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
August 20, 2026 |
Facing death |
| Page 242 |
| "Often we have to face some type of crisis during our recovery, such as the death of a loved one..." |
| Basic Text, p. 102 |
| Every life has a beginning and an end. However, when someone we love a great deal reaches the end of their life, we may have a very hard time accepting their sudden, final absence. Our grief may be so powerful that we fear it will completely overwhelm us--but it will not. Our sorrow may hurt more than anything we can remember, but it will pass. We need not run from the emotions that may arise from the death of a loved one. Death and grieving are parts of the fullness of living "life on life's terms." By allowing ourselves the freedom to experience these feelings, we partake more deeply of both our recovery and our human nature. Sometimes the reality of another's death makes our own mortality that much more pronounced. We reevaluate our priorities, appreciating the loved ones still with us all the more. Our life, and our life with them, will not go on forever. We want to make the most of what's most important while it lasts. We might find that the death of someone we love helps strengthen our conscious contact with our Higher Power. If we remember that we can always turn to that source of strength when we are troubled, we will be able to stay focused on it no matter what may be going on around us. |
| Just for Today: I will accept the loss of one I love and turn to my Higher Power for the strength to accept my feelings. I will make the most of my love for those in my life today. |
The Basic Text describes who we used to be in active addiction as "devious, frightened loners." Many of us come to NA with very limited healthy and productive life experience. We may never have held a legal, on-the-books job and don't have the skills to get one. Or we may have skills and experience, but our dodgy work history reflects our using more than our employability. Our relationships, if they even still exist, are a mess--with our loved ones, with ourselves, with a Higher Power. Our self-serving behavior and our aversion to being truly vulnerable and intimate with others have kept us isolated. And then there's the spiritual deadness so many of us arrive with--and either the hardness or the utter fearfulness that comes with it.
In meetings, we hear members share that their lives are "bigger," "amazing," and "beyond my wildest dreams." Initially, we are skeptical at best, especially when they also tell us that it's not because of material gains but because of what they've gained by being of service to Narcotics Anonymous. A member shared, "Through service, my relationship to humanity was restored." Seriously? ALL of humanity?
Most of us get involved in service because we're told, "That's how we stay clean." We don't fully grasp its holistic benefits until we experience them ourselves. Through our NA commitments, we learn basic accounting, public speaking, and good communication skills. We learn how to listen--in meetings, to a fellow member who needs to vent, to people we don't even like. We learn how to treat others with respect when we disagree. We learn to show up to do the job no matter what. And more.
These are qualities we take with us wherever we go, in all our affairs. NA doesn't just help us stay clean; it transforms us into people who can make a positive impact inside and outside of the rooms.