Narcotics Anonymous Message Board

Dave R · Dave R

Everything we know is subject to revision, especially what we know about the truth.Basic Text, p. 94=Many of us thought we could recognize The Truth. We believed the truth was one thing, certain and unchanging, which we could grasp easily and without question. The real truth, however, was tha...

Dave R · Dave R

...praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.Step Eleven=How do we pray? With little experience, many of us don't even know how to begin. The process, however, is neither difficult nor complicated.We came to Narcotics Anonymous because of our drug addiction...

Dave R · Dave R

We did not choose to become addicts.Basic Text, p. 3=When we were growing up, all of us had dreams. Every child has heard a relative or neighbor ask, What do you want to be when you grow up? Even if some of us didn't have elaborate dreams of success, most of us dreamed of work, families, and a future o...

Dave R · Dave R

With the love that I am shown in Narcotics Anonymous, I have no excuse for loneliness.=Addiction is a lonely disease. We may be surrounded by people but, sooner or later, our addiction drives a wedge between us and even our closest loved ones. Many of us are driven to Narcotics Anonymous by a despe...

Dave R · Dave R

Words cannot describe the sense of spiritual awareness that we receive when we have given something, no matter how small, to another person.Basic Text, p. 104=Sometimes it seems as though there is so much wrong with the world that we might as well forget trying to make a difference. After all, we th...

Dave R · Dave R

"When we admit that our lives have become unmanageable, we don't have to argue our point of view...We no longer have to be right all the time."Basic Text, p. 58=Nothing isolates us more quickly from the warmth and camaraderie of our fellow NA members than having to be right. Insecure, we pretend to b...

Dave R · Dave R

"Our best thinking got us into trouble...Recovery is an active change in our ideas and attitudes."Basic Text, p. 55 = In active addiction, the world probably looked like a horrible place. Using helped us tolerate the world we saw. Today, however, we understand that the world's c...

Dave R · Dave R

"Before we got clean, most of our actions were guided by impulse.Today, we are not locked into this type of thinking."Basic Text, p. 90=Ever been tempted to do something even when you knew the results would be disastrous?Ever thought about how much it was going to hurt to do what you were tempted to do,...

Dave R · Dave R

"We emphasize setting our house in order because it brings us relief."Basic Text, p. 97=Focusing on what others are doing can provide momentary relief from having to take a look at ourselves.But one of the secrets of success in Narcotics Anonymous is making sure our own house is in order.So what does...

Dave R · Dave R

"We suspect that if we do not use what we have, we will lose what we have."Basic Text, p. 78=Addiction gave a pattern to our lives, and with it a meaning--a dark, diseased meaning, to be sure, but a meaning nonetheless. The Narcotics Anonymous recovery program gives us a new pattern of living to replace...

Dave R · Dave R

"As recovering addicts, we find that we are still dependent, but our dependence has shifted from the things around us to a loving God and the inner strength we get in our relationship with Him."Basic Text, pp. 71=For many addicts, rebelliousness is second nature. We didn't want to depend on anyon...

Dave R · Dave R

"Many of us have difficulty admitting that we caused harm for others...We cut away our justifications and our ideas of being a victim."Basic Text, p. 38=Our lives are progressing nicely. Things are going good, and each year in recovery brings more material and spiritual gifts. We may have a lit...

Dave R · Dave R

"Projections about actually making amends can be a major obstacle both in making the list and in becoming willing."Basic Text, p. 39=The Eighth Step asks us to become willing to make amends to all persons we have harmed. As we approach this step, we may wonder what the outcome of our amends will be. ...

Dave R · Dave R

"When we first begin to enjoy relief from our addiction, we run the risk of assuming control of our lives again. We forget the agony and pain that we have known.:Basic Text, p. 50=Many of us have been "thirty-day wonders." We were desperate and dying when we showed up at our first NA meeting. We ide...

Dave R · Dave R

"Our egos, once so large and dominant, now take a back seat because we are in harmony with a loving God. We find that we lead richer, happier, and much fuller lives when we lose self-will." Basic Text, p. 105 = Addiction and self-will go hand in hand. The unmanageability that we admitt...

Dave R · Dave R

"We grasp the limitless strength provided for us through our daily prayer and surrender as long as we keep faith and renew it."Basic Text, p. 46=There are two parts to recovery: getting clean, and staying clean. Getting clean is comparatively easy because we only have to do it once. Staying clea...

Dave R · Dave R

"We learn that pain can be a motivating factor in recovery."Basic Text, p. 30="Pain--who needs it!" we think whenever we're in it. We see no good purpose for pain. It seems to be a pointless exercise in suffering. If someone happens to mention spiritual growth to us while we're in pain, we most l...

Dave R · Dave R

"Our real value is in being ourselves."Basic Text, p. 105=Over and over, we have tried to live up to the expectations of those around us. We may have been raised believing that we were okay if we earned good grades in school, cleaned our rooms, or dressed a certain way. Always wanting to belong and be l...

Dave R · Dave R

"When we stop living in the here and now, our problems become magnified unreasonably."Basic Text, p. 99="Just for today"--it's a comforting thought. If we try to live in the past, we may find ourselves torn by painful, disquieting memories. The lessons of our using are not the teachers we seek for...

Dave R · Dave R

"Gradually, as we become more God-centered than self-centered, our despair turns to hope."Basic Text, p. 95=As using addicts, despair was our relentless companion. It colored our every waking moment. Despair was born of our experience in active addiction: No matter what measures we tried to...

Dave R · Dave R

"There is something in our self-destructive personalities that cries for failure."Basic Text, p. 80="Poor me; woe is me; look at me, my life is such a mess! I've fallen, and no matter how hard I try, I continue to fail." Many of us came to NA singing this sad refrain.Life isn't like that anymore. Tru...

Dave R · Dave R

"It will not make us better people to judge the faults of another."Basic Text, p. 38=How easy it is to point out the faults of others! There's a reason for this: The defects we identify most easily in others are often the defects we are most familiar with in our own characters. We may notice our best fr...

Dave R · Dave R

We may fear that being in touch with our feelings will trigger an overwhelming chain reaction of pain and panic. Basic Text, p. 30 = A common complaint about the Fourth Step is that it makes us painfully conscious of our defects of character. We may be tempted to falter in our program of recovery. Th...

Dave R · Dave R

The only suggested guidelines are that this Power be loving, caring, and greater than ourselves. We don't have to be religious to accept this idea. The point is that we open our minds to believe. Basic Text, p. 24 = In a lifelong process of coming to believe, our understanding of God will change. ...

Dave R · Dave R

"In accordance with the principles of recovery, we try not to judge, stereotype, or moralize with each other." Basic Text, p. 11 = Let's face it: In Narcotics Anonymous, we live in a glass house of sorts. Our fellow members know more about our personal lives than anyone has ever known b...

RebeccaJ · RebeccaJ

Just wanting to get feedback about whether or not your group allows smoking of electronic cigarettes in the meeting hall and why or why not. We have a business meeting for our group this weekend and I would like to have some additional input about what other groups are doing to bring to the table. Thanks...

jirobi23 · jirobi23

I need someone to tell me that it's going to get better. I used for less than a year, not excessively, but enough to become dependent. And on Tuesday, exactly 3 days ago I decided to quit. Right now I'm on Day 3, exactly 72 hours, and I hurt everywhere. I haven't eaten but a few crackers in 3 days, and have had...

jirobi23 · jirobi23

I need someone to tell me that it's going to get better. I used for less than a year, not excessively, but enough to become dependent. And on Tuesday, exactly 3 days ago I decided to quit. Right now I'm on Day 3, exactly 72 hours, and I hurt everywhere. I haven't eaten but a few crackers in 3 days, and have had...

Dave R · Dave R

"Life takes on a new meaning when we open ourselves to this gift."Basic Text, p. 107=Neglecting our recovery is like neglecting any other gift weve been given. Suppose someone gave you a new car. Would you let it sit in the driveway until the tires rotted? Would you just drive it, ignoring routine m...

Dave R · Dave R

"Prayer takes practice, and we should remind ourselves that skilled people were not born with their skills."Basic Text, p. 46=Many of us came into recovery with no experience in prayer and worried about not knowing the "right words." Some of us remembered the words wed learned in childhood but were...

Topic		Started By	Replies	Views	Last Post
	JFT October 17 The "truth" (Preview) Everything we know is subject to revision, especially what we know about the truth.Basic Text, p. 94=Many of us thought we could recognize The Truth. We believed the truth was one thing, certain and unchanging, which we could grasp easily and without question. The real truth, however, was tha...	Dave R	1	456	Oct 17, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 16 The simplest prayer (Preview) ...praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.Step Eleven=How do we pray? With little experience, many of us don't even know how to begin. The process, however, is neither difficult nor complicated.We came to Narcotics Anonymous because of our drug addiction...	Dave R	1	463	Oct 16, 2017 by Dave R
	JFt October 15 Choices (Preview) We did not choose to become addicts.Basic Text, p. 3=When we were growing up, all of us had dreams. Every child has heard a relative or neighbor ask, What do you want to be when you grow up? Even if some of us didn't have elaborate dreams of success, most of us dreamed of work, families, and a future o...	Dave R	1	542	Oct 15, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 14 The end of loneliness (Preview) With the love that I am shown in Narcotics Anonymous, I have no excuse for loneliness.=Addiction is a lonely disease. We may be surrounded by people but, sooner or later, our addiction drives a wedge between us and even our closest loved ones. Many of us are driven to Narcotics Anonymous by a despe...	Dave R	1	396	Oct 14, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 13 Making a difference (Preview) Words cannot describe the sense of spiritual awareness that we receive when we have given something, no matter how small, to another person.Basic Text, p. 104=Sometimes it seems as though there is so much wrong with the world that we might as well forget trying to make a difference. After all, we th...	Dave R	1	527	Oct 13, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 12 Being right (Preview) "When we admit that our lives have become unmanageable, we don't have to argue our point of view...We no longer have to be right all the time."Basic Text, p. 58=Nothing isolates us more quickly from the warmth and camaraderie of our fellow NA members than having to be right. Insecure, we pretend to b...	Dave R	1	404	Oct 12, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 11 Eyeglasses and attitudes (Preview) "Our best thinking got us into trouble...Recovery is an active change in our ideas and attitudes."Basic Text, p. 55 = In active addiction, the world probably looked like a horrible place. Using helped us tolerate the world we saw. Today, however, we understand that the world's c...	Dave R	1	599	Oct 11, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 10 Consequences (Preview) "Before we got clean, most of our actions were guided by impulse.Today, we are not locked into this type of thinking."Basic Text, p. 90=Ever been tempted to do something even when you knew the results would be disastrous?Ever thought about how much it was going to hurt to do what you were tempted to do,...	Dave R	1	356	Oct 10, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 9 Order (Preview) "We emphasize setting our house in order because it brings us relief."Basic Text, p. 97=Focusing on what others are doing can provide momentary relief from having to take a look at ourselves.But one of the secrets of success in Narcotics Anonymous is making sure our own house is in order.So what does...	Dave R	1	389	Oct 9, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 8 A new pattern of living (Preview) "We suspect that if we do not use what we have, we will lose what we have."Basic Text, p. 78=Addiction gave a pattern to our lives, and with it a meaning--a dark, diseased meaning, to be sure, but a meaning nonetheless. The Narcotics Anonymous recovery program gives us a new pattern of living to replace...	Dave R	1	506	Oct 8, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 7 Depending on our higher power (Preview) "As recovering addicts, we find that we are still dependent, but our dependence has shifted from the things around us to a loving God and the inner strength we get in our relationship with Him."Basic Text, pp. 71=For many addicts, rebelliousness is second nature. We didn't want to depend on anyon...	Dave R	1	425	Oct 7, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 5 Ask for mercy, not justice (Preview) "Many of us have difficulty admitting that we caused harm for others...We cut away our justifications and our ideas of being a victim."Basic Text, p. 38=Our lives are progressing nicely. Things are going good, and each year in recovery brings more material and spiritual gifts. We may have a lit...	Dave R	4	2340	Oct 6, 2017 by Davethewave
	JFT October 6 Amends without expectations (Preview) "Projections about actually making amends can be a major obstacle both in making the list and in becoming willing."Basic Text, p. 39=The Eighth Step asks us to become willing to make amends to all persons we have harmed. As we approach this step, we may wonder what the outcome of our amends will be. ...	Dave R	1	2472	Oct 6, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 4 Thirty-day wonders (Preview) "When we first begin to enjoy relief from our addiction, we run the risk of assuming control of our lives again. We forget the agony and pain that we have known.:Basic Text, p. 50=Many of us have been "thirty-day wonders." We were desperate and dying when we showed up at our first NA meeting. We ide...	Dave R	1	376	Oct 4, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 3 Losing self-will (Preview) "Our egos, once so large and dominant, now take a back seat because we are in harmony with a loving God. We find that we lead richer, happier, and much fuller lives when we lose self-will." Basic Text, p. 105 = Addiction and self-will go hand in hand. The unmanageability that we admitt...	Dave R	1	3756	Oct 3, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 2 Keeping faith (Preview) "We grasp the limitless strength provided for us through our daily prayer and surrender as long as we keep faith and renew it."Basic Text, p. 46=There are two parts to recovery: getting clean, and staying clean. Getting clean is comparatively easy because we only have to do it once. Staying clea...	Dave R	1	2273	Oct 2, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT October 1 Not just a motivation for growth (Preview) "We learn that pain can be a motivating factor in recovery."Basic Text, p. 30="Pain--who needs it!" we think whenever we're in it. We see no good purpose for pain. It seems to be a pointless exercise in suffering. If someone happens to mention spiritual growth to us while we're in pain, we most l...	Dave R	1	3266	Oct 1, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 30 Being ourselves (Preview) "Our real value is in being ourselves."Basic Text, p. 105=Over and over, we have tried to live up to the expectations of those around us. We may have been raised believing that we were okay if we earned good grades in school, cleaned our rooms, or dressed a certain way. Always wanting to belong and be l...	Dave R	1	423	Sep 30, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 29 Just for Today (Preview) "When we stop living in the here and now, our problems become magnified unreasonably."Basic Text, p. 99="Just for today"--it's a comforting thought. If we try to live in the past, we may find ourselves torn by painful, disquieting memories. The lessons of our using are not the teachers we seek for...	Dave R	1	2469	Sep 29, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 28 Hope (Preview) "Gradually, as we become more God-centered than self-centered, our despair turns to hope."Basic Text, p. 95=As using addicts, despair was our relentless companion. It colored our every waking moment. Despair was born of our experience in active addiction: No matter what measures we tried to...	Dave R	1	2774	Sep 28, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 27 Right back up (Preview) "There is something in our self-destructive personalities that cries for failure."Basic Text, p. 80="Poor me; woe is me; look at me, my life is such a mess! I've fallen, and no matter how hard I try, I continue to fail." Many of us came to NA singing this sad refrain.Life isn't like that anymore. Tru...	Dave R	1	395	Sep 27, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 26 Seeing ourselves in others (Preview) "It will not make us better people to judge the faults of another."Basic Text, p. 38=How easy it is to point out the faults of others! There's a reason for this: The defects we identify most easily in others are often the defects we are most familiar with in our own characters. We may notice our best fr...	Dave R	1	2496	Sep 26, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 25 The Fourth Step--fearing our feelings (Preview) We may fear that being in touch with our feelings will trigger an overwhelming chain reaction of pain and panic. Basic Text, p. 30 = A common complaint about the Fourth Step is that it makes us painfully conscious of our defects of character. We may be tempted to falter in our program of recovery. Th...	Dave R	2	2428	Sep 25, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 24 A growing concept of God (Preview) The only suggested guidelines are that this Power be loving, caring, and greater than ourselves. We don't have to be religious to accept this idea. The point is that we open our minds to believe. Basic Text, p. 24 = In a lifelong process of coming to believe, our understanding of God will change. ...	Dave R	2	2642	Sep 25, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 23 Dealing with gossip (Preview) "In accordance with the principles of recovery, we try not to judge, stereotype, or moralize with each other." Basic Text, p. 11 = Let's face it: In Narcotics Anonymous, we live in a glass house of sorts. Our fellow members know more about our personal lives than anyone has ever known b...	Dave R	1	2497	Sep 23, 2017 by Dave R
	Vaping in the meeting hall (Preview) Just wanting to get feedback about whether or not your group allows smoking of electronic cigarettes in the meeting hall and why or why not. We have a business meeting for our group this weekend and I would like to have some additional input about what other groups are doing to bring to the table. Thanks...	RebeccaJ	4	1675	Sep 22, 2017 by Davethewave
	Day 3 Opiate Free (Preview) I need someone to tell me that it's going to get better. I used for less than a year, not excessively, but enough to become dependent. And on Tuesday, exactly 3 days ago I decided to quit. Right now I'm on Day 3, exactly 72 hours, and I hurt everywhere. I haven't eaten but a few crackers in 3 days, and have had...	jirobi23	1	2050	Sep 22, 2017 by Davethewave
	Day 3 Opiate Free (Preview) I need someone to tell me that it's going to get better. I used for less than a year, not excessively, but enough to become dependent. And on Tuesday, exactly 3 days ago I decided to quit. Right now I'm on Day 3, exactly 72 hours, and I hurt everywhere. I haven't eaten but a few crackers in 3 days, and have had...	jirobi23	0	2304	Sep 22, 2017 by jirobi23
	JFT September 22 Keeping the gift (Preview) "Life takes on a new meaning when we open ourselves to this gift."Basic Text, p. 107=Neglecting our recovery is like neglecting any other gift weve been given. Suppose someone gave you a new car. Would you let it sit in the driveway until the tires rotted? Would you just drive it, ignoring routine m...	Dave R	1	501	Sep 22, 2017 by Dave R
	JFT September 21 Prayer (Preview) "Prayer takes practice, and we should remind ourselves that skilled people were not born with their skills."Basic Text, p. 46=Many of us came into recovery with no experience in prayer and worried about not knowing the "right words." Some of us remembered the words wed learned in childhood but were...	Dave R	1	2281	Sep 21, 2017 by Dave R
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