How little I understood the concept of "letting go" when I first saw the slogan: Let Go, Let God, on the wall of an Al-Anon meeting nearly forty years ago. It sounded so simple. I didn't consider myself "attached" to any one or any thing. In reality, my feelings, thus often my actions, were attached to the behavior of everyone. Absolutely everyone! I was so enmeshed in who ever was present that I couldn't even recognize it. Whatever any one did or said had an impact on me. And the closer they were to me, the greater the impact. I had been introduc[...]
Category
Your Experience, Strength and Hope
2 I am absolutely thrilled to have been invited to present a workshop at the Bill Wilson House in East Dorset, VT. For one thing, I have never been to VT. And secondly, I think I can safely speak for any one in AA when I say that to present a program there, feels like a truly spiritual gift. To walk around on the same floors and stairs that he and Lois walked on sends chills up my spine. Perhaps I have them on a pedestal. I know they were mere mortals; however, we all know that without Bill and Bob and Lois too, millions of us would not be sober. The pr[...]
My husband and I relocated to Florida in January, 1991. I had resigned from my job in July of 1990, freeing us to leave MN and head to a warm climate for the winter. We chose Florida because I had a sister who lived here in the winter months too. I'm still thrilled with this choice and feel even more committed to it as the years pass. However, they are passing way too quickly. I was 51 when we came. I'll see 75 in a few months, God willing, as the saying goes. There won't be another 24 like the last 24. Of that I'm certain. I have no intention o[...]
I am often the only person in a collection of friends who is genuinely happy that Christmas is heading toward us, at full-speed. I have loved every aspect of the holidays since childhood. Is it because I grew up in a healthy, happy family? Not really. But we did seem to rise above the tension, the chaos and cutting criticism for most of the month of December. Mom made candy, lots of it, which my dad loved. And together we all put up the tree. The tree trimming night we got to eat the first of the fudge she had made. The house smelled good and the l[...]
WE NEVER NEED TO FEEL HOPELESS. ONE’S HIGHER POWER IS ALWAYS PRESENT. There are innumerable personal situations that can cause creeping hopelessness. You have been diagnosed with a terminal illness with only months to live or a parent dies unexpectedly. Maybe your troubled teenager is on the run again and you feel you have no where to turn. The job you have loved for years suddenly gets cut with no forewarning. Or the boss who always understood your personal struggles and insecurities and willingly worked with you, gets transferred. Or the situation that eve[...]
Getting Unstuck is the title of one of my newest books. It's a book that called to me. Actually, I'd have to say that every book I have written, all 27 of them, called to me; but this one felt like the icing on the cake of how to live more peacefully in our relationships. That's my primary goal in life now. I want to treat others always in a kind, gentle way because that's how I want to be treated too. We do need to show up in the lives of others in a way that would please God. That's an easy recipe for peaceful living. My primary goals in Getting Uns[...]
I well remember when I first saw the slogan: keep it simple. I couldn't fathom what it actually meant. My life was complicated. And for good reason it was complicated. I was in graduate school at the time and teaching at the University of Minnesota. I was in and out of bad relationships and was sent to Al-Anon as a coping strategy for the most recent relationship. Like so many of them before, including the 12 year marriage that had ended three years earlier, alcohol was seen as the culprit, someone else's alcohol use, to be more specific. No one had[...]
We celebrate Veteran's Day annually but it's far oftener that we should pay homage to those men and women who so willingly serve in some branch of the services to protect the rest of us. Every moment of their deployment puts their life on the line and they do it willingly; they have not been drafted. Each of these individuals has made the decision to put the lives of others before their own: that decision includes our lives as well as the lives of their comrades. What they too often get for their courage, their commitment and their loyalty is silence from t[...]
I've discussed topics similar to this before in blog posts, but something a friend said to me recently brought it to mind once again. I could never have imagined as a child that I'd spend my life as I do. I loved writing stories as a young girl in grade school and loved speech class in high school too. For some unknown reason, standing in front of my classmates and talking didn't scare me. I felt exhilarated. But I didn't have any notion then that both loves would play such a big role in my life as an adult. True, I wandered around a lot before gettin[...]
I invite each of you to enroll in my on-line course. Tell your friends about it too. I mentioned it on Facebook, tweeted it, and in an earlier post, but decided it was good to mention it again because there is no "too late to enroll" when it comes to this kind of class. The Academy that sponsors the class has each one of the programs as an MP3 download following the class. The MP3 for last week's class is available now, and they have assured me that many individuals never attend all of the sessions at the original time but choose to download the programs[...]