I learned something new today! I've always wondered how the founders came up with the name of Al-Anon. I read on a Canadian Al-Anon website that shared that the name was formed from the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program. The "Al" coming from Alcoholics and the "Anon" coming from Anonymous, thus you get Al-Anon. I suppose this makes sense to me as the Al-Anon program is for families and friends of alcoholics and the program adopted the twelve steps of AA. Anyhow, history always fascinates me when I hear something new I never thought about and took for grant.
Everyday I learn new depths of the Al-Anon program. The program is based on three legacies; Recovery, Unity, and Service. I went to a different meeting this week and one of the speakers noted that he was grateful for the Recovery through the steps of the program, Unity of the traditions that helped with all his relationships, and the Service through the concepts was the glue that held it all together. I think it's amazing to have a program that can help anyone, anywhere, I'm very grateful for the tools and miracles it has provided to me.
As I get further into my recovery I try to explore deeper into the program. There are so many amazing "nuggets" of wonderful information! I gratefully started a service position shortly after finding my home group. I agreed to be the Group Representative (GR) for a three year term. The lessons I have learned in this role has branched into every aspect of my life, personally and professionally. We have a GR meeting once a month for all GR's in our area to gather and share information to take back to our groups. At each of these meetings we share on the concept for that month. I've sort of been sitting in the backseat for a while in these meetings and felt it was time to step up and volunteer to share on Concept 9 for September's meeting. This triggered something inside of me to really dig into the concepts and try to imprint them into my brain so when I am working on putting these tools to work in my life, I can realize, that I'm utilizing a certain Concept. So my sponsor and I are working through the Concepts. I'm finding value in all of the Concepts and would like to share the ninth one with you today.
Concept nine, "Good personal leadership at all service levels is a necessity. In the field of world service the Board of Trustees assumes the primary leadership." I'm working out of several CAL literature, but primarily reading out of the book "How Al-Anon Works." This concept to me means we need to be an example that inspires others to follow in a new way to live, by not using promotion or pressure. I see it as a domino effect, if I view life's cup half-full and truly enjoy life to its fullest, it will show and hopefully have an affect to inspire someone else to try to practice living a new way to live. Reminds me of a commercial I've seen on TV where random people around the city do small acts of kindness to those around them, then someone else sees that small act of kindness which in turn inspires them to do the same to someone else. Again a positive domino affect.
Each one of us has the opportunity to be leaders at any level. The glue of this concept helps define the qualities of leadership that are brought to the surface when one practices the Al-Anon program. When one can put into practice the following qualities; responsibility, tolerance, stability, flexibility, judgement, and vision, it enriches our lives.
