WHAT I LEARNED: 1. In keeping with the same printing schedule as the first “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2007” that came out in September 2006, the subsequent annual edition, “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2008,” debuted in the fall of 2007. (From 2007 to 2019, the outreach magazine had only 2 print runs each year, so Al-Anon members could…
Tag: Prayer
N. FL Summer Assembly 2019 – Days 1 – 3
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. I have lost a lot of pain in Al-Anon. 2. Wise people plant trees under whose shade they’ll never sit. 3. We give from the gratitude we’ve already gotten. 4. The alcoholic has not volunteered to get sober. 5. God’s will for me is to stop playing God! 6. Joy is…
PODCAST – How Al-Anon Works / Just For Today Bookmark (Item #’s B-22 / M-12)
EPISODE 10 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to! What are good consequences? Where does the fear of letting go come from? What are literature discussions like at the World Service Conference? (To hear this episode, please visit the show’s website at: calchatpodcast.com – or you can subscribe to it for…
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 – As We Understood / How Al-Anon Works / Alateen-a day at a time (Item #’s B-11 / B-22 / B-10)
EPISODE 6 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to! Can I fire my Higher Power? What is a “Meeting on Wheels?” What is not allowed in recovery literature when bringing it into jails? (To hear this episode, please visit the show’s website at: calchatpodcast.com – or you can subscribe to it…
MTG – Ocoee – “Monday Miracles”
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Step 11 is about prayer AND meditation. Not prayer OR meditation. 2. Al-Anon is unrelenting love.
CAL – Forum Favorites, Vol. 1 (Item # B-9A)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. As an Area Archivist once said, “I love my position because I get to time travel.” I too feel I get to step into the ‘Wayback Machine’ whenever I read discontinued Al-Anon literature. When this “Forum Favorites” book was first published in 1970 it was a hefty hard cover book &…
MTG – Altamonte Springs – “Just For Today AFG”
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. As a child, I used to hear the prayer “Now I lay me down to sleep…“, but what if there was an opposite version that went like this?: “Now I to this new day awake, I pray the Lord my soul to make.” 2. In the past, it was crazy the amount of…
MTG – Winter Park – “Winter Park Morning AFG”
WHAT I LEARNED: With Step 11, it says I only need to pray for 2 things: knowledge & power. I can embellish it all I want, but usually the less talking during my prayer, the more I am trusting.
CAL – Area Forum Coordinators (Item # G-32)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This guideline is the first place I’ve seen that states in writing what The Forum magazine doesn’t accept: skits, prayers, fictional stories, or poetry (except Alateen poetry which is being accepted on a trial basis). This information is left off of “The Forum Writing Guideline” (item # F-1). 2. Question – Who…
CAL – Alateen Talks Back on: Sponsoring an Alateen Group (Item # P-71)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Since it’s part of the “Alateen Talks Back On…” series, I thought this booklet was going to be Alateens talking about their group sponsors, but nope! …Other than a few drawings from kids here & there, it’s basically a piece by & for grown-up Al-Anon members sharing about Alateen service. I’m…
CAL – As We Understood… (Item # B-11)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Based on its size, this book looks like it might be a daily reader, but it’s not designed that way. The purpose of the book was to share members’ sense of the spiritual (not religious) nature of the program. It doesn’t focus on any one particular Step & I’m glad for…
CAL – Detachment (Item # S-19)
WHAT I LEARNED: This leaflet started out in a World Service Office newsletter for professionals to educate them on how Al-Anon uses the word “detachment” but this outreach piece soon became a runaway hit with members for their own personal recovery. At a meeting last year, I heard this leaflet read aloud & the first…
CAL – Alateen Program Wallet Card (Item # M-18)
WHAT I LEARNED: Somehow, when I was reviewing the Alateen Newcomer Packet (item # K-18), I must not have seen this small wallet card. But since I’m now going through the literature chronologically, I saw this item mentioned as an “Alateen 12 x 12 Wallet Card with Preamble” on page 13 in the “1978 World…
CAL – Just For Today Alateen Wallet Card (Item # M-11)
WHAT I LEARNED: This wallet card came out 15 years after Alateen was started – when they hit the 1,000 groups milestone. It’s similar to the “Just for Today” Alateen bookmark version (item # M-13), with the exception of one word at the end of the “Thank You God” prayer: Amen. I rarely ever hear this…
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 Chat" Blog ~My journey in Al-Anon~ 