Welcome to the County Line Area
of Narcotics Anonymous
Serving: Agoura Hills, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village in Ventura County, California
0%
Serving: Agoura Hills, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village in Ventura County, California
NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work.
There are no strings attached to NA. We are not affiliated with any other organizations. We have no initiation fees or dues, no pledges to sign, no promises to make to anyone. We are not connected with any political, religious, or law enforcement groups, and are under no surveillance at any time. Anyone may join us regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed, religion, or lack of religion.
We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help. The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting, because we can only keep what we have by giving it away. We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.
For more information on Narcotics Anonymous,
please go to the: Narcotics Anonymous World Services Website
October 13, 2026 |
Making a difference |
| Page 299 |
| "Words cannot describe the sense of spiritual awareness that we receive when we have given something, no matter how small, to another person." |
| Basic Text, p. 104 |
| Sometimes it seems as though there is so much wrong with the world that we might as well forget trying to make a difference. "After all," we think, "what in the world can I do? I'm just one person." Whether our concerns are so broad that we desire global peace or so personal that we simply want recovery made available to every addict who wants it, the task seems overwhelming. "So much work to do, so little time," we sigh, sometimes wondering how we'll ever do any good. Amazingly enough, the smallest contributions can make the biggest difference. To gain more from life than an ordinary, plodding existence requires very little effort on our parts. We ourselves are transformed by the deep satisfaction we experience when we lift the spirits of just one person. When we smile at someone who is frowning, when we let someone in front of us on the freeway, when we call a newcomer just to say we care, we enter the realm of the extraordinary. Want to change the world? Start with the addict sitting next to you tonight, and then imagine your act of kindness multiplied. One person at a time, each one of us makes a difference. |
| Just for Today: An act of kindness costs me nothing, but is priceless to the recipient. I will be kind to someone today.
|
The very idea of dancing without some chemical courage sounds intimidating if not absurd when we're newly clean. Clubbing might have been in the early chapters of our stories, but as fun turned into fun with problems and later into simply problems, any dancing we did was more often about commerce than enjoyment. Going to our first NA dance, therefore, can be a rite of passage, especially for those of us who danced for fun or a fix in our using days.
As the saying goes, "We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." We might warm up to the idea by lurking outside with the smokers after a speaker meeting. A familiar face from meetings asks if we're going in. Not wanting to disappoint, we lean into willingness and say, "Ugh. Okay."
We might muster enough willingness to get through the door and still come up short when it's time to dance. We'll be lining the walls: too tough, too cool, too self-absorbed to give dancing clean a try. When and if we do, the self-doubt of adolescence returns to inquire, "Am I doing this right? Do I look attractive?" and other obnoxious questions that poke at our insecurities.
We retreat to the bathroom where we encounter a home-group member. They practically read our minds and offer this sage advice: "Remember that we're all self-obsessed. I just assume that everyone's too busy thinking about themselves to worry about my dancing." This practical advice helps us combat our self-obsession and find the willingness to get back out on the dance floor.
It's not as though our preoccupation with ourselves ends with one NA dance. If we're paying attention, though, there's a lesson on willingness that we can apply to other pursuits. Acknowledging that if we're thinking about ourselves, we're not really enjoying what we're doing is a good place to start. With that, we can rally the willingness to release those unhelpful self-concerns that are the enemy of joy.