This Earth Group of NA meeting can be viewed online at /e_meeting/
Welcome to the e-Meeting of Earth Group of Narcotics Anonymous! Please imagine we are sitting around in a comfortable, cozy meeting room.
On the walls are NA posters of the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions. Over in the corner, a big silver coffee pot just finished percolating. On a table by
the door is NA literature. There's an empty chair in the middle of the room signifying the addict who has yet to find the rooms of Narcotics
Anonymous. Therefs a warm, comfortable feeling in the room. You've come home.
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"Every N.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."(7th Traditon). "We need money to run our group;
there is rent to pay, supplies and literature to buy. We take a collection in our meetings to cover these expense and whatever is left
goes to support our services and to further our primary purpose."-BT pg71 (7th Tradition).
To donate via PayPal you can just click "donatation" on our home page. You may also send donations by U.S. Mail. We accept checks, money orders,
travellers checks and cash (be sure to wrap it up good). The address is below. Thanks Family.
Earth Group of Narcotics Anonymous
4407 Shetland Way
Westville, NJ 08093
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Hi Family. I'm Jim T, and I am an addict and Earth Group NA e-Meeting chairperson/mailer. We would like to open this meeting with a moment of
silence for the addicts who still suffer, both in and out of these rooms, followed by the Serenity Prayer:
God.
Grant us the Serenity to accept the things we cannot change.
Courage to change the things we can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.
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Earth Group NA Announcements:
Earth Group NA has on line voice chat meetings in our meeting room on the Voxli web site. The site is still in the "beta" stage so there are
still some connection issues we are working on. You donft need a microphone because you can still type your text for those in the meeting
to read.
Here's a link to get there!
Perhaps we'll see you there.
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We currently have open Trusted Servant positions for the Home Group Chair and for the Earth Group Area Rep and PI. We
would like to have your input and your ideas on these two positions as we move forward. We are getting closer to completing
the new site with the outstanding work by Sam our Web Servant. Look for news in the weeks to come. Please forward any
questions or comments to mailer@earthgroupna.org .
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NA READINGS
If you would like to read the NA Readings, please click on the NAWS link below.
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Who is an addict?
http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/litfiles/us_english/misc/Who%20Is%20an%20Addict.pdf
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What Is The Narcotics Anonymous Program?
http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/litfiles/us_english/misc/What%20Is%20the%20NA%20Program.pdf
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Why Are We Here?
http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/litfiles/us_english/misc/Why%20Are%20We%20Here.pdf
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How It Works
http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/litfiles/us_english/misc/How%20it%20Works.pdf
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The Twelve Traditions of NA
http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/litfiles/us_english/misc/Twelve%20Traditions.pdf
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Hello and hugs Earth Group NA family
My name is Caren K. and I am an addict and the groupfs current online meeting servant. I would like to remind our fellowship
that we offer 11 NA online meetings weekly with daily nooners (12 PM EDT) Tuesday-Friday and several meetings at night on
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sunday sunrise at 7:30 AM EDT. Our newest meeting is the Saturday
Step study meeting which starts at 10 AM EDT. Our chat room is open 24/7 for our membership. If you would like further
information or are interested in being of service for our meetings or chat room, please contact me at chat@earthgroupna.org.
Thank you and be blessed in your recovery. ((hugs)) Caren K.
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Clean Time Celebrants!!
We love to celebrate clean time anniversaries in Narcotics Anonymous! It is such a miracle for any addict to go one day
without using, but to put together 30 days or more is beyond our wildest dreams and truly a miracle worth celebrating. Below
are those celebrating their accomplishment this week. Please join us in congratulating each one of these miracles!
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Friday
1/20/2012
Timmie P
7 Years Today!
________________________
Saturday
1/21/2012
George V.
13 Years Today!
Paul F.
22 Years Today!
Lucy
25 Years Today!
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Sunday
1/22/2012
_________________________
Monday
1/23/2012
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Tuesday
1/24/2012
Pete K.
9 Months Today!
Toni G.
8 Years Today!
Kevin Mc.
17 Years Today!
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Wednesday
1/25/2012
Carla B.
9 Years Today!
Dalin A.
18 Years Today!
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Thursday
1/26/2012
Cindy W.
7 Years Today!
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THANK (GOD) THAT WE ALL HAVE TODAY!!
If we miss announcing your clean time anniversary, please let us know! If you would like to celebrate with us, please send an
email with your first name, last initial, and email address and clean date to congratulator@earthgroupna.org. Thank you!
Congratulations everyone! Keep coming back!
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A few quick notes on our eMeeting:
1. You are welcome to use your first name and last initial or the name you use to log into Earth Group's BBS to identify yourself
when you submit your share for publishing in our eMeeting.
2. Our eMeeting is a once a week mailer that is generally emailed out on Wednesdays. Ever so often it may be sent out a little
early or a little late depending on participation. There no deadlines for sharing. We include all shares received right up until the
moment the meeting is sent out. We strongly encourage everyone's participation. After all, we keep what we have by giving it back.
You may not always need the meeting, but the meeting almost always needs you and your experience, strength, and hope.
3. Please share your personal experience, strength, and hope as you would in a live face-to-face meeting, either on the
topic provided, or whatever may be affecting your recovery. We ask that no outside issues, written materials, non-NA recovery
oriented documentsor plagiarism be sent in as a share.
4. We do not publish the email address of the person sharing, nor any email addresses or website addresses that might be
included in a share. Of course, email addresses or website addresses that are included as part of an announcement may be
published, after the group has reviewed the announcement for adherence to the 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous and Earth
Group NA group policy.
5. If you've used today, or need help in your efforts to stay clean, please feel free to reach out to one of our online
sponsors at sponsors@earthgroupna.org.
6. Please visit our website at www.earthgroupna.org for detailed information regarding functions, locating NA Meetings, Online
Sponsorship, Message Board, Chat Room, Online NA Meetings, NA Literature, etc. Thank you.
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The Topic for this eMeeting:
Hi Family~Grateful recovering addict called Cat.
Just for Today, January 13, Surrender To Win
" Help for addicts begins only when we are able to admit complete defeat."Basic Text, p. 22
Complete defeat-what a concept! That must mean surrender. Surrender-to giveup absolutely. To quit with no reservations. To put
up our hands and quit fighting. Maybe to put up our hand at our first meeting and admit we're addicts.
How do we know we've taken a First Step that will allow us to live drug-free? We know because, once we have taken that gigantic
step, we never have to use again-just for today. That's it. It's not easy, but it's very simple.
We work the First Step. We accept that, yes, we are addicts. "One is too many, and a thousand never enough." We've proven that
to ourselves enough times. We admit that we cannot handle drugs in any form. We admit it; we say it out loud, if necessary.
We take the First Step at the beginning of our day. For one day. This admission frees us, just for today, from the need to live out our
addiction all over again. We've surrendered to this disease. We give up. We quit. But in quitting, we win. And that's the paradox of
the First Step: We surrender to win, and by surrendering we gain a far greater power than we ever imagined possible.
Just for today: I admit that I am powerless over my addiction. I will surrender to win.
This is my NA birthday reading, and after several years of coming in and out of NA, I gave myself a break, with the help of the women
in the fellowship who loved me and a Higher Power I didn't understand, I surrendered to win!
I thought I could work the program my way, I thought I could still lie, I thought I could___________________ (fill in the blank). I didn't
understand how to surrender being so clouded by substances and all. I learned as long as I did not use, no matter what (on a minute to
minute basis at times because the obsession was so gripping) I didn't have to understand the program for it to work for me.
I read the white booklet cover to cover, over and over until my thoughts of using changed. I called the women that brought me to my
own intervention, and those same women that loved me then, love me today and have helped me from day one as I slept on a cot in
one person's dining room and went to meetings during the day. Another brought food, another took me to another meeting and we got
through the withdrawal and fear together. I was never left alone and that was what I needed to stay clean. I learned during those days,
that I could not do this by myself. I had heard it said in meetings many times over the years, worked some steps, knew it in my mind,
but refused to accept that piece.
I was the "if I can't see it, touch it, taste it or feel it...it doesn't exist" thinker. I had to learn through great pain that was a lie. Today I trust
that another addict's experience is enough for me, and I've got a working relationship with my H.P., who I put faith in to carry me through
all times, good, bad, ugly: Anything! I've learned my H.P., who understands me, wants me to lean on Him even more, during difficult times
as well as joyous ones! The freedom I've gained can not be matched by any thought, consideration I may have about using.
I look at my recovery as a blessing in life, not just a gift! Gifts can be returned but blessings can not. Today, I know there will be pain in
recovery, sometimes it feels unbearable. Our literature tells us, that we will be in pain at times in life clean, and that we can get through it
together, sharing our experience, strength and hope with each other. This can be opportunity for spiritual growth after the storm, during the
calm is my chance to further our primary purpose and share with manother suffering addict, what I went through.
Maybe they won't feel so alone in their struggle, and they can share that with another addict. As I grow in recovery, I learn coping skills and
apply them as needed. Working the NA program has rewarded me with those coping skills I lacked, and principals in my life.
Thank you EGNA, for all your support! I love you and am grateful to be of service.
Please join us, share your experience, strength and hope on the topic.
ILS,
Cat.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The floor is open:
Kev B.
Hello Family. I'm an addict. My name's Kev. As always, I thank my Higher Power fo the gift of freedom and the blessing that is Narcotics
Anonymous. Thanks Cat and Jim for keeping the doors open.
This is a great topic. Actually, they're all great but this one's really great just for today. When I had about 8 or 9 months clean I went to my
sponsor's house to go over Step One for the first time. It was the very beginning of me "working the steps." I really didn't know what to expect
so I was a little apprehensive. Being the great sponsor that he is, I'm sure he anticipated that and worked to put me at ease. We talked a little
about moving forward and laying a foundation etc. He looked over my It Works:How & Why Step-Working Guidebook stuff and nodded his head
up and down without comment, leaving me wondering what he thought. Then he grabbed his Just For Today daily meditation book and started
giving me dates and having me read the meditation for those dates...slowly. He started with this one, Jan 13th and it was more or less the
theme for all of them ... Surrender to Win.
The name of my home group in Philly is "Surrender is the Key." One year we had a keynote speaker for our anniversary who, when talking
about the topic (Surrender is the Key) referred to an unnamed book's opening paragraph. That paragraph said essentially that life is difficult,
but when we acknowledge and accept that life is difficult, then it is no longer difficult. He related it to "We are addicts. Our lives are
unmanageable. But when we acknowledge and accept that fact then we don't have to use." We surrender to win. It sounds a little crazy but it
works. In fact, for me, it's the only thing that ever worked.
I never ever ever want to go back. The Basic Text says and I quote "We have never seen a person who lives the Narcotics Anonymous Program
relapse." That's an awesome promise. I don't want to relapse. I never want to go back. So, I try and live the Narcotics Anonymous program. It starts
with me "surrendering to win." Thanx for letting me share. hugs kb
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Jim T.
Welcome home to all the new members of our Earth Group family and congratulations to all the members of our family celebrating
clean time anniversaries. Always remember that you never have to use again and that you never, ever have to go through anything
alone again. Today, by the grace of my Higher Power; I am a grateful, recovering addict, my name is Jim T.
I AM YOUR ADDICTION - I AM YOUR eMEETING
By Jonathan S. French - Commentary by Jim T.
"I HATE MEETINGS. I HAVE YOUR 'HIGHER POWERS'. I HATE ANYONE WHO HAS A 'PROGRAM'. TO ALL WHO COME INTO CONTACT WITH ME, I
WISH YOU SUFFERING AND I WISH YOU DEATH."
I am the meeting your addiction hates. I can carry our combined thoughts and freely given shares about Higher Powers, Who is an Addict and
How to work a recovery program based on the spiritual principals of Narcotics Anonymous. I can bring comfort, peace, strength, hope and faith
to anyone who takes the time to read me. I wish you another 24 hours of living life on life’s terms to the fullest each and every day so that you
can live your life to the maximum of your own potential. I can help you live!!!
"ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. I AM THE DISEASE OF ADDICTION. I AM CUNNING, BAFFLING AND POWERFUL. I HAVE KILLED MILLIONS
AND I AM PLEASED."
Let me introduce myself. I am your Earth Group of Narcotics Anonymous’ weekly eMeeting that you receive as a member of our recovery family.
I can offer the combined experience, strength and hope of every addict who takes the time to send in a share to me. I have helped to kill that old
adage: “Once an addict. Always an addict!” I know this because I would not exist if there weren’t as many addicts on the Internet who are
conquering their own personal addiction at their own pace who read me each week and I know (just a surely as you do) that together (Never alone!
Never again!) we do recover, one day at a time. I am pleased to provide this service because you all have used me to give back what has so freely
been given when you share through me.
"I LOVE TO CATCH YOU WITH THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE. I LOVE PRETENDING I AM YOUR FRIEND AND LOVER. I HAVE GIVEN YOU COMFORT,
HAVE I NOT? WASN'T I THERE WHEN YOU WERE LONELY? WHEN YOU WANTED TO DIE, WASN'T I THERE WHEN YOU CALLED ME?"
I show up in your inbox every week;
perhaps not as regular as clockwork but nevertheless I am here weekly for you
to read and share your recovery with others. I can never be your lover but I’d
like to think we have become close friends over time I have been here for you.
I hope that you have received comfort in knowing that you can share through me
anything that is in your heart or on your mind that may be affecting your
recovery. One thing is for certain, I am just a few clicks away if you ever get
lonely and you can read the gratitude that other recovering addicts just like
you have shared through me when the feeling moves them. I personally know what it
is like to lose someone to this disease we share because you all use me to
share with others through your grief. I am grateful to be here in your hour of
need and I thank you for trusting me enough to share your feelings during your
time of grief. I am also eternally grateful that you use me to share your
progress as grief turns into fond memories and you make it through another day without
using
"I LOVE TO MAKE YOU HURT. I
LOVE TO MAKE YOU CRY. BETTER YET, I LOVE TO MAKE YOU SO NUMB YOU CAN NEITHER HURT
NOR CRY. ISN'T IT TRUE GLORY WHEN YOU CAN'T HURT AT ALL?"
I can help you share the pain of
your hurt knowing that pain shared, is pain lessened. Over the years we have our
shared tears of pain and sorrow but more importantly we have shared tears of the
joy for the peace and serenity we have shared as we have weathered the storms
of life together. When you have felt so numb from the pain of this disease we
still have come together, you and I, and we have supported one another through
the numbness of pain through to the warmth of once lost faith and discovered a new
and strengthening each day. We have also shared the genuine glory of
unconditional gratitude for another 24 hours clean and as we have celebrated
those dates for the miracles they truly are. Together we have once more
vanquished the darkness of addiction if just for one more day.
"I WILL GIVE YOUI INSTANT GRATIFICATION, AND ALL THAT I ASK FROM YOU IS
LONG-TERM SUFFERING. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR YOU. WHEN THINGS WERE GOING
RIGHT IN YOUR LIFE, YOU INVITED ME. YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T DESERVE THESE THINGS,
AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO AGREED WITH YOU. TOGETHER WE WERE ABLE TO DESTOY ALL
THE GOOD THINGS IN YOUR LIFE.
Together you and I have shared how
the need for instant gratification can been replaced with infinite gratitude
for a chance at another 24 hours of relief from the ravages our common enemy
would have us suffer throughout eternity. Although I have only been here for
you for a brief number of years, together we have (from day one) written down
our thoughts, experiences, pain, guilt and shame. Looking back over our
relationship, however, we have shared far more about the miracle of our
recovery, the blessings of our individual Higher Powers and the beauty of a
second chance at a first class life without using. Together we will always be
stronger than either of us alone. But as time has passed and recovery becomes
the new way of life, we have drawn further apart. The shares come in much less
often than they did when recovery burned hot and deep in our hearts.
"PEOPLE DON'T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY. THEY TAKE STROKES, HEART ATTACHS AND
DIABETES SERIOUSLY. FOOLS, LITTLE THEY KNOW THAT WITHOUT MY HELP SOME OF THESE
THINGS WOULDNOT TAKE PLACE.
I have seen many of
my readers grow out of addiction and into life. Where we once shared our
struggles with each other as we made this journey together; today, we should be
sharing about all the things that have changed for our utmost good by living a
program of simple suggestions that we can work into our daily lives. Yes; we
were once naïve, but no longer!! Together we have internalized that this life
threatening disease can never be cured and together we have managed it for more
than just a few 24 hours together. Never alone. Never again. We also share how
by living the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous to the best of
our ability, each and every day everything we can think of we can achieve
because by sharing with others we know that our thoughts become the things that
the blessings of recovery bring.
"I AM SUCH A HATED DISEASE, YET
I DO NOT COME UNINVITED. YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE ME. SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE CHOSEN ME
OVER REALITY AND PEACE OF MIND."
We have shared our
common hatred of this dreaded disease through me with our family of recovering
addicts from the beginning. We understand that we are not responsible for our
disease but we also know exactly where the responsibility for recovery lies. I
have always been and will always be committed to continue to help you share
your experience, strength and hope about what has worked and what has not
worked with other recovering addicts around the world. I believe this has
brought those who read your shares through me peace and peace of mind enough to
make it through one more day without using.
"MORE THAN YOU HATE ME, I HATE ALL OF YOU HAVE A 12-STEP PROGRAM. YOUR
'PROGRAMS', YOUR 'HIGHER POWERS' AND YOUR 'MEETINGS' WEAKEN ME, AND I CAN'T
FUNCTION IN THE MANNER I AM USED TO."
Together we have shared
with others how much we hate addiction and what it does to the lives of untold
numbers of addicts. The fact that I am available on the Internet for any addict
to read means that our combined power has, can and can continue to be a major
source of encouragement to all who still suffer from addiction and to all who
are recovering one day at a time from the ravages of our common enemy:
Addiction!! By you sharing your recovery through me, others are inspired and
can use your experience, strength and hope to take away the power of this
disease and bring peace and serenity to everyone who reads me. As long as the
ties that bind us together are stronger than those that seek to tear us apart;
all will be well!
"NOW I MUST LIE HERE QUIETLY. YOU DON'T SEE ME, BUT I AM GROWING 'LARGER'
THAN EVER. WHEN YOU ONLY EXIST, I MAY LIVE. WHEN YOU LIVE, I MAY ONLY EXIST.
BUT I AM HERE....WAITING AND GROWING, READY TO STRIKE THE MOMENT YOU PICK
UP....UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN. I WISH YOU SUFFERING AND DEATH WHETHER IT BE
PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, EMOTIONALLY OR SPIRITUALLY. IT'S ALL DEATH, NO MATTER
WHAT YOU CALL ME. I AM YOUR WORST ENEMY!! I AM YOUR ADDICTION!!!
But now for the hard stuff! Just as the disease of addiction
lies quietly, gaining strength one day at a time as it plans for and awaits the
next opportunity to strike one of us
down, so I am weakened by the fewer and fewer shares that I have to bring to
you. I exist to help you who read me to live and defeat your addiction as I
become a part of
your personal program of recovery. But never doubt for a second that I am here,
and I am ready to carry your message of recovery to those who are home bound and
can
not get out to face-to-face meetings. I am here so that through you giving back
what you have been so freely been given together, we can be carry the message
of recovery to those who are most in need: The still suffering addict. Together
we can be a potent weapon in this life and death battle against addiction.
Together, through your sharing with others through me, we can turn suffering
into the truest sense of well being there is; death into life (whether it be
your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual life). I have and
always will be about life with the use of drugs. I can be your best friend and
faithful servant as together we fight the disease of addiction
I can be all of this and
more but I need your help. Where once I brought you three to six shares of
other’s experience, strength and hope, at this present time, I consider
myself fortunate to be able to bring you one or perhaps two. I don’t ask for
much; only a few moments of your time to do what every addict has come to
realize is a key part of the therapeutic value of one addict helping another
through the Narcotics Anonymous program: putting into words what each day
brings into your recovery. I can never take the place of your sponsor and I was
never conceived to do that. I am here for you to pass on your experience,
strength and hope to others that need to hear it just to make it through
another day without picking up.
_______________________________________________
Hello family~grateful recovering addict called Cat.
Hello family. Grateful recovering addict Cat, From The Basic Text, Chapter Nine, "Just for Today" Fifth Ed. excerpts from page 96. Sixth Ed., page 99.
"By sharing the experience of our recovery with newcomers, we help ourselves stay clean. We share comfort and encouragement with others. Today
we have people in our lives who stand with us. Getting away from our self-centeredness gives us a better perspective on life. By asking for help, we
can change. Sharing is risky at times, but by becoming vulnerable we are able to grow."
"A spirit of open-mindedness, coupled with an admission of powerlessness, is a keythat will unlock the door to recovery. If someone with a drug
problem comes to usseeking recovery, and is willing, we gladly share with them how we stay clean."
"We develop self-esteem as we help others find a new way of life."
In early recovery for me, I felt that sharing was risky. How can I tell these people, who are talking about gratitude, or acceptance, or surrender-that I
want to use? That all I can think about is getting and using and finding ways and means... I shared exactly what I felt like, and I wasn't looked at like
a crazy person, or laughed at, or told to leave. Instead, other addicts, thanked me for sharing, offered me hope that if I just don't use, no matter what,
and keep coming back...I can stop using, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.
I didn't have faith in anything, but had no where else to go and eventually, I did what was suggested. Because of the path in recovery my H.P has
guided me on, I have been blessed to meetmany newcomers. Where I live, when a new comer introduces themselves, they get hugsfrom almost
everyone if not all, in the room. At the end of the meeting, we give them a schedule with phone numbers to call. I see other members talking to them
after the meeting. I do what was done for me, I talk to the women, and if they want help, I offer to call them too.
I must participate in service to stay clean, just as our Text tells us we must be vigilant in our recovery. It also helps me practice the spiritual principles
the program teaches me, and at the same time, I'm doing my part, helping to further OUR primary purpose. AND, my self esteem improves each time I
get out of my own way! As long as I don't pick up, and stay focused on the solution (recovery), I have a chance to learn to live a NEW way of life, free
from active addiction.
For many of the topic discussions, I have referred to NA literature with guidance from my H. P. I've kept it simple, by just having a Step for a topic, for
our members to expand and share on, and I've used longer paragraphs from the Basic Text and JFT meditations. Our literature tells us we can only
keep what we have by giving it away, and our primary purpose as NA members is to help each other stay clean. I know not everyone prefers to submit a
share, I haven't shared at every single meeting, however we have this meeting for a reason. OUR group and meetings as well as the online meetings
have kept me clean, during difficult times and joyous ones. Especially after months on end of chairing a meeting, with no participation, and a newcomer
shows up looking for help. Please participate, not because I'm asking you to, but because your share may help another addict in some way, even save
their life. How can we help each other when we don't know what is affecting each others recovery? How can we share our joy and give hope to the
newcomer when no one is participating...
This is in no way intended to offend or judge anyone, I wrote this with the passion that I have for NA and love for our fellowship~that has been blessed
upon me by the NA program, other addicts and my H.P. who understands me! Whether it be at f2f meetings or here at EGNA, if we need support, I will
ask. I invite you all to send topics to: discussion@earthgroupna.org ILS, Cat
ILS,
Cat
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