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
The word anonymity itself means namelessness, but there's a larger principle at work in the anonymity of the NA program: the principle of selflessness. When we admit our powerlessness to manage our own lives, we take our first step away from self-will and our first step toward selflessness. The less we try to run our lives on self-will, the more we find the power and direction once so sorely lacking in our lives.
But the principle of selflessness does a lot more than just make us feel better--it helps us live better. Our ideas of how the world should be run begin to lose their importance, and we stop trying to impose our will on everyone and everything around us. And when we abandon our "know-it-all" pretensions and start recognizing the value of other peoples' experience, we start treating them with respect. The interests of others become as important to us as our own; we start to think about what's best for the group, rather than just what's best for us. We start living a life that's bigger than we are, that's more than just us, our name, ourselves--we start living the principle of anonymity.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
When we first come to NA, it's suggested that we "look at the similarities, not the differences" when comparing ourselves to our fellow members. As newcomers, this may have seemed like a ploy to diminish our uniqueness. We wondered, Do they want me to think I'm just like every other addict? Impossible!
To our surprise, that recommendation has been key to saving our lives. It was important for us to see the similarities in our stories and to focus on the common ground of our solution. Instead of looking at our differences as disqualifiers, we learn that our diversity is our strength. As Narcotics Anonymous members, we have the opportunity to rise above, even embrace, our differences. Many of us find an unanticipated gift in recovering with people who don't look or sound as we do.
But even more unexpected is how we learn to draw from the assortment of perspectives that we encounter in working an NA program: frequency of meeting attendance, the right number of service commitments, the difference between defects and shortcomings, and when we can start dating again. We learn from others, figure out what works for us as individuals, and make choices to benefit our personal recovery. We also benefit from witnessing and participating in, um, spirited debates about NA issues at business and area meetings. A diversity of perspectives informs our own dynamic contributions to our home group, our NA community, the Fellowship as a whole, and our personal and professional lives outside NA, even in our families.
Unity does change us. It helps us to look for and appreciate our similarities and our differences.
