“Change from self-destructive patterns of life became necessary.”Basic Text, page 16 The Smoldering Death Wish of Active Addiction Active addiction can be described as a smoldering death wish. Every time
“We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.”Step Ten The Importance of a Daily Tenth Step A daily Tenth Step is crucial for maintaining
“We are achieving freedom from the wreckage of our past.”Basic Text, page 45 Reaching an Exciting Stage in Recovery When we reach the Ninth Step in our recovery journey, we
“We learn to be careful of praying for specific things.”Basic Text, page 45 The Nature of Prayer in Addiction In our active addiction, prayer was often a last-ditch effort to
“Before we got clean, most of our actions were guided by impulse. Today, we are not locked into this type of thinking.”Basic Text, page 87 The Impact of Impulsive Decisions
“We recognize our spiritual growth when we are able to reach out and help others.”Basic Text, page 56 The Aspiration to Contribute To make a difference in the world and
“Our friendships become deep, and we experience the warmth and caring which results from addicts sharing recovery and a new life.”Information Pamphlet Number 19, “Self-Acceptance” The Importance of Genuine Friendships
“Often we have to face some type of crisis during our recovery, such as the death of a loved one…”Basic Text, page 98 The Inevitability of Loss Every life has
“We apply effort to our most obvious problems and let go of the rest. We do the job at hand and, as we progress, new opportunities for improvement present themselves.”Basic
“The way to remain a productive, responsible member of society is to put our recovery first.”Basic Text, page 102 Balancing Recovery and Daily Life Recovery meetings are a cornerstone of
“A symptom of our disease is alienation, and honest sharing will free us to recover.”Basic Text, page 80 The Power of Truth in Recovery Truth connects us to life, while
“This is our road to spiritual growth. We change every day… This growth is not the result of wishing but of action and prayer.”Basic Text, pp.35-36 The Dynamics of Spiritual
“We found that we do not recover physically, mentally, or spiritually overnight.”Basic Text, page 27 Patience in Recovery Approaching recovery with the expectation of instant transformation is common yet unrealistic.
“We don’t have to settle for the limitations of the past. We can examine and reexamine our old ideas.”Basic Text, page 11 Recognizing Self-Imposed Limitations Many of us enter recovery
“By giving unconditional love… we become more loving, and by sharing spiritual growth we become more spiritual”Basic Text, page 99 Recognizing Our Own Role Dealing with difficult people is a
“Something inside cries out, ‘Enough, enough, I’ve had enough,’ and then they are ready to take that first and often most difficult step toward dealing with their disease.”Basic Text, page
“Through active listening, we hear things that work for us.” Basic Text, page 102 The Importance of Active Listening in Recovery Many of us arrived in Narcotics Anonymous (NA) with
“Most of us pray when we are hurting. We learn that if we pray regularly, we won’t be hurting as often or as intensely.” Basic Text, page 44 The Role
“We begin to see that God’s love has been present all the time, just waiting for us to accept it.” Basic Text, page 46 The Transforming Power of Love in
“.. we accept responsibility for our problems and see that we’re equally responsible for our solutions.” Basic Text, page 94 The Importance of Personal Responsibility in Recovery Recovery from addiction
“We focus on anything that isn’t going our way and ignore all the beauty in our lives.” Basic Text, page 77 The Challenge of Maintaining Gratitude Gratitude can be fleeting,
“Since the beginning of our recovery, we have found that joy doesn’t come from material things but from within ourselves.” Basic Text, page 103 The Illusion of Material Happiness In
“By shaping our thoughts with spiritual ideals, we are freed to become who we want to be.” Basic Text, page 101 The Influence of Addiction on Our Thoughts Addiction has
“Addicts tend to live secret lives…. It is a great relief to get rid of all our secrets and to share the burden of our past.” Basic Text, page 32
“Many of us would have had nowhere else to go if we could not have trusted NA groups and members.” Basic Text, page 81 The Challenge of Trust Trusting people
“When we feel trapped or pressured, it takes great spiritual and emotional strength to be honest.” Basic Text, page 81 The Challenge of Honesty Honesty is a cornerstone of recovery,
“We were prisoners of our own mind and were condemned by our own guilt.” Basic Text, page 7 Understanding the Weight of Guilt in Recovery Guilt is one of the
“We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.”—Step One The Strength in “We” The First Step begins with “we,” emphasizing the strength gained
“Dreams that we gave up long ago can now become realities.”—Basic Text, page 68 From Dreams to Reality Many of us gave up on our dreams while using, but recovery
“Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress until, in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous.”—Basic Text, page 13 Desperation Leads to Recovery Desperation is often