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.
"With the help of Alanon friends. sponsor, literature, and our Higher Power, we learn to distinguish the real from the imagined, the harm from the legitimate boundary, the deed from the fallible doer- and perhaps we can eventually polish the tarnish past into a treasured antique. Many of us feel that in Alanon awe found the healthy family we had missed and, in the Steps, the reasonable guidelines toward maturity that were lacking in families distorted by the disease of alcoholism. By the time we complete Step Nine, serenity and gratitude don't seem like loony ideas after all."
From Survival to Recovery- pages 206-207.
I don't have to keep doing the steps forever. I believe that there is an end to the task- and time to move on. Different for different people, though. Sometimes a brush-up is needed. I set the 12 Steps like the numbers on the clock... and do the rounds from time to time.
I want to do steps 10, 11 and 12 mostly. Step 10 keeps me up to date.
Currently I am looking for the spiritual pay-off in Step 12. I look too Bill. Not the first person to "see the light" but the first acknowledged alcoholic. he had been drinking, and taking "goof-balls"- which I expect was an amphetamine.
While in treatment he was taking belladonna [deadly nightshade-] and one other herb- when he had his spiritual awakening.
I had a "white light" experience when I was 20. It was life transforming. If I thought my life was going to be easy going after that- I was sadly mistaken. it was rough and gruelling. But in the end I made it so far... ...
I had life to live and lessons to learn.
Our groups just do not exist out there- on their own. They consist of ~us~ the members. We all need to pitch in, as best we can, to create and maintain these groups. They, in themselves, are miracles in progress!
i learned that i had the right to be wrong- and I desperately needed the opportunity to learn stuff... to be able to make mistakes- trial and error- in order to achieve emotional maturity- serenity...
But putting all of our ESH together, does create something bigger than all of us. A sense of awe? A higher power at play and at work? It is, or was, for me- and it bought me thus far... ...
Wow, that is just awesome (((David))). Thank you so much for sharing. It's incredible to know that someone somewhere in our program can always touch on something I need hear. I don't know where I would be today had I not found my second family by entering the doors of first Alanon meeting. I'm grateful to those who welcomed me and to keep coming back to welcome others. I'm a work in progress and as my life changes, I continue to need the principles of the program to guide my thoughts words and actions. I'm grateful for those here and my f2f meetings. TT
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Surround yourself with people and elements that support your destiny, not just your history.
David, what a wonderful share. I love the idea that in alanon we find the healthy family we never had. Ive completed the steps twice in 6 years. We also take one each month in my F2F. For me the steps are the tools for life that I was not taught. I was not prepared to be a grown up . I am sure in a couple years I will go through the process again. I saw such a difference in myself from the first time to the second. The entire program is a miracle that has changed my life. Forever grateful, Lyne
"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
"With the help of A
