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Post Info TOPIC: Hope for Today Feb 24


~*Service Worker*~

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Hope for Today Feb 24


Good morning Everyone:

Todays reading is about following the suggested guidelines , traditions and policies of the program.  The writer describes the feeling when making a decision to follow the rules (in terms of driving and in traffic) or struggling with the idea of breaking the rules in order to have a shortcut.  Just as it is on the road, if we disregard the guidelines we can hurt ourselves or other people.

It isnt always so easy to follow guidelines and rules.  There are so many times that it is tempting to take a shortcut and ignore a rule here or there, but most of the time that weakens our integrity and threatens our progress in recovery.  There are times I have to convince myself that the guidelines and what I need to do are worth it.  For me, thats when I start making lists! Sometimes my brain feels crowded and it helps me to see things on paper and even better, to cross things off the list as I complete them.  This might be as mundane as pay the gas bill.

I know that the people I seek out now are those that seem content, serene, chaos-free.  When I look at how these people are living their lives, I see them following the traditions and guidelines of alanon.

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Mary



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~*Service Worker*~

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Good Morning Mary Love the principles that alanon has provided me with. They allow me to live my life with dignity and compassion--- -what a gift!!!
Thanks for your service



-- E



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Betty

THE HIGHEST FORM OF WISDOM IS KINDNESS

Talmud


~*Service Worker*~

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Good morning MIP - thank you Mary for your service and the daily. Thank you both for your shares and ESH. I too prefer to spend time with others who seek less drama, chaos, control and instead seek peace, serenity and calm. I am grateful the program shows us how to find answers to our issues, real and perceived. I know that things go much better for me when I am entrenched in this program and it's tools vs. self-will.

Happy Sunday all - make it a great day! We have some sunshine - so nice to see! Off to a meeting shortly - can not think of a better way to experience this day! (((Hugs)))

__________________

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

 

 



~*Service Worker*~

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Good morning everyone!

Thank you Mary, for the daily and your thoughts. Thank you, Betty and IAH for your ESH.

I am basically, a rule follower. Always have been. It's that "people-pleasing" thing in me. BUT (and this was a big but), I looked for shortcuts b/c I felt that MY WAY was faster, better, more efficient... insert your adjective here. Now I work on accepting the rules as they were made. If I have a better idea, I will wait to be asked for that idea. There have been times in life outside of Program, that I have not been asked, but knew a better way. I then thought about why I wanted to chime in, and if it was in good faith, I did so... then I LET GO of the outcome!! This is such a huge new way for me!!

Today is a special day... so I am treating myself to a spa day! I am splurging on a facial and massage! I will be blissed out! LOL!
I hope everyone has a Sunday that feels like I do at this moment! I am so grateful to be alive and part of this community!
Peace!



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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

 

 



~*Service Worker*~

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Thanks Mary for you share...I have to be reminded, too, that there are steps to follow and it takes TIME...if I skip a step, then I am only cheating me....the ole instant gratification/answer/results doesn't work most of the time in recovery...It took me a loooog time to get this sick....its gonna take a while and I must step on ALL the flagstones of recovery, over and over if I want my recovery to be real and permanent

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Rose, a work in progress!!!

KEEP IT SIMPLE_EASY DOES IT_KEEP THE FOCUS ON ME



Senior Member

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Ayep. It was a good one. Thanks for the share, Mary.

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Not all my days are priceless, but none of them are worthless, anymore.



~*Service Worker*~

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 Thanks mary, for opening up the topic...

...as a kid I was a goody-two-shoes, little-lord-fontleroy... very very obedient. Through my teens and 20's this changed somewhat.biggrin

First of all I believe that our groups should have solid predictable formats. Most if not all of us have lived in troubled unreliable places.

For me the group culture has grown out of meetings. We used to have a different chair every meeting- if possible. This was unwritten- but each chair was able to change the format somewhat.... Things like whether we used the daily reader, or some other literature.

The next chair could pick up choose what to retain, based, I sensed, on what worked best.

I knew a group that read out the Steps, The Traditions, The Concepts, and The General Warranties of the Conference at each meeting. [And maybe they still do?] Studies were out of the white Alanon manual... and covered all of these aspects.

Me? I have preference for ESH. When I was chairing I would make a point of not dominating the meeting. If the sharing round dried up I would pick up a daily reader and start with some readings. I always liked to have the reading of the day- when I shared a meeting, followed by a discussion.

I do think that groups go through cycles... I always thought that conscience meetings were for crises; that the group conscience evolved in the way I just described.

I always attended assemblies, where possible- to learn from members of other groups. That is why I really love being here... smile ...

 

I think as we get better- in out own way, and at our own pace. We do start to actually live- one day at a time. biggrin...

...so more today... I like to be more spontaneous- and think on my feet.

No way of knowing- who is going to walk through the door- into the rooms... smile ...



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Each Alanon member is my teacher.                                                                                                                  

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