Living With Hope
You cannot find redemption until YOU see the flaws in your own soul.
Martin Buber
This is probably one of the most succinct lessons of spirituality with special relevance to recovery that you will find. You can’t get close to God (or others) until you take a good, honest look at yourself. Without such introspection, you will be unable to identify those factors that are causing the distance between you and self. Until you come close to yourself, you can’t get close to God. Drugs, alcohol, overeating, bulimia, anorexia, compulsive gambling and sex: They all keep you far from yourself. None will fix the flaws in your soul. Only a relationship with God can do that.
But don’t beat yourself up in the process. Through the process of a moral inventory, an accounting of your soul, learn to love yourself more, not less. It is knowing that all this is possible that gives us hope.
Make it part of your Step Four recovery routine. However difficult it may be, love yourself through the process.