|
|
JFT October 18 We all belong
(Preview)
"Although 'politics makes strange bedfellows,' as the old saying goes, addiction makes us one of a kind." Basic Text, p. 87 = What a mixture of folks we have in Narcotics Anonymous! In any given meeting on any given night, we'll find a variety of people who probably never would have sat...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
673
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
581
|
|
|
|
|
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 ou...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
646
|
|
|
|
|
Is it more helpful/effective to have a sponsor who had your same drug of choice?
(Preview)
Hey Guys, I'm new to the message board. Just went my first meeting today after about 5 months of relapse. So starting over again. Just for today! A very kind woman at the meeting I went to reached out to me today and gave me hope again. However, she had a very different drug of choice than mine and was a...
|
Elizabeth529
|
8
|
766
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
536
|
|
|
|
|
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 Ano...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
407
|
|
|
|
|
41 days clean - longest in 3 years and need more support.
(Preview)
Hello everyone, My name is Rob and I am an addict. I have been using drugs and alcohol since I was 16 years old and except for 19 months in 2007-2008 and a few days here and there I have struggled for two plus decades. I have had heart attacks, a stroke, and homelessness but 42 days ago I decided I was not gett...
|
Robby111
|
3
|
369
|
|
|
|
|
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. ...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
300
|
|
|
|
|
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,...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
309
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
1
|
344
|
|
|
|
|
A New comer again
(Preview)
My name is Mandi, I have been using opiates for many years and to the point of being more than sick and tired! of a small pill dominating my life. I...
|
Mandi
|
13
|
751
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
335
|
|
|
|
|
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 or...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
364
|
|
|
|
|
Help
(Preview)
This is the first time I have joined an online support group and I'm looking for guidance on how to use this program and attend meetings. I'm scared, alone and lost and no longer want to be in the place I am. Thank you in advance for any advice given
|
Raellen
|
7
|
655
|
|
|
|
|
The end is near
(Preview)
Literally the end is near. The end of this life yet the beginning of another. I have been using and my eating disorder have taken over my life. It is unmanageable. My body is shutting down to the point where I'm sick. I can only function for an hour or so and the. I have to sleep the rest of the day. I have so man...
|
LizC
|
4
|
398
|
|
|
|
|
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 l...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
305
|
|
|
|
|
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 d...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
344
|
|
|
|
|
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 am...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
322
|
|
|
|
|
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 ha...
|
Dave R
|
1
|
386
|
|
|
|
|
JFT October 4 Thirty-day wonder
(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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
348
|
|
|
|
|
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. ...
|
Dave R
|
1
|
323
|
|
|
|
|
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 wh...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
370
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
308
|
|
|
|
|
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 measu...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
304
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
293
|
|
|
|
|
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 not...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
315
|
|
|
|
|
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...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
363
|
|
|
|
|
JFT September 24
(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 w...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
280
|
|
|
|
|
JFT September 22 Keeping the gift
(Preview)
"Life takes on a new meaning when we open ourselves to this gift." Basic Text, p. 102 = Neglecting our recovery is like neglecting any other gift we've 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, ign...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
341
|
|
|
|
|
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. 45 = 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 we'd l...
|
Dave R
|
0
|
359
|
|
|