The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
I can easily itemize my loved ones limitations. Hours pass while I list the ways in which "he" could stand to change.
But not one thing has ever improved as a result of this mental criticism, All it does is keep my mind on someone other than me. Instead of admitting my powerlessness over another person's choices and attitudes, I flirt with the illusions of power. In the end I am a little more bitter, more hopeless, and more frusterated. And nothing about my situation, or the othr person, has changed.
What would happen if I took my list of criticisms and applied it , gently to myself??? I may complain about my loves one's verbal abuse---after all I dont speak to him that way! But at the level of thought, I am just as abusive. The same attitude exists in both of us: we just manifest it differently.
Alanon says "Let it begin with me". When I identify something I dislike in another, I can look for similiar traits within myself and begin to change them. By changing myself, I truly can change the world. So today I will make a difference,,,and let it truly begin with Me.
That is one of the most insightful posts I have read. In AA I have learned that I am the source and cause of all my problems and the answer to those problems is admitting them, being truthful about, them handing them over to my higher power. Is I am getting recovered, I see how this doesn't only apply to alcoholics, we A's just need to do this stuff to save our lives. If anyone applies these principals to their own lives, it will help them will find serenity.
very interesting and thought provoking. Thank you for posting!!!
And I like the "If you spot it, you got it" and I see myself so much in my daughter and it scares me. Woke me up today and an inspiration to keep on trying to change myself for myself and my children, so thanks a lot
