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Addiction, Drugs, and Recovery

Just for Today - December 14

"Addiction is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease that affects every area of our lives."

Basic Text pg. 20

Before we started using, most of us had a stereotype, a mental image of what addicts were supposed to look like. Some of us pictured a junkie robbing convenience markets for drug money. Others imagined a paranoid recluse peering at life from behind perpetually drawn drapes and locked doors. As long as we didn't fit any of the stereotypes, we thought, we couldn't be addicts.

Membership

Just for Today - December 13

"There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using."

Basic Text pg. 9

We all know people who could benefit from Narcotics Anonymous. Many people we encounter from all walks of life - our family members, old friends, and co-workers - could really use a program of recovery in their lives. Sadly, those who need us don't always find their way to our rooms.

Fear of Change

Just for Today - December 12

"By working the steps, we come to accept a Higher Power's will.... We lose our fear of the unknown. We are set free."

Basic Text pg. 16

Life is a series of changes, both large and small. Although we may know and accept this fact intellectually, chances are that our initial emotional reaction to change is fear. For some reason, we assume that each and every change is going to hurt, causing us to be miserable.

Misery Is Optional

Just for Today - December 11

No one is forcing us to give up our misery.

Basic Text, p. 29

It’s funny to remember how reluctant we once were to surrender to recovery.  We seemed to think we had wonderful, fulfilling lives as using addicts and that giving up our drugs would be worse than serving a life sentence at hard labor.  In reality, the opposite was true:  Our lives were miserable, but we were afraid to trade that familiar misery for the uncertainties of recovery.

Winners

Just for Today - December 10

“I started to imitate some of the things the winners were doing. I got caught up in NA. I felt good...”

Basic Text, p. 223

Listening

Just for Today - December 9

“This ability to listen is a gift and grows as we grow spiritually. Life takes on a new meaning when we open ourselves to this gift.”

Basic Text, p. 102

Calling a Defect a Defect

Just for Today - December 8

“When we see how our defects exist in our lives and accept them, we can let go of them and get on with our new life.”

Basic Text, pp. 33-34

Sometimes our readiness to have our character defects removed depends on what we call them. If misnaming our defects makes them seem less “defective,” we may be unable to see the damage they cause. And if they seem to be causing no harm, why would we ever ask our Higher Power to remove them from our lives?

Surviving Our Emotions

Just for Today - December 7

“We use the tools available to us and develop the ability to survive our emotions.”

Basic Text, p. 30

“Survive my emotions?” some of us say. “You’ve got to be kidding!” When we were using, we never gave ourselves the chance to learn how to survive them. You don’t survive your feelings, we thought—you drug them. The problem was, that “cure” for our unsurvivable emotions was killing us. That’s when we came to Narcotics Anonymous, started working the Twelve Steps and, as a result, began to mature emotionally.

Romance and Recovery

Just for Today - December 6

“Relationships can be a terribly painful area.”

Basic Text, p. 78

Love is like an elixir for some of us. The excitement of a new lover, the intrigue of exploring intimacy, the sense of release we get from allowing ourselves to become vulnerable—these are all powerful emotions. But we can’t forget that we have only a daily reprieve from our addiction. Holding onto this daily reprieve must be the top priority in any recovering addict’s life.

Those Who Want To Recover

Just for Today - December 5

“We have seen the program work for any addict who honestly and sincerely wants to stop [using drugs].”

Basic Text, p. 10

How do we know when someone honestly and sincerely wants to stop using drugs? The truth is that we don’t know! Because we cannot read minds or know another’s motives and desires, we simply have to hope for the best.

God's Will, Not Ours

Just for Today - December 4

"We know that if we pray for God's will we will receive what is best for us, regardless of what we think."

Basic Text pg. 44

Vision Without Limits

Just for Today - December 3

"Perhaps for the first time, we see a vision of our new life."

Basic Text pg. 34

In our addiction, our vision of ourselves was very limited. Each day, we went through the same routine: getting, using, and finding ways and means to get more. And that's all we could reasonably expect for the duration of our lives. Our potential was limited.

Recovery: Our First Priority

Just for Today - December 2

"We have to keep our recovery first and our priorities in order."  Basic Text pg. 79

Before coming to NA, we used many excuses to justify our use of drugs: "He yelled at me" "She said this." "My partner left." "I got fired." We used these same excuses for not seeking help for our drug problem. We had to realize that these things kept happening because we kept using drugs. Only when we made recovery our first priority did these situations begin to change.

Life's Rewards

Just for Today - December 1

"We begin to pray only for God's will for us. That way, we get only what we are capable of handling."  Basic Text pg. 47

Imagine what might happen if God gave us everything we wanted. A fabulous new car, straight A's, a triple salary raise - all ours without effort, just for the asking.

Sharing the Real Me

Just for today - November 30

"Sharing with others keeps us from feeling isolated and alone."   Basic Text pg. 81

Our Higher Power's Care

Just for today - November 29

"We believe that our Higher Power will take care of us."   Basic Text pg. 55

Our program is based on the idea that the application of simple principles can produce profound effects in our lives. One such principle is that, if we ask, our Higher Power will care for us. Because this principle is so basic, we may tend to ignore it. Unless we learn to consciously apply this spiritual truth, we may miss out on something as essential to our recovery as breathing is to life itself.

Being Ourselves

Just for today - November 28

"To be truly humble is to accept and honestly try to be ourselves."

Basic Text pg. 35

Humility is a puzzling concept. We know a lot about humiliation, but humility is a new idea. It sounds suspiciously like groveling, bowing, and scraping. But that's not what humility is at all. True humility is, simply, acceptance of who we are.

Seeking God's Help

Just for today - November 27

"At times during our recovery, the decision to ask for God's help is our greatest source of strength and courage."   Basic Text pg. 26

When we take the Third Step, we decide to allow a loving Higher Power to guide us and care for us in our daily lives. We make the decision to allow this guidance and care into our lives. Some of us believe that, once we've made the Third Step decision, God leads us; from that point on, it's just a matter of paying attention to where we are led.

Responsibility

Just for today - November 26

"A lot happens in one day, both negative and positive. If we do not take the time to appreciate both, perhaps we will miss something that will help us grow."

IP No. 8, "Just For Today"

Meditation

Just for today - November 25

"Quieting the mind through meditation brings and inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us."  Basic Text pg.45

Gratefully Recovering

Just for today - November 24

"We entertained the thought that staying clean was not paying off and the old thinking stirred up self-pity, resentment, and anger."   Basic Text pg. 98

God's Will

Just for today - November 23

"The relief of 'letting go and letting God' helps us develop a life that is worth living."   Basic Text pg. 26

Foundation First

Just for today - November 22

"As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first."  Basic Text pg. 83

Letting Our Defects Go

Just for today - November 21

"If [character defects] contributed to our health and happiness, we would not have come to such a state of desperation."  Basic Text pg. 34

Getting started on the Sixth and Seventh Steps isn't always easy. We may feel as though we have so much wrong with us that we are totally defective. We might feel like hiding under a rock. Under no circumstance would we want our fellow addicts to know about our inadequacies.

Finding Fulfillment

Just for today - November 20

"We weren't oriented toward fulfillment; we focused on the emptiness and worthlessness of it all."  Basic Text p. 86

There were probably hundreds of times in our active addiction when we wished we could become someone else. We may have wished we could trade places with someone who owned a nice car or had a larger home, a better job, a more attractive mate - anything but what we had. So severe was our despair that we could hardly imagine anyone being in worse shape than ourselves.

The Language of Empathy

Just for today - November 19

"... the addict would find from the start as much identification as each needed to convince himself that he could stay clean, by the example of others who had recovered for many years."  Basic Text p. 85

Self-discovery

Just for today - November 18

"The Tenth Step can help us correct our living problems and prevent their recurrence."  Basic Text p. 41

Our identities, how we think and feel, have been shaped by our experiences. Some of our experiences have made us better people; others have caused us shame or embarrassment; all of them have influenced who we are today. We can take advantage of the knowledge gained in examining our mistakes, using this wisdom to guide the decisions we'll make today.

Walking Through the Pain

Just for today - November 17

"We never have to use again, no matter how we feel. All feelings will eventually pass."  Basic Text p. 79

It hurts like never before. You get out of bed after a sleepless night, talk to God, and still don't feel any better. "It will pass;" a little voice tells you. "When?" you wonder, as you pace and mutter and get on with your day.

You sob in your car and turn the radio all the way up so you can't hear your own thoughts. But you go straight to work, and don't even think about using drugs.

Alone No More

Just for today - November 16

"We gradually and carefully pull ourselves out of the isolation and loneliness of addiction and into the mainstream of life."  Basic Text p. 35

Letting Go

Just for today - November 15

"Take my will and my life. Guide me in my recovery. Show me how to live."  Basic Text p. 25

How do we begin the process of letting our Higher Power guide our lives? When we seek advice about situations that trouble us, we often find that our Higher Power works through others. When we accept that we don't have all the answers, we open ourselves to new and different options. A willingness to let go of our preconceived ideas and opinions opens the channel for spiritual guidance to light our way.

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