WEEKLY MEDITATION
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed before it is faced.
-James Baldwin
Recovery means facing the parts of ourselves that have migrated toward addictive patterns. Initially we may simply need to face the fact that our addictions are, indeed, addictions. We may initially need to overcome feelings of denial or justification associated with an attempt from these parts of us to protect their access to these patterns. But once this initial stage has been squarely addressed, we will need to find a process that allows us to listen to these parts of ourselves, truly facing the feelings that reside there. We must then learn to listen to the needs that manifested themselves as addictive patterns. Some of what we find there may not be able to be changed—we can’t change what happened to us in the past, for instance. But we can face the emotional consequences of our personal history and underlying needs that may lie unaddressed within us as a result. Once we do face these parts of ourselves, we can figure out how to provide them with what they really need to be sated. And through the act of facing ourselves, we are fundamentally changed.
