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.
I sometimes just leaf through, not paying attention to dates, I just flip through and STOP when i see a message I need to hear.....
IN this hope for today......
Hope for Today
Living one day at a time as an adult child of an alcoholic can seem insurmountable when faced with the myriad feelings and memories that surface during recovery.This is when I would get on the boards...call my sponsor, reach out and know that I am not alone...That not only I am believed, but my feelings are validated....sooo freeing for one who thought she was a freak and noone could identify with me....
How do i stay in the present when faced with horrifying memories of the past? I wear a rubber band around my wrist to "SNAP" me in the now....I can go into obsessing, b/c of my anxiety, but now I can write....scream and yell and beat the chair with a tennis racquet, get that anger out in safe ways...go to the gym, work out my pain , and when really troubled, I *narrate* to me what i am doing ..like when washing the dishes, i describe the feeling of the hot water on my hands, the slipperyness of the soap.....I cannot be tormented by my past if i am right in the moment...this is also good for warding off intrusive thoughts that precede a panic attack a lot of times...
Facing the past as it may surface in my life today doesnt mean I have to stay stuck in it.I let the love of alanon help me , yes, feel the past, allow the memories and the feelings but i don't have to stay stuck...I can, after going through it, put it in a box and back up on the shelf....I never deny or stuff my feelings..I just don't let them run me anymore....
Thought for the Day Every time I use the Al-Anon tools to work through old feelings, I give myself the chance to have a better today. The steps show me how to release the past and not fear the future. From Survival to Recovery, p. 25
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Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
Thanks for the presenting HFT's January 27th reading, Neshema, and for your share. I appreciate all the effort you put into sharing your e/s/h with us in such a concise and understandable way.
This particular reading brought back memories for me of when I first started to truly heal. I can remember working as a medical transcriptionist in a hospital setting, listening and typing, listening and typing. Suddenly, old buried memories would surface and I couldn't seem to escape them. It scared me because I'd never had flashbacks before. I didn't want to tell anybody what was going on in me, so I'd leave the room and take a walk to a nearby stairwell where I could feel my feelings and talk with my HP. That always seemed to calm me. I also had the good fortune of becoming friends with a gal whose chair was assigned right next to mine. We would share lunch and breaks together. I learned that she, too, had married an abusive alcoholic/addict and was a single parent like me raising kids through poverty. She became a comfort to me and me to her and we shared many a time sitting in her warm kitchen, drinking tea and rocking in old rockers together as our children played together and we healed slowly together.
The author in this particular reading suggests that contact with others helped her stay in today and although she didn't always notice her HP's help, it came to her. Being willing to accept the help in whatever form that it came was up to her. I have learned that is true for me, too.
-- Edited by grateful2be on Saturday 31st of January 2015 02:52:01 PM
-- Edited by grateful2be on Saturday 31st of January 2015 04:26:44 PM
-- Edited by grateful2be on Saturday 31st of January 2015 05:06:01 PM
I am gonna take a look at how Betty does this b/c you are the only one who replied to this....so many using exerpts and my esh isn't what works.....gonna see how Betty or the others did their readings.....and thank YOU for YOUR service.....can't count how many times you have helped me.....
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Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
I think you did a fine job of presenting the material in a way that was meaningful for you and responding to it using your own e/s/h.
I can't talk for others, but when I respond to the reading for the day, I read the material for myself and respond to what is meaningful in the reading for me.
I notice that most everyone's shares are different when the reading is posted - not unlike our meetings. Your e/s/h may not be responded to by others immediately, but that doesn't mean folks aren't learning from it or listening to it, sister. I hope you know that?
I've edited my response somewhat. I did some crosstalk that I try to avoid when we are responding to the reading. I was wrong to do that at this type of share.
-- Edited by grateful2be on Saturday 31st of January 2015 05:07:23 PM
hey Catherine...I didn't see any crosstalk....i like the orig. post and I like the repost and yea, you are right....I saw that reading and those are the thoughts that came up....so i guess it WAS ok to share it as I saw it, what it meant for me...
I guess I still get unsure of me at times....oh well...progress not perfection....thank heavens someone wisely inserted that freeing slogan....I would be mowing down walls and flattening the top of my head, trying to perfect me....
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Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
I get unsure, too, especially when I'm doing something new. To my understanding, there is no certain way to present the material. We just can't post any of the copyrighted material. One of Betty's posts tells us what we can't do. There's like one "no" and 1,000 yeses on posting the reading for the day from one of our readers. Your way of detailing what you related to and in what way it applied to you was good, Rosie. It is different than how some others presented the reading and their share and I think that is the fun of anybody being able to post and share on the reading. At least for me its fun. And hahahahaLOL! "I would be mowing down walls and flattening the top of my head, trying to perfect me...." I'm fairly certain there are several of us who can relate to that statement. Maybe they'd say it different. Your witty way of saying it - AGAIN - made me LOL! Love your wit and self-acceptance here, sister.
It is different than how some others presented the reading and their share and I think that is the fun of anybody being able to post and share on the reading. At least for me its fun.
************************* Ya know, I agree with you....like each of us have our own "flavor" of sharing a post....I used the exerpt/one liners of sorts then gave what it meant to me........and yea , to me it is fun, reading the dailies as we present them in our own way.....thanks for letting me know i am not alone in the *unsure* of myself re: doing something new.....i figure if i screw up, one of the mods will hopefully give me a chance to understand what I did and i can either agree and change...or leave the dailies alone......i know this board has to be kinda different on the sharing of the dailies...like we can't copy/paste the whole thing....hope this made sense....
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Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
I reply to as many of these as I can, because they help me so much. They help me to keep working my program when I can't get to face to face. Sometimes I am not able to reply to them all, but I appreciate everyone posting these daily and I appreciate all the different esh. I think you did a fine job Rosie. I loved the reminders to pick up the phone and also your tips for staying in the present. I still struggle with being here now and I like how you broke it down to how it felt to do the dishes...
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I needed these behaviors in my past they helped me survive I'm finding new and better ways to not just survive but thrive
I think you did a fine job Rosie. I loved the reminders to pick up the phone and also your tips for staying in the present. I still struggle with being here now and I like how you broke it down to how it felt to do the dishes...
thank you karma....i am glad u got something out of it.....it was my first "take" and i was a bit unsure of myself.......and oh yea, the narrating and just telling myself what I NOW see...smell..hear...feel...even taste when eating....my mind cannot be projecting/scaring me to death if i am totaly focused on what I am experiencing right now....like lying in bed, even....how my socks rub my feet when i move them...do they feel rough?? soft??? dog hair on them??? LOL.....what do I hear, even if i can't ID it, do i hear something?? smell something?? right now my dog is asleep and she SNORES......being aware of my surroundings right now, i can't be entertaining intrusive thoughts....my mind's apartment has room for only one tenent.......hope this made sense
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Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
Dear Neshema, sharing your thoughts on the reading in the Hope for Today is perfect. I was out of town all day today and that is why I posted my thoughts on today's reading in theC2C early in the morning.
I like how you shared the reading and pointed out the Al-Anon tools used in order to get through the painful memories of the past and projections in the future. The steps, slogans, Al-Anon telephone calls, sharing on the board all work toward letting go of the painful memories so that we can have a true present.
I love how you affirmed the fact that we should never deny our feelings. We should acknowledge them, share them, and we do not have to react to them but we should honor them
I am so relieved that i did not step out of line on anything...or do wrong
This is my maiden voyage and I didn't see any ice bergs, but didn't want to collide into one, unknowingly and sink.........and you guys telling me that this was "ok" I feel more confident now....
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Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
