Welcome to Narcotics Anonymous of NJ. Our Message Is…
That an addict, any addict can stop using drugs,
lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.
Helpline
If you feel you have a problem with drugs, call our helpline
Events
See upcoming NA events and activities in NJ
Narcotics Anonymous 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.
– Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text, page 9
Recovery from addiction is possible and available through the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous.
Narcotics Anonymous is FREEDOM from active addiction.
Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with over 61,000 weekly meetings in over 131 countries worldwide.
Just for Today
After some time in recovery, we may find we are faced with what seem like overwhelming personal problems, angry feelings, and despair. When we realize what's going on, we may wail, "But I've been working so hard. I thought I was..." Recovered, maybe? Not hardly. Over and over, we hear that recovery is an ongoing process and that we are never cured. Yet we sometimes believe that if we just work our steps enough, pray enough, or go to enough meetings, we'll eventually . . . Well, maybe not be cured, but be something!
And we are "something." We're recovering--recovering from active addiction. No matter what we've dealt with through the process of the steps, there will always be more. What we didn't remember or didn't think was important in our first inventory will surely present itself later on. Again and again, we'll turn to the process of the steps to deal with what's bothering us. The more we use this process the more we'll trust it, for we can see the results. We go from anger and resentment to forgiveness, from denial to honesty and acceptance, and from pain to serenity.
Recovery doesn't happen overnight, and ours will never be complete. But each day brings new healing and the hope for more tomorrow.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
Our ideas about the help we need, how it's packaged, and who delivers it can be decidedly unhelpful. Our work in Step Three can provide some useful strategies. We're often advised to "do the footwork and leave the results to your Higher Power," and to "pay attention to which doors are opening and which remain shut." When we find ourselves too attached to an outcome or banging our heads against the same locked door, open-mindedness may be in order.
In the classic allegory told in NA meetings over the years, a flood drives a man onto the roof of his home where he prays for help. He refuses to get in the rescue boat or the helicopter that come to his aid, telling them, "My God's got me!" The water continues to rise and the man perishes. In the afterlife, he rails at his maker for allowing him to die, to which his God replies, "I sent a boat and a helicopter!"
There's a reason this story is a classic: It reveals some of the problems with closed-mindedness. One member described their broken process this way: "I put my needs out to the universe and ask for help, then I evaluate, judge, and reject the help that's offered. Turns out I'm often just looking for someone to cosign my BS." Open-mindedness will come in handy here, too.
Attending out-of-town meetings illustrates the benefit of open-mindedness. "I was just 25 kilometers down the road, but everything I heard seemed so profound," one addict shared. "I realized that not knowing these members made me a better listener." Without the mental static about the messenger--their cleantime, reputation, or other baggage--it's easier to hear the message. Listening in the same way takes a little more effort close to home. Applying the principle of anonymity helps us set aside information that interferes with how we hear others. Instead of listening to validate our own perspectives, we can practice humility and open our minds to consider others' experience, strength, and hope.
