21⁄2 packs per day. For a long time I had smok-ing consequences, especially a foul taste in mymouth and a cigarette cough. I was beginningto have a constant burning painful sensation inthe middle of my chest from the constant irri-tation of this noxious inhalant.

No one in his or her right mind would choosethis kind of habitual behavior. An addict of anykind including a nicotine addict is not in soundmind. We are subject to many kinds of delusions

and denial that serve to keep us imprisonedby this Demon.

I made several abortiveattempts to quit. One

time I actually quitfor about a monthand this trickymind of mine con-vinced me that I

probably could smokecigars, that they—according to the

misinformation thatwas being disseminated—were not as bad.This is absolutely not true especially for acigarette smoker. A cigarette smoker wouldprobably inhale arsenic fumes if he didn’tknow they would kill him right away.

Eventually on my fifth or sixth try tostop smoking, after I had thoroughly

prepared myself with a longperiod of meditation,

enlisted the support of otherswho had successfully stopped smoking, usedmedication (nicotine gum), having the resolveand sheer determination that I was going to be

We have to decide what is important to usin this life and what to do about it!

I started smoking when I was nineteen yearsold and a sophomore at the University of Geor-gia. All of the guys in my fraternity seemed tobe smokers and it looked so cool, the way theysat around smoking and blowing the smoke andcasually talking and generally enjoying the goodfellowship that was there. This, alongwith the romantic advertisements ofcigarettes that we were constantlybombarded with, and the free sam-ples that were available, enticedme to start.

I must say that Idid not like it at first.It made me light-headed and made my headspin and caused me tocough. My good buddiestold me to hang in there andI would get the hang of smoking andI did. I started smoking because Iwanted to fit in and belong. It was-n’t long before cigarette was myconstant companion. It was withme from morning until night andseemed to always be of some comfortto me.

What began as an innocent friendbecame a Devil that I thoroughlydespised. I continued to smokefor 36 years although for the last15 or 20 I knew in my heart that thiswas not something that I really wanted to do. Itried many devices and ways to cut down, feel-ing that this at least would be better than tocontinue my heavy smoking which was then at

Pondering SmokingHarry S., Macon, Georgia

In This Issue

1Pondering Smoking

by Harry S.

3From the Chair,

Jan F.

4NicA in Barcelona

Martha K.

5Outreach Corner

Kelly C.

7Sun, Sea, and Nicotine Free

in Santa Monica

8Media Mania II

Jan S.

9World Services News

10from Mary B.

NAWS Statement ofCash Flows

11from Carole Z.

SEVEN MinutesVolume XII November 2002 Number 4

The Nicotine Anonymous Quarterly

A Forum for Nicotine Users Who Don’t Use

continued on page 4

2 n Seven Minutes n November 2002

1. We admitted we were powerless over nicotine— that our liveshad become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restoreus to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care ofGod, as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the

exact nature of our wrongs.6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of char-

acter.7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to

make amends to them all.9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except

when to do so would injure them or others.10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong,

promptly admitted it.11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious

contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowl-edge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, wetried to carry this message to other nicotine users and to practicethese principles in all our affairs.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become

unmanageable.2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we

understood Him.4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature

of our wrongs.6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make

amends to them all.9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so

would injure them or others.10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly

admitted it.11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with

God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us andthe power to carry it out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carrythis message to other alcoholics and to practice these principles in all ouraffairs.

The Twelve Steps reprinted and adapted here with the permission of Alcoholics Anony-mous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps does notmean that A.A. is affiliated with this program. A.A. is a program of recovery fromalcoholism—use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities whichare patterned after A.A., but which address other problems, does not imply otherwise.

Our PreambleNicotine Anonymous is a fellowshipof men and women helping eachother to live our lives free of nicotine.We share our experience, strengthand hope with each other so that wemay be free from this powerful addic-tion. The only requirement for mem-bership is the desire to stop usingnicotine. There are no dues or fees forNicotine Anonymous membership;we are self-supporting through ourown contributions. Nicotine Anony-mous is not allied with any sect,denomination, political entity, orga-nization or institution; does notengage in any controversy, neitherendorses nor opposes any cause. Ourprimary purpose is to offer support tothose who are trying to gain freedomfrom nicotine.

Reprinted for adaptation with permis-sion of the A.A. Grapevine

Send letters to the editor, articles,stories, poems, artwork, or othermaterial for Seven Minutes to:

Seven Minutesc/o NAWSO

419 Main St., PMB #370Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Subscription requests, circulationadditions and deletions may be sent

to the same address.

Material can sent by e-mail to:

<SevenMinutesEditor@nicotine-anonymous.org>

All articles accepted for publicationmay be reprinted in outside

publications in their entirety at thediscretion of the chair and editor.

Your trusted servants, Donna E., PublisherCatherine C., EditorJoe S., Subscriptions

The Twelve Steps of Nicotine Anonymous

person you are talking to is willing to hear.In other words, the power is in them notin you. If they are willing, they will jumpon board and leave you in the dust, stand-ing there wondering what just happened!Many times I have tried to convince peo-ple to be of service and it has been virtu-ally impossible. At the same time, with theexception of our office and fulfillment func-tion, everything that is done for our Fel-lowship is done by volunteers.

I hear about unsung heroes all the time.I thought I would take the time to intro-duce ours so they won’t be unsung any-more:

Bill C. steadfastly maintains our StaffDirectory without which we would neverknow who to call or where to call them.

Steve M. keeps our By Laws up-to-date.I don’t know if anyone ever thanks him.

Nicholas V. is the Chair of our upcom-ing 2003 Conference in Santa Monica.(For some reason, I am monitoring his per-formance very closely.)

Jan S. is the Chair of our 2004 Con-ference, I for one am really looking for-ward to going back to the East Coast.

Alan K. is our E-mail Coordinator witha whole slew of volunteers helping himkeep this vital function going.

David F. is our Literature Coordina-tor. The fellowship will be hitting him witha lot of work in the near future.

Martha K. is our Meeting List Coordi-nator. She rescued our Meeting List fromthe dung heap of history and we owe hera debt of gratitude.

Our Outreach Coordinator is Jeff C.who has the following three projects (thisis really dear to my heart; I wish we hadmore money): Adopt-A-Mile is Coordi-nated by Kelly C. This is something wecan all participate in. Gary M. coordinatesour Mass Mailings. We are doing moreand more of this. And Jan S. coordinatesMedia Mania. I hope we will have one foreach meeting.

Maureen R. is our Pen Pal Coordina-tor for E-mail. Those of us who can get tomeetings don’t realize how important thisis to our isolated members.

Pat L. is our Pen Pal Coordinator forPaper—good old letters. These peopleprobably appreciate contact more thane-mail participants but both are invaluable.

Catherine C. is our Seven Minutes Edi-tor. We can all see on these pages what anoutstanding job she is doing. Way to goCatherine. Donna E. is the Publisher ofSeven Minutes. This is another job thatnever seems to get any recognition. Thanks,Donna.

Scott J. is our Teleservice Coordinator.He has an army of volunteers who keep intouch those looking for help. I am alwaysgrateful for the volunteers who providethis vital function.

Dan P. is our Book Coordinator. Theboard just finished its efforts to correct theerrors in the old Book and there are twomore publications in the works.

Bill P. is the Coordinator of the Tra-ditions Committee. This is a vital func-tion for an organization like ours. It is veryeasy to overlook our traditions in ourenthusiasm to get something done. Thiscommittee does its best to keep us in line.

Current Officers are: Jan F., Chairper-son; Ramona F., Treasurer; and Kate W.,Secretary. Emeritus Officers are: Kent B.,Chairperson; Annette L., Treasurer; andJennifer M., Secretary. The newly electedofficers are: Robin L., Chairperson; Jeff C.,Treasurer; and Dale K., Secretary.

Well there they are. Our first line ofoffense and they have a lot of help.

Pick your spot and jump in. Be of ser-vice. The bus is leaving. This is not an impo-sition in your life, this is where you get alife. And thanks again to all our volunteers.

The Dead Sea is the Dead Sea, because it con-tinually receives and never gives.

—SOURCE UNKNOWN

The best way to find yourself is to loseyourself in the service of others.

—MAHATMA GANDHI

The high destiny of the individual is to serverather than to rule . . .

—ALBERT EINSTEIN

Give what you have to somebody, it may bebetter than you think.

—HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

I don’t know what your destiny will be, butone thing I know: the only ones among youwho will be really happy are those who willhave sought and found how to serve.

—ALBERT SCHWEITZER

Can I say it any better than these pres-tigious individuals? I don’t think so.

But I am going to say a few things aboutservice anyway. Service has become anintegral part of my life. I really don’t knowhow it happened. I think I came to a WorldService Conference and just stayed. Ser-vice in this fellowship has given me con-fidence in my ability to do things that Inever thought possible. I can honestly askmyself where in the world I ever got upthe courage to put my name in for con-sideration for World Services Chairperson.It’s not that I was a “shrinking violet.” Itwas just that I never thought I could dosomething like this. It wasn’t my forte, orother people were better qualified, or theyhad more experience, or they had the rightpersonality. They could do it better thanI so I shouldn’t rock the boat. Slowly butsurely over the years, I have been of ser-vice to Nicotine Anonymous and I havegrown. I can now do a lot of things that Inever thought possible. In order to get,you have to give. I gave myself and I gota better self back!

Enough of me! If you have ever tried totalk someone into being of service whoisn’t ready to hear you know how futile itis. I feel it has nothing to do with what yousay, it has everything to do with what the

November 2002 n Seven Minutes n 3

From the Chair . . .Jan F., Newport Beach, California

more people into the meeting since thereare so few people and it’s hard to attractnewcomers. I laughed as I told them thatwe had the same problem and it soundedas if they were doing everything right andthe rest was out of our hands. I was espe-cially moved by their courage, consider-ing how difficult it is to try to stopsmoking when the culture and politicalclimate are so unsupportive. It remindedme how grateful I am to live where I do.

Jose Luis sent me back to the UnitedStates with about ten pieces of literaturethat the Spanish e-mail group has beenworking on. These translations representan incredible amount of work as well as theopportunity to reach out to the still-suf-fering nicotine addict who does not haveaccess to our literature at present. It was mypleasure to send this literature on to Jan F.,our World Services Chairperson, to sharewith the Board at the next meeting.

At the end of the night, we all huggedgood-bye, as if we’d been friends for years.This fellowship gives me the chance to con-nect with people in places where I don’tknow a soul. What a special gift! That Ididn’t speak Spanish and that only JoseLuis spoke English didn’t really matter. Weall speak the same language of recovery.

the very day I was landing.I checked into my hotel, settled into my

room and called Jose Luis as instructed.(Thanks to this program, I follow direc-tions now!) We arranged to meet outsidethe church about a half hour prior to themeeting.

I spent the day walking around the city,stopping at the end of Las Ramblas for a boatride around the port. After viewing the cityfrom the top of the Monument a Colom, Itook the metro to the meeting and got therein plenty of time to find a bench outside thechurch to sit and wait for Jose Luis.

We greeted each other warmly, as if we’dalready met, and chatted for a while beforebeing joined by Alberto, who started thegroup, and two other men, who were stillsmoking. Jose Luis translated for everyoneand was clearly exhausted by the time themeeting was over, close to two hours later.What a wonderful feeling to bring the mes-sage of hope to an area that is isolated fromother meetings. All of the members werelike sponges, absorbing anything I couldtell them about my experience with recov-ery, the history of the program and whatit’s like in the United States.

One of the funniest moments was whenthey asked what they could do to bring

This past August I took a trip toBarcelona, Spain. What a great adven-

ture I had! As the current Coordinator ofthe Worldwide Meeting Directory forWorld Services, I was thrilled to person-ally verify that both Barcelona meetingsare still open.

Prior to leaving, I had contacted Pierre,who lives in Brazil and translates Por-tuguese, Spanish and French e-mail forWorld Services. I told him about my travelplans and asked him if he knew anyonein the area who might speak English (sinceI speak absolutely no Spanish). He wroteback to tell me that as soon as I landed, Iwas to contact Jose Luis. It so happenedthat there are two NicA meetings inBarcelona and one was held on Thursdays,

4 n Seven Minutes n November 2002

NicA in BarcelonaMartha K. East Quogue, New York

a non-smoker, and always praying andbelieving that God would not want me tobe a smoker and would do everything inHis power to help me overcome this deadlyhabit, was I able to start going one day ata time on the road to recovery. It wasn’teasy!

I quite often had a desire and an out-right craving to smoke. I started wearinga thick rubber band on my wrist and whenthis happened I pulled the rubber band upand released it, giving myself a sharp stingon the wrist. This is called aversion ther-apy. It must have been helpful to me

because I continued to go without smok-ing and the desire and cravings becameless and less strong. I continued to chewquite a bit of nicotine gum for severalmonths. Then it suddenly dawned on methat I was going for long periods of timewithout any thought of cigarettes orsmoking.

Long story short, I continued on thisgradual process of learning to live life onlife’s terms without having to turn to cig-arettes. Minutes turned into hours andhours into days, days turned into weeks,weeks into months and months into years

and finally years into many years. Formany years now I have had no desire orcraving for cigarettes. In fact I’m very grate-ful that I cannot stand to be in the pres-ence of people who are smoking. Thestench is overwhelming. I love the smokerbut I can’t stand the smoking.

What has happened as a result of thisprocess? Why should I be grateful for mak-ing this decision and sticking to it?

Here is a relatively short list of reasonsthat are very positive. There are many oth-

Pondering Smokingcontinued from page 1

continued on page 6

Barcelona,SpainÎ

Office number.• Cardholders can be purchased at officesupply stores for under $1.00 each. I pur-chased 20 at 79¢ each. I put ten businesscards in each cardholder.

• As a backup for when the business cardsran out I put an Avery Label on each card-holder indicating a number to call for morebusiness cards or more information. Thenumber you leave could be your per-sonal number or a main informa-tion number or 800 number ifyour area has one. Our area doesnot have a general number, soI put my cell phone numberon the label so they couldleave me a voice mail. I wasable to print them on my com-puter, but you can also write theinfo with pen or marker. Hereis what my label looked like:

NICOTINE ANONYMOUSYou’re not alone anymore.For more information or more

business cards please call Name (000) 000-0000. For local meetings call

(000) 000-0000.

Flyers• Flyers can be made to hangon community bulletin boards.You can make an original ofyour own or change one that hasalready been made and put your localinformation on it. I adapted the Southern

California Intergroup’s flier to fit our infor-mation in the Chicago area. It has a brightred, eye-catching “no smoking” sign at thetop. It includes our phone number, Website info, and lists all of the local meetingplaces and times. Please contact me if youwould like a copy of this flyer.

• I would recommend having a smallnumber of color copies made to be postedin high-profile areas, since they are expen-sive. Black and white Flyers work fine inmost cases.

Reimbursement/OrderingLiterature• Complete “Public Outreach ProjectApproval” form before starting your

project.

• Complete “Public Outreach Litera-ture Request” form once project hasbeen approved.

• Save all receipts in order to bereimbursed by World Services.

Locations to DistributeLiterature1. Doctors’ and dentists’

offices. Ask the person at the deskfor permission to leave the litera-

ture in the waiting room. Mostoffices are eager to support non-profit organizations. Business cardsand “Introduction to NicotineAnonymous” pamphlets can be leftfor patients to read while they arewaiting. Also, “Introducing NicotineAnonymous to the Medical Profes-sion” can be left for doctors and den-tists to read.

2. Hospitals. The chemicaldependency unit is the best place

November 2002 n Seven Minutes n 5

Outreach CornerKelly C., Adopt-a-Mile Outreach Project Leader

continued on page 6

Adopt-A-MileGetting the Word Out throughDistribution of Pamphlets,Flyers, and Business Cards

Making information about NicotineAnonymous available and easily

accessible to the public is a very importantpart of “carrying the message.” Our friendsand neighbors need to know that we willbe there if they need us! Adopt-a-Mileinvolves having individual members orgroups of members publicly claim respon-sibility for a “mile” or certain area of theirneighborhood. They would then be respon-sible for keeping the various locations intheir territory stocked with informationabout Nicotine Anonymous.

Another way to do it would be to haveone person claim all of the libraries in sur-rounding towns, another claim all thechurches, another claim all the meetinghalls and Alano Clubs, etc.

Below are some suggestions based onthe distribution I did in my area. Keep inmind these are only suggestions and feelfree to use your imagination and try anynew ideas you have!

Pamphlets• “Introduction to Nicotine Anonymous”is suggested. This is a general pamphlet foruse anywhere.

• “Introducing Nicotine Anonymous tothe Medical Profession” is also an idea,although I have not tried it out yet. Itcould be distributed to any doctors, den-tists, and mental health professionals youmeet along the way.

Business Cards and Cardholders• Nicotine Anonymous business cards witha local number to call for meetings wouldwork best. I would think that people wouldbe more willing to call if there is a localnumber, rather than the World Service

7. Local Smoking Cessation Pro-grams. Contact the people in

charge to see if they willmake our literature availableto people in their program.

8. Drug Stores.

9. Churches.

10. Local Tobacco ReformGroups

11. Meeting Halls for other 12-Step Pro-grams (AA, NA, etc.) and Alano Clubs.

12-Step Groups: http://www.onlinerecov-ery.org/12/; Alano Clubs: http://www.grrr.net/ alano.html.

12 Organizations (find localoffices). American Lung Associa-tion: http:// www. lungusa.org/;American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer. org/; American Heart Association:

http://www. americanheart. org/.

To find addresses and phone numbersuse internet search engines, online phonedirectories and local phone books.

Remember to bring tape, push pins, anda stapler.

Good luck and don’t forget to have fun!Grab a couple of other members, organize,

and make a day of it. Treat your-selves to dinner after-wards! If you don’t havetime for that, just do

what you can. Remember,“Any service, no matter how

small, that helps to reach a fel-low sufferer adds to the qualityof our own recovery.”

Please e-mail me atOutreach-AdoptAMile@-

nicotine-anonymous.org withany questions or problems, or just to shareyour experience with this project.

to start, but there are end-less possibilities here.

3. Mental Health Clinics/Psychiatrists and Psycholo-gists. Use the same suggestionsas in #1.

4. Libraries. Most libraries have bul-letin boards that are perfect for our fly-ers.

5. Colleges. Most have bulletin boards oncampus and also have doctors’ and nurses’offices.

6. County and State Health Depart-ments. Many of these have specific depart-ments dedicated to tobacco preventionand control. State Health Agencies:http://www.fda.gov/oca/ sthealth. htm;state and Local Health Departments:http://www.apha.org/ public_health/state.htm

smoke. I know they’re happy about that.We smokers never realize how terribly foulwe smell.

7. What I am most happy about is I’mno longer a slave to this substance. I havea freedom that is unbelievable when it iscompared to the constant necessity toalways have a cigarette at hand and topractically always be smoking one. I don’thave to get up in the middle of the nightand search for a cigarette butt that still hasa few drags on it. I don’t have to smoke acigarette the last thing before I go to bedat night and the first thing in the morning.

There are many other good reasons tostop smoking. Those people who smokeare responsible for finding their own rea-sons and discovering with the help of oth-ers their own paths to recovery.

Sometimes we can learn more by climb-ing the same mountain a hundred timesthan by climbing a hundred differentmountains.

Discover your bliss, follow your bliss,and your angel of strength and mercy willsurely be with you.

because I had not smoked for almost 12years I believe that I had averted having aheart attack. People who smoke have dou-ble the risk of dying if they do have a heartattack and they are at much higher risk ofhaving a heart attack because of the nox-ious chemicals that are constantly circu-lating: bathing and bombarding theendothelial system which lines the bloodvessels. Presently my cardiovascular risk isno higher than anyone else in the generalpopulation and in my particular circum-stance.

4. Taste and smell have been restored.I am now enjoying the taste of my foodmore than I ever have in all my life. Eat-ing is an absolute pleasure.

5. Risk of having mouth cancer, voicebox cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer,pancreatic cancer, and various others is nohigher for me now than for the generalpopulation. At one time my risk of havinglung cancer was ten times greater than oth-ers because of my heavy smoking.

6. I don’t have to subject others to theconstant aroma and ambience of cigarette

ers and each person will gather his or herown list through experience.

1. They tell me that each cigarettesmoked results in the loss of seven min-utes from one’s life expectancy. Multiply-ing seven minutes for each cigarette notsmoked during the last 141⁄2 years I havegained 31⁄2 years in life expectancy! Pardonthe pun but that’s something you can blowsmoke at.

2. Cigarette smoking costs money. Mul-tiplying the cost of each cigarette timesthe number smoked and the number ofyears smoking I arrived at a figure of$19,635.18 that I have saved as of thismorning in the raw cost of buying ciga-rettes. I don’t know exactly where thatmoney is now but I can assure you that Ispent it on better things than cigarettes.

3. Almost three years ago I had to havecoronary bypass surgery. This was proba-bly brought on by approximately a 70-pack-per-year history of smoking but

6 n Seven Minutes n November 2002

Pondering Smokingcontinued from page 4

Outreach Cornercontinued from page 5

8 n Seven Minutes n November 2002

MEDIA Getting the Word Out MANIA II Through Radio and TV

Just as the press is anxious to help us spread the word about ourfellowship, so are your local radio and TV stations.

This is the second in our series of “how to’s” to help youcontact the media. Radio and television stations will be oh, sohappy to hear from you! Here are the steps you can take to makesure news about your group goes out over the airwaves and landson the local TV screens:

✏ Local radio and television stations are listed in the tele-phone directory.

✏ Contact each one for the name of the Program Director.Larger stations also have a Public Affairs Director. All sta-tions have Public Affairs air time that they are anxious togive to worthy causes at no charge!

✏ The Program director or Public Affairs Director will tell youif there are any guidelines you should follow.

✏ Radio commercials are generally 10 seconds, 30 seconds,or 60 seconds long. They are referred to as “spots.” Beloware two public service spots from the New York NicA Website that can be used. We are also producing 30 and 60 sec-ond commercial spots on CD that can be sent to your localstations. We will let you know when they are finished, oras they say in radio talk, “pressed.”

✏ If you write your own spot, be certain to lift words fromour already Conference Approved Literature.

30-Second Public Service Announcement(00:30) Nicotine anonymous, a twelve-step fellowship of men and womenhelping each other to live free of nicotine, meets regularly in [locationof meeting]. There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for Nico-tine Anonymous membership is the desire to be free of nicotine. Forfurther information about the program and meetings near you, pleasecall [phone number].

60-Second Public Service Announcement(00:60)Nicotine Anonymous is a twelve-step program of recovery from nico-tine addiction based on the same principles and traditions as AlcoholicsAnonymous. The only requirement for Nicotine Anonymous member-ship is the desire to be free of this powerful drug. There are no duesor fees for membership as the program is self-supporting through mem-ber contributions. Meetings are held [time and location]. For furtherinformation, please call [phone number]. You can learn more by visit-ing the Nicotine Anonymous Web site at www.nicotine-anonymous.org.

✏ Contact the Program Director of television stations forguidelines. For instance, many Cable TV stations will doa running spot along the bottom of the screen and mightlimit you to the amount of words and even letters you canuse. They will let you know.

✏ Most TV stations want camera-ready artwork or graphicsif you want a visual spot with more that just printed wordson the screen. Our Nicotine Anonymous logo is a greatplace to start. Be creative here: use both visual graphicsand words. Go for it!

✏ If you decide to produce a videotaped spot, remember theanonymity guidelines and do not show full face shots.The New York Intergroup produced a video and it wassuper.

✏ Just as newspapers have deadlines, so do radio and TV sta-tions. The Program/Public Affairs Director will let youknow how far in advance you need to send in your mate-rial before it will be aired. Most stations act very quicklyto get things on the air, especially when the material iscamera-ready or pre-recorded.

✏ When you send in material to the station, be sure to fol-low up with a call to see that it has been received and ifthere is anything else you can provide.

✏ You need to know how LONG the station will run yourspot. Most stations will tell you this up front when youinquire about placing a spot; some run the spots for amonth, some longer. Should any of your material change,follow the same deadline time frame as you did for theoriginal submission. With e-mails and faxes it is much,much easier to get the information out to the stations ina timely fashion.

Smile!Hey—Smile! Now that you’re in the newspapers and on radioand TV, you can really watch your meetings grow! If you haveany further questions or need some help, just e-mail me atOutreach-MediaMania@nicotine-anonymous.org

In love and service, Jan S., Mass Media Outreach Project Leader

or she is already working the firststep.

As I write this report on Septem-ber 21, we have two more Traditionsquestions on the table that we arecurrently answering. Those will beincluded in the next report.

Daily Meditations Jennifer M., Secretary Emeritus

It is my goal to prepare the dailymeditations that I continue toreceive for Board approval (Jan-uary) and 2003 delegates con-ference approval (April). Ibelieve that we will be ator close to the 90 that wecan then turn into a 90-in-90. Very exciting!!

The Daily Medita-tions flier that went outin the last group mail-ing included the wronge-mail address for me,but I am very excited toreport that since then Joehas set up a DailyMedita-tions@nicotine-anony-mous.org e-mail address forme and future coordinators—thanks Joe! That will significantlyreduce the problem that I experiencedwhen I began this project with fre-quently changing personal e-mailaddresses. I want to thank Alan forforwarding submissions that wererejected at the old e-mail address.

As a side note, the lady whosesubmission was rejected by the 2002conference delegates because shewas not writing from a nicotine-freeperspective has since become“smober” and resubmitted her medi-ation with an add-on! All is well inthe world.

E-mail CoordinationAlan, E-mail Coordinator

For the 7-month period Feb.1–August 31, 2002, we handled

approximately 1450 e-mail mes-sages. This is considerably higherby about 600 than usual due to theperiod of time our Web page meet-ing search engine was down. The e-mail servants handled directresponses at a much higher level.All the servants did a phenomenaljob handling dozens of additionalresponses

dailyduring this period.

Intergroup LiaisonRobin L., Chair Elect/IntergroupLiaison

Since the July board meeting Ihave done the following:

Attended the Chicagoland NicAretreat. This was my first NicAretreat other than the World Ser-vice Conferences except for a pic-nic in Dallas about two years ago.It was a lot of fun and very reward-ing. It was really nice to spend timeworking on my personal recovery,not just doing service work. Thankyou Chicagoland.

[Editor’s Note: These are some of thereports submitted to the board for theOctober quarterly board meeting. I hopeto include more reports of this sort tokeep you up-to-date with what’s hap-pening with World Services. If you havean interest in being on any of the com-mittees working for NicA, I’m sure yourservice will be welcomed. Check theWeb site, your Intergroup, or WorldServices directly for more information.]

TraditionsCommittee Bill P., Carrollton, Texas

We on the Traditions Committeehave had a steady workload thisquarter. In August, we reviewed theFinal Conference Minutes.

We also worked with Catherineon the current issue of Seven Min-utes. A change was made to omit anopinion expressed on a controver-sial outside issue. Catherine is doinga fantastic job on Seven Minutes! Sheis great at working with all partiesinvolved and being clear on dead-lines, etc.

We recently received a questionfrom a member who had started ameeting eight years ago. The meet-ing is still going, but wrestling withthis question, “Should newcomersstart working the steps even thoughthey are still using the patch or thenicotine inhaler or some other crutchthat still includes nicotine?” Theopinion of all the Traditions Com-mittee members who responded wasthat working the steps is how we gainfreedom from nicotine. Asking some-one to get free of nicotine first isputting the cart before the horse. Webelieve that all members should beencouraged to work the steps, with-out precondition. Allen added thatif someone has admitted powerless-ness over nicotine and an unman-ageable life, even before stopping, he

World Services News

Merry Happy

Holidays!If you want to smoke,

that’s your business ...

If you want to quit,

that’s our business ...

New e-mail Addresses for WS ServantsUse these e-mail addresses when you want to contact a WorldServices board or committee member:

BoardChairpersonElect@nicotine-anonymous.orgChairperson@nicotine-anonymous.orgChairpersonEmeritus@nicotine-anonymous.orgTreasurerElect@nicotine-anonymous.orgTreasurer@nicotine-anonymous.orgTreasurerEmeritus@nicotine-anonymous.orgSecretaryElect@nicotine-anonymous.orgSecretary@nicotine-anonymous.orgSecretaryEmeritus@nicotine-anonymous.org

Committee Chairs and CoordinatorsBookCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.orgByLawsCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.orgConferenceChair2003@nicotine-anonymous.orgDailyMeditations@nicotine-anonymous.orgE-mailCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.orgFulfillmentHouse@nicotine-anonymous.orgLiteratureCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.orgMeetingList@nicotine-anonymous.orgOfficeService@nicotine-anonymous.orgOfficer-StaffDirectory@nicotine-anonymous.orgOutreach-AdoptAMile@nicotine-anonymous.orgOutreach-MassMailings@nicotine-anonymous.orgOutreach-MediaMania@nicotine-anonymous.orgOutreachCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.orgPenPalCoordinatorEmail@nicotine-anonymous.orgPenPalCoordinatorPaper@nicotine-anonymous.orgSevenMinutesEditor@nicotine-anonymous.orgTeleserviceCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.orgTraditionsCoordinator@nicotine-anonymous.org

Mail sent to these addresses will be forwarded to the person whois currently serving in that position. Thanks to Joe S. for mak-ing this possible!

10 n Seven Minutes n November 2002

Mary B., Long Beach, California

My first NicA meeting wasin La Palma. I went to

this meeting because I calledthe Nicotine Anonymous lineand a great woman named Evaanswered the phone. She toldme about her meeting andpromised she would be there.I enjoyed taking several chipsfrom that meeting. I believeEva and Bob kept that meetingtogether for many years.

Being self-centered and onlythinking of what I need, Inever offered to do anythingand was never asked to do any-thing. This meeting went blackjust recently and I feel sorry Inever made a commitment toLa Palma. Maybe if I and a few

other people had, it wouldn’thave gone black.

I found a new meeting inLong Beach. I was really scaredto start but knew I needed tokeep going to meetings. At thisnew meeting something dif-ferent happened. George, a reg-ular, asked me to make acommitment, and by doingthis, gave me the opportunityto give back. I know I wouldn’thave seventeen months with-out the people who were therefor me.

Thanks to George for gettingme to do something for some-one else. Without you, I prob-ably would have continued totake.

NAWS Statement ofCash Flows

January through August 2002

Ramona F., San Jose, CaliforniaSTATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Net Income 2,294.25

Adjustments to reconcile Net Income

to net cash provided by operations:

1200 · Accounts Receivable 1,077.33

1205 · Advances to Conference –500.00

1209 · Advance to Fulfillment 50.00

1120 · Inventory Asset –99.43

2000 · Accounts Payable -31.93

2200 · Sales Tax Payable -151.04

Net cash provided by Operating Activities 2,703.04

Cash at beginning of period 51,285.26

Cash at end of period 53,988.30

having to learn how to speak up for myself andsay what I want more directly; I am having totell unpleasant people to go away; and I am hav-ing to find new friends that are healthier for me.I am having to realize how much I have hatedmyself. I am having to learn about real love.

So, am I better off now? Prob-ably. But I don’t feel it yet. I praythis is not as good as it gets. Ipray that I will (and soonerrather than later) feel a joy inliving and be able to fully loveand function in the world. Untilthen, I am mostly hanging onby my fingertips, sometimes liv-ing a minute at a time, some-times an hour, sometimes a day,but I am still here.

I do know—not just believe,know—one thing. I do knowthat God is always watching outfor me, even on those dayswhen I feel totally andabsolutely alone. So I will con-tinue to pray for the strength to stay on my newpath and to improve the quality of what is leftof my life. I think it will get better—and it hasto be better than all the years of medicatingmyself with nicotine.

It is a very hot day in late August; the sun feelstoxic. I feel extremely irritable. I think about

smoking again. I have not smoked since March,so I am close to my six-month “anniversary.”The television is irritating me a lot but I cannotturn it off. It has become my new friend since Istopped smoking. The “news programs” espe-cially upset me; I sit listening to the awful“hyped-up” reporting of events; I begin to feelscared and anxious about this country and theworld in general. And it seems that lately, actorssmoking in movies has become fashionableagain.

I think, well what the heck is the point of notsmoking? Life is becoming so awful in thisworld, who cares whether I smoke or not?According to average life span figures, I’ve gotaround 25 years left, but all those years will beobviously sliding me into old age and death. Iask myself again, so why does it matter if I smokeor not? I don’t do much of anything else andsmoking was so enjoyable for me, in spite of thehealth hazard. People say I look better, but forme it’s, “So what? I don’t feel better.”

I am so scared that this is as good as it gets.I had expected to feel fabulous by now, but Idon’t. Instead I’m having to deal with unpleas-ant memories and feelings which I had previ-ously chosen to suppress by smoking. I am

November 2002 n Seven Minutes n 11

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