Narcotics Anonymous is a global, community-based organization with a multi-lingual and multicultural membership. NA was founded in 1953, and our membership growth was minimal during our initial twenty years as an organization. Since the publication of our Basic Text in 1983, the number of members and meetings has increased dramatically.
Today, NA members hold nearly 76,000 meetings weekly in 143 countries. We offer recovery from the effects of addiction through working a twelve-step program, including regular attendance at group meetings. The group atmosphere provides help from peers and offers an ongoing support network for addicts who wish to pursue and maintain a drug-free lifestyle.
Our name, Narcotics Anonymous, is not meant to imply a focus on any particular drug; NA’s approach makes no distinction between drugs including alcohol. Membership is free, and we have no affiliation with any organizations outside of NA including governments, religions, law enforcement groups, or medical and psychiatric facilities. Through all of our service efforts and our cooperation with others seeking to help addicts, we strive to reach a day when every addict in the world has an opportunity to experience our message of recovery in his or her own language and culture.
This site is hosted by the NA Greater New Brunswick Area Service Committee of New Jersey. We serve recovering addicts in this area and those who are visiting this area. If you need meeting information for other areas of New Jersey, visit Narcotics Anonymous of New Jersey. If you are looking for help beyond New Jersey, visit Narcotics Anonymous. If you are someone who is seeking recovering from active addiction in our area, attend our meetings and visit our subcommittee page to see how you can get involved.
If you serve one of our meetings and you have a meeting update, click on “Contact” and complete our form.
Events & Announcements
Learn about upcoming events, group anniversaries, and meeting updates.
Find A Meeting
Find an Narcotics Anonymous meeting in the Greater New Brunswick Area.
Area Service Committee
Our Area Service Committee carries the message of NA recovery in our community.
NA Literature
Access NA pamphlets and purchase literature from NA World Service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn about NA and what you can expect at an NA meeting.
Subcommittees
Learn about our subcommittees and how NA members can get involved.
“What is our message? The message is that an addict, any addict,
Basic Text, page 65
can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.
Our message is hope and the promise of freedom.”
Just For Today Meditation
November 11, 2025 |
From surrender to acceptance |
| Page 329 |
| “We surrender quietly and let the God of our understanding take care of us.“ |
| Basic Text, p. 26 |
| Surrender and acceptance are like infatuation and love. Infatuation begins when we encounter someone special. Infatuation requires nothing but the acknowledgment of the object of our infatuation. For infatuation to become love, however, requires a great deal of effort. That initial connection must be slowly, patiently nurtured into a lasting, durable bond. It’s the same with surrender and acceptance. We surrender when we acknowledge our powerlessness. Slowly, we come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves can give us the care we need. Surrender turns to acceptance when we let this Power into our lives. We examine ourselves and let our God see us as we are. Having allowed the God of our understanding access to the depths of ourselves, we accept more of God’s care. We ask this Power to relieve us of our shortcomings and help us amend the wrongs we’ve done. Then, we embark on a new way of life, improving our conscious contact and accepting our Higher Power’s continuing care, guidance, and strength. Surrender, like infatuation, can be the beginning of a lifelong relationship. To turn surrender into acceptance, however, we must let the God of our understanding take care of us each day. |
| Just for Today: My recovery is more than infatuation. I have surrendered. Today, I will nurture my conscious contact with my Higher Power and accept that Power’s continuing care for me.
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Spiritual Principle A Day
Our willingness to stay clean triggers willingness to improve our lives. In turn, we’re able to look at ourselves with greater clarity and a realness we never imagined possible. Our minds become open to an awareness of our shortcomings and our limitations. We humbly evaluate and acknowledge our assets. Acceptance of where we are right now creates a willingness to move forward. And like everything in recovery–and in life–we won’t experience self-acceptance perfectly. Rather, it’s something we strive for daily.
In recovery, accepting ourselves doesn’t mean we accept our conditions. Instead, we can pursue new goals that better mirror the self we have come to accept. Many of us who find some stability in NA also find the willingness to create new opportunities for ourselves or take ones that are offered to us. We now know that we don’t have to be held back or be victimized by our past. We follow through on a long-held dream, rent our own place for the first time, enroll in or finish college, or start a family.
We also can be led by a deep-seated knowing, or what one member called “divine dissatisfaction.” A motivating, self-affirming voice tells us it’s time to move on from the relationship that we’ve used all the arrows in our quiver to save. It tells us to move on from a job that’s no longer fulfilling us, to move to a new city, to just move our lives in some significant way. We learn to trust our instincts.
Our self-acceptance helps us to be willing to make mistakes–and then be willing to forgive ourselves and learn from them. We find ourselves often being more flexible, knowing that we’ll be okay no matter what, more resilient and responsible, less of a perfectionist. If one endeavor doesn’t work, we’re willing to feel the pain of failure and then seek an alternative strategy to reach our goal.