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AL
We will post something NEW each month – and we need YOUR contributions!
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– NEW TOPIC needs YOUR share! |
Post greetings and messages –congratulate a member on an
anniversary, thank your sponsor or another member, send a holiday greeting
... or??? NEW CARD – click here! |
This area is for
YOUR writing – poetry, essays, or other forms of
sharing – please contact us
to contribute! |
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“Barefoot” board
- for YOUR topics! |
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This web site is for YOU – District 5 members and members from around the world – and
we created this page as one way for YOU to share your experience, strength and
hope with other visitors to this site! The
bulletin board and area for sharing can be another way to facilitate a “loving
interchange of help among members.” You can share your writings,
ideas, thoughts, wisdom, humor, poetry, questions, sayings, gratitude, topics
for meetings, “learning experiences” you’ve had, congratulations to others, art
– anything Al-Anon related that you would like to share! To share on this page, please send us an e-mail!
Please note that in keeping with
Al-Anon’s Traditions and
principles – we can not post messages or information about groups, programs or
enterprises other than Al-Anon, no
matter how worthwhile they may be. We can not post quotes or material from
literature that is not Al-Anon “conference approved”
literature. We can not post full names or personal contact information for you
or for others, so please include either your first name, first name/last
initial, or initials; or you may post as “anonymous” or with a non-identifying
nickname (e.g. “Serenity Sam.”)
You are
welcome to share your personal experiences and feelings related to
messages posted by others. Please consider
that in Al-Anon, we share our experience, strength and hope to help others and
ourselves; we do not provide direct advice to others, or tell another person
what to think, what to do or how to act. Please feel free to share things that
you have learned at meetings or from others – but please remember that personal
information and stories that you hear from others in meetings must not be
repeated outside of the meeting.
DISTRICT 5 Al-ANON BULLETIN BOARD
To share on this bulletin board, please
e-mail us at afgdistrict5@gmail.com.
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Topic: |
SPONSORSHIP! Calling
All Members – Share YOUR experience with sponsoring others, being sponsored,
what sponsorship means to you, tips for sponsoring or being sponsored, or
other ideas - please send us YOUR share about “sponsorship” and we will
post it! |
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Date posted |
Messages |
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Topic: |
Progress Not Perfection Please send
us YOUR share
about “progress not perfection” and we will post it! |
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Date posted |
Messages |
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05/15/08 |
Progress
not perfection reminds me to try to be the best me I can be,
rather than to try to attain unrealistic goals or strive to fulfill an image
of what I imagine others may expect of me or of what I imagine “perfect”
would be like. “Progress” reminds me to take action, not to just wait and
hope for situations to improve but to actively work to make change happen.
Not perfection reminds me to practice acceptance, have realistic
expectations, and to keep trying to do the right things regardless of whether
the outcome is exactly what I wanted it to be. By practicing the Steps and
principles of the Al-Anon program, I make progress. Even if the progress is
not always consistent and never will be perfect, and even though there will always
be things I will never be able to change no matter how much I may want to
change them, I can make progress towards changing the things I can change and
towards being a better me. ~ Judy A., |
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Topic: |
CHANGING
RESENTMENTS Resentments can be tough to live with AND
tough to change – but the tools of Al-Anon can help! How have you dealt with
resentments - what has worked for you, what challenges have you found, what
difficulties are you working on? Please send us YOUR share about “changing resentments” and
we will post it! |
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Date posted |
Messages |
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02/21/08 |
I came to Al-Anon deeply resenting that I
had been told to come to Al-Anon!
However, my son was in Dawn Farm treatment program and I felt I had
to cooperate with everything that was recommended in order to be able to help
my son recover from drug addiction. All I wanted was for my son to get clean
and sober. It took me weeks to be able to relax enough to really listen to
what was said at meetings. Eventually I started hearing that “detachment” was
not abandonment or lack of caring, that “letting go” was not giving up or
refusing to provide appropriate help at the right times, and that others in
Al-Anon deeply cared about their loved ones but had learned the differences
between what they could and could not change about the circumstances that led
them to Al-Anon. Detachment with love has helped me to accept the situation
as it is (my son is in relapse) without resentment, and to keep the doors
open while setting limits and not enabling his disease. I am grateful to
Al-Anon for helping me to love my son while hating what his disease does to
him, and for helping me to have hope for our future instead of despair over
the present. ~ M.W.; |
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01/22/08 |
Here is how Al-Anon helps me to change resentments: - Working the Steps helps me identify
the resentments I have and their causes. It also helps me to identify how I
respond to things that cause me to have resentments, and what my role is. - I may not be able to change the
things I resent, but I can change my responses, and the Steps, slogans and
other program tools help me to respond with acceptance, love and forgiveness
to things I otherwise might feel resentful towards. - Al-Anon helps me to see that not
everything is about me, and to not take things personally. Resentments don’t last
as long or seem as bad when I realize things are not personal. ~ Amanda |
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01/22/08 |
Changing Resentments: I sometimes resent people who have what I want. I have
problems with not wanting to let go of material possessions. I save way
too much because I might need it later or it is too good to let go of. Three of my family members have no problem tossing out or passing on. I am working on letting a family member help me sort thru and pass on material items I can't let go of. Only because of Al-Anon am I even letting this person help me. ~ Mary |
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SERENITY Please send us YOUR share about “serenity” and we will post
it! |
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Date posted |
Messages |
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11/01/07 |
Serenity: Serenity for
me is about feeling like I can deal with what happens. I may not be able to
make things go my way, but I will be able to make good decisions and cope with
the outcomes. Al-Anon helps me to have the tools to do this. Before, I would
expend all my energy trying to make things come out “right.” Today I know
that all I can do is do my best to do the right things; I have no control
over how those things will turn out. To me, serenity is truly about accepting
the things I can not change while having the courage to do the right thing
even when it’s hard to do. Sometimes this means taking action and other times
it means letting go. I make the best decision I can and feel OK with that. To
me that’s serenity. Thanks for letting me share. ~ Julie
K. |
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Topic: |
GRATITUDE Every day is a good day for gratitude –
please send us YOUR share on “gratitude” and we will post
it! |
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Date posted |
Messages |
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01/21/08 |
Gratitude. So much to put
down. I shall begin. I shall not finish, because living life is an ongoing
experience, lesson. I'm grateful to be alive, to live each day as it unfolds. I'm grateful for a Higher Power, whom I chose to call God. I'm grateful for the fellowship of Al-Anon. Thanks to the founders of
A.A. and Al-Anon for my life today. I'm grateful that I can live each day according to the suggested
Steps, Traditions, and Concepts of Al-Anon. Is it difficult? YES! Can I do it
perfectly? I could go on and on. Suffice it to put it down on paper for now. Keep coming back to the meetings. It's worth it because YOU are
worth it. Peace. Kathy S. |
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09/15/07 |
Gratitude: When my son's drug and alcohol addiction began
to consume him, I became consumed with trying to help him get better. I was
terrified he would die, and so did everything I could think of to try to get
him to stop drinking and using drugs, and to protect him meanwhile. When my
son finally accepted help at a local treatment center, I was forced to sit
back and let others help him. I am grateful to Al-Anon for helping me to let
go so he could get the help he needed.
I am grateful to have my son back, and I will be forever grateful to
Dawn Farm and A.A. for helping my son get well. I am grateful every day for
how Al-Anon helps me to learn, change and grow. ~ Jen. |
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09/09/07 |
An Attitude of Gratitude. I remember the first
time I used this term when conversing
with my Mom early in my recovery. She seemed surprised, as I rarely expressed anything other than
negativity pre-program. And I was surprised, too, because I remembered wondering when I began my journey
of recovery if I would EVER learn the
'jargon'. It was like a foreign language to me - all the talk of Steps & Slogans & Traditions, Oh, my!!
I think that the term
'spirituality' was a big motivator for my new Attitude of Gratitude. I am
forever grateful that this miraculous
program lead me to the God of MY understanding, and that this new-found HP of mine continues to guide me
and prompt me to work this program so
I can continue, one day at a time, to
practice the Al-Anon principles in all my affairs. After my Mom passed
away, we came across a notebook that
I believe she started after we had that conversation about gratitude. She was not in a program of
recovery, but she began to
list 3 things a day that she was grateful for! I don't write in my gratitude book as faithfully as I
could, yet when I do pick it up - and if I'm not in an especially serene a spot as I'd like to be, writing in my
gratitude journal always gives
me some inner peace. And I like to think that my Mom experienced some of that,
too. Thank YOU for being here! Create a BEYOU tiful day!! ODAT
xooxxooxox ~ Diane B. |
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09/03/07 |
Gratitude:
I have so much to be grateful for. Al-Anon has saved my life many
times. I made a major job change 17 years ago and I have been blessed
because of this decision. I would not have been able to do this
without the "Higher Power," the Al-Anon program and many
supportive Al-Anon friends. My husband found recovery 22 years ago.
Thanks to Al-Anon and AA we will celebrate 50 years of marriage in
2008. This would not have been possible without both programs. I
continue to work the program "One Day at a Time”. Thank you for
listening!! Lots of Hugs, ~ Mary Lou. |
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“BAREFOOT”
TOPIC board – Please send us YOUR
topic! |
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Date posted |
Messages – this board is for YOUR topics! |
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MESSAGES:
CONGRATULATIONS,
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Greetings and Messages |
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Date posted |
Messages |
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07/01/08 |
Mary Sue S. - Congratulations and Happy 5th
(MAGNIFICENT!)
Al-Anon Anniversary – Thank you
for sharing your experience strength and hope with so many of us!!! Please
click here for a card from
District 5! |
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05/21/08 |
Gratitude for a
successful 2008 Michigan State Al-Anon Convention in |
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05/21/08 |
Mary Lou L. - Congratulations and Happy 25th
(AWESOME!)
Al-Anon Anniversary – Thank you
for your service to District 5 and to Al-Anon!!! Please click here for a card from District 5! |
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04/18/08 |
Lynn M. - Congratulations
and Happy 18th (WOW!) Al-Anon
Anniversary – Please click here
for a card from District 5! |
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01/01/08 |
Happy
New Year from District 5 Al-Anon – wishing peace and serenity to everyone,
everywhere, one day at a time. Please click here! |
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ARCHIVED MESSAGES |
Archived Winter 2007 |
WRITINGS, ART
and OTHER EXPRESSIONS by AL-ANON
MEMBERS
This area is for YOU to
share your original work – poetry, essays, art or other forms of expression. Serious or
humorous, your expressions are welcome - please e-mail us at afgdistrict5@gmail.com
to contribute!
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Member’s writings |
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Date posted |
Writings |
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11/19/07 |
A letter to my alcoholic Father – by Donna C .... I wrote this
letter when I was 28 years old ... I am now 60 and I still read it and understand
the burdens we as alcoholic children endure. The pain never goes away
even after the person dies. The drink was so much a part of us
and our childhood that it is still part of you now ... (please
click here to continue
reading Donna’s letter and sharing!) |
To share on this bulletin board, please e-mail us at
afgdistrict5@gmail.com!
click here to
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