New Creation Alumni

2 1/2 years sober. Thank you New Creation/His House. It took me about a decade but my 90 days in Reche Canyon launched a new life for me. I have a recovery magazine (check it out... Step 12 magazine a.k.a. The 12 Step Gazette -CA) and the promises are coming true in my life. Gratitude every day! Every moment. We can do together what we can't do alone... Spiritually connected and living free!

Practice an attitude of gratitude!

Hello all! We need to all start being active on this page! make some posts, discuss get togethers and events, share about our day, experience, strengths and hopes!

February 11 A curse into a blessing We have become very grateful in the course of our recovery.... We have a disease, but we do recover.... Basic Text, p. 8 = Active addiction was no picnic; many of us barely came out of it alive. But ranting against the disease, lamenting what it has done to us, pitying ourselves for the condition it has left us inthese things can only keep us locked in the spirit of bitterness and resentment. The path to freedom and spiritual growth begins where bitterness ends, with acceptance. There is no denying the suffering brought by addiction. Yet it was this disease that brought us to Narcotics Anonymous; without it, we would neither have sought nor found the blessing of recovery. In isolating us, it forced us to seek fellowship. In causing us to suffer, it gave us the experience needed to help others, help no one else was so uniquely suited to offer. In forcing us to our knees, addiction gave us the opportunity to surrender to the care of a loving Higher Power. We would not wish the disease of addiction on anyone. But the fact remains that we addicts already have this diseaseand further, that without this disease we may never have embarked on our spiritual journey. Thousands of people search their whole lives for what we have found in Narcotics Anonymous: fellowship, a sense of purpose, and conscious contact with a Higher Power. Today, we are grateful for everything that has brought us this blessing. = Just for today: I will accept the fact of my disease, and pursue the blessing of my recovery.

February 5 Keep coming back! We are grateful that we were made so welcome at meetings that we felt comfortable.... Basic Text, p. 83 = Remember how scared we were when we walked into our first NA meeting? Even if we walked in with a friend, most of us recall how difficult it was to attend that first meeting. What was it that kept us coming back? Most of us have grateful memories of the welcome we were given and how comfortable that made us feel. When we raised our hand as a newcomer, we opened the door for other members to approach us and welcome us. Sometimes the difference between those addicts who walk back out the door of their first meeting, never to return to NA, and the addicts who stay to seek recovery is the simple hug of an NA member. When we have been clean awhile, it’s easy to step back from the procession of newcomersafter all, we’ve seen so many people come and go. But members with some clean time can make the difference between the addict who doesn’t return and the addict who keeps coming back. By offering our phone numbers, a hug, or just a warm welcome, we extend the hand of Narcotics Anonymous to the addict who still suffers. = Just for today: I remember the welcome I was given when I first came to NA. Today, I will express my gratitude by offering a hug to a newcomer.

February 03, 2014 We need each other Page 35... "Anyone may join us, regardless of age, race, sexual identity creed, religion, or lack of religion." Basic Text, p. 9 Addiction closed our minds to anything new or different. We didn't need anyone or anything, we thought. There was nothing of value to be found in anyone from a different neighborhood, a different racial or ethnic background, or a different social or economic class. We may have thought that if it was different, it was bad. In recovery, we can't afford such attitudes. We came to NA because our very best thinking had gotten us nowhere. We must open our minds to experience that works, no matter where it comes from, if we hope to grow in our recovery. Regardless of our personal backgrounds, we all have two things in common with one another in NA that we share with no one else: our disease, and our recovery. We depend on one another for our shared experience-and the broader that experience, the better. We need every bit of experience, every different angle on our program we can find to meet the many challenges of living clean. Recovery often isn't easy. The strength we need to recover, we draw from our fellow NA members. Today, we are grateful for the diversity of our group's membership, for in that diversity we find our strength. Just for Today: I know that the more diverse my groups experience is, the better able my group will be to offer me support in the different circumstances I find myself facing. Today, I welcome addicts from all backgrounds to my home group.

February 2 Goodwill Goodwill is best exemplified in service; proper service is ‘Doing the right thing for the right reason.’... Basic Text, p. xv = The spiritual core of our disease is self-centeredness. In dealing with others, the only motive our addiction taught us was selfishnesswe wanted what we wanted when we wanted it. Obsession with self was rooted in the very ground of our lives. In recovery, how do we root self-obsession out? We reverse the effects of our disease by applying a few very simple spiritual principles. To counteract the self-centeredness of our addiction, we learn to apply the principle of goodwill. Rather than seeking to serve only ourselves, we begin serving others. Rather than thinking only about what we can get out of a situation, we learn to think first of the welfare of others. When faced with a moral choice, we learn to stop, recall spiritual principles, and act appropriately. As we begin doing the right thing for the right reason, we can detect a change in ourselves. Where once we were ruled by self-will, now we are guided by our goodwill for others. The chronic self-centeredness of addiction is losing its hold on us. We are learning to practice these principles in all our affairs; we are living in our recovery, not in our disease. = Just for today: Wherever I am, whatever I do, I will seek to serve others, not just myself. When faced with a dilemma, I will try to do the right thing for the right reason.

February 1 Hardships We felt different.... Only after surrender are we able to overcome the alienation of addiction.... Basic Text, p. 22 = But you don’t understand! we spluttered, trying to cover up. I’m different! I’ve really got it rough! We used these lines over and over in our active addiction, either trying to escape the consequences of our actions or avoid following the rules that applied to everyone else. We may have cried them at our first meeting. Perhaps we’ve even caught ourselves whining them recently. So many of us feel different or unique. As addicts, we can use almost anything to alienate ourselves. But there’s no excuse for missing out on recovery, nothing that can make us ineligible for the programnot a life-threatening illness, not poverty, not anything. There are thousands of addicts who have found recovery despite the real hardships they’ve faced. Through working the program, their spiritual awareness has grown, in spite ofor perhaps in response tothose hardships. Our individual circumstances and differences are irrelevant when it comes to recovery. By letting go of our uniqueness and surrendering to this simple way of life, we’re bound to find that we feel a part of something. And feeling a part of something gives us the strength to walk through life, hardships and all. = Just for today: I will let go of my uniqueness and embrace the principles of recovery I have in common with so many others. My hardships do not exclude me from recovery; rather, they draw me into it.

We are going to know a new freedom. . . . ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 83 Freedom for me is both freedom from and freedom to. The first freedom I enjoy is freedom from the slavery of alcohol. What a relief! Then I begin to experience freedom from fear fear of people, of economic insecurity, of commitment, of failure, of rejection. Then I begin to enjoy freedom to freedom to choose sobriety for today, freedom to be myself, freedom to express my opinion, to experience peace of ...mind, to love and be loved, and freedom to grow spiritually. But how can I achieve these freedoms? The Big Book clearly says that before I am halfway through making amends, I will begin to know a "new" freedom; not the old freedom of doing what I pleased, without regard to others, but the new freedom that allows fulfillment of the promises in my life. What a joy to be free! See more

We made this today at the women's house!