Recovery Meditations ~ Admitting Mistakes ~ One Day At A Time ~ February 12, 2011

~ ADMITTING MISTAKES ~

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"A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday."

Alexander Pope

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Most of my life I had spent in blaming

others for all the bad things that

happened in my life, and I never learned

to take responsibilty for my part in

anything. I thought that life had

treated me unfairly, but mostly it was

because someone else had wronged me. I

wallowed in self pity and justifiable

anger, and not surprisingly, I found

comfort in food so I could get through

the pain of being treated so badly by

others.

When I came into the program and began

working the steps, I was horrified to

learn that I was expected to do a

searching and fearless inventory of my

wrongdoings, for after all wasn't it

others who had harmed me and not the

other way around? Slowly I realised

that I had a part to play in all the

events in my life, and that only by

clearing up the wreckage of my past and

keeping my side of the street clean, did

I have any hope of recovery. I had to

swallow my pride and admit when I was

wrong, and when I did that, miracles

began to happen. Instead of feeling hard

done by and bad about myself as I had

thought I would, the exact opposite

happened, and I started on a journey of

growth and increasing self esteem that

never ceases to surprise me. When I am

able to admit that I'm wrong and

apologise for my part in any conflict or

misunderstanding, without expectation of

anything back from the other person, I

strengthen my recovery in this program.



ONE DAY AT A TIME ...

I will admit my mistakes whether I believe that the fault is mine or not, because that is the way that I grow in my recovery.