[Businessmtg] Saturday Feelings

[Margaret G]

Hello, I'm Margaret, and I'm grateful to be your Al-Anon chair today.
This is the opening for the regular Saturday meeting at A Serenity Place.
May we all please observe a moment of silence to reflect on why we are here.

Would all those who care to please join me in opening with the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
We welcome you to A Serenity Place online Al-Anon meeting and hope you will
find in this fellowship the help and friendship we have been privileged to
enjoy.

We who live, or have lived, with the problem of alcoholism understand as
perhaps few others can. We, too, were lonely and frustrated, but in Al-Anon
we discover that no situation is really hopeless, and that it is possible
for us to find contentment, and even happiness, whether the alcoholic is
still drinking or not.

We urge you to try our program. It has helped many of us find solutions that
lead to serenity. So much depends on our own attitudes, and as we learn to
place our problem in its true perspective, we find it loses its power to
dominate our thoughts and our lives.

The family situation is bound to improve as we apply the Al-Anon ideas.
Without such spiritual help, living with an alcoholic is too much for most
of us. Our thinking becomes distorted by trying to force solutions, and we
become irritable and unreasonable without knowing it.

The Al-Anon program is based on the suggested Twelve Steps of Alcoholics
Anonymous, which we try, little by little, one day at a time, to apply to
our lives along with our slogans and the Serenity Prayer. The loving
interchange of help among members and daily reading of Al-Anon literature
thus make us ready to receive the priceless gift of serenity.

Al-Anon is an anonymous fellowship. Everything that is said here, in the
group meeting and member-to-member, must be held in confidence. Only in this
way can we feel free to say what is on our minds and in our hearts, for this
is how we help one another in Al-Anon.
CAL:                                                                                                    January 5
    Before Al-Anon, I made choices by gut instinct, protecting my feelings to survive. In Al-Anon, I heard that feelings were not facts. That made sense, but I would still randomly cry at work, or get angry without understanding why. I believe I was in denial and ignoring my emotions.
    A good Al-Anon friend gave me the best analogy to help understand myself, as well as to have a good laugh: “Feelings are like children. You don’t want them driving your car, but you also can’t stuff them in the trunk.” That visual helped me learn the role feelings have in my life. Talking about my feelings keeps them quiet in the back seat, so I can hear my Higher Powers’ guidance. Sometimes, however, my feelings may require me to action – like pulling over to let the “kids” use the bathroom.
Today’s Reminder
My feelings may be strong, but ultimately, I am driving, and my Higher Power has the road map.
“My Sponsor said my feelings are mine and I have a right to feel them. What is really important is what I do with them.”
Discovering Choices – Recovery in Relationships

How can I acknowledge and honor my feelings today?

From: A Little Time for Myself, Page 5, Copyright 2023, by Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Limited use by express written permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc.
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My share:
I heard that “feelings aren’t facts” long before I came to Al-Anon. I’ve had that phrase thrown at me to shut me down. I’m even guilty of throwing it at others when they seem overwrought and I’m angry or tired of dealing with a situation.
While this may be a true statement that is applicable in a court of law, it isn’t the whole story when those feelings are happening to me or someone else. I like the part in today’s reading that says talking about my feelings helps me keep them in their place. Sometimes I do that with a sponsor or a trusted friend in or out of the program; sometimes I can share about them in a meeting; or sometimes I can journal about them when no one is available to hear me or I’m just not ready to share them. I believe that listening to others share their feelings is the most basic form of Al-Anon service that I can give because I know how much it means to me to be heard and not judged, corrected, or advised.
Please share on the question: “How can I acknowledge and honor my feelings today?” or whatever is on your heart.
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In closing I would like to say that the opinions expressed here were
strictly those of the person who gave them. Take what you liked and leave
the rest.

The things you heard were spoken in confidence and should be treated as
confidential. Keep them within the walls of this room and the confines of
your mind.

A few special words to those of you who haven't been with us long: Whatever
your problems, there are those among us who have had them, too. If you try
to keep an open mind, you will find help. You will come to realize that
there is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too
great to be lessened.

We aren't perfect. The welcome we give you may not show the warmth we have
in our hearts for you. After a while, you'll discover that though you may
not like all of us,
you'll love us in a very special way--the same way we already love you.

Talk to each other, reason things out with someone else, but let there be no
gossip or criticism of one another. Instead, let the understanding, love and
peace of the program grow in you one day at a time.

Will all who care to, join me in the closing prayer.
God, grant me the serenity to
Accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Keep coming back, it works.