JUST FOR TODAY #essentialsofrecovery

Addiction, Drugs, and Recovery

“Addiction is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease that affects every area of our lives.”

~ Basic Text pg. 20 ~

Before we started using, most of us had a stereotype, a mental image of what addicts were supposed to look like. Some of us pictured a junkie robbing convenience markets for drug money. Others imagined a paranoid recluse peering at life from behind perpetually drawn drapes and locked doors. As long as we didn’t fit any of the stereotypes, we thought, we couldn’t be addicts.

As our using progressed, we discarded those misconceptions about addiction, only to come up with another: the idea that addiction was about drugs. We may have thought addiction meant a physical habit, believing any drug that didn’t produce physical habituation was not “addictive.” Or we thought the drugs we took were causing all our problems. We thought that merely getting rid of the drugs would restore sanity to our lives.

One of the most important lessons we learn in Narcotics Anonymous is that addiction is much more than the drugs we used. Addiction is a part of us; it’s an illness that involves every area of our lives, with or without drugs. We can see its effects on our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior, even after we stop using. Because of this, we need a solution that works to repair every area of our lives: the Twelve Steps.

Just for today: Addiction is not a simple disease, but it has a simple solution. Today, I will live in that solution: the Twelve Steps of recovery.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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JUST FOR TODAY #essentialsofrecovery

Those Who Want To Recover

“We have seen the program work for any addict who honestly and sincerely wants to stop [using drugs].”

~ Basic Text, p. 10 

How do we know when someone honestly and sincerely wants to stop using drugs? The truth is that we don’t know! Because we cannot read minds or know another’s motives and desires, we simply have to hope for the best.

We may talk to a newcomer at a meeting and think we’ll never see them again, only to find them several years later doing well in their recovery. We may be tempted to give up on someone who keeps relapsing or doesn’t get clean right away, but we must not. No matter how unwilling someone may seem, a simple fact remains—the addict is at a meeting.

We may never know the results of our Twelfth Step work; it is not up to us to gauge the willingness of a newcomer. The message we carry is a part of us. We carry it everywhere and share it freely, leaving the results to a Power greater than ourselves.

Just for today: I will share my recovery with any addict, anywhere, anytime, and under any circumstances. I will leave the results to my Higher Power.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc

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KEEP IT SIMPLE #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Obligations

Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt 

When we were using alcohol and other drugs, we often thought that we were different from others. We secretly thought that no one could understand us. Maybe we tried to be one of the group, but we were lonely.

Now we know for sure—we are different from others. Everyone’s unique. We all have this in common. Being like others helps us feel safe and normal. But we need to feel good about the ways we’re different from others too. We think a little different, act a little different, and look a little different from anyone else. We each have our own way to make life better for others.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me be an individual. Help me use my special gifts, not hide them.

Action for the Day

Today, I’ll make a list of the things I'm good at. I’ll think about how I can use these gifts.

Copyright © 1988 by Hazelden Foundation

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KEEP IT SIMPLE

“If there is a harder way of doing something, someone will find it.”

—Ralph E. Ross

When we used alcohol or other drugs, we did most things the hard way. We could turn a simple task into a day-long project. We could turn a simple problem into an argument. We were creative giants in doing things the hard way! we need to change this. We deserve easier lives. It’s okay to take the smooth road .

In our program ,We have slogans for this: Keep It Simple, Let Go and Let God, First Things First, and Easy Does It. These slogans remind us that it’s okay to live with as little trouble as possible.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, show me how to live a simple life. I don’t have to do everything the hard way if I listen better to You.

Action for the Day: I’ll list three or four things I do that makes my life harder than it needs to be. I’ll share them with a friend.

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Just For Today #essentialsofrec #Recovery #fellowship #NA

Recovery at Home


“We can enjoy our families in a new way and may become a credit to them instead of an embarrassment or a burden.”

Basic Text p. 100

We’re doing great in recovery, aren’t we? We go to a meeting every day, we spend every evening with our friends in the fellowship, and every weekend we dash off to a service workshop. But if things are falling to pieces at home, we’re not doing so great after all.

We expect our families to understand. After all, we’re not using drugs anymore. Why don’t they recognize our progress? Don’t they understand how important our meetings, our service, and our involvement with the fellowship are?

Our families will not appreciate the change NA is working in our lives unless we show them. If we rush off to a meeting the same way we rushed off to use drugs, what has changed? If we continue to ignore the needs and desires of our partners and children, failing to accept our responsibilities at home, we aren't “practising these principles in all our affairs.”

We must live the program everywhere we go, in everything we do. If we want the spiritual life to be more than a theory, we have to live it at home. When we do this, the people we share our lives with are sure to notice the change and be grateful that we've found NA.

Just for today: I will take my recovery home with me. 

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc

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Keep It Simple #essentialsorec #Step1 #Recovery #AA

Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.

~Unknown

As we work Step One, we accept that alcohol and other drugs are poison to us. We accept our limits.

This means we know that hanging around our using “buddies” can remind us of “the good old days.”

Hanging around “slippery places” means we could “slip” back into our old ways. This isn’t testing our sobriety; it’s being reckless with it. So let’s accept our limits. Everybody has limits. When we know our limits, we protect our recovery against the people and places that pull us from our spiritual center. This is what true acceptance means.

Prayer for the Day: I pray for true acceptance. Higher Power, help me to stay away from slippery places. I will protect the gift You’ve given me.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list the people and places that are risky for me to be around. I will share this list with my sponsor, my group, and my sober friends.

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JUST FOR TODAY #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Addiction #Drugs

 14
December

Addiction, Drugs, and Recovery

“Addiction is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease that affects every area of our lives.”

~ Basic Text pg. 20 ~

Before we started using, most of us had a stereotype, a mental image of what addicts were supposed to look like. Some of us pictured a junkie robbing convenience markets for drug money. Others imagined a paranoid recluse peering at life from behind perpetually drawn drapes and locked doors. As long as we didn’t fit any of the stereotypes, we thought, we couldn’t be addicts.

As our using progressed, we discarded those misconceptions about addiction, only to come up with another: the idea that addiction was about drugs. We may have thought addiction meant a physical habit, believing any drug that didn’t produce physical habituation was not “addictive.” Or we thought the drugs we took were causing all our problems. We thought that merely getting rid of the drugs would restore sanity to our lives.

One of the most important lessons we learn in Narcotics Anonymous is that addiction is much more than the drugs we used. Addiction is a part of us; it’s an illness that involves every area of our lives, with or without drugs. We can see its effects on our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior, even after we stop using. Because of this, we need a solution that works to repair every area of our lives: the Twelve Steps.

Just for today: Addiction is not a simple disease, but it has a simple solution. Today, I will live in that solution: the Twelve Steps of recovery.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc

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SLLiP - Take a look guys and for a great cause #essentialsofrec #Video #Drugs #Addiction

  9
November


SLLiP from ricky russert on Vimeo.

I was recently asked to review a short film by actor Ricky Russert, who will be best know as the actor who plays Tommy Littlestone on Cinemax's Banshee. The film, written and produced by Ricky himself, is in my humble opinion a real feather in his cap. Ricky also performs the starring role, brilliantly I might add. This is a powerful film about addiction to prescribed medication. Something I'm sure, a lot of our followers might have some experience of. The film 'SLLiP' (Pills spelled backwards) is a heartfelt, yet disturbing, look into the life of Cam, ,a hard working, blue collar, family man who succumbs to addiction when he is prescribed pain killers after an accident at work. This powerful story is beautifully filmed, acted and produced. It is based on true events around Ricky's own family and a must watch.  The film is short 25 mins long but both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.


The film was also recently selected to be a part of the REEL Recovery Film Festival. With a full house audience in NYC it was highly received by filmmakers ​and​, more importantly​, ​recovering addicts who have lived this story themselves.

You can view Ricky's beautifully crafted piece here. I must say I would highly recommend it. N.B. There is a nominal fee to watch and all proceeds are being donated to a great cause.


Relieve me of the bondage of self! If you practice this you will be adding to someones life and helping to support a very worthy cause. I would also encourage all of you to share this widely so that we can help Ricky's friend. Don't forget to include the link.

FIGHT BREAST CANCER .

Proceeds from your rentals will go to help cast member, Ricky Russert's childhood friend Megan Baker Sisemore who is currently fighting breast cancer.

"Our dear friend Megan, a 31 yr old loving wife and mother of 2 beautiful girls, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer in June 2015. With her family, friends and support team around her, she is determined to beat this! In July, Megan underwent a double mastectomy. Shortly after her surgery Megan started undergoing chemo treatments, finishing her final round at the end of September! Next, Megan will undergo 33 rounds of radiation, a full hysterectomy and reconstruction surgery. It’s a long road for Megan but she is determined to “Fight like a girl” and beat this cancer and come out stronger than ever!"

 -Megan's Family ‪#‎Fightlikeagirl‬

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SLLiP the Movie (Please watch as this is for a greats Cause)

 5
November


Hi Guys,

I normally don't do this but I feel that this is exceptional circumstances.

I was recently asked to review a short film by actor Ricky Russert, who will be best know as the actor who plays Tommy Littlestone on Cinemax's Banshee. The film, written and produced by Ricky himself, is in my humble opinion a real feather in his cap. Ricky also performs the starring role, brilliantly I might add. This is a powerful film about addiction to prescribed medication. Something I'm sure, a lot of our followers might have some experience of. The film 'SLLiP' (Pills spelled backwards) is a heartfelt, yet disturbing, look into the life of Cam, ,a hard working, blue collar, family man who succumbs to addiction when he is prescribed pain killers after an accident at work. This powerful story is beautifully filmed, acted and produced. It is based on true events around Ricky's own family and a must watch.  The film is short 25 mins long but both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.


The film was also recently selected to be a part of the REEL Recovery Film Festival. With a full house audience in NYC it was highly received by filmmakers ​and​, more importantly​, ​recovering addicts who have lived this story themselves.

You can view Ricky's beautifully crafted piece here. I must say I would highly recommend it. N.B. There is a nominal fee to watch and all proceeds are being donated to a great cause.


Relieve me of the bondage of self! If you practice this you will be adding to someones life and helping to support a very worthy cause. I would also encourage all of you to share this widely so that we can help Ricky's friend. Don't forget to include the link.

FIGHT BREAST CANCER .

Proceeds from your rentals will go to help cast member, Ricky Russert's childhood friend Megan Baker Sisemore who is currently fighting breast cancer.

"Our dear friend Megan, a 31 yr old loving wife and mother of 2 beautiful girls, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer in June 2015. With her family, friends and support team around her, she is determined to beat this! In July, Megan underwent a double mastectomy. Shortly after her surgery Megan started undergoing chemo treatments, finishing her final round at the end of September! Next, Megan will undergo 33 rounds of radiation, a full hysterectomy and reconstruction surgery. It’s a long road for Megan but she is determined to “Fight like a girl” and beat this cancer and come out stronger than ever!"

 -Megan's Family ‪#‎Fightlikeagirl‬

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Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

What happens To Your Brain If You take Drugs #essentialsofrec #addiction #Drugs

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Jose P. - NA Speaker - VERY moving share! #essentialsofrecovery.com #Recovery #NA #Addiction #Hope #Speakers

Powerful and moving talk from one of the best NA speakers I have heard. Jose tells an all too familiar story of how his addiction plummeted him in to the darkest depths of suffering. In a surprising and emotional twist, he shares what brought him to recovery and the amazing things that have happened since he has gotten clean.