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
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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 07, 2024 |
Depending on our Higher Power |
| Page 293 |
| "As recovering addicts, we find that we are still dependent, but our dependence has shifted from the things around us to a loving God and the inner strength we get in our relationship with Him." |
| Basic Text, p. 71 |
| For many addicts, rebelliousness is second nature. We didn't want to depend on anyone or anything, and especially not on God. The beauty of using, we thought, was that it gave us the power to be and feel anything we wanted, all by ourselves. But the price we paid for this illusory freedom was a dependence beyond our worst nightmares. Rather than freeing us, using enslaved us. When we came to Narcotics Anonymous, we learned that dependence on God didn't have to mean what we may have thought it meant. Yes, if we wanted to be restored to sanity, we would need to tap "a Power greater than ourselves." However, we could choose our own concept of this Higher Power--we could even make one up. Dependence on a Higher Power would not limit us, we discovered; it would free us. The Power we find in recovery is the power we lacked on our own. It is the love we were afraid to depend on others for. It is the sense of personal direction we never had, the guidance we couldn't humble ourselves to ask for or trust others to give. It is all these things, and it is our own. Today, we are grateful to have a Higher Power to depend on. |
| Just for Today: I will depend on the love and inner strength I draw from the God of my own understanding. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
October 07, 2024 |
Harmony, Alignment, and Balance |
| Page 290 |
| "When our bodies, minds, and spirits are in harmony, our lives show the difference. We are able to live in balance." |
| Living Clean, Chapter 3, "A Spiritual Journey" |
| Addicts arrive in—or return to—NA with our lives in turmoil and out of balance. Our health is in the toilet. Mentally, we are all over the map. Spiritually, we are in a blackout. Though we may not all be at the same degree of chaos, no one bounds happily through the door of their first NA meeting—or our first one after a relapse—feeling stable and whole. We stagger or slink or sidle in. We come to NA after a brush with the law and sometimes while incarcerated. We're pushed in by family or rehab or dragged in by an NA member we used to get high with—or stayed clean with. There's some truth in the familiar wisecrack, "We are some sick puppies!" Since our journeys in recovery most often begin with the elimination of substances, our health often improves first. Our minds dip back into friendly territory, though the visits may not be as long as we'd like. Through attending meetings, working Steps, and building relationships with other members, we begin to awaken spiritually. Not all of us label it that way, or maybe we don't have words for it, but something inside of us is shifting. Outside of us, our behavior is definitely shifting. By taking commitments, showing up for others, acting "right," we stay clean. Whether we believe this is the work of a loving Higher Power or we're doing it because our sponsor told us to (because it's "spiritual"), our inner chaos lessens, and our outward stability increases. The lights come on, and they aren't so easily extinguished by the wind and rain that keep coming at us—because that's life. |
| ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— |
| I will take stock today of how I am physically, mentally, and spiritually. What can I do to establish some balance and spark some harmony? |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |