Tradition Twelve
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles above personalities.
Please share your experience, strength, and hope as it relates to Tradition 12. 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.
To me, anonymity means taking off the mask and learning how to be myself. It means not having to maintain appearances. It means giving up trying to control how others perceive me. Al-Anon is a safe place to practice being my true self. Many years of focusing on others and trying not to be seen caused me to lose myself. After so long hiding from my feelings, I didn’t know what they were anymore! When I entered recovery, I was a stranger to myself. Al-Anon is a safe place for me to shed my public face and get to know… Read more »
What does Anonymity mean to me. I can be myself. I can have my own thoughts, desires, ideas, dreams and wishes. I can find things I am interested in and have passion for people places and things. I can discover new ideas and gather information. I can learn something new every day. These Principles of Al-Anon open the door to new awareness, acceptance and new actions taken or not taken. To Be Understood as to Understand or maybe not Understand Everything knowing that God is in Charge and is Large. These GOD Incidences always take place when I am present… Read more »
I love this Tradition that taught me to listen to message and not pay so much attention to the messenger. Prior to the program and even after, I listened to who, in my eyes, were or seemed importnt. I took great pride in following their lead. I gave too much importance to personalities and this influenced my thinking and my decision making. When those people expressed opinions of any kinds, in my mind, they detained the truth. This of course were filled with illusions!!! Acting this way cheated me of important messages, that could have been very helpful in my… Read more »