Lamar Against All Odds Group of Narcotics Anonymous

Lamar Against All Odds Group of Narcotics Anonymous Lamar Against All Odds Narcotics Anonymous is a fellowship for whom drugs had become a major problem.

Against All Odds Narcotics Anonymous is an NA group that meets regularly in Lamar, Colorado to help men and women for whom drugs have become a major problem.

08/16/2024

A SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE A DAY

August 16, 2024
Our Commitment to Encouragement
Page 236

"As a group, it's our job to be tolerant, listen well, hear the message through the mess, and encourage newer members to grow."

Guiding Principles, Tradition Ten, "For Groups"

Practicing encouragement, especially with newer members, is a job not to be taken lightly. Encouragement breeds hope, which leads to a willingness to change, which leads to courageous action, which leads to growth that can be miraculous to witness. When we consider the importance of encouragement, we realize policing the message, or the messenger, is likely not helpful. We all hope to be met with empathy and encouragement, not an explanation about outside issues. We can overlook when a newcomer misspeaks. When we're tempted to correct the way someone shared, maybe we offer a hug instead and our phone number.

The share that hits the marks of solution oriented, message carrying, and utterly authentic--all before the timer goes off--may not happen every day. And is that even our goal? Many of us believe sharing honestly is the solution--and actively listening for the message reflects our empathy and encourages others to speak honestly. We can validate each other--and also model how to connect the dots between what's happening in our individual lives and the process of recovery we all share. When we provide each other with support and encouragement, we're more inspired to be part of each other's growth.

Encouragement is living by example, as much as it is the words we utter. Rather than critique a group member's way of handling a problem, we share our experience with a similar situation. Through it all, we witness each other's courage to endure some unimaginable conflict and strife and stay clean through it. "NA members' encouragement has provided the nudge I needed to take one more step forward," a member recounted. "I was told not to quit before the miracle. My suggestion is to not quit during or after either!"

——— ——— ——— ——— ———

We've all shared a "mess" at some point. Heck, we've all BEEN a mess! But the encouragement I received gave me the courage to learn and grow. I'm committed to doing that for others today.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/16/2024

JUST FOR TODAY

August 16, 2024
Up or down
Page 238

"This is our road to spiritual growth. We change every day...This growth is not the result of wishing but of action and prayer."

Basic Text, p. 37

Our spiritual condition is never static; if it's not growing, it's decaying. If we stand still, our spiritual progress will lose its upward momentum. Gradually, our growth will slow, then halt, then reverse itself. Our tolerance will wear thin; our willingness to serve others will wane; our minds will narrow and close. Before long, we'll be right back where we started: in conflict with everyone and everything around us, unable to bear even ourselves.

Our only option is to actively participate in our program of spiritual growth. We pray, seeking knowledge greater than our own from a Power greater than ourselves. We open our minds and keep them open, becoming teachable and taking advantage of what others have to share with us. We demonstrate our willingness to try new ideas and new ways of doing things, experiencing life in a whole new way. Our spiritual progress picks up speed and momentum, driven by the Higher Power we are coming to understand better each day.

Up or down--it's one or the other, with very little in between, where spiritual growth is concerned. Recovery is not fueled by wishing and dreaming, we've discovered, but by prayer and action.

Just for Today: The only constant in my spiritual condition is change. I cannot rely on yesterday's program. Today, I seek new spiritual growth through prayer and action.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/16/2024

Meeting tonight at 7 for recovery and fellowship. Join us at 404 S 9th Street in Lamar. See you there 😊 🤗

08/09/2024

A SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE A DAY

August 09, 2024
Practicing Tolerance and Self-Acceptance
Page 229

"As we learn to gently accept ourselves, we can start to view others with the same accepting and tolerant heart."

Just for Today, "Expectations," July 29

Working an NA program uncovers a considerable need for self-acceptance, and slowly we proceed on that journey. Our work also reveals that the people who get under our skin the most are among our greatest teachers. Just like us, they deserve our acceptance and empathy. There's a reciprocal relationship between self-acceptance and tolerating others who bug us. We learn this from the harsh truth that we often share some very similar traits with those very same people. As we extend grace and dignity to other flawed people in our lives, we often find it easier to treat our less-than-perfect selves with the same compassion.

But then how is tolerance a spiritual principle? Shouldn't we just be unconditionally loving and accepting of everyone? "Earlier in my recovery," a member remarked, "I rejected tolerance as a spiritual principle because when I practiced it toward the person who was driving me nuts, there was nothing spiritual going on in my head. I wanted to go right to acceptance . . . or scratch their eyes out. But now I see it as an act of love."

"Tolerance, in my mind," another member responded, "is like a gateway spiritual principle. It's a layover on a multistop flight on the way to your final destination: acceptance."

"Or it's an appetizer principle," a third member joked. "You have it first, to tide you over before the empathy entree. And maybe unconditional love is dessert."

No matter how we slice it, tolerance helps us combat unrealistic expectations we place on others' behavior and our own spiritual condition. Whether we practice it with an open heart or through gritted teeth, it helps prevent us from acting out in fear or anger or expressing our impatience with others who may not be as far along in their journey as we believe we are.

——— ——— ——— ——— ———

Today when I practice tolerance, I'll know that it relates directly to my level of self-acceptance. I'll try to let people be where they are and focus on what I can change about myself to invite serenity in.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/09/2024

JUST FOR TODAY

August 09, 2024
The Power of love
Page 231

"We begin to see that God's love has been present all the time, just waiting for us to accept it."

Basic Text, p. 47

God's love is the transforming power that drives our recovery. With that love, we find freedom from the hopeless, desperate cycle of using, self-hatred, and more using. With that love, we gain a sense of reason and purpose in our once purposeless lives. With that love, we are given the inner direction and strength we need to begin a new way of life: the NA way. With that love, we begin to see things differently, as if with new eyes.

As we examine our lives through the eyes of love, we make what may be a startling discovery: The loving God we've so recently come to understand has always been with us and has always loved us. We recall the times when we asked for the aid of a Higher Power and were given it. We even recall times when we didn't ask for such help, yet were given it anyway. We realize that a loving Higher Power has cared for us all along, preserving our lives till the day when we could accept that love for ourselves.

The Power of love has been with us all along. Today, we are grateful to have survived long enough to become consciously aware of that love's presence in our world and our lives. Its vitality floods our very being, guiding our recovery and showing us how to live.

Just for Today: I accept the love of a Higher Power in my life. I am conscious of that Power's guidance and strength within me. Today, I claim it for my own.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/09/2024

Meeting tonight at 7 for fellowship and recovery support. Join us at 404 S 9th Street in Lamar. See you there 😊 🤗

For anyone that may be interested. This is not our group specifically. It is Narcotics Anonymous. A great experience f...
08/08/2024

For anyone that may be interested. This is not our group specifically. It is Narcotics Anonymous. A great experience for fellowship and recovery support.

08/05/2024

A SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE A DAY

August 05, 2024
Finding Purpose in One Another
Page 225

"Helping others is perhaps the highest aspiration of the human heart and something we have been entrusted with as a result of a Higher Power working in our lives."

It Works, Step Twelve

Many of us wanted to help others before getting clean, but once we started using, doing so became difficult. One member described it this way: "My heart aspired to help people, but my brain never got the memo!" At some point in early recovery, many of us have the experience of sharing and then seeing another member relate. Maybe they nod in agreement, or they shake their head in shared amusement or disgust at the insidiousness and insanity of our disease. Maybe they vocalize--"That's right!"--or shed a tear. However they do it, they let us know that they know that we know--we share in the knowledge of the disease, and we share our experience with recovery, too.

This is how we get clean and stay clean--the therapeutic value of one addict helping another. We share experience, strength, and hope; we share tea and coffee; we share the joy of staying clean and the pain of losing fellow addicts. We do it together. At many points along the way, we are reminded of our purpose for being here and being together. Maybe it's when a nonmember asks, "Why do you still go to those meetings?" We might even wonder, Yeah, why do I? Then we remember--we are uniquely qualified to help other addicts, and helping addicts gives us purpose and keeps us clean.

When we go through something clean--an unintended pregnancy, parents with dementia, falling in or out of love--we are rarely the first ones in the room to do so. We share what we're going through so others can help us. Then we share what we went through so we can help others. Yes, we're each other's eyes and ears; sometimes we are also each other's trailblazers, coaches, older siblings. We have a reason for being here. And that reason is one another.

——— ——— ——— ——— ———

A sense of purpose can fill that void I tried to fill with drugs. I will find purpose by sharing with and helping another addict.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/05/2024

JUST FOR TODAY

August 05, 2024
The shape of our thoughts
Page 227

"By shaping our thoughts with spiritual ideals, we are freed to become who we want to be."

Basic Text, p. 105

Addiction shaped our thoughts in its own way. Whatever their shape may once have been, they became misshapen once our disease took full sway over our lives. Our obsession with drugs and self molded our moods, our actions, and the very shape of our lives.

Each of the spiritual ideals of our program serves to straighten out one or another of the kinks in our thinking that developed in our active addiction. Denial is counteracted by admission, secretiveness by honesty, isolation by fellowship, and despair by faith in a loving Higher Power. The spiritual ideals we find in recovery are restoring the shape of our thoughts and our lives to their natural condition.

And what is that "natural condition"? It is the condition we truly seek for ourselves, a reflection of our highest dreams. How do we know this? Because our thoughts are being shaped in recovery by the spiritual ideals we find in our developing relationship with the God we've come to understand in NA.

No longer does addiction shape our thoughts. Today, our lives are being shaped by our recovery and our Higher Power.

Just for Today: I will allow spiritual ideals to shape my thoughts. In that design, I will find the shape of my own Higher Power.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/05/2024

Meeting tonight at 7 for support in recovery. Join us at 404 S 9th Street in Lamar. See you there 😊 🤗

08/02/2024

A SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE A DAY

August 02, 2024
With Independence Comes Responsibility
Page 222

"Learning to make decisions for ourselves also means accepting responsibility for those decisions."

Living Clean, Chapter 6, "Finding Our Place in the World"

We aren't alone, and we can't recover alone. But our commitment to mutual support doesn't negate our independence or the responsibility that attaining it--and sustaining it--demands. Even with all the apt suggestions we provide each other, our decisions about how we live are our own. And learning to live with those choices is its own beast!

Some members define responsibility as the willingness to accept the consequences of our actions. Even clean, we have to keep learning the lesson that our choices aren't made in a vacuum. They affect those around us. When we find ourselves thinking once again, I'm only hurting myself, it's time for a closer look. We may want to exercise freedom of choice with more awareness and care.

And other members say, "Careful what you pray for--you just might get it." Often when we do get what we want, it's a whole other world of responsibility that is ours to manage. A romantic partnership, getting our kids back, a career, property, a new puppy--all of these are gifts we must care for in order to sustain. "We keep what we have only with vigilance"--and also with commitment, discipline, patience, acceptance, passion, and a lot of love.

Another aspect of taking responsibility for our independence is when, inevitably, we are faced with other people's opinions about a new direction we choose. At times that "I told you so" reaction we get makes us defensively dig ourselves further into a bad choice--or someone else's response spurs us to run from a good one. Blaming others gets us nowhere. Practicing independence requires an honest assessment of our choices in the face of others' reactions. We've also heard members say, "The more I make new mistakes rather than repeating old ones, the more I know I'm making headway in my life."

——— ——— ——— ——— ———

I'm doing the best I can at living fully and owning my independence. I can live with my choices, and, if not, I can make different ones!

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

08/02/2024

JUST FOR TODAY
August 02, 2024
Practicing honesty
Page 224

"When we feel trapped or pressured, it takes great spiritual and emotional strength to be honest."

Basic Text, p. 85

Many of us try to wiggle out of a difficult spot by being dishonest, only to have to humble ourselves later and tell the truth. Some of us twist our stories as a matter of course, even when we could just as easily tell the plain truth. Every time we try to avoid being honest, it backfires on us. Honesty may be uncomfortable, but the trouble we have to endure when we are dishonest is usually far worse than the discomfort of telling the truth.

Honesty is one of the fundamental principles of recovery. We apply this principle right from the beginning of our recovery when we finally admit our powerlessness and unmanageability. We continue to apply the principle of honesty each time we are faced with the option of either living in fantasy or living life on its own terms. Learning to be honest isn't always easy, especially after the covering up and deception so many of us practiced in our addiction. Our voices may shake as we test our newfound honesty. But before long, the sound of the truth coming from our own mouths settles any doubts: Honesty feels good! It's easier living the truth than living a lie.

Just for Today: Today I will honestly embrace life, with all its pressures and demands. I will practice honesty, even when it is awkward to do so. Honesty will help, not hurt, my efforts to live clean and recover.

Copyright (c) 2007-2023, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Address

404 South 9th Street
Lamar, CO
81052

Opening Hours

7pm - 8pm

Telephone

+17194700858

Website

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