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.
When I first came into this program my sponsor gave me a God Can, it looks like a mini trash can. It says on it "I can't" in small letters, "God Can" in much larger letters. I still have it, I keep it on my dresser . When I was new to the program I was told to write down on paper those things I had no control over, and put them in my God Can. I could put the same thing in my can 100 times, only I couldn't take it back out (lol, that was how she put it, I came to learn that the more often I put the same thing in the can was just like I had "taken it back") This was a lesson in turning it over to my HP. Eventually as I grew in program I didn't have to put the same thing in the can as often, because I was learn how to turn it over to my HP. I was Letting Go and Letting God. When I was just starting out, I had no concept of letting go, this was a physical practice in doing just that. It also helped me to mentally let go of those thing I had absolutely no control over.
Hope this helps. I'm sure you'll do great at the workshop. (In Girl Scouts, we call it being VolunTOLD)
Doxie, as Luna wrote in her post it is a box, can or holder of some sort that you can put pieces of paper into but not take back out.
When I have something going on that is driving me towards a meltdown I write it out and put it in my God Box and like Luna I sometimes have to give it to God more than once.
I made my first one out of an empty kleenex box. I wanted it to look like something more than an old empty used box so I used my print shop program and put a background of clouds on the paper first, added two angels with their wings uplifted and the words "To God With Love" printed on the lower part. I then glued this to the kleenex box and left a tiny opening at the top.
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Everything I have ever let go of has claw marks all over it.
I have 2 different boxes: An God box, and a Dump It box. The God box is a piece of potter that I got at an Art Auction. There I put in prayers, and things I or hubby can't handle at the moment. We turn it over to God. Now we make sure to put this in a place that we can't get at or look at everyday! We've promised to each other, not to look in it. Sometimes it's easier said than done! But so far so good. At some point we'll go through them and see how we've fared.
As for the Dump It box, it's an old coffeecan. We've decorated, put a slit in the top of it and sealed it with duct tape. This is for stuff that is just plain getting to us and we are spending way too much time on. For instance, hubby got a nasty email from someone he was trying to help in his group and she misinterpreted his intentions. So when he told her he does not think of her in that way, she became enraged. Well she sent a nasty email, and at some point he was spending more time worrying about it and getting upset. So he printed it out and stuffed in the Dump It can! I put things like a bad day at work that I can't change. Every couple of months we open it up burn the contents of it! Poof! Up in !
I like having both, because one is for things we need to be concerned about: ie. hubby's impending surgery or prayers for family and friends. The other is for the little stuff that gets to us. Hope this helps. Thanks for "volunteering". You're awsome!
Love and blessings to you and your family.
Live strong,
Karilynn & Pipers Kitty
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It's your life. Take no prisoners. You will have it your way.
. When I was new to the program I was told to write down on paper those things I had no control over, and put them in my God Can. I could put the same thing in my can 100 times, only I couldn't take it back out (lol, that was how she put it, I came to learn that the more often I put the same thing in the can was just like I had "taken it back") This was a lesson in turning it over to my HP. Eventually as I grew in program I didn't have to put the same thing in the can as often, because I was learn how to turn it over to my HP. I was Letting Go and Letting God. When I was just starting out, I had no concept of letting go, this was a physical practice in doing just that. It also helped me to mentally let go of those thing I had absolutely no control over. 
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