The guest for my next CAL Chat podcast show (Episode #7) chose this workbook, “Reaching for Personal Freedom” (item # P-92), as his favorite literature piece. I’ll be posting that episode soon at calchatpodcast.com, but wanted to get my review in this blog first… This workbook has the rare distinction of being the first CAL item to come from members sharing over 4 years via several blogs (in English, Spanish, & French) on the two World Service Office websites!^{(footnote 1)} It debuted in 2013 at Al-Anon’s 5th International Convention in Vancouver, B.C. & has the subtitle: “Living the Legacies.” What exactly are the Legacies??? 1) Recovery through the 12 Steps, 2) Unity through the 12 Traditions, & 3) Service through the 12 Concepts of Service. To me, the book seems to be more personable than the other CAL books that have questions in them. It has rather short sharings & the questions are based directly on the individual stories. The other nice thing is that each individual Step, Tradition, & Concept is pretty short too – about 3-5 pages, which made it easier to read as well.

2. So I read this book twice, once straight through, then a second time slower because I wanted to create an index (because it currently doesn’t have one). The reason is, I treat this as a regular book that I bring to groups & based on the meeting topic, having an index handy helps me select an applicable reading. Click the following link to download a PDF document of the index I made: “Reaching For Personal Freedom” – Index Only. (**It’s a new updated version as of October 2025! Or if you prefer an interactive version online where you can jump link to different sub-indexed words, click here for the online index.**)

3. Creating an index also lead me to a new way of looking at the Legacies – patterns of words came up over & over that I wasn’t expecting! For instance under Step 5 (“Admitted to God, to ourselves, & another human being the exact nature of our wrongs”), the words that came up 3 times or more were the following:

• Admitting
• Alcoholism
• Behavior
• Help
• Honesty
• Listening
• Realize
• Trust
• Understand

The word that appears the most overall in the book is “help.” …But that’s because it was in a lot of the questions. For example, “How did Tradition One help you to see your role in relationships?”

The word “family” & “relationships” came up a lot though in the Traditions section! In fact, I’ve created a list of the words that appear 3 times or more for each Step, Tradition, & Concept, that you can download as a PDF by clicking here: “Reaching For Personal Freedom” – Index Words Repeated. Hope you find this document helpful as well!

4. Overall, I felt the theme of the book was about change & I can see why… every Step, Tradition & Concept that is truly lived, not just studied, results in some kind of change. But it’s interesting to note that while I was creating the index, that the word “change” came up a lot along with the word “fear” & I think that’s because the two are interrelated. I don’t think I’ve ever had one without the other!

5. I have 5 favorite lines from this piece:

From page 19: “I limit myself & the world, but God doesn’t.”

From page 32: “…God works within us, without us.”

From page 50: “Having a sense of entitlement is not attractive, serene, or spiritual.”

From page 59: “Over the years, my prayers have changed because my prayers changed me.”

From page 79: “Once I found myself, I belonged wherever I was.”

Footnotes           

1. The blogs were available on a password-protected Al-Anon “Members’ website” which originally was a separate site than Al-Anon’s main site, but a person could get directed to the blogs from both websites. Per the “Digital Strategy – Website” article from pages 20-21 of the “2018 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46), the transfer of content from the old Members’ website was officially completed to the new revamped main website. Info for members can now be found at: al-anon.org/for-members.