Pre Twelve Steps Before Program
1. We Admitted we were powerless over nothing- that we could mange our lives perfectly and those of anyone else who would allow us.
2. Came to believe there was no power greater than ourselves and the rest of the world was insane.
3. Made a decision to have our loved ones and friends turn their will and there lives over to our care even though they could't understood us at all.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral and immoral inventory of everyone we knew..
5. Admitted to the whole world at large the exact nature of everyone else's wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to make others straighten up and do right
7.Demanded others to either "shape up or ship out."
8. Made a list of all persons who had harmed us and became willing to any lengths to get even with them all.
9. Got direct revenge on such people whenever possible, except when to do so would cost us our own lives or at the very least, a jail sentence.
10. Continued to take the inventory of others and when they were wrong promptly and repeatedly told them about it.
11. Sought through pbitching and nagging to improve our relations with others as we couldn't understand them at all, asking only that they knuckle under and do things our way.
12. Having had a complete physical, emotional and spiritual brekdown as a result of these steps, we tried to blame it on others, and to get sympathy and pity in all our affirs.
Al-Anon Welcome to all and Especially the Newcomer
For some of us, Al-Anon was a lasst resort: we were in pain, we were desperate: some of us had abandoned hope. We came to our first meeting and we kept coming- to find relief from the terrible pain we had grown so accustomed to feeling. We knew our suffering was related to someone else's drinking and that we were unable to lead a nromal life because of it.
As a newcomer to Al-Anon, some of us believing that once he or she sobered up, our pain would magically disappear or we thought members of Al-Anon might teach us how to stop the drinking. Instead we learned that we share experience, strength and hope with one another, keeping the focus on ourselves and the Al-Anon tools of recovery.Personal recovery through spiritual growth and the common welfare of the group are of prime importance. By concentrating on the feelings and attitudes we have about our situation, rather then on the details of our situation, we contribute to the group unity and our recovery. We tlk about how the disease of Alcoholism has affected our thinking and our behavior. We talk about the part we played in our problems and how we changed our attitudes and actions by applying the Al-Anon Program in our lives.
Because the meetings are geared to group needs and are limited by time, we cannot bring each specific problems to the group of discussion. Sponorship and one-to-one sharing provides us with opportunities to unburden ourselves in a personalized and constructive way.
A great many myths were laid to rest at our meetings. We heard that we could not make the person stop drinking, that sobriety does not mean "Happily ever after", and that we are each responsible for dealing with our own pain. We also heard about placing our trust in a power greater than ourselves. This is not a religious but a spiritual program with no specific religious tenets; therefore, the discussion of any religion is avoided, thus making it possible for any one to feel free to share.
Our meeting discussions do not include any other 12-Step Program or treatment center, etc..In Al-Anon we focus on our common experience, derived from having been affected by someones else's drinking, and our recovery stems from giving and receiving mutual aid based on that common experience.
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