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
January 20, 2025 |
One promise, many gifts |
| Page 20 |
| "Narcotics Anonymous offers only one promise, and that is freedom from active addiction..." |
| Basic Text, p. 106 |
| Imagine how it might be if we had arrived at the doors of Narcotics Anonymous, desperate, wanting to stop using drugs, only to be met by a sales pitch: "If you just work the steps and don't use drugs, you'll get married, live in the suburbs, have 2.6 children, and start wearing polyester. You will become a responsible, productive member of society and be fit company for kings and presidents. You will be rich and have a dynamic career." Most of us, greeted with such a heavy-handed spiel, would have shrieked and bolted for the door. Instead of high-pressure nonsense and frightening predictions, we are greeted with a promise of hope: freedom from active addiction. We feel a blessed relief come over us when we hear that we never have to use drugs again. We aren't going to be forced to become anything! Of course, after some time in recovery, good things start happening in our lives. We are given gifts--spiritual gifts, material gifts, gifts that we've always dreamed of but never dared hope we'd get. These, however, are truly gifts--they are not promised to us just because we become NA members. All we are promised is freedom from addiction--and it's more than enough! |
| Just for Today: I have been promised freedom from active addiction. The gifts I receive are the benefits of recovery. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
When we're new in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, it seems that everyone is speaking a language we don't quite understand. All seem to know the order of things, the readings, the prayer at the end. Newly clean (or trying to be), we're already immensely uncomfortable when we're encouraged by someone to talk about what's going on with us--to a roomful of strangers? We don't know what to say, but we try anyway. People in the room vigorously nod at us, like they understand us. "Thanks for what you said," someone tells us during the break. "You really helped me today. So glad you're here." This is different.
"I don't even know what the hell I just said!" we reply. "I have no idea what I'm doing." More vigorous nodding. What is wrong with these people?
NA's practice of remaining "forever nonprofessional," as per our Eighth Tradition, suggests we are perfectly capable of delivering a message of recovery--even before we're aware that's what we're doing. We don't need professional training or coaching to share in a meeting. We don't have to know all the NA jargon or have memorized passages in our literature. We begin greeting newcomers when we're still newcomers ourselves. Depending on where we live, we may be called to sponsor before we're done with our first full round of Steps. As addicts in recovery, we are already experts--all of us--from the oldest oldtimer to the newest newcomer.
There is beauty and simplicity in the therapeutic value of one addict helping another. A desire to stop using gets us in the door, and our humanity gives us the capacity to listen and empathize, to share what's in our hearts and on our minds, to be generous, and, crucially, to accept the generosity of others. Each of us finds our expertise as recovering addicts when we accept our condition as addicts and start to tap into our assets.
This principle of simplicity is aligned with NA's commitment to anonymity: No matter who we are, we are deserving of each other's recognition that we are human and worthy of love and acknowledgment. As NA members, we give each other the simple gift of being a part of something greater than each of us. Priceless. Simple. Free.