Readings for 3 November
from A State of Grace
VALUES
The brave new worlds of morality where ‘anything goes’ because ‘nothing matters’ boomeranged, leaving us grasping for some residual sense of meaning or reality in life. — SLAA Basic Text, Page 69
Values and self-respect were characteristics I didn’t possess when I was in the depths of my addiction. My outside appearance gave the impression I had them, but when I was acting out or planning in my fantasies to act out, then my values and self-respect went out the window. There was no sense of meaning or purpose to my life. Seeking the next high was empty and the emotional hangovers cut into my self-respect. Walking into the rooms of SLAA, getting a sponsor, and doing the Steps changed all of that. Today I have values and decency inside and out. I cannot claim to be decent with my mind whirling about sex and love addiction. I have learned to match my insides and outsides through SLAA. Doing the right thing and the next right thing is a way of life for me today.
I will ask my Higher Power to give me keen perception and understanding so I can quickly identify negative ideas and rid myself of negative feelings and attitudes. Responsibility starts within.
From Answers in the Heart
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
— Proverbs 25:11
Facing our own dishonesty can be daunting, but maintaining absolute honesty is a basic premise of our recovery program. The Big Book describes it as “rigorous” honesty, and for sex addicts, it starts with abstinence. To believe we can be honest without a solid commitment to abstinence simply won’t work.
The more we grow, the more we develop our ability to make one choice at a time, to experience one feeling at a time, to tell the truth one situation at a time. We admit to ourselves when we feel guilty, angry, fearful, resentful — the negative feelings that are difficult to face. Being honest is how we finally come to know what used to baffle us about our addiction. When we create a unity between honest feeling, honest thinking, and honest action, we find that we have become honest people.
Personal honesty is a gift of my recovery for which I thank God every day.
Daily Meditation Books
Answers in the Heart - daily meditations for people recovering from sex addiction
Touchstones - daily meditations for recovering men A State of Grace - daily meditations by SLAA members
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