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.
that was confirmed years later in recovery and maybe she was speaking from her awareness and experience regarding alcoholism in her/family and wasn't saying alcoholism. We had a cat "Snowy" who had kittens. Blacky was the poppa and the kittens were either white...or...black. One of the little white ones was cuter to me than the others and I remarked that to my mother. I was about 11 years old at the time and I like the cuteness of this kitten. My mother said, "Know how to keep them small and young"?..."feed them alcohol". Strange statement to an eleven year old and my body language response was "whaaaa". I couldn't perceive it and so I dropped it. Years later I learn in the program and college about the effect alcohol addiction has on people and how when the disease starts up and starts to progress the drinker stops growing mentally and emotionally and even behaviorally; they regress as the disease progresses. Drinking becomes everything, the primary activity, mind body spirit and emotions and I got to remember my relationships in my alcoholic family or origin and my own stunted growth and I became a believer. I learned also that after it stunts the mind, emotions and spirit (depresses this) the body will stop growing and regress. I came into Al-Anon first. I am a child of the disease a practice enabler. I was 9 years alcohol free before entering AA. I finally took the addiction assessment for the most valid reason to learn about me and the chemical. Today I am a double and now fully my age and still alive. When I came into Al-Anon I was jaundice yellow/green which disappeared 5 years after being alcohol free. My body was healing as this wonderful created mechanism will when I stopped poisoning it. Now I'm an aged man going on 18 years of age...my grand children and great grand children love it cause we can all relate. I am still part of the team...LOL. I am still powerless and need my powers greater than myself...the god of my understanding; Akua and the Al-Anon Family Groups with MIP...daily basis. Grateful....and more grown up. Love you all (((((hugs)))))
Going on 18....teehee. I didn't drink alcohol, but my growth was stunted, too, because of it. I wasn't jaundiced when I entered the rooms of al anon, but I was pale and tired. I had no fire left in me. Maybe I am going on 20
And what kind of delicious flower is your new avatar?
-- Edited by PP on Sunday 29th of June 2014 09:52:27 PM
Me also TT whew!! Free at last, Free at last...thank GOD!! I'm free at last.
PP that is actually the inside of a Red Hala fruit...The Hala leaves were and are still used for weaving many things and the mature single sections, the red to the greenish/brown tips when dried were used as brushes. The inner very white core and the red radials recently reminded me of a chant I love titled E ala e about the rising of the sun causing the darkness to disappear...the metaphor for awareness and understanding. Glad you like it. (((hugs)))
I love the statement "Free at Last". I think I'm going to make that a goal of mine. To be free of the weights and chains of alcohol and all the pain it has caused me. Jerry you are one smart fellow! Thank you.
So glad your free at last jerry and now your helping others work towards their own freedom. Im also free at last and it feels great and its all in my own mind, im free from my own defective thinking, its amazing. It is coming out of the darkness and into the light, coming out of the denial into the truth, we are so lucky.x
Thank you so much Jerry, you have helped me a lot with this hopeful post ((((hugs))))
I love the sound of the E ala chant, it works beautifully with your new avatar.
I have never had the classic symptoms of alcoholism... but I am always very wary of any form of addiction and compulsion. I never see double or triple winners as being any different.
At about the age of 4 I began sniffing petrol. It came to the notice of my father because i got 'drunk' one afternoon. I was told it was bad for me and I swore off it. It took a little time- and I will always remember the process. Living on a farm gasoline was readily available. At the age of 17 I was on heavy medication for pain and depression. I learned here that on its own medication could be a trap as well. And today I only use medication when I have too. At the age of 17 I had my first and last blackout- through drinking a quart of whiskey straight.
My mum taught me not to drink from 'the top shelf'. Also that alcoholics were people who 'drank with the flies'. So so long as you were drinking in company you were okay. She taught me one lesson about stealing. She said the cat would climb up on the table when no-one was looking, The cat would dip its paw into the cream and lick the paw. When it did this it shut it's eyes tight so no-one could see it.
Getting on to your topic- we become emotionally stunted. Yes... not only from the substance of choice, but being around other people who cannot grow up. I think this point may be the key to Alanon... we gather in groups and carry on with our emotional growth, whether the alcoholic is drinking or not.
Most, if not all of us, can be emotional primed for the alcoholic home... we are not able to see the warning signs... because for us the warning signs are perfectly normal. [This is just my own personal opinion, and does not reflect Alanon policy.]
I went through this in my 20's... as you might say you can take the kid out of the home, but you can't take the home out of the kid...
for me the emotional sobriety of AA, and the serenity of Alanon is exactly the same thing.
What I love about recovery ...spiritual recovery in Al-Anon and AA is that it is from the inside out; the inside, that place where my Higher Power and the peace of mind and serenity live. We have a lot of the other things, the material stuff and the like and it is the presence of serenity that acknowledges that our spirits are healthy and alive. We give this away what and when ever the chance so that others might come to understand.
My wife and I took the opportunity to 12 step my parents before their human existence ended. Both commented at different times that what they heard and what they learned was right and had never occurred to them before the step. Keep coming back (((((hugs)))))
