...we give love because it was given so freely to us.  New frontiers are open to us as we learn how to love.  Love can be the flow of life energy from one person to another.

Basic Text, p. 105

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Love given, and love received, is the essence of life itself.  It is the universal common denominator, connecting us to those around us.  Addiction deprived us of that connection, locking us within ourselves.

The love we find in the NA program reopens the world to us.  It unlocks the cage of addiction which once imprisoned us.  By receiving love from other NA members, we find outperhaps for the first timewhat love is and what it can do.  We hear fellow members talk about the sharing of love, and we sense the substance it lends to their lives.

We begin to suspect that, if giving and receiving love means so much to others, maybe it can give meaning to our lives, too.  We sense that we are on the verge of a great discovery, yet we also sense that we wont fully understand the meaning of love unless we give ours away.  We try it, and discover the missing connection between ourselves and the world.

Today, we realize that what they said was true:  We keep what we have only by giving it away.