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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 came across this analogy of Letting Go vs. Giving up and thought I'd share.
In Thailand, they trap monkeys by tethering a coconut shell to a stake in the ground. They cut a hole in the shell just big enough for a monkey's hand and then put a piece of fruit in the shell. Then they hide and wait. A monkey will come up and smelling the fruit, put its hand in the shell to grab the treat. But with the fruit in its fist, the monkey can't get its hand out of the shell. It is stuck! The trapper comes out of hiding and the monkey will run around and around in a circle held there by the shell, tether and stake. It will even let the trapper put it in a sack while it refuses to let go of the fruit.
The monkey is trapped by the fact that it won't give up on its desire for the fruit. But if it would just "let go", it could remove its hand from the shell and escape.
Christy
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If we think that miracles are normal, we will expect them. And expecting a miracle is the surest way to get one.