How do you express gratitude today?
Please share your experiences by commenting on the topic below. The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the person who gave them. Take what you liked and leave the rest. Member sharing on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
This month we’re asking you to share on how do you express gratitude today?
I am 55 years old. Just over 16 months ago I relented my will and attended an Al-Anon meeting. I was mad that I “had” to go when I wasn’t the one with the problem. I was more concerned with being right than being humble at the time. I was a hot mess but nobody could tell me and I wouldn’t have listened anyway. I have embraced Al-Anon in my life, and for the first time in my adult life I am grateful. I am grateful that I have finally realized I have a problem that I, along with my… Read more »
I am new to Al-Anon and am so grateful and blessed to be able to listen and share with others who are coping with a loved one who is battling alcoholism. We don’t have control over it but do have control over how we ourselves react to it. Thank you to everyone that steps up and shares. You have been such a great encouragement and support for us all.
My gratitude for the day is for our co-founders Lois W. and Ann B. who has gifted the world with such a profound program. Today I am able to wake up in the morning and say ” Good morning God!” and not ” Oh God it is morning again !” Today my priority is to start my day reading daily CAL thoughts, prayer and meditation and stay connected to my Higher Power ( GOD of my understanding that is a Good Orderly Direction of the program) and strive to live my each moment in peace and joy. The favorite quotes… Read more »
After being in Al-Anon I have learned to focus on the positive. Daily and especially when life becomes challenging, I focus on the slogans and reflect on all the blessings in my life. Most importantly the love of my higher power and supportive, loving people helps me to step outside of myself and not dwell on negative and the things I can’t change. Life truly is one day at a time… one hour at a time… One minute at time… With all the changes and unexpected happenings of life, God will walk by my side and thankfully when the going… Read more »
I have noticed a direct correlation between my overall joy and my nightly gratitude journal. When I find myself in an emotional funk, I open the dusty cover of my thankfulness journal, and sure enough…it’s been some days since I was last intentionally thankful. These bumps in my recovery have also come to mean a lot, as I can directly see how actively working my program works. I am most thankful for how I have received the gift of recovery; it helps me see what a beautiful life it is indeed.
It can be hard to see things to be grateful for when your spouse has clearly chosen alcohol over saving your marriage. And still, I look around and sometimes the tiniest most insignificant thing will happen. Like, finding a parking spot in front of my building late at night after work. And I say “thank you” to the Universe. And then it’s like I can see there is so much to be grateful for, so much to appreciate. And then the fog starts to lift. I will sometimes write my gratitude in a journal. And sometimes I just say it… Read more »
Gratitude …. I’m new to Al-Anon. I went to my first meeting in October 2019 desperate for answers (part of me is still in that spot) but after a few meetings, the conference in Southington and reading The Forum and Courage to Change, I have hope and am grateful that I found Al-Anon. “Just for Today” is so very important to me.
In my life today “Gratitude is the Attitude”. My gratitude is expressed in my willingness to be there for the still suffering. I want to be a power of example, and in order to achieve this, I need to be practicing the 36 principles of Al-Anon in all my affairs. “Just for Today” I am grateful to my Higher Power for the sobriety in my home. I want to focus on all the positives and let go of the negatives, because positivity is the path to my growth and recovery.
Gratitude is probably one of my favorite topics in Al-Anon. Many times when chairing a meeting that is the topic I pick for discussion, however, I preface it with why, as newcomers may not be feeling much gratitude. Al-Anon and its messages saved my life. I was in the depth of despair and did not want to live. After my first meeting, I felt hope and knew that they understood what I was going through. Their empathy and caring brought me back over and over again. After several years of practicing the program I received the answers I was looking… Read more »
I express my Gratitude by trying to live the Steps. Today gratitude is a practice, and it is more important than how I sometimes feel. Gratitude is the deep knowing that my Higher Power is guiding and loving me. Gratitude is knowing that those around me have hope and help in their most difficult times. Gratitude is knowing that I may not be feeling super serene right now, because I’m busy being sane. Sanity to me is experiencing reality with an appropriate response. That might mean I must be sad, angry, confused or lonely. That sanity is a gift. My… Read more »
It has been my experience that gratitude is the most powerful place to be. On one particularly frustrating and stressful week with nothing going right, I wrote and mailed 50 different cards thanking 50 people for the greatness I see in them. As I approached card number 30, it dawned on me that the only reason I can see all this greatness in the people around me, is because it is in me as well. I cannot see what I do not have. By the time I finished writing all my cards, all the solutions had come to me for… Read more »
I have shared gratitude today with allowing my husband to use the better vehicle to go to the bar as he set the date up with me as of the first of the week. I am not asked to go anywhere this day so no interference with my schedule. I listened to my daughters requests to me and planned to have one on one conversations or texting with each. I made a plan with my youngest daughter for her call after a certain time that I would be available; instead of interrupting another thing I was doing or thought I… Read more »
Gratitude: I decided to write down three things I was grateful for everyday in a small notebook/journal.
Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I think of many more than three things, but I only try to write three things. It helps me to write them down and make a record that I can look at when a rough time occurs. I try to keep them specific and relevant to my daily life.
Today I am grateful for electronic meetings, texting, and that someone else is mowing my lawn. Of course I am always grateful for Al-Anon.
I find gratitude comes to me at different levels. What makes me happy, an ability to listen to others and receive an unexpected gift, good news from loved ones, finding patience and compassion for the troubles in this world. But most of all I am grateful for Al-Anon and how it has shown me how to find growth in my own pain. To see beyond my jealousy, it’s so embarrassing and shaming and find compassion for myself and option for change and growth.
For me, Service is gratitude in action. I am grateful for my program, the people in the program and especially the people that are willing to do Service in my state. Not only do I give back to my program but I continue to learn from all the people around me and new people that come into my life. I could not ask for a more full life thanks to Al-Anon, and gratitude is one of the first things I do before stepping out of bed in the morning. It gives me a jumpstart to my day and puts me… Read more »
I am taking care of my two grandchildren 9 and 13. Their mother is a single mom and a struggling alcoholic. I am so thankful for this wonderful opportunity to be with them each day and watch them enjoy life without the yelling and screaming they hear from their mother. My husband and I share meals with them but we make the dinner meal in the evening special by beginning with a Thanksgiving song and then telling each other what special event that day which made us thankful to be alive. As a senior I know my time is limited… Read more »
I have been expressing my gratitude during particularly stressful times in the alcoholic household or even outside of my alcoholic family. It’s easier said than done, when during trying times my mind tends to gravitate towards negative thinking, but I have been consciously trying to do this. Expressing gratitude when I’m angry or when I feel depressed or when I feel fear or when I’m jealous etc etc. Besides this I try to make a mental gratitude list before going to bed. On some days I forget. But most days I try to list at least five things I’m grateful… Read more »
Gratitude was a foreign idea in my childhood as I didn’t find why I should be thankful for availability of my basic necessities which my grandmother usually did . After coming to Al-Anon , I started to use it but perhaps it was on upper surface not with full heart. I kept coming back to Al-Anon meetings, I tried to feel gratitude by touching it and nowadays I feel gratitude for caring for everything and everyone in my life. Loving and caring for what I have is a form of gratitude.
My expression of gratitude is more about the practice of gratitude and less about expression. Because ultimately, it has been my experience that gratitude is a practice comprised of acts and actions. Every act of outreach I make to someone suffering from the drinking or abstinence of drinking by another is how I ‘express’ gratitude especially for all I have received (and lost) as a result of practicing the principles of Al-Anon. I express gratitude as well in acts of service I perform within the fellowship and outside the fellowship with friends, neighbors, and strangers. Bottom-line for me is that… Read more »
“How do you express gratitude today?” I express my gratitude with our Three Legacies Our Three Legacies Recovery – Through the Steps Unity – Through the Traditions Service – Through the Concepts “The threefold guides of Al‑Anon point the way to a normal, useful, life for the individual. They are also a framework within which the groups can carry on their affairs in harmony.” Just finished a multi-year study of “Paths to Recovery” with my group. This book was amazing in the bringing to life of the three Legacies and the hidden meanings… Read more »