As a newcomer, along with the GTLS, there was another handbook that I was given by an oldtimer, the H&I Handbook! I was told that this was the most rewarding part of service that would help me immensely in my recovery.
I've been part of H&I service since I was a few months old. I took up as Panel Leader very early in my recovery, when I was around a year clean. I have always found a lot of strength and hope being part of H&I as I myself have had my initial introduction to NA through such H&I meetings brought to my rehab center when I was in.
Since then, through out the last 5 years, I've actively participated in H&I, till this day. I just got elected as H&I Chair for my Area, and this commitment has really had a positive effect on not only my recovery but also on both my work front and in my business. Today, principles like commitment, consistency, coordinating etc. are beginning to add more depth in my daily life.
Most of all, the contentment and gratitude that I feel is overwhelming. To be a trusted servant, to be entrusted to serve on the behalf of all members and groups of the Area, is truly a great blessing, and to be part of service today in this way I realize is to be the vehicle of a Higher Power, carrying out work on His behalf, as He directs through the conscience of the members I serve. Wow, what a concept! And what an opportunity. It fills me with humility and responsibility, merely thinking of what has been entrusted to me when I'm chosen as a servant in NA Service.
How many of you are involved in H&I Service? How do you go about it in your Area? Would love to hear about it, and I could pick up an idea or two in the process
im going on my third week on a panel at a state prison recovery program, i was in this program back in the 90's so it's good to go back sitting in a different chair.
MAN it's been really rewarding for me because last week I really felt where my life was at back then, locked up, hopeless and just going through the motions of an addict the revolving doors of instituions. I have come quite a long ways since then.
It's rough I am going through some really tough days being powerless over things going on in my life but I WILL NOT TRADE OR GIVE BACK what I have today.
I have to give it away whats been given to me thats what they tell me, with the hope it might save another guys life someday.
My home group just took over the panel from another group I had already been looking into it on my own and heard what was going on and invited myself to join the panel
BigV wrote:MAN it's been really rewarding for me because last week I really felt where my life was at back then, locked up, hopeless and just going through the motions of an addict the revolving doors of instituions. I have come quite a long ways since then.
It's rough I am going through some really tough days being powerless over things going on in my life but I WILL NOT TRADE OR GIVE BACK what I have today.
Exactly, that's what is amazing about going there you know. Being there among inmates of a facility clearly reminds me what I actually was, where I come from. Grounds me completely. Also, I could more clearly see the changes in my recovery, the many blessings that have come my way since back then. H&I Service is truly a humbling experience, overwhelms me with gratitude.
I WILL NOT TRADE OR GIVE BACK what I have today. Thanks for sharing that, needed to hear it this morning.
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"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
I am currently Vice-Chair of H&I in Alaska also a panel leader for one of the halfway houses - It's been rewarding and challenging - Getting people involved with H&I has been an ongoing process - We continue to seek folks to share in institution and to be a part of H&I. We have put on a few workshops, and learning days - to get members to see what its about. Also we are continuing the growth of facilities - we just picked up a women's prison and a women's transitional treatment facilities - pretty awesome - I am excited to bring to the table of "thinking outside the box" Very Rewarding -
I can relate. I was H&I Secretary and Panel Leader of the last H&I Subcommittee, and to get members involved was indeed a humongous task. A series of Learning Days and compiling and distributing a Panel Member Orientation Package along with the H&I Basics Bulletin helped. But still it seemed to always dwindle down after the initial flourish to 2 or 3 of us.
Surprisingly, this time around, without much effort, members are coming forward, oldtimers and newcomers alike, asking about H&I meetings, wanting to be part of, volunteering to come and share, it's been amazingly refreshing to see this happen. Truly Higher Power at work!
Also, the response from the facilities we have approached so far has been quite encouraging! Last time around, we tried to do too many things too fast, and having learned from those experiences and what happened as a result (burn-out), this time, we are going easy, focusing on committing and consistently carrying H&I meetings into a few facilities over a period of time before adding more facilities, one at a time!
Learning to operate within our capacity and respecting our limitations has helped us sustain our energies and interest this time around.
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"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
Glad to hear that MaLfUnCtIoN, that's recovery in NA in a nutshell what you shared above
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"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
Come the weekend, there's a little bit of anxiety that I feel to start with, thinking about the weekend H&I meeting that we must take into some facility. Calling up members to volunteer, having to drive down 40-50 kilometres, reaching their at time (which means the panel members getting together at time and starting at time), it almost seems to grow into a humongous task where everything has to fall in place, and that's when I recollect dozens of H&I meetings that we were able to take into various facilities in the last few years... everything went well, at the end of it all, as if a Higher Power It's own plan, monitoring and facilitating everything that needs to happen, turning what looks like a setback into a blessing, countless number of times.
Recollecting all this assures me, peace and surrender sets in. And I start looking forward to the H&I meeting coming up on the weekend, knowing well that a Higher Power's in charge, and we will be shepherded by this Power
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"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
