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.
A reading came up tonight, and I wanted to share it with the board.
"Those who benefit most from [Al-Anon] have the courage to face their difficulties instead of hiding them in some dark corner of their minds, to set up a gnawing sickness of spirit."
"Most of us think we know what our problem is; but do we really? One way to discover its real nature is to write it out in detail. Putting it into words on paper [or on a screen], where we can look at it and correct it as our attitudes change, can be most helpful in making us see it clearly."
"This should not be a catalog of grievances against others, but an attempt to state the problem honestly. Thus we learn that not all our difficulties were created by someone else, but by us, too."
(ODAAT, 105)
I read this and thought, this is the board!This is how the board helps us, by letting us drag our problems into the light where they can't chew at the corners of our minds, creating anxiety and suffering.
Everybody who has posted on this board, pat yourself on the back for having the courage to face your difficulties!
__________________
"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."
~ J. R. R. Tolkien
I agree, sharing our problems lessens the burden of it. I also have learned a ton of different perspectives by posting here. I find the same is true with regards to my feelings that are eating away at me - when I verbalize them or write them, I am acknowledging and validating them and that alone helps take some of the magnitude away. Then they are more easy to deal with. Not to mention that we are not here to judge each other and this is a safe place to air ourselves - being understood here goes SO far and is a Blessing.
__________________
Light, Love, Peace, Blessings & Healing to Us All. God's Will Be Done. Amen.
That's so true intothewoods--when i was going to f2f meetings I struggled in the program because i wasn't able to get "real" about myself, my life situation. I always admired people who came into the program who got it right away what it was for, 'i love an alcoholic and i dont know how to help them'. I have the opposite problem, i live with a dry drunk/functional alcoholic and i want to (unliterally) kill her!! I love these boards though, ive always expressed myself better in the written word than the spoken.. grateful for the 'net for this :)
A reading came up tonight, and I wanted to share it with the board. 
