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.
In today's Hope for Today, one member describes how gratitude took on new meaning in the program. No longer the end result, felt only when things went 'their way' or as they expected, gratitude became the means to a much better end: serenity.
Working persistently on our program allows us to find gratitude in everything: meetings, sponsor, fellowship, literature, even the disease that brought us to AlAnon. If we are having trouble finding gratitude, working harder on our program will help us see it.
Thought for the Day: This moment gives birth to the next. If I fill this moment with gratitude, the next moment can't help but bring blessings.
"Just for today I will smile...I will be grateful for what I have instead of concentrating on what I don't have." - AlAteen's Just for Today
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I was new to AlAnon when I first heard a member say they were grateful for the disease that brought them to AlAnon. It took some time to wrap my head around that.
I have come to realize that without the disease, however, I would not have been willing to try a different perspective and set of tools. Without AlAnon, I would still be out there trying to control the world rather than make changes within myself, frustrated with others, without even a glimpse of peace or serenity.
Learning to find gratitude in the things around me has become a lifeline in recovery. No matter what is going on around me, when I am troubled I can pause and review the many reasons for gratitude. When I follow this guidance, gratitude can open the way to serenity, regardless of what is going on in my life. Grateful for the guidance of the program
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Paul
"...when we try to control others, we lose the ability to manage our own lives." - Paths to Recovery
I'm grateful for alanon and the tools it's all brung me along with being persistent in working my program,I live a more serene life today because of it,thank you Paul for the daily,and your service.......lu
Thank you for writing on this reading today. I have difficulty understanding gratitude for the disease. That is, I am unwilling to feel that at this stage of my recovery! I think I still 'blame' the disease and pray that I will come to feel gratitude instead of resentment.
I am grateful for this program which has been helping me change my life for the better :)
Good morning Paul, Patty and Mary, I am grateful for your postings today and reading each of your experiences of the wonderful tool gratitude.
I remember when I first entered the rooms, I found it extremely difficult to conceive of being grateful for anything in my life and found it hard even say the word. When Al-Anon says changed attitudes, aid recovery, it is so true . It was obvious, but not to me, that my attitude regarding gratitude needed to change and it did.
I kept showing up at meetings, reading the Courage to Change, using the slogans and working the steps and one day, I can remember thinking" that flowers beautiful, I'm so glad and grateful that I can appreciate it." That's really surprised me because I found that I could think know and feel gratitude, when before I could not even say the word.
Al-Anon really does work when you work it and I today I can feel gratitude and express it without any difficulty whatsoever and I am grateful to this program for my life.
Thanks for your service Paul and have a great day everyone
Now Gratitude is one subject I can talk about for the rest of my life since I came to the rooms here at MIP. Although my work has taken me away from the meetings I can still use this program in all of my daily work. It is because of this program that I have started my own business, and one that I love so much that it feels more like a hobby than a business. How many people can say that? 2 years ago I would have laughed if someone had told me this is what I would be doing. Al Anon gave me the courage to leave a job I hated, and start a new life. It gave me the courage to live with an active A in a lot more peace than ever before. For 13 years my household was a World War 3 zone. HA! Now we are down to a small quarrel here and there and yes of course its because I forgot to keep my mouth shut. LOL....anyway...Grateful that I can keep my mouth shut most of the time...making the faces I am still working on, but one step at a time. I miss my meetings, In the beginning i was attending almost all 14 of them...now when I do have the time there doesnt seem to be a meeting, and the f2f meetings near me are at bad times for me right now. So I am thankful for the tools I have when I cannot go to these meetings, these tools are what saved my life and keep me going. I love all of you and am so grateful to have found my way here. HP (whom I call God/Jesus) has given me a miracle. When I googled Al Anon, I had a lot to chose from and I know I was directed here.
Love to you all, my brothers and sisters in Al Anon.... my family
Debra
Good morning all - thanks for the wonderful shares above me. Paul - thank you for your service and the daily.
I too struggled to be grateful before recovery. I was more often disappointed in myself, my life, others, events, etc. - as I truly believed my life sucked. I was more of a 'glass half empty gal' and feel now as if I missed so, so much beauty in the moments.
Practicing finding gratitude and daily miracles around me has given me a new set of lenses to see, watch, observe and feel present, just for now in this day. I am unwilling now to allow myself to 'go back' to the ego-driven well-intended person of before.
I also thought gratitude for the disease was a stretch - my old patterns of thinking suggested my life would be grand if only I didn't meet the disease or have experiences resulting from the disease. I now believe that I was off-track before the disease directly affected me, and I would have found another life event/experience to blame for my lack of spiritual existence.
Make it a great day all - happy Monday!
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Practice the PAUSE...Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you are about to react harshly and you will avoid doing and saying things you will later regret. ~~~~ Lori Deschene
Thank you Betty, unbroken (also love the new name!, IAH, and David for sharing the journey and ESH. To me the concept of gratitude for the disease speaks of the power of the program to help us do what it preaches: a change in our perspective is what will change our level of felt peace and serenity.
My first glimpse of gratitude for the disease developed from these changes in my perspective:
* Admitting I was powerless and life had become unmanageable
* A power greater than myself could lead me to sanity
* The pain I had long blamed on my qualifier was actually my own doing as I tried to control what I couldn't/shouldn't
* The pain from unsuccessful attempts to control my qualifier's drinking was a drop in the bucket of pain I had handed to others and myself over a lifetime, all without even realizing it.
I would compare gratitude for the disease to the pain of a broken bone that sent me to the hospital, and during the treatment discovering that I was in the early stages of a degenerative but treatable bone disorder. The pain itself is never pleasant, but in comparison to damage of allowing a serious condition to go undiagnosed and untreated, I would be glad that the accident occurred that allowed treatment and recovery before more damage was done.
Before I found AlAnon, my insanity, frustration, anger, resentment, and unloving behavior was the result of my unhealthy perspectives and coping mechanisms. I would have carried these with me and continued damaging myself and others if I hadn't run into something that broke me and left me willing to try a different way.
There is no denying the ugliness of some of those times, but the thought of who I was and who I might have continued to be is absolutely terrifying. In this sense I am grateful for the disease and the wakeup call to change ME, to become a better person and treat everyone around me with more love and consideration, including my qualifier...I am very grateful
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Paul
"...when we try to control others, we lose the ability to manage our own lives." - Paths to Recovery
Thank you enigmatic for your perspective on the reading today. I am grateful for many thing in my life and try hard to bring them into my awareness everyday. I can even stretch my beliefs today to be grateful for the changes in me that are a result of the disease. My capacity for compassion and love has grown ten fold I feel. I am a lot quicker to forgive and also I am a lot quicker to let the people in my life know how important they are to me. I am still grieving at times and holding on to the idea I had in my head of how it was all supposed to be. I am learning to accept things as they are. I am very grateful for this program and all of you.
. When Al-Anon says changed attitudes, aid recovery, it is so true . It was obvious, but not to me, that my attitude regarding gratitude needed to change and it did.
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