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When Is A Secret Not A Secret?

Daily Reflections - August 4

"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, p.32

We've heard it said that "we're as sick as our secrets" What do we keep secret, and why?

We keep secret those things that cause us shame. We may hold onto such things because we don't want to surrender them. Yet if they're causing us shame, wouldn't we live more easily with ourselves if we were rid of them?

Trusting People

Just for today - August 3

"Many of us would have had nowhere else to go if we could not have trusted NA groups and members."Basic Text, p.81

Practicing Honesty

Daily Reflections - August 2

"When we feel trapped or pressured, it takes great spiritual and emotional strength to be honest."

Basic Text, p.81

Freedom from Guilt

Daily Reflections - August 1

"Our addiction enslaved us. We were prisoners of our own mind and were condemned by our own guilt."

Basic Text, p.7

Guilt is one of the most commonly encountered stumbling blocks in recovery. One of the more notorious forms of guilt is the self-loathing that results when we try to forgive ourselves but don't feel forgiven.

Freedom from Active Addiction

Just for today - July 31

"Narcotics Anonymous offers only one promise and that is freedom from active addiction, the solution that eluded us for so long."Basic Text, p.102

Regular Inventory

Just for today - July 30

"Continuing to take a personal inventory means that we form a habit of looking at ourselves, our actions, attitudes, and relationships on a regular basis." Basic Text, p.41

Taking a regular inventory is a key element in our new pattern of living. In our addiction, we examined ourselves as little as possible. We weren't happy with how we were living our lives, but we didn't feel that we could change the way we lived. Self- examination, we felt, would have been a painful exercise in futility.

Expectations

Just for today - July 29

"As we realize our need to be forgiven, we tend to be more forgiving."

Basic Text, p.38

Secrets and Intimacy

Just for today - July 28

"We feared that if we ever revealed ourselves as we were, we would surely be rejected."

Basic Text, p.31

Having relationships without barriers, ones in which we can be entirely open with our feelings, is something many of us desire. At the same time, the possibility of such intimacy causes us more fear than almost any other situation in life.

We Do Recover

Just for today - July 27

"After coming to NA, we found ourselves among a very special group of people who have suffered like us and found recovery. In their experiences, freely shared, we found hope for ourselves. If the program worked for them, it would work for us." Basic Text, p.10

Unconditional Surrender

Just for today - July 26

"Help for addicts begins only when we are able to admit complete defeat. This can be frightening, but it is the foundation on which we have built our lives." Basic Text, p.22

Twelfth Step "Failure"?

Just for today - July 25

"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."

Step Twelve

The Masks Have To Go

Just for today - July 24

"... we covered low self-esteem by hiding behind phony images that we hoped would fool people. The masks have to go"

Basic Text, p.32

Surrendering Self-Will

Just for today - July 23

"We want and demand that things always go our way. We should know from our past experience that our way of doing things did not work."Basic Text, p.78

All of us have ideas, plans, goals for our lives. There's nothing in the NA program that says we shouldn't think for ourselves, take initiative, and put responsible plans into action. It's when our lives are driven by self-will that we run into problems.

Spiritual Death

Just for today - July 22

"For us, to use is to die, often in more ways than one."

Basic Text, p.78

Surrender Is For Everyone

Just for today - July 21

"If, after a period of time, we find ourselves in trouble with our recovery, we have probably stopped doing one or more of the things that helped us in the earlier stages of our recovery." Basic Text, p.92

Surrender is just for newcomers, right? Wrong!

Step 0ne

Step: 
Step 1

Just for today - July 20

"We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable."

Step One

Fulfilling Our Dreams

Just for today - July 19

"Dreams that we gave up long ago can now become realities."

Basic Text, p. 68

The Gift of Desperation

Just for today - July 18

"Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress until, in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous."Basic Text, p. 13

When we think of being desperate, we envision an undesirable state: a poor, bedraggled soul frantically clawing at something sorely needed, a desperate look in the eyes. We think of hunted animals, hungry children, and of ourselves before we found NA.

Using Our "Using Dreams"

Just for today - July 17

"Do we fully accept the fact that our every attempt to stop using or to control our using failed?"

Basic Text, p. 18

Self-esteem

Just for today - July 16

"Deep inside, I had feelings of inadequacy and inferiority."

Basic Text, p. 112

Somewhere along the way, many of us developed strong feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. Deep inside was a voice that continually cried out, "You're worthless!" Many of us learn to recognize this characteristic of low self-esteem very early in our recovery. Some of us may feel that our feelings of inferiority were where all our problems began.

Relations with Others

Just for today - July 15

"We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all." Step Eight

All human beings struggle with self-centeredness. The chronic self-centeredness that lies at the very core of addiction makes that struggle doubly difficult for people like us. Many of us have lived as if we believed we were the last people on earth, utterly blind to the effect our behavior has had on those around us.

An "Inside Job"

Just for today - July 14

"Social acceptability does not equal recovery."

Basic Text, p.21

One of the first things that happens to many of us in recovery is that we start to look better. We get healthier; we bathe; we dress more appropriately. And without the goading of active addiction, many of us finally stop stealing, lying, and hustling. We start to look normal - just by removing the drugs.

Humility in Action

Just for today - July 13

"If we are hurting, and most of us do from time to time, we learn to ask for help."

Basic Text, p.80

Sometimes recovery gets downright difficult. It can be even more difficult to get humble enough to ask for help. We think, "I have all this time clean. I should be better than this!" But the reality of recovery is simple: whether we have thirty days or thirty years clean, we must be willing to ask for help when we need it.

Patience

Just for today - July 12

"We were trapped by our need for the instant gratification that drugs gave us." Basic Text, pp.24-25

Encouragement

Just for today - July 11

"We share comfort and encouragement with others."

Basic Text, p.95

A Positive Attitude

Just for today - July 10

"That old nest of negativism followed me everywhere I went." Basic Text, p.135

A negative attitude is the trademark of active addiction. Everything that occurred in our lives was someone or something else's fault. We had blaming others for our shortcomings down to a fine science. In recovery, one of the first things we strive to develop is a new attitude. We find that life goes a lot easier when we replace our negative thinking with positive principles.

We Do Recover!

Just for today - July 9

"....the time has come when that tired old lie, 'Once an addict, always an addict,' will no longer be tolerated by either society or the addict himself. We do recover."

Basic Text, p.86

The "G" Word

Just for today - July 8

"It is important for you to know that you will hear God mentioned at NA meetings. What we are referring to is a Power greater than ourselves that makes possible what seems impossible."

IP No.22, "Welcome to NA"

God in Each Other

Just for today - July 7

"One aspect of our spiritual awakening comes through the new understanding of our Higher Power that we develop by sharing another addict's recovery." Basic Text, p.51

We've heard it said that we often see God most clearly in one another. We see the truth of this when we practice our Twelfth Step. When we carry the recovery message to another addict, we sense the presence of a Power greater than ourselves. And as we watch the message take hold, we realize something else.

Exploring Spiritual Options

Just for today - July 5

"The nature of our belief will determine the manner of our prayers and meditation."

Basic Text, p.43

How do we pray? For each NA member, this is a deeply personal matter. Many of us find that, over time, we develop a manner of prayer and meditation based on what we learn from others and what we are comfortable with.

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