<\/p>\n
Acceptance is not all or nothing and is not necessarily complete once and for all.<\/b><\/p>\n
Living Clean, Chapter 1, "We Grow Through Pain"<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We speak of "practicing the spiritual principles" because they need practice. This certainly applies to acceptance as well. Sometimes, the only thing we fully accept is the fact that we are drug addicts. These days, that's enough. So we practice acceptance by not finding drugs. And if we don't find drugs, we won't use.<\/span><\/p>\n As we grow in recovery, we begin to recognize where our acceptance is lacking. Sometimes we may recognize a problem but not fully accept its implications, especially when a solution requires us to take responsibility and put in effort. For example, we may be aware of problems in our relationships, but we may or may not regulate the time we spend with a partner. Some of us cannot accept or even acknowledge that we have been dishonest until we take a Tenth Step - this disease causes us to stop writing.<\/span><\/p>\n Our ability to practice acceptance sometimes changes depending on who else is involved. We may be able to accept relapse from others, but not when it comes to a member of our own family. Perhaps we can accept the mistakes of newcomers, but not the mistakes made by old-timers.<\/span><\/p>\n We celebrate the progress we make, no matter how small: "Today I told my boss why I was really late - that's the first time!" Or the big one: "Losing my beloved dog broke the glass, allowing me to revisit the grief of other losses I've experienced and reach new levels of acceptance."<\/span><\/p>\n As we recover a little more each day, practicing acceptance pays off. We experience rare and remarkable moments of coming to terms with acceptance and realizing what it took to get there. We can listen to other members' efforts with acceptance and think: Yes, this is exactly where it should be.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Today I will examine the conditions I place on acceptance and try to apply this principle more fully.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-12194","spad","type-spad","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.na-greece.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spad\/12194","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=12194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}