How does gratitude bring you back to a place of hope?
When alcoholism clouds our thinking and progress feels invisible, we can find clarity by sharing our current blessings with the newcomers we once were. We can remind ourselves that Al‑Anon offers a safe, loving space and tools and principles that support our daily living. Staying mindful of what we are grateful for can restore our sense of hope.
This month’s blog topic is “How does gratitude bring you back to a place of hope?”
As always, you can also write about Al‑Anon’s three Legacies. This month features Step Twelve, Tradition Twelve, and Concept Twelve.
Sharings on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
New topics are being added each month!
Congratulations to Al-Anon on 75 years! Thanks to the program, I was able to make peace with my mother before she passed away. Forever grateful.
Gratitude helps me restart my day anytime! Gratitude is like a new pair of glasses ! Pick joy !
In my recovery hope and gratitude go hand-in-hand! With gratitude I can “see” hope and feel hope, with hope I realize the role gratitude plays in feeling (seeing) hope within my own recovery, gratitude amplifies my hope!
Gratitude brings me to a place of hope by having me focus on abundance rather than lack. When I am grateful, I see all I have and future possibilities. Otherwise, I focus on what is lacking or missing in my life and that doesn’t bring me to a place of hope but despair.
Giving thanks gets me out of my head and stop ruminating. It can lead me to focus on being present and being where my feet are. I can’t believe that I forget to do this at times—even though I know that the strategy works, I can’t force myself to take action. I have to ask my Higher Power, whom I call God, to help me recognize my inability to dwell in gratitude. I need his help to take action, to give thanks, and He helps me. I am grateful for Al-Anon, that the program allows me to keep my God… Read more »
When I told my Sponsor, I wanted to get out of a cycle of blame and negativity, she suggested gratitude. I started a gratitude practice where I text her before I go to sleep every night with five things I’m grateful for. It helps me realize that I’m actually a very fortunate person, and I have a good life. If I’m having trouble that particular evening being positive, I will just look where I am, the fact that I have a chair, a bed, a dog I love, I had a good dinner or just that I got to eat.… Read more »
Gratitude ALWAYS brings me back to a place of hope. When things are going well, and I think about and/or journal about what I am grateful for, it reminds me of how far I have come in my program. When things are not going so well, thinking about what I am grateful for right then and there brings me back to staying in the here and now instead of letting my thoughts go all wonky about what is upsetting me. Having had a spiritual awakening, I try to carry my message of hope to others and practice all I have… Read more »
I am grateful to myself for going through everything I went througb that lead me to the rooms of Al-Anon, to recovery and freedom and wellness, spiritual connection with God, who loves me without conditions. Grateful to myself for listening, for daring, for risking, for having courage, for facing my fear, facing the fear of what was inside, for learning to stand on my own two feet, for being able to live alone, learning to enjoy my own company, to take care of myself, to take responsibility for myself. For being able to love and feel joy and create, for… Read more »
Hello and thank you for the timely topic.
When I regularly practice listing things to be grateful for, I find my attitude begins to make adjustments toward calm and feeling safe and secure.
I take many things for granted: a dry home, running water, the ability to move my body around to carry out the tasks of my day, a bed to sleep in, the trees in my neighbourhood, a bicycle pump to pump up the tyres on my pushbike…
Gratitude brings me to a place of hope by restoring balance to my sometimes-distorted thinking. When I obsess about a problem, I tend to see only the worst-case scenarios, the negative side of things. Doing a meditation on gratitude reminds me of the other side of the picture. It brings me back to sanity and stability where I can see the problem in its true perspective, which is that it is only one part of my life and that even if it’s a true crisis, the problem doesn’t erase all the good things in my life.
When I look back at where I was when I started attending Al-Anon meetings, gratitude has become an every day part of my life. I understand now that there is a Higher Power who is leading me and guiding me. If He was able to restore my sanity and even bring joy into my life, how can I not be grateful? When I felt hopeless and helpless, He saved me. I would not be here today if I had not reached out to God and started feeling that I was not alone, and that He would always see me through… Read more »