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Al-Anon Forum Magazine Featured Article
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Tools of the Program
- Tools of the Program
- There are many tools of the program and many ways of listing them. Here they are they way I discovered and used them:
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- The Information Service: This was my first contact with Al-Anon. The telephone number was listed at the end of a newspaper article about enabling. I picked up the phone and used my first tool.
- The Meeting: This is where it's at for me - recovery, serenity, fellowship, a life map. I still need to keep coming back for my regular doses of the program.
- The Phone List: This was entrusted to me after I learned the meaning of anonymity. As I used it I grew in experience, strength and hope because that's what members were sharing with me.
- Conference Approved Literature: This was the next tool I picked up and used. I wanted to know as much as I could as fast as I could. I read and read and read.
- The Slogans: Because they are short and easy to remember, the slogans became signposts along my way.
- The Serenity Prayer: It was becoming clear to me that this is essentially a spiritual program. I got in touch with my Higher Power, the One I had forgotten and perhaps never had really known before Al-Anon.
- Sponsorship: Now I was ready for this tool. I asked a wonderful lady to be my sponsor because she seemed to be just what I wanted to become. How she helped me is a whole story in itself. I learned I had choices from her.
- The Twelve Steps: I had taken my First Step the night I climbed the stairs to my first meeting because I no longer believed I could do it myself. So I kept on climbing those stairs and the steps, again and again, never perfectly but always growing.
- The Twelve Traditions: As I continued to grow in the program I wanted my group to always be there, delivering serenity to me and to anyone looking for it.
- The District Meeting: I wanted to help my group keep following the Traditions so I served as group representative. Years later when I was in a new, struggling group I was led to the district to find help and became district representative.
- The Area Meeting: Here was the tool that brought me new friends and new joy in living. Service became open meetings, workshops and conventions. I found that giving back what I had received from Al-Anon just brought me more and more.
- World Service: When I hear delegates and trustees share their stories, it seems they have discoved people everywhere are very much alike. We share a common disease and we share a recovery program that works.
- Lorna C. - Illinois
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Alcoholism is a family disease. Those of us who live with, or have have lived with, this disease as children or adults sometimes have problems which the Al-Anon program can help us to resolve. If you have answered yes to some of all of the above questions, Al-Anon may be of help to you. You can contact Al-Anon by checking your local telephone directory, or from the Resources page. Phone numbers and Contact Information for the Austin Area are listed on the Contact Page of this website.
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- These articles were reproduced with permission from 'The Forum', the monthly inspirational newsletter of Al-Anon. Al-Anon World Headquarters, Inc. is located in Virginia Beach, VA. See www.Al-Anon.org for more information.
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