Narcotics Anonymous Hawaii

Just for Today - September 23, 2025

Dealing with gossip

"In accordance with the principles of recovery, we try not to judge, stereotype, or moralize with each other." - Basic Text, p. 11

Let's face it: In Narcotics Anonymous, we live in a glass house of sorts. Our fellow members know more about our personal lives than anyone has ever known before. They know who we spend our time with, where we work, what step we're on, how many children we have, and so forth. And what our fellow members don't know, they will probably imagine.

We may be unhappy when others gossip about us. But if we withdraw from the fellowship and isolate ourselves to avoid gossip, we also rob ourselves of the love, friendship, and unparalleled experience with recovery that our fellow members have to offer. A better way to deal with gossip is to simply accept the way things are and the way we are, and live our lives according to principles. The more secure we become with our personal program, the decisions we make, and the guidance we receive from a loving God, the less the opinions of others will concern us.
Just for Today: I am committed to being involved in the NA Fellowship. The opinions of others will not affect my commitment to recovery.

The Twelfth Step - It Works: How and Why

Consciously asking the God of our understanding to help us in Step Seven was an important development in the awakening of our spirit. That request was tangible evidence of how much we had changed spiritually. This was the point where many of us began to sense the enormous difference that our Higher Power could make in our lives. Because we had asked for and been granted some freedom from having to act on our shortcomings, we finally began to grasp what the miracle of recovery offers us.

Carried along by the promise of continued freedom in our lives, we proceeded, in Step Eight, to make ourselves aware of what we had done to others in our active addiction. Again, we saw how the spiritual preparation of the previous steps made it possible for us to withstand the pain and remorse of listing the people we had harmed. Our willingness to make amends to them all brought us further away from the grip of self-obsession. Our search for recovery was no longer focused on what we could get out of it for ourselves. We saw beyond the confines of our own lives, and our efforts in recovery began to be more generous. We developed the ability to feel empathy for others.

Excerpt From
It Works: How and Why
Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous
This material may be protected by copyright.Excerpt From