JUST FOR TODAY

[Caressa2]

As we say in the meetings, the last three letters of these words spell TRY. That is all we are asked to do.

We live this program one day at a time, and we try our best to stay clean and sober for just one day. Many think of sober as not being drunk, for me it means soundness of mind. After all, alcohol is a drug.

When we come into recovery, all we are asked to bring with us is a desire to stop using, nothing more, nothing less. It is suggested that you do 90 meetings in 90 days, listen and see if you can identify, find the people who have what you want, and find yourself a sponsor and a home group. They will direct you on a path of recovery which helped them and share their experience, strength and hope. Hopefully, you will find something there that will help you.

[caressa]

Have been reading some of the old posts and feeling a little sad about what was and is no more. A lot of sharing and caring has been posted to these boards.

We can't go back, so hopefully, in today, we can all try one day at a time to live and share in the moment.

Just for today, I choose not to use.

[stickmonkey]

hey lets kick this thing in the ass
im here
we will work together

[ascc2131]

I never had ANY belief that there was anything else but the life we are living right now. Until I moved to Costa Rica 1year ago, and there was too much cocaine there and I got myself into a whole lotta trouble. I overdosed 23 times and one of those times I fell and hit my head REALLY hard, that was about 6 months ago. When I hit my head I also just happened to fall onto a coffe mug and it broke and I got 36 stiches in my face!!! The reaso that I am telling you all this is because someone or something MUST want me to make something of myself, why else am I not dead???!!! I've been so stupid, I can't believe I did all that to myself, by the time I flew home to Canada, I was 94lbs, and I looked like crap! But I've now been clean for 32 days and I am so happy, addiction is a form of suicide, everyday that I was using I just wanted to die, and at the very begining of my recovery I wanted to die even more than before. I'm 21 yrs old and I've been using hard drugs since I was 11, that's the honest truth, but I was 4 years clean after becomming a herion addict before I moved to Costa Rica. I thought that I had my problem WELL under controll. That just goes to show you that when you start to think like that is when it will sneak up on you and take controll of you and your life once again. So I say to all, how can there NOT be SOME kind of higher power, or fait, destiny or karma? There must be some kind of plan for my I should've died, and that is just the tip of the iceburg for my story, I grew up in group-homes and youth jails, I had many other overdoses between the ages od 13-20 as well, I don't know what but something kept me alive and now I'm just trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do with myself. So please, everyone, know that someone out there loves you, and love yourself. Loving someone else is easy, loving yourself is the hardest thing for me to do. so every morning when you get up and look in the mirror, tell youself that you ARE beautiful and that you DO love youself!

[carolsongs]

ascc2131, ive been threw similar situations, im a mom now , and clean for many years now, Im happy and hopeful, you are so young,, Im sorry for your childhood and pain, you belong, you are an aa sister, na sister, stay close to Aa, get a sponser, believe it or not you found your home, your family in Aa now, you need someone to answer to and be accountable to, please dont run anymore humility will help you find all your gifts and your purpose in life, God dosent make junk! keep coming back! carolsongs

[ascc2131]

Thanx Carolsongs!

I' still really depressed but comming here and just knowing that there are lots of other people out there like me that have been throught the same type of crap that I have really helps. I like to talk to people that are older and much more wise then I am because it helps me to learn more about myself and how to help myself. It has touched my heart to be accepted for the person that I am by you and others. You are my sister too, and just remember that even though I don't know you, you ARE loved too! Love youself and I will try to love the person that I am too!

[carolsongs]

ascc2131, just remember, we are not our mistakes,we are blocked in our addiction to see the person we trully are, I have daughters, Rebecca 6 and Sara 10, I had an alcoholic mother, who was suicidal, when I got married and was pregnant with my first child, Joey I made sure to find the best help, AA helped tremendously they dont jodge and were all trying to recover from our addiction and mistakes and trying to learn how to live a good life , filled with some happiness. i have found its more painful to drink and drug and run away ,its actually easier to stay clean and sober, at least i can experience joy in my day, along with fear, but somehow you haave faith that god is healing that fear and he is, my councelor use to tell me to pray and ask God to show me who he created me to be, and soon i haD a vision of me, drug free, a pretty mom together, confident and happy i AM THAT PERSON TODAY, back then i was a broken mess, shameful,running and bound by my addiction to alcohol and drugs,i have that same vision for you sister Anna, and my age and wisdom tells me your heart is guiding you, your 32 days clean you have a beautiful future too, just wait and see ,,, GOD BLESS, carolsongs

[stickmonkey]

together we win
alone we get high.
we all have awesome stories here.
so lets help each other stay clean

[majestyjo]

Miss the sharing of yesteryear. So glad that I am still here, each day is a new beginning. Just for today, I choose not to use.

[majestyjo]

If I miss posting a NA reading they are in the daily readings for 2017 at the following link:

eor.proboards.com/thread/16530/daily-readings-2017?page=2

[majestyjo]

February 1

NA Just For Today

Hardships

" We felt different... Only after surrender are we able to overcome the alienation of addiction."
Basic Text p. 22

" But you don't understand!" we spluttered, trying to cover up. "I'm different! I've really got it rough!" We used these lines over and over in our active addiction, either trying to escape the consequences of our actions or avoid following the rules that applied to everyone else. We may have cried them at our first meeting. Perhaps we've even caught ourselves whining them recently.

So many of us feel different or unique. As addicts, we can use almost anything to alienate ourselves. But there's no excuse for missing out on recovery, nothing that can make us ineligible for the program—not a life-threatening illness, not poverty, not anything. There are thousands of addicts who have found recovery despite the real hardships they've faced. Through working the program, their spiritual awareness has grown, in spite of—or perhaps in response to—those hardships.

Our individual circumstances and differences are irrelevant when it comes to recovery. By letting go of our uniqueness and surrendering to this simple way of life, we're bound to find that we feel a part of something. And feeling a part of something gives us the strength to walk through life, hardships and all.

Just for today: I will let go of my uniqueness and embrace the principles of recovery I have in common with so many others. My hardships do not exclude me from recovery; rather, they draw me into it.

[majestyjo]

February 2

NA Just For Today

Goodwill

" Goodwill is best exemplified in service; proper service is doing the right thing for the right reason."

Basic Text p. ix

The spiritual core of our disease is self-centeredness. In dealing with others, the only motive our addiction taught us was selfishness — we wanted what we wanted when we wanted it. Obsession with self was rooted in the very ground of our lives. In recovery, how do we root self-obsession out?

We reverse the effects of our disease by applying a few very simple spiritual principles. To counteract the self-centeredness of our addiction, we learn to apply the principle of goodwill. Rather than seeking to serve only ourselves, we begin serving others. Rather than thinking only about what we can get out of a situation, we learn to think first of the welfare of others. When faced with a moral choice, we learn to stop, recall spiritual principles, and act appropriately.

As we begin "doing the right thing for the right reason;" we can detect a change in ourselves. Where once we were ruled by self-will, now we are guided by our goodwill for others. The chronic self-centeredness of addiction is losing its hold on us. We are learning to "practice these principles in all our affairs"; we are living in our recovery, not in our disease.

Just for today: Wherever I am, whatever I do, I will seek to serve others, not just myself. When faced with a dilemma, I will try to do the right thing for the right reason.

[majestyjo]

February 3
NA Just For Today

We Need Each Other

"Anyone may join us, regardless of age, race, sexual identity creed, religion, or lack of religion."
Basic Text p. 9

Addiction closed our minds to anything new or different. We didn't need anyone or anything, we thought. There was nothing of value to be found in anyone from a different neighborhood, a different racial or ethnic background, or a different social or economic class. We may have thought that if it was different, it was bad.

In recovery, we can't afford such attitudes. We came to NA because our very best thinking had gotten us nowhere. We must open our minds to experience that works, no matter where it comes from, if we hope to grow in our recovery.

Regardless of our personal backgrounds, we all have two things in common with one another in NA that we share with no one else: our disease, and our recovery. We depend on one another for our shared experience—and the broader that experience, the better. We need every bit of experience, every different angle on our program we can find to meet the many challenges of living clean.

Recovery often isn't easy. The strength we need to recover, we draw from our fellow NA members. Today, we are grateful for the diversity of our group's membership, for in that diversity we find our strength.

Just for today: I know that the more diverse my groups experience is, the better able my group will be to offer me support in the different circumstances I find myself facing. Today, I welcome addicts from all backgrounds to my home group.

[majestyjo]

NA Just For Today

Feeling Good Isn't The Point

"For us, recovery is more than just pleasure."
Basic Text p. 42

In our active addiction, most of us knew exactly how we were going to feel from one day to the next. All we had to do was read the label on the bottle or know what was in the bag. We planned our feelings, and our goal for each day was to feel good.

In recovery, we're liable to feel anything from one day to the next, even from one minute to the next. We may feel energetic and happy in the morning, then strangely let down and sad in the afternoon. Because we no longer plan our feelings for the day each morning, we could end up having feelings that are somewhat inconvenient, like feeling tired in the morning and wide-awake at bedtime.

Of course, there's always the possibility we could feel good, but that isn't the point. Today, our main concern is not feeling good but learning to understand and deal with our feelings, no matter what they are. We do this by working the steps and sharing our feelings with others.

Just for today: I will accept my feelings, whatever they may be, just as they are. I will practice the program and learn to live with my feelings.

[majestyjo]

NA Just For Today

I Can't - We Can

"We had convinced ourselves that we could make it alone and proceeded to live life on that basis. The results were disastrous and, in the end, each of us had to admit that self-sufficiency was a lie"

Basic Text p. 59

"I can't, but we can." This simple but profound truth applies initially to our first need as NA members: Together, we can stay clean, but when we isolate ourselves, we're in bad company. To recover, we need the support of other addicts.

Self-sufficiency impedes more than just our ability to stay clean. With or without drugs, living on self-will inevitably leads to disaster. We depend on other people for everything from goods and services to love and companionship, yet self-will puts us in constant conflict with those very people. To live a fulfilling life, we need harmony with others.

Other addicts and others in our communities are not the only ones we depend on. Power is not a human attribute, yet we need power to live. We find it in a Power greater than ourselves which provides the guidance and strength we lack on our own. When we pretend to be self-sufficient, we isolate ourselves from the one source of power sufficient to effectively guide us through life: our Higher Power.

Self-sufficiency doesn't work. We need other addicts; we need other people; and, to live fully, we need a Power greater than our own.

Just for today: I will seek the support of other recovering addicts, harmony with others in my community, and the care of my Higher Power. I can't, but we can.

I say it a little differently, "I can't, my God can, just for today, I choose to let Him. I do need the support of the people in the rooms, and getting telephone numbers so I contact them between meetings.

I remember the man who answered his phone one day and I said to him, "You are it. I hope you are not busy, I need to talk. I need you to listen." He was a member of a group that I went to on Friday nights. I told him, I started at the back of my phone book and started calling phone #s, and so far all I got was no answer or an answering machine. We don't always get back from those we EXPECT to be there for us, but I need to accept their humanness, and know that they can't always be there for us. I believe my God will provide.

[majestyjo]

NA Just For Today

"Pure Motives"

"We examine our actions, reactions, and motives. We often find that we've been doing better than we've been feeling."
Basic Text, p. 42

Imagine a daily meditation book with this kind of message: "When you wake up in the morning, before you rise from your bed, take a moment for reflection. Lie back, gather your thoughts, and consider your plans for the day. One by one, review the motives behind those plans. If your motives are not entirely pure, roll over and go back to sleep." Nonsense, isn't it?

No matter how long we've been clean, almost all of us have mixed motives behind almost everything we do. However, that's no reason to put our lives on hold. We don't have to wait for our motives to become perfectly pure before we can start living our recovery.

As the program works its way into our lives, we begin acting less frequently on our more questionable motives. We regularly examine ourselves, and we talk with our sponsor about what we find. We pray for knowledge of our Higher Power's will for us, and we seek the power to act on the knowledge we're given. The result? We don't get perfect, but we do get better.

We've begun working a spiritual program. We won't ever become spiritual giants. But if we look at ourselves realistically, we'll probably realize that we've been doing better than we've been feeling.

Just for today: I will examine myself realistically. I will seek the power to act on my best motives, and not to act on my worst.

[majestyjo]

NA Just For Today

Anxiety Attack?

"[The] Power that brought us to this program is still with us and will continue to guide us if we allow it."
Basic Text, p. 26

Ever had a panic attack? Everywhere we turn, life's demands overwhelm us. We're paralyzed, and we don't know what to do about it. How do we break an anxiety attack?

First, we stop. We can't deal with everything at once, so we stop for a moment to let things settle. Then we take a "spot inventory" of the things that are bothering us. We examine each item, asking ourselves this question: "How important is it, really?" In most cases, we'll find that most of our fears and concerns don't need our immediate attention. We can put those aside, and focus on the issues that really need to be resolved right away. Then we stop again and ask ourselves, "Who's in control here, anyway?" This helps remind us that our Higher Power is in control.

We seek our Higher Power's will for the situation, whatever it is. We can do this in any number of ways: through prayer, talks with our sponsor or NA friends, or by attending a meeting and asking others to share their experience. When our Higher Power's will becomes clear to us, we pray for the ability to carry it out. Finally, we take action.

Anxiety attacks need not paralyze us. We can utilize the resources of the NA program to deal with anything that comes our way.

Just for today: My Higher Power has not brought me all this way in recovery only to abandon me! When anxiety strikes, I will take specific steps to seek God's continuing care and guidance.

[majestyjo]

When I heard people talking about anxiety attacks, I thought they where a bunch of whooses. Then when I learned to listen and learn, I realized that the pot was calling the kettle black. I had gone into grocery stores and left my buggy in the middle of the aisle and got off the bus if it got too noisy and crowded. I heard how they felt, I too had the tightening in my chest and my brain stopped working. As I learned to apply the program, it seldom happened to me. When it does, I do the deep breathing and pray and ask for help. I had to do that last night when the AA meeting got too noisy before it started.

It didn't help that two guys I didn't know who said they thought they knew me came up to me. One was from NA, but he didn't have the right name of the meeting for the church he mentioned. I had heard the name and had been to the meeting. The other one asked if I had gone to school in Hamilton. I didn't come to Hamilton until I was 17. I had been to a lot of east end meetings. He said he had 33 years in recovery and chaired the meeting. His group was in Stoney Creek and it was a meeting that I always felt worse after the meeting than I did before. I think it was the low ceiling and tiles, as well as the energy from the people in the group. I didn't go there unless it was for their group anniversary and I could get a ride. People knew me from different groups, I went to many, but didn't know all the people there.

[majestyjo]

NA Just For Today

Learning To Love Ourselves

"What we want most is to feel good about ourselves."
Basic Text, p. 97

"We'll love you until you can learn to love yourself!" These words, heard so often in our meetings, promise a day we look forward to eagerly - the day when we'll know how to love ourselves.

Self-esteem, we all want this elusive quality as soon as we hear about it. Some of us seem to stumble upon it accidentally, while others embark on a course of action complete with affirmations made to our reflections in the mirror. But fix-it-yourself techniques and trendy psychological cures can only take us so far.

There are some definite, practical steps we can take to show love for ourselves, whether we "feel" that love or not. We can take care of our personal responsibilities. We can do nice things for ourselves, as we would for a lover or a friend. We can start paying attention to our own needs. We can even pay attention to the qualities that we cherish in our friends - qualities like intelligence and humor - and look for those same qualities in ourselves. We're sure to find that we really are lovable people, and once we do that, we're well on our way.

Just for today: I will do something today that helps me recognize and feel love for myself.

For so many years, I looked outside of myself for something or someone to make me feel better, because I couldn't find that love within myself. Thanks to this program, I have been able to become whole, and today instead of looking outside of myself, I know to go within.  As the slogan says, "Let it begin with me."

[majestyjo]

NA Just For Today

The Full Message

"There is a special feeling for addicts when they discover that there are other people who share their difficulties, past and present."
Basic Text p. 53

The wealth of our recovery is too good to keep to ourselves. Some of us believe that when we talk in meetings, we should "remember the newcomer" and always try to carry a positive message. But sometimes the most positive message we can carry is that we are going through difficult times in our recovery and are staying clean in spite of them!

Yes, it's gratifying to send out a strong message of hope to our newer members. After all, no one likes a whiner. But distressing things happen, and life on life's terms can send shock waves even through the recovery of long-time members of Narcotics Anonymous. If we are equipped with the tools of the program, we can walk through such turmoil and stay clean to tell the tale.

Recovery doesn't happen all at once; it is an ongoing process, sometimes a struggle. When we dilute the fullness of our message by neglecting to share about the tough times we may walk through on our journey, we fail to allow newcomers the chance to see that they, too, can stay clean, no matter what. If we share the full message of our recovery, we may not know who benefits, but we can be sure someone will.

Just for today: I will honestly share both the good times and the difficult times of my recovery. I will remember that my experience in walking through adversity may benefit another member.

We share what it was like, what happened, and what it is like in today. Everyone has experienced using in one form or another, what I want to know is how you walked through the doors of recovery and stayed clean and sober.

Everyone says focus on the positive. It was looking at the negative and changing it into a positive, that I healed.