Welcome to the Burlington County Area of Narcotics Anonymous
“The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using”…Tradition 3
DRUG PROBLEM? CALL OUR HELPLINE: 1-800-992-0401
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The NA White Booklet
If you are new to Narcotics Anonymous, we recommend the Narcotics Anonymous White Booklet, also known as “The Little White Book” and as NA’s first piece of Literature. It’s a great introduction to the program to get you started! Click on the image to download the booklet. You can also explore one of the other informational pamphlets found on the Literature page of this website..
What is NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS?
~ Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text, page 9.
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Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with over 58,000 weekly meetings in over 131 countries worldwide
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Recovery from addiction is possible and available through the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous.
Just For Today
Many of us have always felt different from other people. We know we're not unique in feeling that way; we hear many addicts share the same thing. We searched all our lives for something to make us all right, to fix that "different" place inside us, to make us whole and acceptable. Drugs seemed to fill that need.
When we were high, at least we no longer felt the emptiness or the need. There was one drawback: The drugs, which were our solution, quickly became our problem.
Once we gave up the drugs, the sense of emptiness returned. At first we felt despair because we didn't have any solution of our own to that miserable longing. But we were willing to take direction and began to work the steps. As we did, we found what we'd been looking for, that "something different." Today, we believe that our lifelong yearning was primarily for knowledge of a Higher Power; the "something different" we needed was a relationship with a loving God. The steps tell us how to begin that relationship.
Spiritual Principle a Day
Among the first things many of us notice about NA is how recovering addicts get very real with each other when sharing in meetings. Sincerity is sometimes mistaken for weakness, especially among using addicts. Showing up to recovery meetings for the first time and seeing people willingly exposing vulnerabilities the way we do can be both shocking and refreshing. We start to listen and to open up.
Being present and showing up wholeheartedly would mean a 180-degree change from our old approach. We were accustomed to wearing masks, deflecting attention, or adapting to whatever was happening around us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we played along. Not making any waves was key to our survival before we got clean.
Early in recovery, we may find ourselves listening to others and then trying to match how they share. Not wanting to call attention to ourselves, we might string together slogans or pretend to be something we're not. One addict wrote, "I would tailor my shares to try to appeal to the listeners, and the harder I tried to make people relate, the phonier I felt (and sounded). When I just tell my own story my own way, people seem to connect so much more."
Something within us shifts as we do the work of staying clean. We prioritize honesty and authenticity over ease, empathy over shallow connection, from-the-heart sincerity over fitting in. When we share, we allow ourselves and each other the dignity of our own understanding and experience. We each take on the responsibility of expressing what's going on with us. It's harder to talk the talk when we don't walk the walk. We share what we've found, what we think, and where our uncertainties lie. The truer we are in what we share with others, the better the odds that they will be able to relate.