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When It Works: 12 Basics
Twelve Principles of NA
PRINCIPLE TWO - SURRENDER
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spirit well-God will handle the rest.
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Our Middletown, Connecticut NAWOL group is honored to be part of the
process. We have no expectations
other than staying in the process and possibly helping other addicts.
"Surrender
to the things we cannot change through our own power is a way to get on with
our lives. We seek a Higher Power of our own understanding and that
becomes our
ultimate guide and source of strength."
N.A.
Foundation Group - Connecticut 2007
Surrender
is giving up on are our old
way of life and getting some help to start a new one.
We surrender when we admit we can no longer live life on our own.
We surrender when we can no longer make our own decisions and get
positive results. We surrender when
everything in our life seems to be bad. We
surrender when the pain is so great it seems we are dying inside.
We surrender when we have no hope! We
surrender when we have finally reached a place where we are willing to try a new
way of life!
When
we make the decision to surrender, we get relief from the pain of making our own
decisions. Surrender is positive for us because we have hope. Surrendered, we
open opportunities for other addicts to help us with our problems.
Being clean does not solve all of
our problems.
Where
New
members have gotten that
the impression
that just being clean will fix their disease,.
Unfortunately, they end
up using as soon as something does not go their way. We need to carefully
explain to newcomers that our 1st Step means we acknowledge we cannot use
regardless of events or the actions of other people. Surrender is a personal
event. It is the beginning of a personal responsibility. Surrender is the first
step in moving towards total freedom from active addiction.
In
keeping with our NA 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, it becomes obvious that the
recovery process of Narcotics Anonymous won't work without an individual
capacity for surrender. Surrender qualifies as a principle in
it's its own right. Surrendered, recovering addicts are the most tangible
part of our common welfare. The principle of surrender can guide us when we
don't know what to do. Without surrender to our powerlessness, we are catapulted
back into our disease.
When
we try to participate in NA services without a capacity for spiritual surrender,
we find it impossible to make or maintain conscious contact with our Higher
Power. Without our Higher Power to strengthen and guide us, we set about trying
to do service as if it were a business. We
can�t buy our freedom in Narcotics Anonymous, we have to work for it.
Working the twelve steps of Narcotics Anonymous is the best decision a
surrendered addict can make. Trying
to buy recovery like it was retail merchandise would be like trying to buy a
girlfriends love through spending money on an expensive gift.
NA members build this program, service its needs,
and give direction to world services. Service is simple with the help of a
loving God. Otherwise, we quickly find ourselves lost in a sea of paperwork,
reports, and
personalities. Responsibility to other services
bodies can interfere with the direct responsibility we all have to our group.
Without this
a sense of
responsibility to directly inform, respect, and listen to
what our members want, service degenerates into a personal rivalry.
We
find ourselves on opposite sides of imaginary boundaries, cut off from those who
have helped us, unable to ask for help,
and clinging to the struggle to be right. NA is a practical program of working
principles. Our addiction can build traps for us, even in recovery. One great
old timer remarked, "There are three things an addict needs to live: food,
shelter, and
someone to blame it on." This is why the spiritual principle of surrender
is needed to help motivate us to live in the solution instead of the problem.
The problem is our way of life and the solution is the Narcotics
Anonymous way of life. Living the
Narcotics Anonymous way of life means working the Ttwelve
Steps. Surrendered, we are able to work the Steps with the help of a
sponsor who can guide us through the journey of recovery.
Trying
to do service as part of our Twelfth Step without spiritual assistance, we
become miserable, confused, unhappy,
and resentful. All the beauty and freshness of recovery fades and service
opportunities become a series of chores. Surrender allows us to look at the
bright side at any given point. The principles that gave us power to escape from
our addiction slide neatly into place and things begin to make sense again.
Our
desperation fades and we begin to gain hope that a better way of life is
possible. Our sense of attachment to obsessive ideas and our personal
preferences are once again mixed in with the ideas and preferences of others.
The sense of win or lose is replaced with a continuum
new of thoughts,
feelings, and
interactions
with others. We are never alone. As our fear decreases, our sense of purpose and
the ability to laugh at ourselves returns. We begin to gain a sense of faith in
our lives. Through working the
first three Steps, we begin to put trust in our higher powers will four us and
its ability to solve our problems. Serving
Narcotics Anonymous is one way to work God�s will.
Those
unable
to carry their recovery into their
service can be hard workers, brilliant tacticians,
and convincing speakers. Oftentimes, their efforts have provided benefits to our
Fellowship that we have accepted graciously. We know as no one else can how the
disease of addiction can drive addicts. When
we surrender to God�s will, we use the energy of our disease for a positive
purpose; to help the still sick and
suffering addict through service work.
We
need only to be loving, kind, and gentle in the face of those who cannot
surrender their self will.
We may have to be especially firm about maintaining correct policies and
procedures. Those who have yet to surrender in the sense of this Principle do
not yet believe God can restore them to sanity and will try to get better
results by applying money, willpower, and manipulations into their recovery.
Rewriting
guidelines should only be done when there are serious problems with the existing
guidelines. Otherwise, it is prudent to follow the guides for several reasons.
One is to let people know your service is self-less and you are surrendered
enough to follow the guides. Casual rewriting of guidelines is a symptom of a
committee without faith. Major rewrites indicate either an inability to study or
the presumption that prior committees failed to embed working principles that
both get the job done and adhere to our spiritual nature. All our major
achievements in NA have been the result of courage, faith, and a willingness to
work with others for the common good. Our periods characterized by excessive
preoccupation with guidelines have been infertile and indicate an unclear sense
of purpose. Concern is focused not so much on what we can do to help addicts but
how we go about it. This brings personal preferences into sharper focus than the
object of our service which is solely to help others. The resulting conflicts
have deadened the service initiative and little help gets through to those we
serve.
Surrender
allows us to focus on the positive instead of the negative.
Guidelines can only point the way for an inspired service body to do
something for the benefit of others. Guidelines can never take the place of
people. Changes have to be made in a structurally correct manner if they are to
be successful in `guiding' us. Otherwise, they are seen as attempts to make
rules for others rather than offer assistance charted from successful personal
experience. Service committees cannot function without knowledge of what their
contributions will mean and how they will fit into NA as a whole.
No
sensible person can work in a situation where the rules are changed without
consultation. There are too many ways to serve in NA for our members to waste
precious time trying to serve on a committee that cannot maintain internal order
and adherence to the principle of direct responsibility to the Fellowship.
Layering is a term to describe committee systems that become cut loose from
their roots in the Fellowship. thought
and feeling.
They float and attempt to
perpetuate one another through responding to one another more than to the
Fellowship. This same thing plagues other organizations of any description.
Surrender allows us to be open minded enough to see the other side of any given
situation.
We
should never allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking good guidelines will
replace good people and principled actions. In Twelve Step service, we surrender
to the Fellowship's will as we surrender to the God of our understanding in
recovery. We have in our early years seen what happens when members proceed on
faith and function within their guidelines. Even against great odds, they
succeeded. Those who tried to introduce policies and procedures through trickery
have consistently failed to please this Fellowship. There always comes a time
when the `cat gets out of the bag.' Committees that have become obsessed with
changing their guides have found, or at least shown others, that the real work
of the Fellowship languished undone. Without faulting others or casting blame,
we NA's finally saw the truth of the matter: That we are miracles and so are our
service efforts. In the world of miracles, there is little need for ego and much
need for God. For those who have experienced this realization, surrender has
become a key principle in their service. Service is based on our Twelfth Step
awakening. When we get a high percentage of people new to recovery, we will be
inconvenienced for a while. This is not a good time to vote on major changes of
policy. The most important policy
is to come to help the still sick and suffering addict. The best way to do this is to serve the group while
simultaneously working the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous.
This allows the
addict to focus more on the solution and less on the problem.
As
soon as the rush for political support and competition for key service positions
wears off, we have noticed that the secrets become known. Perhaps members knew
all along that their voices were being drowned out. Their
body language tells us that they feel defeated.
This is when the clean up process begins. Members who have the deep love
and dedication will be on hand to help. We pick up the pieces and help members
bond into a great and loving Fellowship. Surrender as a principle allows us to
go on and do our part. Whatever the service season happens to be, we get all the
help we need from a loving God.
We
can see clearly that the need to manage and control stems from a fear of losing
control. We have seen members get hurt when changes took place too quickly. By
working to keep members informed of all sides of a subject, they can be asked to
express their will without
the
strain and tension or rushing things. Active listening and clearly
formulated efforts to take the fears and concerns of others seriously in a
prayerful manner allows us to give assistance when asked. We can
serve in a
loving
this manner.
because the still sick and suffering addict gets more help when
they feel the addict trying to help them is sincere.
Those
who attempt to govern us deserve our patience and understanding but not our
tolerance. If we tolerate improper acts, we become participants in those acts.
We have not come through our entire painful struggle to behave as if we lacked
good sense. Even if it is uncomfortable and there seems to be no one else to
speak out, take up for your principles and state your views clearly. You may be
the one God chooses to use as an instrument that day. If necessary, write out
your feelings and request time to read them to the group. Once you've been
recognized and had your say with each person who might need to hear it, let go
of it and tend to your recovery. Surrender allows us to do what we can do and
frees us from trying to do what we cannot.
When
we see others in pain that are maintaining their composure and struggling to use
spiritual principles instead of reverting to their old ways, it gives us
courage. Degeneration sets in as soon as we stop telling the truth and doing the
things we need to do to maintain our spiritual way of living. For many of us,
pain has become all too familiar and we have to adapt a "happiness
habit" to overcome our tendency to be morose and downcast. Surrender gives
us the ability to remain open minded to the positive in each experience.
Wherever
we need peace, it can come almost instantly if we can apply acceptance. Peace is
a state where we remain totally free to do what we can. We don�t have to
bother with concerns and issues that are in fact beyond our ability. We hope
that we'll be ready when things get better. It takes a lot of energy to
perpetuate a lie but truth perpetuates itself.
[August 16, 2008]
persons have visited this site since January 3, 2008
Reprinted from the
N.A. FELLOWSHIP USE ONLY
Copyright � December 1998
Victor Hugo Sewell, Jr.
NA Foundation Group
6685 Bobby John Road Atlanta, GA 30349 USA
404.312.5166
[email protected]
All rights reserved. This draft may be copied by members of Narcotics Anonymous for the purpose of writing input for future drafts, enhancing the recovery of NA members and for the general welfare of the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship as a whole. The use of an individual name is simply a registration requirement of the Library of Congress and not a departure from the spirit or letter of the Pledge, Preface or Introduction of this book. Any reproduction by individuals or organizations outside the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is prohibited. Any reproduction of this document for personal or corporate monetary gain is prohibited.