Narcotics Anonymous Message Board

LizC · LizC

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...

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 l...

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 d...

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 am...

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 ha...

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...

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. ...

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 wh...

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...

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 measu...

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...

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 not...

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...

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 w...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 · Dave R

"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 · Dave R

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Serenity Prayer = Recovery involves change, and change means doing things differently. The problem is, many of us resist doing things diffe...

Dave R · Dave R

"We may think that we have done enough by writing about our past. We cannot afford this mistake." Basic Text, p. 32 = Some of us aren't too keen on writing out our Fourth Step; others take it to an obsessive extreme. To our sponsor's growing dismay, we inventory ourselves again and again...

Dave R · Dave R

"We had to have something different, and we thought we had found it in drugs." Basic Text, p. 13 = Many of us have always felt different from other people. We know we're not unique in feeling that way; we hear many addicts share the same thing. We searched all our lives for something to mak...

Dave R · Dave R

"My life is well-rounded and I am becoming a more comfortable version of myself, not the neurotic, boring person that I thought I'd be without drugs." = Is there really life without drugs? Newcomers are sure that they are destined to lead a humdrum existence once they quit using. T...

Dave R · Dave R

"We learn to become flexible... As new things are revealed, we feel renewed." Basic Text, p. 102 = "Flexibility" was not a part of the vocabulary we used in our using days. We'd become obsessed with the raw pleasure of our drugs and hardened to all the softer, subtler, more i...

Dave R · Dave R

"In NA, our joys are multiplied by sharing good days; our sorrows are lessened by sharing the bad. For the first time in our lives, we don't have to experience anything alone." IP No. 16, For the Newcomer = When we practice using the steps and the other tools of our program to work through o...

Dave R · Dave R

"One of the most profound changes in our lives is in the realm of personal relationships." Basic Text, p. 57 = Recovery gives many of us relationships that are closer and more intimate than any we've had before. As time passes, we find ourselves gravitating toward those who eventually...

Dave R · Dave R

"Emotional balance is one of the first results of meditation, and our experience bears this out." Basic Text, p.47 = Though each of us defines "emotional balance" a little differently, all of us must find it. Emotional balance can mean finding and maintaining a positive o...

Dave R · Dave R

"...we think that if we can just get enough food, enough sex, or enough money, we'll be satisfied and everything will be alright." Basic Text, p. 80 = In our addiction, we could never get enough drugs, or money, or sex, or anything else. Even too much was never enough! There was a spiritu...

Dave R · Dave R

"Eventually we are shown that we must get honest, or we will use again." Basic Text, p. 85 = Everyone has secrets, right? Some of us have little secrets, items that would cause only minor embarrassment if found out. Some of us have big secrets, whole areas of our lives cloaked in thick, m...

Dave R · Dave R

"We learn that a simple, loving hug can make all the difference in the world..." Basic Text, p. 91 = Perhaps there have been times in our recovery when we were close to someone who was in great pain. We struggled with the question, "What can I do to make them feel better?" We fel...

Dave R · Dave R

"One of the biggest stumbling blocks to recovery seems to be placing unrealistic expectations on... others." Basic Text, p. 82 = Many of us come into Narcotics Anonymous feeling pretty poorly about ourselves. By comparison, the recovering addicts we meet at meetings may seem almos...

Dave R · Dave R

"We need not lose faith when we become rebellious." Basic Text, p. 35 = Many of us have lived our entire lives in revolt. Our initial response to any type of direction is often negative. Automatic rejection of authority seems to be a troubling character defect for many addicts. A thoro...

Dave R · Dave R

"Where there has been wrong, the program teaches us the spirit of forgiveness." Basic Text, p. 12 = In NA, we begin to interact with the world around us. We no longer live in isolation. But freedom from isolation has its price: The more we interact with people, the more often we'll find...

Topic		Started By	Replies	Views	Last Post
	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	594	Oct 8, 2015 by Mike M
	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	502	Oct 8, 2015 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 d...	Dave R	0	542	Oct 7, 2015 by Dave R
	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	519	Oct 6, 2015 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 ha...	Dave R	1	593	Oct 5, 2015 by Dave R
	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	549	Oct 4, 2015 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. ...	Dave R	1	525	Oct 2, 2015 by Mike M
	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	565	Oct 1, 2015 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...	Dave R	0	494	Sep 30, 2015 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 measu...	Dave R	0	549	Sep 28, 2015 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...	Dave R	0	532	Sep 27, 2015 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 not...	Dave R	0	533	Sep 26, 2015 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...	Dave R	0	600	Sep 25, 2015 by Dave R
	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	532	Sep 24, 2015 by Dave R
	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	581	Sep 22, 2015 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. 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	598	Sep 21, 2015 by Dave R
	JFT September 20 Courage to change (Preview) "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Serenity Prayer = Recovery involves change, and change means doing things differently. The problem is, many of us resist doing things diffe...	Dave R	1	860	Sep 20, 2015 by Davethewave
	JFT September 17 Going beyond Step Five (Preview) "We may think that we have done enough by writing about our past. We cannot afford this mistake." Basic Text, p. 32 = Some of us aren't too keen on writing out our Fourth Step; others take it to an obsessive extreme. To our sponsor's growing dismay, we inventory ourselves again and again...	Dave R	1	613	Sep 19, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 13 Something different (Preview) "We had to have something different, and we thought we had found it in drugs." Basic Text, p. 13 = Many of us have always felt different from other people. We know we're not unique in feeling that way; we hear many addicts share the same thing. We searched all our lives for something to mak...	Dave R	1	576	Sep 19, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 12 New horizons (Preview) "My life is well-rounded and I am becoming a more comfortable version of myself, not the neurotic, boring person that I thought I'd be without drugs." = Is there really life without drugs? Newcomers are sure that they are destined to lead a humdrum existence once they quit using. T...	Dave R	1	679	Sep 19, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 11 Bend with the wind (Preview) "We learn to become flexible... As new things are revealed, we feel renewed." Basic Text, p. 102 = "Flexibility" was not a part of the vocabulary we used in our using days. We'd become obsessed with the raw pleasure of our drugs and hardened to all the softer, subtler, more i...	Dave R	1	632	Sep 19, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 19 Fellowship (Preview) "In NA, our joys are multiplied by sharing good days; our sorrows are lessened by sharing the bad. For the first time in our lives, we don't have to experience anything alone." IP No. 16, For the Newcomer = When we practice using the steps and the other tools of our program to work through o...	Dave R	0	596	Sep 19, 2015 by Dave R
	JFT September 18 Honest relationships (Preview) "One of the most profound changes in our lives is in the realm of personal relationships." Basic Text, p. 57 = Recovery gives many of us relationships that are closer and more intimate than any we've had before. As time passes, we find ourselves gravitating toward those who eventually...	Dave R	0	581	Sep 18, 2015 by Dave R
	JFT September 16 Emotional balance (Preview) "Emotional balance is one of the first results of meditation, and our experience bears this out." Basic Text, p.47 = Though each of us defines "emotional balance" a little differently, all of us must find it. Emotional balance can mean finding and maintaining a positive o...	Dave R	0	613	Sep 16, 2015 by Dave R
	JFT September 15 Filling the emptiness (Preview) "...we think that if we can just get enough food, enough sex, or enough money, we'll be satisfied and everything will be alright." Basic Text, p. 80 = In our addiction, we could never get enough drugs, or money, or sex, or anything else. Even too much was never enough! There was a spiritu...	Dave R	0	638	Sep 15, 2015 by Dave R
	JFT September 14 Secrets are reservations (Preview) "Eventually we are shown that we must get honest, or we will use again." Basic Text, p. 85 = Everyone has secrets, right? Some of us have little secrets, items that would cause only minor embarrassment if found out. Some of us have big secrets, whole areas of our lives cloaked in thick, m...	Dave R	0	635	Sep 14, 2015 by Dave R
	JFT September 10 More powerful than words (Preview) "We learn that a simple, loving hug can make all the difference in the world..." Basic Text, p. 91 = Perhaps there have been times in our recovery when we were close to someone who was in great pain. We struggled with the question, "What can I do to make them feel better?" We fel...	Dave R	1	607	Sep 10, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 9 Feet of clay (Preview) "One of the biggest stumbling blocks to recovery seems to be placing unrealistic expectations on... others." Basic Text, p. 82 = Many of us come into Narcotics Anonymous feeling pretty poorly about ourselves. By comparison, the recovering addicts we meet at meetings may seem almos...	Dave R	1	643	Sep 9, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 8 Rebellion (Preview) "We need not lose faith when we become rebellious." Basic Text, p. 35 = Many of us have lived our entire lives in revolt. Our initial response to any type of direction is often negative. Automatic rejection of authority seems to be a troubling character defect for many addicts. A thoro...	Dave R	1	716	Sep 9, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT September 7 Resentment and forgiveness (Preview) "Where there has been wrong, the program teaches us the spirit of forgiveness." Basic Text, p. 12 = In NA, we begin to interact with the world around us. We no longer live in isolation. But freedom from isolation has its price: The more we interact with people, the more often we'll find...	Dave R	1	805	Sep 7, 2015 by cdbuckberry
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