deep down, that we were too flawed to have the lives we wanted. In NA, we found people with flaws just as deep as ours, and they taught us how to become free.

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Spiritual Principle:

It’s hard to see a way forward when I am standing in my own way. I will let other addicts show me how to step aside and find a way out.

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© NA World Services

This podcast is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, and is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Voices of Recovery podcast.
This is your Spiritual Principleof the Day episode featuring a
recovering addict. Hi, my name is Sabina.

(00:24):
My clean date is September 9th, 2000.
You're listening to the Voices of Recovery podcast.
This is the spiritual principle of the day for October 4th.
Hope and a new way forward. Hope begins when we think that
it might be possible for us to stop using against our own will

(00:49):
and stay clean. Living clean Chapter 7.
Living our principles By the time many of us show up to our
first meeting, we have broken the trust of many people in our
lives. For some of us, there wasn't a
single person left in our lives who would believe us even if we

(01:11):
told them the sun rises in the east.
No matter how many people we burned in active addiction over
and over again, one person was more likely than any to be
skeptical of anything we said ourselves.
This is one of the huge stumbling blocks that stops many

(01:33):
of us from truly feeling hope when we first get clean.
We know ourselves we can't be trusted.
Sometimes people in our lives looked at the way we used and
accused us of having no willpower.
But the truth of the matter was that we had so much self will
that we had lost all freedom to choose.

(01:55):
There was no space between our impulses and our actions.
Getting clean? Sure, no problem, we can do that
just fine. That is just until we feel like
using. Then all bets are off.
One of the most courageous things we have to do in order to
get clean is to allow a little bit of hope into our spirit.

(02:19):
Defying all the evidence to the contrary, we have all amassed
interactive addiction. People who use the way we use
don't get clean. But then we find ourselves in
rooms filled with people who usethe way we used, and they're
clean. Allegedly.

(02:39):
Maybe it is possible. Self will, impulsive behavior,
obsession and compulsion. Even though many of us came to
NA blaming the world around us for our problems, a lot of us
felt deep down that we were too flawed to have the lives that we
wanted. In NA, we found people with

(03:03):
flaws just as deep as ours, and they taught us how to become
free. Spiritual principle.
It's hard to see a way. When I'm standing in my own way,
I will let other addicts show mehow to step aside and find a way
out. The Voices of Recovery Podcast

(03:26):
is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom.
We welcome your questions and donations via PayPal at
[e-mail]. This podcast is an independent
production and is not affiliatedwith, associated with,
authorized by, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected
with Narcotics Anonymous or any of its subsidiaries or

(03:48):
affiliates. While any literature may be read
during episodes for the purpose of supporting recovery, such use
does not constitute an official endorsement or representation by
Narcotics Anonymous. In accordance with any
tradition, the NA name is not tobe used to endorse or be
affiliated with any outside enterprise, and no such
endorsement or affiliation is implied.

(04:08):
Music is by SAGE. Thanks for listening to the
Voices of Recovery podcast.