Welcome to the Central Coast Area of Narcotics Anonymous
Serving: Paso Robles, Cambria, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande, Santa Maria, Lompoc
Just for today daily meditation
Over-sensitivity, insecurity, and lack of identity are often associated with active addiction. Many of us carry these with us into recovery; our fears of inadequacy, rejection, and lack of direction do not disappear overnight. Many of us have images, false personalities we have constructed either to protect ourselves or please others. Some of us use masks because we're not sure who we really are. Sometimes we think that these images, built to protect us while using, might also protect us in recovery.
We use false fronts to hide our true personality, to disguise our lack of self-esteem. These masks hide us from others and also from our own true selves. By living a lie, we are saying that we cannot live with the truth about ourselves. The more we hide our real selves, the more we damage our self-esteem.
One of the miracles of recovery is the recognition of ourselves, complete with assets and liabilities. Self esteem begins with this recognition. Despite our fear of becoming vulnerable, we need to be willing to let go of our disguises. We need to be free of our masks and free to trust ourselves.
A Spiritual principle a day
One of recovery's greatest gifts--and joys--is seeing another NA member's hopes and dreams become realized. We are there when someone in our home group plants a seed of an idea into their own life, where it takes root in the dirt below and sprouts a stem that stretches toward the sun. We witness them take all the necessary steps to bring their goal to fruition, in spite of struggles with self-doubt and some real setbacks. We celebrate each other's successes at graduations and weddings; for births, adoptions, and reunifications; at launchings, openings, and housewarmings; and at the finish line--or just by hearing about them at a meeting.
We are inspired, even if our own seed of an idea is very different or even if we don't yet have a seed of our own. Most of us would agree that the specific details of our stories of active addiction don't have to be the same as another addict's in order for us to empathize, or even identify with them. The same can be said regarding our specific ideas about how we want to enrich our lives. There are as many paths to freedom as there are addicts and just as many paths to joy, success, contentment, and fulfillment.
Seeing others follow their dreams can inspire hope in us to find and follow our own. At different periods of our journey, hope may inspire us in different realms, like employment, family and relationships, using our intellect, our creativity. As one addict quipped, "I used to climb the walls, and now I climb mountains." Bearing witness to each other's journeys is a boon. We can learn from each other's mistakes, without having to make the same ones ourselves. What looks impossible or undesirable to us in early recovery may appeal to us later on--and transform our lives. We get most of our best ideas from each other.
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.
For more information on Narcotics Anonymous,
please go to the:
Narcotics Anonymous World Services Website,
Activities Announcements
Service Announcements
Help us make this Website better
Contact Webmaster at webmaster@centralcoastna.org