January 20

“The Sixth Tradition wisely identifies money, property, and prestige as potential obstacles to effectively carrying our message of recovery.”

Sex Addicts Anonymous, page 86

Before coming to SAA, many of us defined ourselves and our self-worth in terms of money, property, and prestige. Many of us, if we are honest with ourselves, still do. Our tendency to judge ourselves and others by what they have rather than who they are keeps us in anxiety and isolation, worrying about whether we are “getting ahead,” or wondering whether our next human interaction will leave us feeling one-up or one-down.

How healing it is, then, to come to an SAA meeting—a group that holds no property and usually very little money. Prestige, at least as the outside world defines it, means nothing here. And yet it is in our meetings that we begin to understand who we really are, and come to appreciate our true value. We value, too, the other members of our group, even though we often have no idea what they own or what they do when they leave the room.

The new life we discover in SAA brings with it new values. Most importantly we learn to value ourselves, and the people in our lives, without regard to status or wealth. We learn to see, and to love, the person within.

–

May I learn to see others and myself in terms of spiritual values.