NA Daily Meditations

NA Meitations

Feel free to read one of our 2 daily meditations.

Just For Today
Spiritual Principle A Day

Just For Today

February 21, 2026

Self-pity or recovery–it’s our choice

Page 53

“Self-pity is one of the most destructive of defects; it will drain us of all positive energy.“

Basic Text, p. 80

In active addiction, many of us used self-pity as a survival mechanism. We didn’t believe there was an alternative to living in our disease-or perhaps we didn’t want to believe. As long as we could feel sorry for ourselves and blame someone else for our troubles, we didn’t have to accept the consequences of our actions; believing ourselves powerless to change, we didn’t have to accept the need for change. Using this “survival mechanism” kept us from entering recovery and led us closer, day by day, to self-destruction. Self-pity is a tool of our disease; we need to stop using it and learn instead to use the new tools we find in the NA program.

We have come to believe that effective help is available for us; when we seek that help, finding it in the NA program, self-pity is displaced by gratitude. Many tools are at our disposal: the Twelve Steps, the support of our sponsor, the fellowship of other recovering addicts, and the care of our Higher Power. The availability of all these tools is more than enough reason to be grateful. We no longer live in isolation, without hope; we have certain help at hand for anything we may face. The surest way to become grateful is to take advantage of the help available to us in the NA program and to experience the improvement the program will bring in our lives.

Just for Today: I will be grateful for the hope NA has given me. I will cultivate my recovery and stop cultivating self-pity.

Spiritual Principal A Day

February 20, 2026

In with Generosity, Out with Fear

Page 52

“Generosity is an antidote to fear, and when we give freely, our hearts are filled.”

Guiding Principles, Tradition Seven, Closing Reflection

Addiction is a greedy disease. Even without drugs, it leaves us looking outside ourselves for fulfillment. We buy too much (or steal!), overindulge, siphon off, and manipulate our way into more. More ego, more material possessions, more people, and, ultimately, more debt and more unhappiness. The fear that we won’t get what we want plagues us. We hunger, we consume, yet we aren’t filled. If more won’t fulfill us, what will?

We hear a lot in meetings about gratitude being a spiritual antidote to fear, but have we thought about generosity as another? If gratitude is expressing our thankfulness, then generosity is a demonstration of that gratitude. In times of pain, difficulty, or even complacency, one ideal default strategy is generosity. When in doubt or in self-centered fear or self-obsession, we tell each other, “Reach outside yourself and give. Be of service. Call another addict. Get a commitment. Up the dough we throw in the Seventh Tradition kitty. Contribute.”

Practicing generosity by contributing to NA does more than fill our hearts. It gives us perspective, too, and reminds us to be humble. We ask ourselves: How can I be useful? Instead of armoring up with fear or indifference, we connect to others through our actions. Generosity isn’t dependent on our fearlessness. It’s being willing to give of ourselves even if we don’t know how to perform the commitment perfectly, say the perfect thing, or put in the perfect amount of time or money.

“I think about generosity in terms of freedom. It’s a physical as well as an emotional shift,” an addict shared, demonstrating with their body. “Fear is closed off and protective, grasping and hoarding. When we’re generous, we’re open. The channels of mutual giving are unblocked, we’re exposed to each other, and we’re freer and more fulfilled because of it.”

I’m willing to focus on giving as the way out of my fear and self-centeredness today. I’ll let the spirit of generosity fill my heart and share love and gratitude with another addict.