Next week I’ll be posting an update on several Al‑Anon guidelines that have been revised this year. However while I was researching those, it led me to this guideline for The Forum that was very recently updated – just last month, in October 2021, in fact! It got me wondering, 🤔 “What changed exactly?” See…
Tag: Concepts
CAL – My Journey in Service (Item # M-57)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. While perusing through some Al-Anon service tools in the Area Archives, I came across “My Journey in Service” (item # M-57). At roughly 60 pages, the booklet is designed as a journal so it has lots of lined paper & blank spaces for writing, plus it includes a CAL service-oriented quote…
PODCAST – Reaching For Personal Freedom / Best of Public Outreach (Item #’s P-92 / P-90)
EPISODE 7 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to! What do I want to be free of? What exactly are character defects? Can Alateen outreach be done to AA members? (To hear this episode, please visit the show’s website at: calchatpodcast.com – or you can subscribe to it for free wherever…
CAL – Reaching For Personal Freedom (Item # P-92)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. 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…
PODCAST – Discovering Choices / Parents of Alcoholics (Item #’s B-30 / R-18)
EPISODE 5 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to! What is failure really about? How can I be ok with not being in control? What can help with delegating? (To hear this episode, please visit the show’s website at: calchatpodcast.com – or you can subscribe to it for free wherever you…
PODCAST – Service Manual / Courage To Change (Item #’s P-24/27 / B-16)
EPISODE 3 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to! How can I give the gift of dignity to the alcoholic? What page is possibly read the least in each daily reader? How can my inner child voice be heard in a different way? Once again, I had such a great conversation…
CAL – Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual 2014-2017 (Item # P-24/27)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Originally, I only read the “Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual” on an as-needed basis, but when my next podcast guest said that this was her favorite book that she wanted to talk about on my “CAL Chat” show, I had to dust off my manual & put on my scuba reading mask to…
CAL – How Al-Anon Works (Item # B-22, B-32, eB-22, eA-22)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Originally, I was going to read this book as the very last one of this blog since I was making my way up to the top seller & according to the World Service Office, this one is it. …It would be like starting a climb by already being at the top…
MTG – Ocoee – “Monday Miracles”
WHAT I LEARNED: In studying Concept 6, is it a coincidence that the word trust is in trustee? Hmm… Good thing they’re not called untrustees! 😉
CAL – Al-Anon’s 12 Steps & 12 Traditions – Original (Item # B-8)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. If you’re following along with each post chronologically, then you’ve come to this entry to find out what is different in this original (now discontinued) version from 1981 compared to the revised 2005 version. If the program hasn’t changed, why did the book change & what am I missing that was…
CAL – Guidelines for Newsletter Editors (Item # G-21)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. For some reason I thought newsletters were only for Districts, but apparently they can also be for Areas & Al-Anon Information Services. 2. Reading this item made me miss our newsletter for District 6. We voted to discontinue it in place of our website, however according to this guideline, there’s a…
CAL – Area Literature Coordinators (Item # G-6)
WHAT I LEARNED: Much like any of the guidelines that are job descriptions, I always learn that the position entails a lot more than I thought! Area Literature Coordinators interact not just with World Service Office & LDC’s (Literature Distribution Centers – like yours truly!), but also Website Coordinators, Information Service or Intergroups, Newsletter Editors,…
CAL – Discovering Choices (Item # B-30)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This book almost didn’t happen. Originally, it was only supposed to be a revision to “The Dilemma of the Alcoholic Marriage” (item # B-4), but the revisions were becoming too extensive & the focus on just marital relationships was too narrow. So in 2001, concept approval was given to create this…
CAL – The Concepts-Al-Anon’s Best Kept Secret? (Item # P-57)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Whereas the Steps are about recovery, & the Traditions about unity, what the Concepts are about is in their full title: the 12 Concepts of Service. Q: What is service? A: Gratitude in action! Per “Many Voices, One Journey” (item # B-31) page 154, Lois W. presented the Concepts in 1970…
CAL – Al-Anon Basic Program Wallet Card (Item # M-7)
WHAT I LEARNED: This wallet card has been around for many moons & it can’t get more “basic” than this. It’s got a Al-Anon’s preamble, all the Steps, Traditions, Concepts, & Warranties you could want, with a little bit of Serenity Prayer mixed in there as well. Typically it’s the Newcomer groups that buy these…
CAL – This is Al-Anon (Item # P-32)
At a recent Gratitude Dinner, the emcee quickly came up to me & asked for something that she could have at the podium that included the Serenity Prayer, Steps, Traditions, Concepts, Warranties & Al-Anon Declaration. I said I had just the perfect thing! Rather than give her a book, I gave her this pamphlet. And…
"CAL Chat" Blog ~My journey in Al-Anon~ 