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JFT August 25 The Ninth Step--reclaiming life
(Preview)
"We are achieving freedom from the wreckage of our past."Basic Text, p. 42=When we start the Ninth Step, we've reached an exciting stage in our recovery. The damage done in our lives is what led many of us to seek help in the first place. Now, we have a chance to clean up that wreckage, amend our past,...
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Dave R
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JFT August 24 Seeking God's will
(Preview)
"We learn to be careful of praying for specific things."Basic Text, p. 46=In our active addiction, we usually did not pray for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry it out. On the contrary, most of our prayers were for God to get us out of the mess we had made for ourselves. We expected mir...
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Dave R
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2177
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JFT August 23 Decision-making
(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=Life is a series of decisions, actions, and consequences. When we were using, our decisions were usually driven by our disease, resulting in self-destruct...
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Dave R
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1
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563
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JFT August 22 Contribution
(Preview)
"We recognize our spiritual growth when we are able to reach out and help others."Basic Text, p. 58=To make a difference in the world, to contribute something special, is perhaps the highest aspiration of the human heart. Each one of us, no matter what our personal makeup, has a unique quality to off...
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Dave R
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1
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2897
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JFT August 21 Friendship
(Preview)
"Our friendships become deep, and we experience the warmth and caring which results from addicts sharing recovery and a new life." IP No. 19, Self-Acceptance=Most of us come to Narcotics Anonymous with few genuine friends. And most of us arrive without the slightest understanding of what it tak...
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Dave R
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2448
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JFT August 20 Facing death
(Preview)
"Often we have to face some type of crisis during our recovery, such as the death of a loved one..."Basic Text, p. 102=Every life has a beginning and an end. However, when someone we love a great deal reaches the end of their life, we may have a very hard time accepting their sudden, final absence. Our...
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Dave R
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JFT August 19 First things first
(Preview)
"We apply effort to our most obvious problems and let go of the rest. We do the job at hand and, as we progress, new opportunities for improvement present themselves."Basic Text, p. 56=It's been said that recovery is simple--all we've got to change is everything! That can seem a pretty tall order,...
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Dave R
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Hello Again Everyone!
(Preview)
It's been awhile but as I remember my life changing day (22 years ago today) I can't help but think of all of you and how much you all helped me when I needed it most! Your kindness, your tremendous listening skills and of of course your amazing insight! Excited to report that my son is also still sober sinc...
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kitty doyle
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1821
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JFT August 18 How long do I have to go?
(Preview)
"The way to remain a productive, responsible member of society is to put our recovery first."Basic Text, p. 106=The meetings have been great! Each night we've attended, we've gathered with other addicts to share experience, strength, and hope. And each day, weve used what weve learned in the mee...
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Dave R
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502
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JFT August 17 Tell the truth
(Preview)
"A symptom of our disease is alienation, and honest sharing will free us to recover."Basic Text, p. 83=Truth connects us to life while fear, isolation, and dishonesty alienate us from it. As using addicts, we hid as much of the truth about ourselves from as much of the world as we possibly could. Our...
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Dave R
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JFT August 15 Over time, not overnight
(Preview)
"We found that we do not recover physically, mentally, or spiritually overnight." Basic Text, p. 27 = Have you ever approached a recovery celebration with the feeling that you should be further along in your recovery than you are? Maybe you have listened to newcomers sharing in meeti...
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Dave R
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JFT August 14 Letting go of our limitations
(Preview)
"We don't have to settle for the limitations of the past. We can examine and reexamine our old ideas." Basic Text, p. 11 = Most of us come to the program with a multitude of self-imposed limitations that prevent us from realizing our full potential, limitations that impede our attempts...
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Dave R
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JFT August 13 Difficult people
(Preview)
"By giving unconditional love...we become more loving, and by sharing spiritual growth we become more spiritual." Basic Text, p.103=Most of us have one or two exceptionally difficult people in our lives. How do we deal with such a person in our recovery?First, we take our own inventory. Have we w...
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Dave R
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JFT August 11 Active listening
(Preview)
"Through active listening, we hear things that work for us." Basic Text, pp. 106-107=Most of us arrived in Narcotics Anonymous with a very poor ability to listen. But to take full advantage of the therapeutic value of one addict helping another, we must learn to listen actively.What is active list...
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Dave R
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JFT August 10 Regular prayer and meditation
(Preview)
Most of us pray when we are hurting. We learn that if we pray regularly, we wont be hurting as often or as intensely. Basic Text, p. 44 = Regular prayer and meditation are two more key elements in our new pattern of living. Our active addiction was more than just a bad habit waiting to be broken by force...
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Dave R
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JFT August 9 The power of love
(Preview)
August 9 The Power of love "We begin to see that God's love has been present all the time, just waiting for us to accept it." Basic Text, p. 46 = God's love is the transforming power that drives our recovery. With that love, we find freedom from the hopeless, desperate cycle of using, self-ha...
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Dave R
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JFT August 8 Responsible recovery
(Preview)
August 8 Responsible recovery...we accept responsibility for our problems and see that were equally responsible for our solutions. Basic Text, p. 94 = Some of us, well accustomed to leaving our personal responsibilities to others, may attempt the same behavior in recovery. We quickly find out i...
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Dave R
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JFT August 7 The gratitude list
(Preview)
August 7 The gratitude listWe focus on anything that isnt going our way and ignore all the beauty in our lives. Basic Text, p. 77 = Its easy to be grateful when everything runs smoothly. If we get a raise at work, were grateful. If we get married, were grateful. If someone surprises us with a nice prese...
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Dave R
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JFT August 6 The joy within
(Preview)
"Since the beginning of our recovery, we have found that joy doesn't come from material things but from within ourselves."Basic Text, p. 107=Some of us came to Narcotics Anonymous impoverished by our disease. Everything we'd owned had been lost to our addiction. Once we got clean, we put all our e...
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Dave R
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605
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JFT July 15 Relations with others
(Preview)
"We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all." Step Eight=All human beings struggle with self-centeredness. The chronic self-centeredness that lies at the very core of addiction makes that struggle doubly difficult for people like us. Many of us have l...
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Dave R
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Clean B-day
(Preview)
Another trip around the sun, very blessed and grateful to be here and be clean. Thanks for keeping the light on for me. 
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Dean
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JFT August 5 The shape of our thoughts
(Preview)
By shaping our thoughts with spiritual ideals, we are freed to become who we want to be.Basic Text, p. 105=Addiction shaped our thoughts in its own way. Whatever their shape may once have been, they became misshapen once our disease took full sway over our lives. Our obsession with drugs and self...
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Dave R
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JFT August 4 When is a secret not a secret?
(Preview)
"Addicts tend to live secret lives...It is a great relief to get rid of all our secrets and to share the burden of our past."Basic Text, p. 33 = We've heard it said that "were as sick as our secrets." What do we keep secret, and why? We keep secret those things that cause us shame. We may hold onto s...
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Dave R
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JFT August 2 Practicing honesty
(Preview)
"When we feel trapped or pressured, it takes great spiritual and emotional strength to be honest." Basic Text, p. 81 = Many of us try to wiggle out of a difficult spot by being dishonest, only to have to humble ourselves later and tell the truth. Some of us twist our stories as a matter of co...
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Dave R
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JFT August 1 Freedom from guilt
(Preview)
"Our addiction enslaved us. We were prisoners of our own mind and were condemned by our own guilt."Basic Text, p. 7=Guilt is one of the most commonly encountered stumbling blocks in recovery. One of the more notorious forms of guilt is the self-loathing that results when we try to forgive ourselve...
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Dave R
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JFT July 31 Freedom from active addiction
(Preview)
"Narcotics Anonymous offers only one promise and that is freedom from active addiction, the solution that eluded us for so long." Basic Text, p. 106 = NA offers no promises other than freedom from active addiction. It is true that some of our members meet with financial success in recovery....
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Dave R
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JFT July 30 Regular inventory
(Preview)
"Continuing to take a personal inventory means that we form a habit of looking at ourselves, our actions, attitudes, and relationships on a regular basis."Basic Text, p. 42=Taking a regular inventory is a key element in our new pattern of living. In our addiction, we examined ourselves as littl...
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Dave R
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JFT July 29 Expectations
(Preview)
"As we realize our need to be forgiven, we tend to be more forgiving."Basic Text, p. 39=Our behavior toward other people in our life is a mirror of our behavior toward ourselves. When we demand perfection of ourselves, we come to demand it from others around us, too. As we strive to repair and heal our...
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Dave R
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JFT July 28 Secrets and Intimacy
(Preview)
"We feared that if we ever revealed ourselves as we were, we would surely be rejected."Basic Text, p. 32=Having relationships without barriers, ones in which we can be entirely open with our feelings, is something many of us desire. At the same time, the possibility of such intimacy causes us more f...
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Dave R
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JFT July 27 We do recover
(Preview)
"After coming to NA, we found ourselves among a very special group of people who have suffered like us and found recovery. In their experiences, freely shared, we found hope for ourselves. If the program worked for them, it would work for us." Basic Text, p. 10 = A newcomer walks into his or he...
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Dave R
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