<\/p>\n
Discernment comes from hard experience: trusting people we shouldn't, getting hurt, and coming back anyway.<\/strong><\/p>\n Living Purely, Chapter 5, \u201cFriendship\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Drug addicts seem particularly prone to being "all or nothing" people. We either know or have been the kind of people who alternate between manipulation and blunt honesty, who work out eight days a week or not at all, or who have love\/hate relationships with everything and everyone. One member described his approach to relationships this way: \u201cAm I all in or are you dead to me? Suspicion, cynicism and self-reliance were survival skills.<\/p>\n It doesn't take much time in sobriety to realize that this dark and fearful view of the world isn't going to help our recovery much. Hope for a better life seeps into us, displacing our previously dark outlook. Some of us even adopt an unusually cheerful mood, as the famous "pink cloud" colors for a time our whole attitude towards life. I don't want to discredit this glorious phase of early recovery or those lucky enough to experience it, but this blind optimism carries its own dangers. We can trust NA to save our lives without trusting every member with all our secrets. It's important to adjust our openness, distinguishing between sharing on a group level, confiding in a friend, and pouring out our soul in a Fifth Step. Of course, some of the best lessons come from our mistakes.<\/p>\n This is where the distinction comes in. Discrimination puts us on the brake pedal so we don't have to juggle between extremes. Putting the brakes on thought and behavior allows us to apply good judgment instead of impulse. Distinction turns a toggle switch into a dial. Instead of binary choices like trust or don't trust, we distinguish the useful space between the poles. We distinguish not only right from wrong, but also right from almost right.<\/p>\n Discernment helps us make better choices and learn from experience. We still make mistakes, but we take the time to discern a better approach and try again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do I have switches for some of my emotions or behaviors that should be turned into dials? How can a discriminating dimmer switch alleviate some of my extremes?<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-11508","spad","type-spad","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.na-greece.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spad\/11508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.na-greece.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spad"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.na-greece.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/spad"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.na-greece.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}