Just for Today: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts (Hazelden Meditations)

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Our program is a set of principles," our White Booklet tells us. The more consistently we seek to improve our conscious appreciation of these principles, the more readily we will be able to apply them. As often as our thoughts inform our words, our words can likewise inform our thoughts. And while thinking positively offers plenty of cognitive benefits in itself, saying these thoughts out loud offers even more. There are also plenty of apps designed to offer JFT-style meditations and other helpful tools for recovering addicts. Just for today: I want all that life has to offer me and all that recovery can provide. Today, I will take a risk, try something new, and grow.

That those promises only need to last just for today is another very special part of the meditation’s power—it’s a fresh start, and a new chance to live up to our own best intentions. Just for Today: I will allow knowledge of my true nature to guide my actions. Today, I will face the world as myself. When we know we’re going to pledge ourselves anew tomorrow, we can more honestly feel that it’s okay to not reach all of our goals today. The most important thing is trying our best, and pledging to try our best again tomorrow. Are There Other Options For Daily Meditation? This is even more effective if you can incorporate the meditation into a morning or evening routine, like when you’re brushing your teeth, so you can have access to your bathroom mirror.As explained above, the just for today meditation takes on more mental might the more it’s used so many people find it helpful to incorporate a JFT prayer into their everyday routine. The ‘Just for Today’ reading has become a very important part of my personal programme of recovery. According to some sources it was written in the 1920’s before Alcoholics Anonymous was founded, however was adopted and approved for publication by AA in the 1970’s. You might hear it called the Just For Today Meditation or Just For Today Prayer, or see it simplified in writing as the JFT. But it all amounts to the same helpful concept. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do – just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it. Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Again, there can be nearly infinite versions of the Just for Today meditation. Even when recited at NA meetings, the pledge is still a personal tool, and can take on any number of personal goals. The practice of humility involves accepting our true nature, honestly being ourselves. We don't have to grovel or abase ourselves, nor must we try to appear smarter, wealthier, or happier than we really are. Humility simply means we drop all pretense and live as honestly as we can. We can consider the trade: Do we want to live the rest of our lives in our well-defined little world, safe but perhaps stifled? Or do we wish to venture out into the unknown, take a risk, and reach for everything life has to offer? In Narcotics Anonymous we strive for recovery, not perfection. The only promise we are given is freedom from active addiction. Perfection is not an attainable state for human beings; it’s not a realistic goal. What we often seek in perfection is freedom from the discomfort of making mistakes. In return for that freedom from discomfort, we trade our curiosity, our flexibility, and the room to grow. Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out; if anyone knows of it, it will not count.

On that note, repetition is another important physiological aspect of the Just For Today meditation. Numerous studies have found that repeating an action can not only form muscle memory within our body but actually rewire neurological pathways in our brains. Requests for alternative formats of our book-length literature, if needed, can be sent to [email protected]. Booklets Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.