“I, too, have lapses from the Al-Anon pattern I have tried so hard to follow.” (ODAT, 26 May)
What does the lapse look like?
Forgetting that I’m powerless and thinking about, talking about, plotting interference with, and actually interfering with someone else’s life.
Mental preoccupation with another person’s internal world.
Self-pity, victimhood, blame, taking offence, upset generally, fretting, remorse, nostalgia, fantasy, scorn, scoffing, contempt, touchiness, forming and wholesaling opinions, bustling, glaring, plotting, planning, scheming, speculating.
Justification, explanation, defence, and the expression of past or future intentions (JEDI).
Trying to improve my stock price in others’ eyes.
That’s just a few.
What’s the Al-Anon pattern?
Detach (= stop thinking about, talking about, and interfering with).
Plough my own furrow (not touching the sides).
Trust God absolutely.
Do what the literature says.
Keep my mouth largely shut.
Keep myself busy, but not insanely so.
Find and do pleasant things.