OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Openmindedness becomes another key principle in recovery because it is something we can do on a daily basis which can provide both the opportunity and break we need to grow at the same time. We literally give ourselves a break when we check our past limitations by attempting to do things which we have rightfully associated with failure in the past.

We're not living in the past, unless we make that choice! By choosing to be open-minded, we can exert our willingness to try and see what happens. Sometimes, the failure will set in immediately and we will need to draw back. Practice and repetition will surprise us often enough to reward our efforts. We are not the people we once were. Our minds clear, our memories begin to function properly and our ability to act coherently increases. If our range of action doesn't increase as time goes by, we will be one of those who says, "Recovery isn't paying off. I'm not changing!"

Well, guess who is in charge of your recovery? If we are not willing to step out on faith occasionally, we have no way of changing except dumb luck. Fortunately, we even get a little of that occasionally.

With open-mindedness, we can sit and think about something without the urgency to jump to conclusions or apply narrow limitations on what we surface in our minds.

The underlying fear that if we don't keep our thoughts and feelings in strict control we will relapse of go out of control ceases to apply as we transfer control of our wills and lives to the care of a loving God of our understanding. How else can we experience the miraculous nature of recovery? If we have come this far without consciously realizing the miracles we are given, we are living under a cloud and should pray for its removal.

A great part of our freedom is in our increasing ability to just listen, just read, just observe. We all get to choose whether we want to add something to our living and thinking, wait a while of simply decline the matter at hand for the present.

It is our freedom of spirit to be able to do this - a great treasure in itself. How different from the old pathways grown up with past pain and despair, pathways which got smaller and more confining as our addiction progressed.

Today, we can entertain new viewpoints and ideas when they come up of when we find them through seeking. It is a way of growing.

Part of the miracle of personality change comes clear to us when in the midst of learning how to do something new, we find ourselves snapping out of some unpleasant feeling carried over from our using days. New understandings help us see past these painful memories and explore the present.

Another important thing about genuine open-mindedness is being able to hold ourselves in check when we need time to think something through. We keep doing whatever works for us until the new idea proves itself on some feeling level. We can progress steadily. We no longer need to flee the present.

An old NA saying, "If it ain't practical, it ain't spiritual.", reminds us to keep our recovery real. As we have less guilt about ourselves, we have less need for elaborate efforts to make up for our past wrongs. We can avail ourselves of common good judgment and check out our ideas with our sponsor.

In matters of real concern to us, we can seek help through NA in many ways.

If we are upset, emotional or overly concerned about anything, we learn to suspend action, pray and seek out a member who understands our situation and has personal experience to share with us.

It is through surrender, faith and inventorying ourselves, not the other persons in our lived, that we are able to grow. At many points in recovery we need to remember these things because we are going to gain the appearance of power over our lives and the lives of others.

If we cannot remain open-minded and teachable, we will find ourselves stagnating and reverting to the games of manipulation and control. There is a difference between discipline and control. Control deadens because if offers no choice and lack of volition kills our spirits.

Discipline allows us to cultivate our lives by exploring the meanings of words like: Training, moderation, restraint, concentration, caution and forbearance. We are free to avoid the excesses which lead to much of our pain and guilt. We can develop habits of conduct and methods of preparing ourselves before we get into something instead of floundering from one crisis to another. Caution and discretion will become functional parts of our living rather than elaborate reactions to the ordinary events of life.

As order and balance replace the desperation which gave us the desire for recovery in the first place, open-mindedness takes on another important function. We use openness as a form of enlivening our daily awareness. There is always something happening and yet if we are not careful, we'll walk out the door on some sunny day and see nothing but rain clouds. Our addiction will sell us that our hard won ease and comfort is boring and uneventful!

We need to be as able as a newcomer to renew our spirituality on a daily basis. We have to find things to be glad about and express our gratitude for it to have real effect in our lives. We have to find our errors and amend them to prevent the build up of negative feelings that if left unattended, will fill us with foreboding and worry. We have to step out on faith and do something new occasionally.

These things weren't necessary in a life filled with compulsion and obsession. Our disease kept us running. Clean, we have to learn how to be sensible and explore living on a new basis.