Today's Thought - April

[bluidkiti]

April 18

Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

In recovery, we make peace with ourselves, then we become our own friends. We have been at war with ourselves and in turmoil with our families, even while feeling like victims. This program lays out Twelve Steps we can follow to become friends with ourselves. In recovery, we may still feel self-hate when we constantly monitor our every action, when we react to our mistakes by berating ourselves, and when we dwell on past offenses. Would we put a friend through that?

A true friend will accept you as you are. He doesn't put you down or call you derogatory names. He'll give you honest feedback and won't put on a false front. He'll support you when you're in trouble. Being our own friend means doing these things for ourselves. Perhaps we can even embrace and be kind to the part of ourselves that is addicted and codependent.

Today, I will be a friend to my whole self - even the parts of me I have rejected.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men*