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.
Todays reading is about the great relief many of us felt immediately when coming into the program. Some have described it like being washed up on the shore, or being lifted up after exhaustion , or like the writer- having a thirst quenched. For me, having the methodical side that I do, knowing that there are a list of steps was actually quite comforting to me. I have felt like there was a type of recipe to follow for my recovery. I am working the steps a second time with my sponsor and have found it interesting to see how differently I interpret them in relation to my life now in comparison to the first time I worked the steps.
What I feel from this reading is what so many of us felt (finally!) when coming to alanon hope. At one point in my life I felt hopeless. After some work - and with more to do, always- I know there are some situations I can change and some I cannot. One of the most helpful things I have learned is that my life is not dicatated by the words or actions of others.
I hope the new year ahead is full of hope and strength for all of you, and I am grateful to be here with all of you!
Good Morning Mary I can so identify I too felt as if I had been hugged by a huge protecting Being when I walked in to the rooms. Reading the Steps and slogans did help to point me in the direction of recovery however the welcoming spirit that I found at meetings was what kept me coming back.
Have a Happy New Year and Thank You for your Service
Hi Mary-Coming to program, finding a F2F I love, having a great sponsor to work with, and the board, has let me fill myself with strength and hope when there used to be none. I felt so alone and defeated, like my life collapsed within a black hole. Everything for me is changed and better, of course , not perfect. These are the best 4 and a half years of my life, and I look forward to continued growth and progress. Lyne
The first time I came to Al-Anon, I felt that rush of relief. I had found hope for my marriage.
This time it just felt like the comfort from an 'old friend.' I am finding HOPE FOR MYSELF now!
Wishing everyone here the best 2018 ever!
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"The wolf that thrives, is the one you feed." - Cherokee legend
"Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields... Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness." Mary Oliver
Thanks for your service, Mary, and all the shares above! I had reached my bottom when I showed up at my first meeting, and then I came back again after not attending for a while thanks in large part to encouragement here at MIP. I'm grateful I did! I remember feeling hope in my first meeting, but it was a feeble kind of hope that I kept clinging to nevertheless and it has grown into a real hope that I'm not afraid that I'll lose anymore, as I did for the first six months or so. I can see this hope has real basis in reality, the improvement of my state of mind and overall wellbeing. Love you all :)
Thank you Mary for your service and the daily. Thank you all above for your shares and ESH. My first meeting didn't go so well as I showed up angry at the world and had a very closed mind. After more pain, misery and attempts to control others in my life, I returned defeated and broken.
I've likened that first meeting to being able to breathe deeply for the first time in a long, long while. I did leave and felt a small amount of relief and got into my car with something I'd not had in a long while - hope. I didn't even equate that sense of hope to me, my family, my 'guys' or anything - just hope that it did not have to be as it had been.
I'm also so grateful for this program, my sponsor, the steps, the traditions, the fellowship and MIP. I truly shudder to think where I would be had I not found recovery. (((Hugs))) to all - hope your day is going great!
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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
