Theme – Do what it takes to heal in drug addiction treatment. One day at a time.
“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation “some fact of my life” unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous – Big Book
Acceptance in human psychology is a person’s assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it, protest. The concept is close in meaning to ‘acquiescence’, derived from the Latin ‘acquiēscere’ (to find rest in).
How many principles and virtues have the theme of acceptance locked within them. If acceptance is the answer, and the truth shall set you free, what then is stopping you from living at your highest self? Take a look at these other virtues and see where they fit into your life.
The AA Principles and Virtues
Honesty
Step 1. We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
Hope
Step 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Faith
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
Courage
Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Integrity
Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Willingness
Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humility
Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Brotherly Love
Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Justice
Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Perserverance
Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Spirituality
Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out.
Service
Step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, especially alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.