What have I heard in recovery that I have trouble believing?
Have I asked my sponsor, or the person I heard say it, to explain it to me?
04/16/10 3:07 PM
Besides the random bullshit coming from individual people’s mouths I’m pretty much open-minded to NA concepts. As noted in one of the previous questions, I truly don’t believe that complete surrender is necessary.
I’ll think on this more and see if I can come up with anything else.
04/19 10 9:17 PM
‘Just for today I will be unafraid, my thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear.’
I’m not too fond of the part that is in bold. It seems close-minded and exclusionary. My thoughts will not be restricted to people who have found recovery through NA. I give a fuck about most people, whether they are using, are clean, never had a drug problem, it just doesn’t matter. NA is not some elite club.
I’m also not a fan of the word ‘God’ being capitalized in our literature. I actually don’t think that word belongs in our literature at all. ‘Higher Power’ is more all-inclusive.
I also do not believe that there should be a gender associated to this Higher Power. Our literature refers to a higher power as a ‘He’ and, once again the ‘H’ is capitalized. This is too precise and limiting for my tastes.
04/20/10 9:32 AM
I just remembered a 'what the fuck is that all about?' moment. There is a NA group in the area called 'Work the Steps or Die'. I REALLY hope that they didn't get that name from the literature.
That phrase is an inaccurate scare tactic. There ARE clean addicts in the world that don't work Steps and are doing quite well in their own skin. Saying things like that reminds me of religious scare tactics utilized to maintain members whether they wish to continue being members or not
04/20/10 3:57 PM
There is a term floating around that I don’t understand. People who have worked all 12 Steps refer to themselves as ’12 Step Members’. Ummmmm... sounds like an elite club to me. I haven’t sen that term in the literature and when I hear someone refer to themselves as a ’12 Step Member’ I immediately think ‘Fuck you’. We are ALL 12 Step Members if we are working Steps. Why can’t these people simply say ‘I have worked all 12 Steps’?
It just sounds like an exclusive club and it doesn’t represent humility or unity in any way.
04/24/10 11:15 PM
‘Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results’
Basic Text Page 23
‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.‘
Albert Einstein
I was disappointed to see that this has been plagiarized from Albert Einstein. No credit was given to him. I think its a shitty thing to do. He is an excellent person to get ideas from but he needs to be credited. It shouldn’t be presented as original Narcotics Anonymous terminology.
Have I asked my sponsor, or the person I heard say it, to explain it to me?
04/16/10 3:07 PM
Besides the random bullshit coming from individual people’s mouths I’m pretty much open-minded to NA concepts. As noted in one of the previous questions, I truly don’t believe that complete surrender is necessary.
I’ll think on this more and see if I can come up with anything else.
04/19 10 9:17 PM
‘Just for today I will be unafraid, my thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear.’
I’m not too fond of the part that is in bold. It seems close-minded and exclusionary. My thoughts will not be restricted to people who have found recovery through NA. I give a fuck about most people, whether they are using, are clean, never had a drug problem, it just doesn’t matter. NA is not some elite club.
I’m also not a fan of the word ‘God’ being capitalized in our literature. I actually don’t think that word belongs in our literature at all. ‘Higher Power’ is more all-inclusive.
I also do not believe that there should be a gender associated to this Higher Power. Our literature refers to a higher power as a ‘He’ and, once again the ‘H’ is capitalized. This is too precise and limiting for my tastes.
04/20/10 9:32 AM
I just remembered a 'what the fuck is that all about?' moment. There is a NA group in the area called 'Work the Steps or Die'. I REALLY hope that they didn't get that name from the literature.
That phrase is an inaccurate scare tactic. There ARE clean addicts in the world that don't work Steps and are doing quite well in their own skin. Saying things like that reminds me of religious scare tactics utilized to maintain members whether they wish to continue being members or not
04/20/10 3:57 PM
There is a term floating around that I don’t understand. People who have worked all 12 Steps refer to themselves as ’12 Step Members’. Ummmmm... sounds like an elite club to me. I haven’t sen that term in the literature and when I hear someone refer to themselves as a ’12 Step Member’ I immediately think ‘Fuck you’. We are ALL 12 Step Members if we are working Steps. Why can’t these people simply say ‘I have worked all 12 Steps’?
It just sounds like an exclusive club and it doesn’t represent humility or unity in any way.
04/24/10 11:15 PM
‘Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results’
Basic Text Page 23
‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.‘
Albert Einstein
I was disappointed to see that this has been plagiarized from Albert Einstein. No credit was given to him. I think its a shitty thing to do. He is an excellent person to get ideas from but he needs to be credited. It shouldn’t be presented as original Narcotics Anonymous terminology.