Dr. Roger P. Watts is a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor who practices as a Chemical Dependency Professional II at a world-renowned treatment facility in ...Read More
Recovery from addiction involves the life-long process of balancing those things that block a person from reaching their full potential against personal assets that can offset those blockages. The 12 Step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) call blockages to recovery “character defects,” and those things that are assets are called “spiritual principles.” These character defects and spiritual principles are usually uncovered in a recovering person’s personal inventory that is part of Step Four of the 12 Step program.
Here are some of the aspect of our personality that can be blockages to recovery and the corresponding asset (principle) that might be used to check it:
So often, we get bogged down in the trivial pursuit of short term gain that comes from focusing on trying to fight against negative, problematical areas of our lives. We often get overwhelmed by these negative forces and it becomes increasingly difficult to marshal the assets we have that can combat them.
But, there is hope. Recovering people did not become addicted in one day, so they often need to know that recovery cannot happen in one day either. But, it is possible to put stress on the assets of life, and the more one practices principles the more they become engrained as the dominate part of the personality. Essentially, this notion builds on the idea that a person has a fundamental choice as to how they will discover and address problems in their life. They can allow the negative forces to define the problem and, thereby, allow the blockage to rise that will prevent a healthy outcome. Or, the person can view the problem differently, acting out of confidence that the spiritual principle they hold will be able to address the problem. This choice is restored to the recovering person gradually each day that they remain clean and sober.
