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Step 1

Daily readings from Al-Anon's Magazine The Forum • Recovery Reflections • Quote/Sayings

FYI
Readings over the next few days may be delayed due to severe a winter weather situation occuring in my area. I may lose power and internet service which could delay readings. Rest assured readings will be posted as soon as possible if outages occur.

Wednesday 1/22/25

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It's never too late You can change your routine, your interests, your career, your focus, your circle. You can change. Don’t stay stuck.

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Step Twelve
The Twelfth Step says that having had a spiritual awakening, we try to carry this message to others. Our message is one of hope, love, comfort, health - a better way of life, one that works.

How do we carry it? Not by rescuing. Not by controlling. Not by obsessing. Not by becoming evangelists for the recovery cause.

We carry the message in many small, subtle, but powerful ways. We do our own recovery work and become a living demonstration of hope, self-love, comfort, and health. These quiet behaviors can be a powerful message.

Inviting (not ordering or demanding) someone to go to a meeting is a powerful way to carry the message.

Going to our meetings and sharing how recovery works for us is a powerful way to carry the message.

Being who we are and allowing our Higher Power to guide our actions are powerful ways to carry the message. Often, we find ourselves carrying the message more effectively than we do when we set out to reform, convince, or coerce someone into recovery.

Caretaking and controlling are not ways to carry the message. All those behaviors carry is codependency.

Still, the most powerful form of helping others comes down to helping ourselves. When we do our own work and are honest and open about it, we impact others more than by our most well intentioned "helping" gesture. We cannot change others, but when we change ourselves, we may end up changing the world.

Today, I will strive to carry the message in ways that work. I will let go of my need to "help" people. Instead, I will concentrate on helping and changing myself. If an opportunity comes up to share my recovery with someone, I will do so quietly. God, help me show others comfort, empowerment, and hope. I can be a channel to help others when I am ready. I do not have to force this; it will happen naturally.

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Getting Off the Emotional Rollercoaster

Although I grew up in an alcoholic home, I truly believed that alcoholism would not be an issue in my life if there were no active alcoholic drinking. I did not realize how much living with the disease of alcoholism as a child would affect my relationships with my children and husband.

I found Al‑Anon when I finally realized I was raising my children on the same insane emotional roller coaster that I had survived. I was desperate for a new way to live.

From the first meeting I attended, I felt at home and safe. I got a Sponsor and worked the Steps. I went to meetings and read the literature.
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I came into the program wanting to change the people around me. I realized I was getting healthier when I stopped sitting in meetings and thinking “so and so” should hear this.

The Al‑Anon program taught me to focus on me. I learned that changing my behavior was all I could control in my life. The miracle was that the change in my behavior was the catalyst for change in our family.

By Sheri S., Arizona June, 2012

Reprinted with permission of The Forum, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA.

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