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.
Today's reading considers the importance of hearing "Keep Coming Back" both early and well along in our recovery. A tendency to want to want to apply a 'fix' along with an impatience for 'just' sitting down at a meeting may feed a feeling that we can do go it alone.
Challenges in recovery don't cease after hearing about AlAnon and attending a meeting or two...or two thousand. If we stayed long enough in our first meeting we heard these words as it closed:
"...there is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened."
Reminder: No matter how long we have been associated with AlAnon, turning to the basics will help us improve one day at a time.
"If I really want to learn how to fit easily and happily into my environment and my relations with other people, AlAnon has something for me." ODAT ----------- When I struggle, it is not a failure of the program but a result of me loosening my grip on steps and principles in my life.
Grabbing a meeting, reviewing a favorite program reading or intro and first chapter of Paths to Recovery provides a quick reset and immediate relief from what typically is not mine to attempt to control in the first place.
Grateful for the wisdom and reminders 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
Thank you for your post and your ESH. The Alanon closing is like a comfy blanket for me. I was finishing it after where you left off. I need the peace this program gives me. I got goosebumps when I was saying to myself, "Instead, let the understanding, love, and peace of the program grow in you one day at a time."
Knowing that is still in my head after all the time I have been "away" filled me with peace.
Thank you!
Yours in recovery,
Salome (sal-oh-may)
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"We are not punished for our unforgiveness, we are punished by it" Jim Stovall
Good morning MIP! Thank you Paul for your service and the daily. Thank you both for your shares and ESH. What I always love about recovery is we truly do get to start over each/every day. It is a choice if we bring forward to this day the trials/tribulations of yesterday or not. I do all that I can to embrace this day, just this day, and enjoying what is vs. what I think it should be.
I have found it true that I am much more balanced and serene if I practice this program each day. I talk often about a routine and it's been very, very helpful for me. I appear to do best as a 'creature of habit' and my habits of today certainly include recovery actions. Time and time again, when I am restless, irritable or discontent, I do find that I've changed something up and not always for the better.
Happy, happy Tuesday all - I am headed out to golf, socially distant. I am so grateful that golf is allowed in my area and that we've had very mild temperatures for this time of year. I am looking forward to getting outside, getting fresh air and swinging my clubs around.
Make it a great day - find and keep your joy - it's been true for me that no situation is too difficult when I am willing to take action...(((Hugs)))
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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 Paul for your service and for all above shares. I keep coming back because lifes challenges keep coming back. A time will never come when I can take a deep breath, let it out, and all be well. Nope. I may have moments or a day (s) where all is well, but life is not static and so the problems, pain, and troubles will always be around. Seeing gratitude and assets are extremely important for me, and also looking for serenity at the start of each day, as someone recently posted.
Thank you, Paul for your service, and all the wonderful shares above.
I find it very comforting that Al-Anon (and this forum!) is here for me should I choose to engage. Very much like Salome, I am looking at it like a warm, familiar blanket... offering comfort and shelter.
Grateful.
&
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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
Paul and everyone, thank you for sharing on this topic. I love going back to the basics. I am glad that at Al-Anon meetings we read the same opening and closing texts, over and over again, every time. Not only is it comforting to have something reliable to count on, when life is unmanageable -- it takes time for all that wisdom to sink in.
I clearly remember the day those words from the closing sunk in for me -- I had heard them before, but one day they just lit up -- "...there is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened." That gave me so much hope, even though at the moment I was still in a deep dark hole, just seeing little glimpses of light. Those words helped me understand that I was in Al-Anon for my own recovery, and that recovery was possible.
& 