The Living Clean Podcast

In this Living Clean Book Study episode, we begin the section “Spiritual and Emotional Crisis,” covering the first four paragraphs.
Recovery doesn’t mean we stop going through hard things. Sometimes the crisis isn’t about wanting to use—it’s about feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, uncertain, or struggling to make sense of what we’re going through.
We discuss what Living Clean has to say about these difficult periods, what they can reveal about where we are spiritually and emotionally, and how staying connected to recovery can help us move through them without returning to old ways of coping.

Mo returns to The Living Clean Podcast to lead a panel discussion exploring gender bias in sponsorship and the traditional “men with men, women with women” approach.
What happens when we look at sponsorship outside of heteronormative and binary thinking? How do gender, sexual orientation, attraction, safety, identification, and personal experience influence who we choose as a sponsor? And most importantly, how can we make sure the newcomer has access to the guidance and support they need?
Mo is joined by a panel representing different communities and perspectives:
Shane C. — Vacaville, California
Elaine — Ben Lomond, California
Veronica M. — Paradise, California
Evan — Tupelo, Mississippi

This week on The Living Clean Podcast, we sit down with Michael M., who has been clean since August 17, 1975.
Michael takes us back to his early days in recovery and shares what Narcotics Anonymous looked like at that time, including his involvement in the early development of the fellowship in his area and his experience attending the 7th World Convention.
From there, we get into Michael’s many years of service and some of the major changes he witnessed and participated in as NA grew. We talk about his involvement with It Works: How and Why, the Sixth Edition of the Basic Text, the development of the first World Board, and his experience serving as the first chair of the World Board.
Along the way, Michael shares stories from more than 50 years of recovery and service and gives us a firsthand look at some of the people, decisions, challenges, and changes that helped shape Narcotics Anonymous into the worldwide fellowship it is today.
There is a whole lot of NA history in this one, but more importantly, there is a whole lot of recovery.
Join us for a conversation with Michael M., clean since August 17, 1975, on this week’s episode of The Living Clean Podcast.

The Paradise Strong Book Study presents a special historical meeting commemorating the 40th anniversary of Narcotics Anonymous’ Sixth World Literature Conference, held in Miami, Florida, in September 1981.
The World Literature Conferences were an extraordinary period in NA history. Members from across the Fellowship came together to write, review, organize, and shape the material that would eventually become the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text. By the time members gathered for the Sixth World Literature Conference, years of work at conferences, regional literature committees, workshops, and through correspondence had brought the Fellowship closer than ever to having its own book.
Chris and Boyd from Preserving the Message join the Paradise Strong Book Study and take us back into that history through a PowerPoint presentation, archival material, and the voices of members who participated in the literature movement.
During the presentation, we hear historical audio from Charles K., Sally Evans, Doug W., and Mary Banner, offering firsthand memories of the conference and the remarkable grassroots effort that surrounded the writing of the Basic Text.
The meeting then opens for discussion and sharing. Bo S., Charles K., Al R., Mark B., Bryant S., Henry S., and Pete B. add their own experience, memories, and reflections on the literature movement and the history being preserved.
The Sixth World Literature Conference represents an important chapter in the story of NA literature—a time when recovering addicts took responsibility for putting their collective experience into words. That work helped carry the Basic Text toward the 1982 World Service Conference, where the book was approved by the Fellowship’s service structure, followed by publication of the First Edition in 1983.
Five years ago, members gathered to remember what had happened forty years earlier. Today, Francis’s Archive brings that meeting back so another generation can hear the history in the voices of those who helped live it.

This week on The Living Clean Podcast, Francis and Mason mark the 45th anniversary of the 6th World Literature Conference, held in Miami, Florida, September 14–20, 1981.
In Part One of this special episode, we go day by day through the conference, using the original minutes and historical records to look at what was actually happening in the room as members worked to complete the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text. We talk about the unfinished chapters, the debates over How It Works, the all-night group conscience meetings, the heat, the typewriters and photocopiers, the disagreements, the laughter, and the incredible amount of work that eventually led to one simple sentence being recorded in the minutes on September 20:
“The book is finished.”
This episode sets the stage for Part Two, where you’ll hear firsthand memories from people who were actually there in Miami and participated in this historic conference.
For an even deeper look at the 6th World Literature Conference, visit PreservingTheMessage.org and check out the accompanying presentation on the Preserving the Message YouTube channel.
Links to the blog and YouTube presentation are included below.