We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.
Basic Text, p. 9
=
The NA program gives us a new pattern of living. One of the basic elements of that new pattern is regular meeting attendance. For the newcomer, living clean is a brand-new experience. All that once was familiar is changed. The old people, places, and things that served as props on the stage of our lives are gone. New stresses appear, no longer masked or deadened by drugs. Thats why we often suggest that newcomers attend a meeting every day. No matter what comes up, no matter how crazy the day gets, we know that our daily meeting awaits us. There, we can renew contact with other recovering addicts, people who know what were going through because theyve been through it themselves. No day needs to go by without the relief we get only from such fellowship.
As we mature in recovery, we get the same kinds of benefits from regular meeting attendance. Regardless of how long weve been clean, we never stop being addicts. True, we probably wont immediately start using mass quantities of drugs if we miss our meetings for a few days. But the more regularly we attend NA meetings, the more we reinforce our identity as recovering addicts. And each meeting helps put us that much further from becoming using addicts again.
=
Just for today: I will make a commitment to include regular meeting attendance as a part of my new pattern of living.
They say meeting makers make it. I still go to about 2 meetings a week after a number of years of being clean. When I've asked people who relapsed and then started over again what happened, they all said the same thing: I stopped going to meetings.
Thank you Dave for your willingness to post the JFT reading each day. It really is nice to be able to come here in the morning, with coffee in hand and read the meditation and see that others are trying to bring something to the table of recovery. I was once simply a consumer in life, today I try to be a contributor.
Yours in Recovery, John Webmaster and Founder of MIP
Really really interesting reading, at least for me. Thanks Dave, and thank you John for your efforts here on this board. Many lives have been changed because of your selfless service. I'm one of those members who came to recovery late in life and cherished it so much I truly built my existence around NA. I made meetings, did service work, and worked steps in NA. I averaged probably 6-10 meetings a week for the first 6 yrs or so of my recovery. Then an odd thing happened... my enthusiasm began to lag, meetings no longer held that familiar excitement for me, my life became pretty dull and ho hum. It only took a few weeks for me to realize I needed to do something and quick! I called one of my spiritual advisors who had over 20 yrs clean. I explained to him what I was feeling and struggling with and he said the oddest thing... he said, "It's about time!" He told me he had seen this coming for a while and that it was the result of a lack of balance in my life. He told me I was hiding out in the rooms of NA and that the program required us to take what we learn in recovery and carry it out into the 'real' world. He suggested a hobby or activity outside NA, at least once a week. Perhaps a class or some kind of community service, anything to give me opportunities to grow into new areas. I took his advice and it has been the answer to my dilemma. I have found renewed vigor and enthusiasm for meeting attendance and tho I seldom make more than 3 meetings a week anymore, I am excited about being there. This enthusiasm shows in my sharing and in my service too. The newer member can hear it in my voice and see it in my actions.... I am convinced that they believe that I believe this program works. Thank you NA for not only saving my life, but for giving me a life worth living. I'll keep coming back.
__________________
"With a sweet tongue of kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair." ~Persian Proverb
Thanks to you all for sharing here too. It really is important to have other things in your life besides NA. Balance is the key. We do become productive members of society, not just NA junkies.
