17 November

As addicts, we used over feelings, yours and mine. We used not to feel certain feelings, and we also used to feel other feelings.

We got loaded to change what we were feeling at the moment. Drugs helped us bury our feelings. Little did we realize that when we buried our feelings we buried them alive.

Drugs that were once our solution, are now part of the problem. The good news in Narcotics Anonymous is once we stop using drugs, we get our feelings back. The bad news is that when we stop using drugs, we get our feelings back. In our Recovery we learn that feelings are not facts, but it's a fact that we have feelings.

The Steps help us sort these feelings, separating the real from the imagined. We learn that feelings are just signals that are trying to tell our Body, Mind and Spirit something. Our Literature tells us that the Steps are not designed to numb us like the drugs did.

Through working and Living the Steps we find out what these feelings are trying to tell us. The Steps make us Aware of the things we have to address. When our feelings stop overwhelming us, we can learn to be part of the Solution.

We Empathize with others as we learn from our feelings. Today we sometimes just feel our feelings; we will not label them neither good nor bad. Today working a Living Program we Understand what our feelings are showing us.

We then can take the action to work on the Solution.

In This Moment: We realize that for the most part, our thinking and feelings define our disease. It's our Positive Actions, and the Practice of Spiritual Principles, is what defines our Recovery.