The following excerpts are from “The Promises of Depressed Anonymous”
# 3. We do not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
Many of us have lived with guilt, shame and regret from our past. Until we got down to business – that is, taken a fearless moral inventory – did we desire that the god of our understanding help us see what we needed to do to forgive ourselves and get on with our lives.
As the Promises state in so simple a manner, this does not mean that “oh well, we made some mistakes, so let’s just forget about everything that happened in the past – after all it’s in the past.”
We can spend a lot of time wallowing in the self-pity that occupies any addiction. We also might regret all the tine we wasted staring at the blank wall, alone and trying to figure out in the circling of our thoughts the whys of our immobility, passivity and pain.
It is in Steps Four and Five where our past regrets are played out and dealt with. Once we have made a list of all our resentments and fears and spoke of them to a trusted friend you can begin to feel a new sense of freedom. It’s as a huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders.”
The second half of Promise # 3 will be provided tomorrow.