What Is the Narcotics Anonymous Program?
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.
Why is coming from love so difficult sometimes?
Practicing the principle of unity in all of our affairs--and coming from a place of love while doing it--so often seems to require superhuman powers.
Sometimes coming from love is hard because a friend has truly wronged us or hurt someone else we love. Or maybe it's the member who stole money from the group or the one who gossips constantly. Or a newcomer from a treatment program uses language from another fellowship. Or, at dinner after the meeting, that guy is chewing with his mouth open. Again.
At other times, coming from love is a challenge because we know we are right! Yet our group's conscience runs counter to this indisputable fact. "There's no way in hell that our collective Higher Power is being expressed through that ridiculous decision!" We want to throw a chair across the room or break down in tears of frustration.
Clearly, coming from love may not be our first reaction to most any distraction. The good news is that we're teachable. We can learn to empathize with others, to trust group conscience, and to let go of our desires to control everyone and everything. The more we're able to absorb this lesson and practice unconditional love, the more relief we experience from our anger and self-righteousness.
Tradition Two reminds us that the group's conscience is expressed through a loving Higher Power. To support this idea, we've heard members say, "We are acting out of either love or fear." Maybe it's not always quite that simple, but as we grow, we come to understand how critical unity is to our own recovery, and we become willing to examine whether a chosen action squares with spiritual principles.