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JFT p. 333

SPAD p 330

"BT p 11 ""Our meetings are a process of identification, hope and sharing.
The heart of NA beats when two addicts share their recovery.
What we do becomes real for us when we share it. This happens
on a larger scale in our regular meetings. A meeting happens
when two or more addicts gather to help each other stay clean."""

IP

"LC p 59 ""When we allow spirituality to be simple, we allow it to be universal.
Whatever we believe our Higher Power to be, or even if we don’t have one at
all, we each have a spirit—the light on the inside that animates us and makes
us who we are. “My spirit was the only thing alive in me,” said a member. “It
was dragging my body around like a reluctant pet. Those times I thought my
spirit was dead, it was fine—we just weren’t on speaking terms.” Newcomers
sometimes ask when their spiritual awakening is going to occur. By the time
we ask, it has already started to happen. We may not be able to pinpoint a
single moment of spiritual awakening, but we know we are awake now."""

Guiding Principles 183 We don't always share an elegant, tidy message, and we don't rate or police each other's sharing. Many members connect with raw, emotional expression, while others may relate to a quiet, thoughtful share. Sharing in a meeting is both personal and courageous, no matter what we share. There is no such thing as sharing perfectly. Each of us struggles sometimes to get to the heart of the matter or to find a message of hope in our experience, and that struggle is part of the process for us. Placing unity first and anonymity at our foundation allows the message to shine through, even in the most awkward moments of a meeting.

Guiding Principles 5 Coming to terms with the First Traidition can be challenging. We need each other desperately, and yet we are afraid. This reservation often comes from our experiences of being hurt. We tend to react in in dis-unifying ways to the possibility of being hurt again. Our instinct is to meet disease with disease, but when we meet it with love and compassion instead, we create an opportunity for recovery. Addiction separates us from others, and unity is an antidote to alienation. As our trust in the Fellowship grows, we can be less afraid. Unity of purpose keeps us together when feelings are pushing us toward the door. Staying through difficulty is a profound act of surrender. We need each other more than we need our old beliefs.

Basic Text 83 The progression of recovery is a continuous, uphill journey. Without effort we start the downhill run again. The progression of the disease is an ongoing process, even during abstinence. We come here powerless, and the powere that we seek comes to us through other people in Narcotics Anonymous, but we must reach out for it.

Basic Text 83 The progression of recovery is a continuous, uphill journey. Without effort we start the downhill run again. The progression of the disease is an ongoing process, even during abstinence. We come here powerless, and the powere that we seek comes to us through other people in Narcotics Anonymous, but we must reach out for it.

LC p 255 "Walking through our own challenges helps us to find compassion for
ourselves and others. As we develop our ability to feel and express empathy,
we come to realize that the same spirit dwells in all of us, and that none of us
is more or less important than another. We are all sick and suffering
sometimes, no matter how long we have been clean. We all bring hope and
answers sometimes, even when we don’t feel it ourselves. One day clean is a
miracle, whether or not it’s ever followed by another. When we see a member
experience a real breakthrough with 20, or 30, or more years clean, we can
see that, truly, recovery never stops."

BT p 54 (1st sentence from each paragraph pr other selection

"SWG ""What makes us addicts is the disease of addiction-not the drugs, not our behavior, but our
disease. There is something within us that makes us unable to control our use of drugs.
This same """"something"""" also makes us prone to obsession and compulsion in other areas
of our lives. How can we tell when our disease is active? When we become trapped in
obsessive, compulsive, self-centered routines, endless loops that lead nowhere but to
physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional decay."""

BT, Tradition 3 Desire is our only requirement. Addiction does not discriminate.
This tradition is to ensure that any addict, regardless of
drugs used, race, religious beliefs, sex, sexual preference, or
financial condition is free to practice the NA way of life. With
“… a desire to stop using” as the only requirement for membership,
one addict is never superior to another. All addicted persons
are welcome and equal in obtaining the relief that they are
seeking from their addiction; every addict can recover in this program
on an equal basis. This tradition guarantees our freedom to
recover.

IP #19 Self-Acceptance "The 12 Steps are the Solution" section "Today, the first step toward self-acceptance is acceptance of our addiction. We must accept
our disease and all the troubles that it brings us before we can accept ourselves as human
beings.
The next thing we need to help us toward self-acceptance is belief in a Power greater than
ourselves who can restore us to sanity. We do not need to believe in any particular person’s
concept of that Higher Power, but we do need to believe in a concept that works for us. A
spiritual understanding of self-acceptance is knowing that it is all right to find ourselves in pain,
to have made mistakes, and to know that we are not perfect.
The most effective means of achieving self-acceptance is through applying the Twelve Steps
of recovery. Now that we have come to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we can
depend upon His strength to give us the courage to honestly examine our defects and our
assets. Although it is sometimes painful and may not seem to lead to self-acceptance, it is
necessary to get in touch with our feelings. We wish to build a solid foundation of recovery,
and therefore need to examine our actions and motivations and begin changing those things
that are unacceptable. Our defects are part of us and will only be removed when we practice living the NA
program. Our assets are gifts from our Higher Power, and as we learn to utilize them fully, our
self-acceptance grows and our lives improve.
Sometimes we slip into the melodrama of wishing we could be what we think we should
be. We may feel overpowered by our self-pity and pride, but by renewing our faith in a Higher
Power we are given the hope, courage, and strength to grow.
Self-acceptance permits balance in our recovery. We no longer have to look for the approval
of others because we are satisfied with being ourselves. We are free to gratefully emphasize
our assets, to humbly move away from our defects, and to become the best recovering addicts
we can be. Accepting ourselves as we are means that we are all right, that we are not perfect,
but we can improve.
We remember that we have the disease of addiction, and that it takes a long time to achieve
self-acceptance on a deep level. No matter how bad our lives have become, we are always
accepted in the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous.
Accepting ourselves as we are resolves the problem of expecting human perfection. When
we accept ourselves, we can accept others into our lives, unconditionally, probably for the first
time. Our friendships become deep and we experience the warmth and caring which results
from addicts sharing recovery and a new life. "

BT R&R Chapter We are never forced into relapse. We are given a choice. Relapse
is never an accident. Relapse is a sign that we have a reservation
in our program. We begin to slight our program and
leave loopholes in our daily lives. Unaware of the pitfalls ahead,
we stumble blindly in the belief that we can make it on our own.
Sooner or later we fall into the illusions that drugs make life
easier. We believe that drugs can change us, and we forget that
these changes are lethal. When we believe that drugs will solve
our problems and forget what they can do to us, we are in real
trouble. Unless the illusions that we can continue to use or stop
using on our own are shattered, we most certainly sign our own
death warrant.

Basic Text 33 "Addicts tend to live secret lives. For many years, we covered
low self-esteem by hiding behind phony images that we hoped
would fool people. Unfortunately, we fooled ourselves more
than anyone. Although we often appeared attractive and confident
on the outside, we were really hiding a shaky, insecure
person on the inside. The masks have to go. We share our inventory
as it is written, skipping nothing. We continue to approach
this step with honesty and thoroughness until we finish. It is a
great relief to get rid of all our secrets and to share the burden
of our past."

JFT p 334

SPAD p 331

Living Clean 227 Our understanding of surrender may change over time, but our need for it does not. In the beginning, surrender might just be about not using drugs. As time goes by, we start to see other ways addiction play out in our lives. We become willing to surrender other behaviors, sometimes one by one. we come to understand that using-whatever we are using- is just a symptom of our problem, which is spiritual in nature. Gradually we start to let go of the things that drive us to act out: denial, anger, resentment, the need to be right, the feelings of superiority or inferiority, shame, remorse, and fear.

Guiding Principles 47 Each of us has a part to play in making NA groups welcoming to everyone. Doing so requires checking our reservations about the recover of others. A newcomer may seem too young or too old, or too beaten down or not having lost enough; they may have done the wrong drug, or not used like we did; they may still be on parole, or take medication we have opionions about. They may be criminals; they may be clergy or law enforcement; they may look at us in a way that gives us the creeps. Addicts may be clean a long time and still not be socially skilled or socially acceptalbe; they may work their program in a way that seems different or event threatening to us. There is no model of the recovering addict, no profile of the addict wo suffers, and no condition on membership besides desire-which is between the addict and their Higher Power. The miracle of recovery is available to us all, even after we've been clearn a long time. Just as we see the miracle of addicts getting clean, we see the miracle of clean addicts getting better, sometimes after many years. Allowing each of other to change after we have known each other a long time takes faith, compassion, and open-mindedness.

Living Clean 24 "“It can take a long time to set ourselves free. When we come to recovery we have been devastated in many ways. Although living clean isn’t all about crisis, it can sometimes seem that way. Our feelings are so powerful. There is so much change in our lives, and change can be messy even when it’s positive. Our personalities and our sense of who we are were warped by our addiction, and when we get clean we are even more confused. It can be a while before we have the opportunity (or the need) to ask, “Okay. Who am I now?” We change in recovery, but we also uncover who we were all along. We find ourselves. For many of us, this is the restoration the Second Step talks about. It may even be a restoration to a state we’ve never experienced before, because we’ve never had the chance to be ourselves without pretending, without hiding, without trying to be something else.
There may be many different ways we describe ourselves, and the ones that seem most important can change depending on where we are in our lives. Identity is a confusing word. It indicates the things that make “us different from each other, and the things that make us exactly the same. Our identity is composed of the things that distinguish us either as part of a group or as separate from it. We are as different as our stories, but our literature reminds us that “addiction makes us one of a kind.”"

Living Clean 119-120P In moments of great pain, a deep stillness comes over us; in those moments, we can see the depths of the darkness within us, but also the enormity of the power to which we are connected. The terrible grief we feel can bring us a conscious contact that nothing else ever could. The impulse to withdraw, to pull away from noise and crowds, and even from the people who support us the most, is often a form of self protection: we can be so afraid of shaking loose the feelings again that we barely want to move. But letting the people we trust come and support us, reminds us that we are not alone, even in our coldest moments. And allowing people to help us can be a form of service to them as well: when we let someone love us at a vulnerable time, they – and we – are rewarded. The caring and sharing we talk about is a two-way street, and those of us who are practiced at giving often have a hard time letting others love us back.
It is a loving act to let others love us. When we find ourselves in a position of need, it can be too easy for us to experience it as humiliating or burdensome. But we are given the opportunity to let those who love us express that in very concrete ways. The vulnerability we experience allows us a different experience of love. It is an act of generosity to let people be close to us, and we try to understand that they, too, are going through feelings about what's happening. Our training in letting go of self obsession helps us now. As we help our loved ones through their fear and sadness, we may find the words we need to hear to get through our own grief and pain."

Sponsorship Book 149 / 151 "We learn from sponsorship that relationships are never quite the way we imagine them. Sponsorship teaches us that working through real problems yields rewards that are profoundly rich and fulfilling. We take our new, more realistic, understanding of relationships into the world as we work, play, and love. We start to appreciate people for who they are, not for who we want them to be. We accept ourselves for who we are and recognize the value of what we have to contribute.

We soon come to realize that we cannot keep this remarkable gift of recovery without giving it away. We want to share the hope of living a fulfilling and rich life with those who seek to follow the same path as us. We can do this with sponsorship.

Practicing selfless service not only benefits our efforts at living a clean life, but also helps to strengthen our desire to stay in recovery. In sharing our experience and hope with another addict, we help to fortify the spirit of the narcotics anonymous program. Over and over again, our experience bears out what we heard in meetings from the beginning: when we ask for help, we offer another addict the opportunity to give, and when we reach out to an addict in need, we get the greatest rewards of all. Sponsorship can be where we learn to practice our new principles, and it is the relationship in which our gratitude speaks most clearly. The spiritual nourishment we receive when we give to others is one of the reasons we choose to stay in NA. Invariably, when we give freely what we have found in recovery, we get back so much more."

Living Clean 215 We learn from each other's examples, those we go before us clear the path we walk in one anothers footprints as we progress on our journey. we learn responsibility by watching others be responsible. Telling the truth about ourselves doesn't just set us free: our examples frees others. Even in our most painful moments we can still be a vision of what is possible.

Living Clean 114-115 "The likelihood that we would die is less alarming for some of us than the possibility that we might get old. Staying clean a long time is one thing; allowing ourselves to age is quite another. And some of us, as we see it happening, grieve. We may grieve for a long while over the time and opportunities lost to our addiction. We may experience that sense of loss after we have been clean for many years –when, for example, we become a grandparent and realize how much of our children's lives we missed. We may not have noticed that time has passed at all, until someone points out to us that our friends or the people we date are a generation younger than we are.
Normal social pressures to look young or stay pretty are magnified for us by our self-centeredness, but also by the sense of lost time, the feeling that our looks are something we trade on, and that old addict fantasy of dying young and glamorously. When we realize we are too old to die young, and that we might just be around to live a long and full life, some of us have mixed feelings. There is gratitude, but also a sense of despair: ""I hadn't prepared for this,"" we think. Some of us seek to preserve our youth as best we can, working hard to dress and care for ourselves, so we look and feel younger. Some of us realize that we have planning to do, and take action to ensure the future for ourselves and our children. Finding the balance between vanity and self-respect, between self-loathing and self-acceptance, is a struggle for many of us. When we finally surrender, we find that aging too is a journey, and we can actually enjoy the adventure. We are not just growing old; we are growing up!"

Living Clean 13 "The more we learn about ourselves, the more we are able to work toward our
25
own personal vision of hope. At the same time, we remember that our vision
for ourselves is a fleeting glimpse of our Higher Power’s will for us. As we
pursue our dreams, we may find ourselves in places we never imagined. It’s
all possible, but that means we take risks and sometimes experience failure.
Even when we fall flat on our face, we can get up again and move forward.
That’s part of the journey, too. We get less and less afraid of the truth. But
we don’t get there by standing still and waiting for recovery to happen to us.
We learn, we grow, we give, we create—and we keep coming back."

Living Clean Intro, XV "Living beyond our wildest
dreams often means that we are in uncharted territory. The countless addicts
who have contributed to this book have made clear that the miracle of getting
clean is not the last one we experience, or the last one we need. We have
learned that we really can survive anything and stay clean. It’s never too late
to start over, reconnect with the fellowship, work steps, have a spiritual
awakening, and find a new way to live. As long as we are willing to stay clean
and keep coming back, our recovery continues to unfold in ways we couldn’t
imagine. We are living clean, and every day the journey continues."

Basic Text 91 As we Recover, we gain a new outlook on being clean. We Enjoying a feeling of release and freedom from the desire to use. we find that everyone we meet eventrually has something to offer. We become able to ro recieve as well as give. Life can become a new adventure for us. We come to know happiness, joy, and freedom. There is no model of the recovering addict. When the the drugs go and the addict works the program, wonderful things happen. Lost dreams awaken and new possibilities arise. Ou willingness to grow spiritually keeps us buoyant. When we take the actions indicated in the steps, the results are a change in out personality. It is our actions that are important . We leave the results our Higher Power.

LC p 41 "We define ourselves by our choices. The decision to have a family means
leaving behind the independence we knew before; the decision not to have a
family means that we must find other ways to feel connected to people, and
so on. Tradition Seven tells us that everything has a price regardless of intent,
and we find the profound truth in that as we move forward in our lives and
our recovery. Every choice we make, good and bad, means there were options
we left behind. We can get lost in infinite webs of “what if?” as we start
thinking about our lives. The Fourth Step warns us about getting caught in
the “binge of emotional sorrow” that can result. We come to see ourselves not
as we were but as we are becoming. NA helps us to live with the
consequences—and the benefits—of our transformation."

Living Clean 24 "“It can take a long time to set ourselves free. When we come to recovery we have been devastated in many ways. Although living clean isn’t all about crisis, it can sometimes seem that way. Our feelings are so powerful. There is so much change in our lives, and change can be messy even when it’s positive. Our personalities and our sense of who we are were warped by our addiction, and when we get clean we are even more confused. It can be a while before we have the opportunity (or the need) to ask, “Okay. Who am I now?” We change in recovery, but we also uncover who we were all along. We find ourselves. For many of us, this is the restoration the Second Step talks about. It may even be a restoration to a state we’ve never experienced before, because we’ve never had the chance to be ourselves without pretending, without hiding, without trying to be something else.
There may be many different ways we describe ourselves, and the ones that seem most important can change depending on where we are in our lives. Identity is a confusing word. It indicates the things that make “us different from each other, and the things that make us exactly the same. Our identity is composed of the things that distinguish us either as part of a group or as separate from it. We are as different as our stories, but our literature reminds us that “addiction makes us one of a kind.”"

JFT p 335

SPAD p 332