What is your favorite page in all of Al‑Anon’s Conference Approved Literature and why?
October’s topic is, “What is your favorite page in all of Al‑Anon’s Conference Approved Literature and why?”
As always, you can also write about Al‑Anon’s three Legacies. This month features Step Ten, Tradition Ten, and Concept Ten.
Sharings on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
New topics are being added each month!
“All publications” means to me, the pamphlets too. So, my favorite of all is the Three Views of Al-Anon, and especially, but not only, “An Open Letter from an Alcoholic” on the inside. Next would be the Public Information handbook. It’s greatest ever. Al-Anon Birthday 3/31/82. Thanks for letting me share.
I don’t really have just one favorite page. Depending on what I’m going through, puzzling over, or feeling at the moment, different pieces of CAL will come to mind and serve as my guide. Today what’s coming to mind is page 204 in Discovering Choices. On that page a member shares about her relationship with God, and how that relationship has changed and grown through her recovery. My favorite paragraph on that page basically lists the things that she’s come to believe God really cares about. There are things the world cares about – like who I married, the job… Read more »
My favourite page is the reading of April 22 of Hope for Today. I love this reading. I was walking in the forest and it was beautiful all around, and then I picked up a rock and named loneliness and so on. One day I was carrying my garbage bag and it was tearing off and still I want to hold it and not want to throw it. It reminded me that I still clinged to my character defects, my Higher Power wants to take it but I just dont want to let go those defects just like my garbage… Read more »
My answer to “What’s your favorite page in all of Al-Anon’s Conference Approved Literature and why?” will change based on where I am in my recovery and what I need. Each new year a start my day with one of our daily readers. This year I cycled back to One Day at a Time in Al-Anon. I struggled with what I viewed as stereotypes, a rigid interpretation of a Higher Power, and an preponderance of quotes from religious texts. I shared my struggles with my Sponsor. My Sponsor emailed me the new introduction to One Day at a Time in… Read more »
My favorite page in Al-Anon literature is page 86 in One Day at a Time in Al-Anon. I came to my first Al-Anon Meeting in February. This page is March 26, so I was about 6 weeks into coming to meetings the first time I read it. I call page 86 my first spiritual awakening. I hadn’t found a Sponsor yet, and I began to read page 86 every morning. “But we do have a power, derived from God, and that is the power to change our own lives.” I remember reading it for the first time and just feeling… Read more »
My favourite page is page 18 in How Al-Anon Works. I can check myself to know if I am in the disease or in recovery. I have read this page at meetings.
The sample reading for A Little Time for Myself – Al-Anon Family Groups was a warm and welcoming introduction. With the brief reading and prompt for daily journal or meditation, I didn’t feel overwhelmed or as if this would become just another task to complete. It seemed like something I could look forward to in the day and make time to sit and reflect with candor.
For me it is difficult to pick one favorite page. I can say that the pages that touch me the most are the ones that reflect how our Higher Power works in members’ lives. When I first came to Al-Anon, I had lost faith in a Higher Power and I was somewhat disturbed by the word God as seen in the Steps or mentioned by members in their shares. What started to give me faith in a Higher Power is the part in Step Three that says: “as we understood Him”. This is what kept me in the program. Since… Read more »
How Al-Anon Works, the page after the Preface, titled “A Special Word to Anyone Confronted With Violence,” is perhaps the most important information we offer. Living with alcoholism can be a life and death matter, and I especially appreciate this book starting right off by powerfully addressing that reality. The paragraph entitled “Tapping Other Resources” humbly addresses the fact that we do NOT claim to have all the answers. It is an outstanding book.
September 22nd in One Day at A Time is one of my favorite pages. “Today’s Reminder” on this page reminds me that I don’t need to let others interfere with my serenity. This has been a much needed reminder in my life.
My favorite line from CAL is on p. 340 (Dec. 5) in One Day at a Time in Al-Anon. It says: “We learn how to live and find serenity in the midst of alcoholic turmoil.” As an adult child with the character defect of perfectionism, I often think that because I am in Al-Anon I should be undisturbed by the alcoholic’s behavior. I think that I should be more healed than I am at the moment and not keep relapsing into old unhealthy behavior. This line reminds me that turmoil is normal for families with the disease of alcoholism. It… Read more »
On the front inside cover of each of my daily readers I have a sticky note with a list of what I call my “every day” pages. These are pages that resonate deeply with me and that I feel enhance my recovery if I read them each day. There are about a dozen pages in total on my “every day” list but I think my favorite page is the July 30 reading on page 212 of One Day at a Time in Al-Anon. The overall theme of this page is “Just for Today” and I have found it functions as… Read more »
Such a good topic!
One of my favourite pages in CAL is the Chapter 9 introduction to the Slogans in How Al-Anon Works for Families and Friends of Alcoholics.
The reason being that it’s like a wonderful entre to the menu of Slogans that comes after. The introduction in itself I find calming and reassuring.
July 1 in One Day at a Time. Best page for reminding me that this program is for me and me alone. And that MY recovery is the most important thing for me to focus on. I have been a fan of this page for nearly 40 years and read it during a meeting several times a year.
Oh boy, what a question. There are way too many pages in CAL that have opened my eyes, my heart, my mind to new ways of seeing. I cannot choose one. So I will generalize, and say that every month I turn to the back of The Forum to see how members apply the Three Legacies to their personal lives. Yes, that’s more than one page, but let me consider that section as my go-to one favourite place where our Three Legacies come alive for me, instead of abstract.
Thank you for letting me share.
My favorite page is March 25th, page 85, in Courage to Change. It touches on all the “big” topics for me namely self-care, boundaries, and service. I am tasked with prioritizing me! I came into this program so other-focused. It felt selfish to consider myself first. I’ve come to deeply appreciate the gentle awareness that if I am a mess emotionally, physically or spiritually, I am not a healthy wife, mother, sister or daughter. Boundaries, which eluded me the first half of my life, simply give me the breathing room to have the time and energy to invest in me.… Read more »
Growing up in the family disease of alcoholism, I learned very quickly it was best not to ask for what I needed or wanted. I could never predict the alcoholic’s moods or reactions to my requests, so my go-to defense mechanism was to stay quiet, keep my head down, and go with the flow. This behavior served me well as the child of an alcoholic, but I have learned in Al-Anon that it is stunting my relationships and my serenity. I recently left a long-term position for an opportunity at another company, and it has been a very challenging transition… Read more »