God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Courage to change the things I can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Who Is an Addict?
Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. WE KNOW! Our whole life and thinking was centered in drugs in one form or another - the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. We lived to use and used to live. Very simply, an addict is a man or woman whose life is controlled by drugs. We are people in the grip of a continuing and progressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutions, and death.
Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. WE KNOW! Our whole life and thinking was centered in drugs in one form or another - the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. We lived to use and used to live. Very simply, an addict is a man or woman whose life is controlled by drugs. We are people in the grip of a continuing and progressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutions, and death.
Just for Today
Tell yourself:
Just for today my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs.
Just for today I will have faith in someone in NA who believe in me and wants to help me in my recover.
Just for today I will have a program. I will try to follow it to the best of my ability.
Just for today through NA I will try to get a better perspective on my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid, my thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear.
Tell yourself:
Just for today my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs.
Just for today I will have faith in someone in NA who believe in me and wants to help me in my recover.
Just for today I will have a program. I will try to follow it to the best of my ability.
Just for today through NA I will try to get a better perspective on my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid, my thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear.
Why Are We Here?
Before coming to the Fellowship of NA, we could not manage our own lives. We could not live and enjoy life as other people do. We had to have something different and we thought we had found it in drugs. We placed their use ahead of the welfare of our families, our wives, husbands, and our children. We had to have drugs at all costs. We did many people great harm, but most of all we harmed ourselves. Through our inability to accept personal responsibilities we were actually creating our own problems. We seemed to be incapable of facing life on its own terms.
Most of us realized that in our addiction we were slowing commiting suicide, but addiction is such a cunning enemy of life that we had lost the power to do anything about it. Many of us ended up in jail, or sought help through medicine, religion, and psychiatry. None of these methods was sufficient for us. Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress until in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous.
After coming to NA we realized we were SICK people. We suffered from a disease from which there is no known cure. It can, however, be arrested at some point, and recovery is then possible.
Before coming to the Fellowship of NA, we could not manage our own lives. We could not live and enjoy life as other people do. We had to have something different and we thought we had found it in drugs. We placed their use ahead of the welfare of our families, our wives, husbands, and our children. We had to have drugs at all costs. We did many people great harm, but most of all we harmed ourselves. Through our inability to accept personal responsibilities we were actually creating our own problems. We seemed to be incapable of facing life on its own terms.
Most of us realized that in our addiction we were slowing commiting suicide, but addiction is such a cunning enemy of life that we had lost the power to do anything about it. Many of us ended up in jail, or sought help through medicine, religion, and psychiatry. None of these methods was sufficient for us. Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress until in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous.
After coming to NA we realized we were SICK people. We suffered from a disease from which there is no known cure. It can, however, be arrested at some point, and recovery is then possible.
How It Works
If you want what we have to offer, and are willing to make the effort to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. These are the principles that made our recovery possible.
1. We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanagable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct admends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. 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.
This sounds like a big order, and we can't do it all at once. We didn't become addicted in one day, so remember - Easy Does It.
If you want what we have to offer, and are willing to make the effort to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. These are the principles that made our recovery possible.
1. We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanagable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct admends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. 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.
This sounds like a big order, and we can't do it all at once. We didn't become addicted in one day, so remember - Easy Does It.
"The only way to keep from returning to active addiction is not to take that first drug. If you are like us you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough."
There is one thing more than anything else that will defeat us in our recovery; this is an attitude of indifference or intolerance toward spiritual principles. Three of these that are indispensable are honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness. With these we are well on our way.
We feel that our approach to the disease of addiction is completely realistic for the therapeutic values of one addict helping another with parallel. We feel that our way is pratical, for one addict can best understand and help another addict. We believe that the sooner we face our problems within our society, in everyday living, just that much faster do we become acceptable, responsible, and productive members of that society.
The only way to keep from returning to active addiction is not to take that first drug. If you are like us then you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough. We put great emphasis on this, for we know that when we use drugs in any form, or substitute one for another, we release our addiction all over again.
Thinking alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA many of us viewed alcohol seperately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover.
We feel that our approach to the disease of addiction is completely realistic for the therapeutic values of one addict helping another with parallel. We feel that our way is pratical, for one addict can best understand and help another addict. We believe that the sooner we face our problems within our society, in everyday living, just that much faster do we become acceptable, responsible, and productive members of that society.
The only way to keep from returning to active addiction is not to take that first drug. If you are like us then you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough. We put great emphasis on this, for we know that when we use drugs in any form, or substitute one for another, we release our addiction all over again.
Thinking alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA many of us viewed alcohol seperately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover.
When at the end of the road we find that we can no longer function as a human being, either with or without drugs, we all face the same dillemma. What is there left to do? There seems to be this alternative: either go on as best we can to the bitter ends - jails, institutions, or death - or find a new way to live. In years gone by, very few addicts ever had this last choice. Those who are addicted today are more fortunate. For the first time in mans entire history, a simple way has been proving itself in the lives of addicts. It is available to all of us. This is a simple spirital - not religous - program, known as Narcotics Anonymous .
Links:
Just for today,
you never have
to use again.
you never have
to use again.
"Addiction is a disease that involves more than the use of drugs."
Quotes from Literature
( Basic Text.)
( Basic Text.)
" Our world shrank and isolation became our way of life. We used to survive. It was the only way of life that we knew." (Pg. 4)
"One aspect of our addiction was our inability to deal with life on life's terms. We tried drugs and combination of drugs to cope with a seeminly hostile world." (Pg. 4)
"Our spirit was broken. The capacity to feel human was lost. This seems extreme, but many of us have been in this state of mind." (Pg. 5)
"We forgot how to feel." (Pg. 6)
"We used drugs to cover our feelings, and did whatever necessary to get drugs." (Pg. 13)
"Surrounded by other addicts, we realized that we were not alone anymore." (Pg. 15)
"We have hurt so long that we are willing to go to any length to stay clean." (Pg. 19)
"Surrender means not having to fight anymore." (Pg. 22)
"The day came when there was no longer a choice, we had to use." (Pg. 25)
"One aspect of our addiction was our inability to deal with life on life's terms. We tried drugs and combination of drugs to cope with a seeminly hostile world." (Pg. 4)
"Our spirit was broken. The capacity to feel human was lost. This seems extreme, but many of us have been in this state of mind." (Pg. 5)
"We forgot how to feel." (Pg. 6)
"We used drugs to cover our feelings, and did whatever necessary to get drugs." (Pg. 13)
"Surrounded by other addicts, we realized that we were not alone anymore." (Pg. 15)
"We have hurt so long that we are willing to go to any length to stay clean." (Pg. 19)
"Surrender means not having to fight anymore." (Pg. 22)
"The day came when there was no longer a choice, we had to use." (Pg. 25)
There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using.
Meeting Locator
Just for Today Meditation
NA ChatRoom
NA Florida
NA world
Bay Area NA
Help Line
NA Way Magazine
Basic Text
Narcotics Anonymous Myspace (1)
Just for Today Meditation
NA ChatRoom
NA Florida
NA world
Bay Area NA
Help Line
NA Way Magazine
Basic Text
Narcotics Anonymous Myspace (1)
Clean Date: December 13, 2012
