The message is that an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live. Our message is hope and the promise of freedom.
Who We Are
East Tennessee Ridges of Recovery is a service committee formed to provide NA groups in East Tennessee assistance in carrying our message. This support is provided through many services including public information, published meeting listings, and fellowship events.
The purpose of this site is to be a resource for members as well as anyone else who thinks they may have a problem with drugs. We seek to provide current information regarding recovery meetings, email and telephone contacts where an addict may seek help, service committees, and events in our area. It is also intended to be a source of general information about Narcotics Anonymous for non-members and professionals in our community.
Just for Today
October 15, 2024 |
Choices |
| Page 301 |
| "We did not choose to become addicts." |
| Basic Text, p. 3 |
| When we were growing up, all of us had dreams. Every child has heard a relative or neighbor ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Even if some of us didn't have elaborate dreams of success, most of us dreamed of work, families, and a future of dignity and respect. But no one asked, "Do you want to be a drug addict when you grow up?" We didn't choose to become addicts, and we cannot choose to stop being addicts. We have the disease of addiction. We are not responsible for having it, but we are responsible for our recovery. Having learned that we are sick people and that there is a way of recovery, we can move away from blaming circumstances--or ourselves--and into living the solution. We didn't choose addiction, but we can choose recovery. |
| Just for Today: I choose recovery. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Spiritual Principle a Day
October 15, 2024
Giving Generously, Expecting Nothing
Page 298
"One small act of generosity can work wonders . . ."
It Works, Step Twelve
When we talk about "keeping what we have by giving it away" in NA, many of us are thinking about the way we freely share our experience, strength, and hope. After all, sharing is one of the most obvious ways in which we carry our message. But it isn't the only way. We often don't realize how we affect others simply by showing up and being ourselves.
"I sometimes go to an out-of-town meeting when I'm visiting family," a member wrote. "A woman I didn't recognize celebrated two years clean. She came up to me after the meeting and told me I remembered her name at her first meeting two years ago. She said she felt seen for the first time in a long time, and that's why she kept coming back."
Experiences like this are incredibly common in NA. Most of us still have a memory of a small act of kindness shown to us in our early recovery. We carry that kindness and generosity forward--sometimes without even noticing that we are doing it. Other times, it's very much a purposeful and deliberate choice we make to ensure that newcomers have a chance to feel the love we felt. "I can't tell you how many Basic Texts I have bought in all the years I've been clean. And I still have just a single copy."
Giving of ourselves in acts of empathy is what we do in NA. We carry the message when we share in meetings, and we carry the message by being who we are in all that we do as members of NA. Whether it's holding the door open for someone coming into a meeting for the first time, holding a friend's hand as they share about a difficulty they are going through, or holding space for others to hear the message in their own time--our generosity can work wonders.
Part of recovery is giving generously and expecting nothing in return. I will give freely today, knowing I might not see the reach of my generosity.
Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved