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.
The idea of attending alanon face to face meetings even if you don't think it is for you or even if it seems like it's not "helping" is such a wonderful thing.
I first attended alanon in Dec 2008 I think. I didn't really see changes in my situation until recently BUT it seems like my brain is drawing from what I heard all along now all at once...
It is NOT a matter of ahhh I have "arrived" at all so please don't misunderstand my post..
I am so amazed at what I have learned that I feel very okay with what I currently don't know or can't yet understand and I feel like if I"ll just keep listening as best I can NOW my higher power will show me when he thinks I need to know-
I am on a Need to know basis with my higher power and at the same time resting in his loving tender care...so very very wonderful.
Even though I didn't "work the program" exactly the way it seemed I 'should' have or others did... it still benefits me greatly...
very cool. (((smile)))
Glad
-- Edited by glad on Sunday 25th of September 2011 09:53:45 PM
I agree Glad, we never arrive. I describe it as a wonderful journey that never ends. I didn't wake up one morning and say I got it. I did realize one day after almost a year in the program that I was "Get.....ing" it, by attending two meeting each week, with the help of a sponsor, working the steps, coming to MIP daily, and trying my best to practice the program in all my affairs and not just with the alcoholic in my life.
This program is soooo simple.......but it "ain't easy".
Glad, let me know if you ever get your Al-Anon dipoloma in the mail !!!
HUGS, RLC
-- Edited by RLC on Sunday 25th of September 2011 10:39:27 PM
I have been attending f2f meetings for a while now and I am so grateful that I have the rooms and people to share with every week. I'm normally a person who feels like "I don't understand things like everyone else does." and "I'll never get this" but part of the beauty of the program is you don't have to. I go to meetings, learn, share, and go home feeling the experience strength and hope of my friends. Every once in a while something sneaks in and I can use a tool from the program. My wife and I are really struggling to save our marriage right now and she is not a part of Al anon and really comes from the "normal" world. She is having so many issues with control right now. I want so badly to share what I have learned about the "illusion of control" with her, but she is someone who must feel like she is in control always. I can really just sit back and let her figure this out, but the fact that I realize I have no control over anyone or anything but me at least shows me that something has sunk-in over the years.
I am grateful to your post because I needed to hear that I am on the "need to know" basis with my HP today. Thank you for sharing your tools with me today.
Also, when I think I "got it" in the Alanon program, I have lost it. That awareness helps keep me teachable and humble.
I like that: on a need to know basis :) nice way to put it.
Private counseling, self-help & spiritual books were the "gateway" to Al-Anon for me. If I had just gone to Al-Anon, I think I might not have given the program much of a chance. The talk of a higher power would have made me run and never stop running.
Life, to me, is about continuious expansion. There is no end to growth; but we can drag our heels and be miserable. Higher Power is patient and subtle. It won't scream in my face what I should do. It sort of pats me on the shoulder and speaks softly. It was so easy to ignore in the beginning - nope - most of my life.
I'm glad I'm listening nowadays.
Good topic. Thanks for posting.
__________________
You have to go through the darkness to truly know the light. Lama Surya Das
Resentment is like taking poison & waiting for the other person to die. Malachy McCourt
