Narcotics Anonymous Message Board

Dave R · Dave R

"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,...

live thru this · live thru this

After three weeks detoxing in a psych unit I am now four weeks clean. I am drifting between vulnerable and strong. I'm just finding my way around the site and wanted to say Hi.

Dave R · Dave R

"By shaping our thoughts with spiritual ideals, we are freed to become who we want to be." Basic Text, p. 101 = 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...

Dave R · Dave R

"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. 32 = Weve heard it said that "we're as sick as our secrets." What do we keep secret, and why? We keep secret those things that cause us shame....

Dave R · Dave R

"Many of us would have had nowhere else to go if we could not have trusted NA groups and members." Basic Text, p. 81 = Trusting people is a risk. Human beings are notoriously forgetful, unreliable, and imperfect. Most of us come from backgrounds where betrayal and insensitivity among...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 for...

michaelg · michaelg

Just finished step 5 with a sponsee. He murdered 3 people from age 14-23 and never got caught. Im having a difficult time handling it all. Im doing my step 3 prayer with it, but it keeps popping back in my head randomly.

Mike M · Mike M

If you're reading this, congratulations of doing something positive for your Recovery! 12,666 One Day at a Times Clean the NA Way but who's counting. (Other than keeping the Spam cleaned up daily haven't been active on here in a spell so just thought I'd post a little something.)Grateful for another...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 reco...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 oursel...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 repa...

potatodog · potatodog

I'm totally new to the situation I'm in. I have a loved one going into rehab tomorrow. I would like any information as to where I can go for information for what I can do to make our home better for her when she gets out. I also need to know what I can do to help her in any way possible. Our whole family wants noth...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 c...

Dave R · Dave R

"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 hi...

Dave R · Dave R

"Help for addicts begins only when we are able to admit complete defeat. This can be frightening, but it is the foundation on which we have built our lives." Basic Text, p. 22 = Most of us have tried everything we can think of, exerted every ounce of force possible, to fill the spiritual ho...

BigV · BigV

How do we help the old timer who suffers from narcissistic disorder, bragging on how he's started all the fellowships in our town and even started fellowships in other places, who brags about his 46 years sober, who yells and screams at people, swears in meetings, literally engulfs new comers swarmi...

Dave R · Dave R

"Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Step Twelve = There is no such thing as a "failed" Twelfth Step call. Even if our prospect doesn't get clean, we have a...

Dave R · Dave R

"...we covered low self-esteem by hiding behind phony images that we hoped would fool people. The masks have to go." Basic Text, p. 33 = Over-sensitivity, insecurity, and lack of identity are often associated with active addiction. Many of us carry these with us into recovery; our fe...

Dave R · Dave R

July 23 Surrendering self-will "We want and demand that things always go our way. We should know from our past experience that our way of doing things did not work." Basic Text, p. 93 = All of us have ideas, plans, goals for our lives. There's nothing in the NA program that says we shouldn't...

Dave R · Dave R

"For us, to use is to die, often in more ways than one." Basic Text, p. 82 = As newcomers, many of us came to our first meeting with only a small spark of life remaining. That spark, our spirit, wants to survive. Narcotics Anonymous nurtures that spirit. The love of the fellowship quic...

Dave R · Dave R

"If, after a period of time, we find ourselves in trouble with our recovery, we have probably stopped doing one or more of the things that helped us in the earlier stages of our recovery." Basic Text, p. 95 = Surrender is just for newcomers, right? Wrong! After we've been around awhile, s...

Dave R · Dave R

"We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable." Step One = The First Step begins with "we," and there"s a reason for that. There is great strength in making a verbal admission of our powerlessness. And when we go to mee...

Dave R · Dave R

"Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress until, in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous." Basic Text, p. 13 = When we think of being desperate, we envision an undesirable state: a poor, bedraggled soul frantically clawing at something so...

kaitlynmacciocca · kaitlynmacciocca

Hi, I moved to Austin TX to get clean. Not court ordered, I did this for myself. My fiance is down here but seemingly wants nothing to do with me and gets angry that I am homesick when he didnt want me down here to begin with, not yet at least. I attend meetings religiously, before I look for job but my sobrie...

Dave R · Dave R

"Do we fully accept the fact that our every attempt to stop using or to control our using failed?" Basic Text, p. 19 = The room is dark. Your forehead is bathed in cold sweat. Your heart is racing. You open your eyes, sure that you've just blown your clean time. You've had a using dream, a...

Dave R · Dave R

"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. M...

Dave R · Dave R

"Social acceptability does not equal recovery." Basic Text, p. 22 = One of the first things that happens to many of us in recovery is that we start to look better. We get healthier; we bathe; we dress more appropriately. And without the goading of active addiction, many of us finally sto...

Dave R · Dave R

"If we are hurting, and most of us do from time to time, we learn to ask for help." Basic Text, p. 83 = Sometimes recovery gets downright difficult. It can be even more difficult to get humble enough to ask for help. We think, "I have all this time clean. I should be better than this!&...

Dave R · Dave R

"We were trapped by our need for the instant gratification that drugs gave us." Basic Text, p. 25 = "I want what I want, and I want it now!" That's about as patient as most of us ever got in our active addiction. The obsession and compulsion of our disease gave us a one-track way o...

Dave R · Dave R

"Deep inside, I had feelings of inadequacy and inferiority." = Somewhere along the way, many of us developed strong feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. Deep inside was a voice that continually cried out, "You're worthless!" Many of us learn to recognize this cha...

Topic		Started By	Replies	Views	Last Post
	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,...	Dave R	1	1701	Aug 10, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	small steps (Preview) After three weeks detoxing in a psych unit I am now four weeks clean. I am drifting between vulnerable and strong. I'm just finding my way around the site and wanted to say Hi.	live thru this	6	1992	Aug 6, 2015 by Dave R
	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. 101 = 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...	Dave R	1	1984	Aug 5, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT August 5 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. 32 = Weve heard it said that "we're as sick as our secrets." What do we keep secret, and why? We keep secret those things that cause us shame....	Dave R	1	1847	Aug 5, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT August 3 Trusting people (Preview) "Many of us would have had nowhere else to go if we could not have trusted NA groups and members." Basic Text, p. 81 = Trusting people is a risk. Human beings are notoriously forgetful, unreliable, and imperfect. Most of us come from backgrounds where betrayal and insensitivity among...	Dave R	1	1698	Aug 3, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	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 for...	Dave R	1	1900	Aug 3, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	step 5 help (Preview) Just finished step 5 with a sponsee. He murdered 3 people from age 14-23 and never got caught. Im having a difficult time handling it all. Im doing my step 3 prayer with it, but it keeps popping back in my head randomly.	michaelg	7	653	Aug 3, 2015 by Mike M
	Congratulations! (Preview) If you're reading this, congratulations of doing something positive for your Recovery! 12,666 One Day at a Times Clean the NA Way but who's counting. (Other than keeping the Spam cleaned up daily haven't been active on here in a spell so just thought I'd post a little something.)Grateful for another...	Mike M	1	1934	Aug 2, 2015 by MIKEF
	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 reco...	Dave R	1	1831	Jul 31, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	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 oursel...	Dave R	1	1548	Jul 30, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	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 repa...	Dave R	1	1883	Jul 29, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	Please help (Preview) I'm totally new to the situation I'm in. I have a loved one going into rehab tomorrow. I would like any information as to where I can go for information for what I can do to make our home better for her when she gets out. I also need to know what I can do to help her in any way possible. Our whole family wants noth...	potatodog	5	1914	Jul 29, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	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 c...	Dave R	1	1858	Jul 29, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	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 hi...	Dave R	1	1990	Jul 29, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 26 Unconditional surrender (Preview) "Help for addicts begins only when we are able to admit complete defeat. This can be frightening, but it is the foundation on which we have built our lives." Basic Text, p. 22 = Most of us have tried everything we can think of, exerted every ounce of force possible, to fill the spiritual ho...	Dave R	1	2187	Jul 29, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	How to deal with the sick old timer (Preview) How do we help the old timer who suffers from narcissistic disorder, bragging on how he's started all the fellowships in our town and even started fellowships in other places, who brags about his 46 years sober, who yells and screams at people, swears in meetings, literally engulfs new comers swarmi...	BigV	3	7028	Jul 26, 2015 by BigV
	JFT July 25 Twelfth Step "failure"? (Preview) "Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Step Twelve = There is no such thing as a "failed" Twelfth Step call. Even if our prospect doesn't get clean, we have a...	Dave R	1	1785	Jul 26, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 24 The masks have to go (Preview) "...we covered low self-esteem by hiding behind phony images that we hoped would fool people. The masks have to go." Basic Text, p. 33 = Over-sensitivity, insecurity, and lack of identity are often associated with active addiction. Many of us carry these with us into recovery; our fe...	Dave R	1	2054	Jul 24, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 23 Surrendering self-wil (Preview) July 23 Surrendering self-will "We want and demand that things always go our way. We should know from our past experience that our way of doing things did not work." Basic Text, p. 93 = All of us have ideas, plans, goals for our lives. There's nothing in the NA program that says we shouldn't...	Dave R	1	2107	Jul 23, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 22 Spiritual death (Preview) "For us, to use is to die, often in more ways than one." Basic Text, p. 82 = As newcomers, many of us came to our first meeting with only a small spark of life remaining. That spark, our spirit, wants to survive. Narcotics Anonymous nurtures that spirit. The love of the fellowship quic...	Dave R	1	1370	Jul 23, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 21 Surrender is for everyone (Preview) "If, after a period of time, we find ourselves in trouble with our recovery, we have probably stopped doing one or more of the things that helped us in the earlier stages of our recovery." Basic Text, p. 95 = Surrender is just for newcomers, right? Wrong! After we've been around awhile, s...	Dave R	1	445	Jul 21, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 20 Step One (Preview) "We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable." Step One = The First Step begins with "we," and there"s a reason for that. There is great strength in making a verbal admission of our powerlessness. And when we go to mee...	Dave R	1	452	Jul 21, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 18 The gift of desperation (Preview) "Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress until, in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous." Basic Text, p. 13 = When we think of being desperate, we envision an undesirable state: a poor, bedraggled soul frantically clawing at something so...	Dave R	1	424	Jul 18, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	having the worst time, burning desire out the ass. help! (Preview) Hi, I moved to Austin TX to get clean. Not court ordered, I did this for myself. My fiance is down here but seemingly wants nothing to do with me and gets angry that I am homesick when he didnt want me down here to begin with, not yet at least. I attend meetings religiously, before I look for job but my sobrie...	kaitlynmacciocca	4	533	Jul 18, 2015 by MIKEF
	JFT July 17 Using our using dreams (Preview) "Do we fully accept the fact that our every attempt to stop using or to control our using failed?" Basic Text, p. 19 = The room is dark. Your forehead is bathed in cold sweat. Your heart is racing. You open your eyes, sure that you've just blown your clean time. You've had a using dream, a...	Dave R	1	425	Jul 17, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	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. M...	Dave R	1	399	Jul 16, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 14 An inside job (Preview) "Social acceptability does not equal recovery." Basic Text, p. 22 = One of the first things that happens to many of us in recovery is that we start to look better. We get healthier; we bathe; we dress more appropriately. And without the goading of active addiction, many of us finally sto...	Dave R	1	432	Jul 16, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 13 Humility in action (Preview) "If we are hurting, and most of us do from time to time, we learn to ask for help." Basic Text, p. 83 = Sometimes recovery gets downright difficult. It can be even more difficult to get humble enough to ask for help. We think, "I have all this time clean. I should be better than this!&...	Dave R	1	373	Jul 16, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 12 Patience (Preview) "We were trapped by our need for the instant gratification that drugs gave us." Basic Text, p. 25 = "I want what I want, and I want it now!" That's about as patient as most of us ever got in our active addiction. The obsession and compulsion of our disease gave us a one-track way o...	Dave R	1	375	Jul 16, 2015 by cdbuckberry
	JFT July 16 Self-esteem (Preview) "Deep inside, I had feelings of inadequacy and inferiority." = Somewhere along the way, many of us developed strong feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. Deep inside was a voice that continually cried out, "You're worthless!" Many of us learn to recognize this cha...	Dave R	0	388	Jul 16, 2015 by Dave R
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