"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. "
I went to a narcotics anonymous meeting yesterday.
I think part of the love tour is learning empathy for what others go through and being able to start to understand what people go through on their road to recovery is essential to my job at the seed and to my life as a person who loves other people.
It was really intense though for a number of reasons and pretty much the whole time I sat there feeling like I was going to puke, and I like chewed my coffee cup to bits...but alas.
When I sat down a lady asked me if I go to this group often and I responded with "this is my first time" I didn't want to try and draw some sort of line in the sand and say "Ive never used drugs" because this is a safe place with no judgements and I didn't want her to think that I thought I was different or better then her, and she was so lovely! telling me "you are courageous for coming here! we love new people!"
I watched this amazing video this week on vulnerability and life and relationship and it was talking about how "whole hearted people" have 3 things in common, courage to accept who they are and to tell their stories regardless of the pain/success, compassion for themselves because they know you cant be kind to others without being kind to yourself first and believing they are worthy of connection with other people.
The essence of that is what I felt and the NA meeting and processing it now I really think that was a incredibly beautiful experience regardless of the anxiety I felt.
One of the things they value there is the anonymity of the program and I hope by sharing things here I'm not breaking that because I do so respect these people and have gratitude that I was able to see a part of their lives.
One man's sharing really struck me because he said something like "I had just accepted that I was going to be a homeless addict"
It made me wonder how many people I come into contact at the shelter who feel that way. and it also made me think how much more important it is to just pour out love to everyone everywhere I go.
I adore the self aware-ness of recovering addicts and how they fight vigorously to give everything over to God (as they understand Him)...something I strive for.
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Part of what makes NA work is the SHARED vulnerability. I feel that it is not ethical for you to attend to observe when you don't share the path.
ReplyDeleteNA is clearly open to anyone, when i was there i was not the only person who had not used drugs and people even brought there kids. "Observe" is the wrong word...I was there to be a part of the meeting(regardless if i said something or not not everyone speaks during the meeting) and I gained wonderful things from it. The support that I showed to the person who INVITED (i stress that word because i did not demand to go) me and the people who know that i was there to understand them is something encouraging, i now also have an experiance i can share with the addicts i come in to contact with on a daily basis...you are allowed to think its un-ethical but i dont...
ReplyDeleteIt does make me feel better that you were invited. I understand what you could gain from the meeting, I am just sensitive about people observing but not sharing, whether they are addicts or not. It is hard to be that vulnerable but the results are worth it.
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