“I pray for the wisdom not to involve myself with the personal lives and beliefs of others, and to help them only by means of Al-Anon principles.” (ODAT, 14 September)
Following this frees up the whole day.
People will often call each other for advice on what to do in a specific situation in life. One might be able to advise on specific recovery situations (e.g. how to sponsor or how to do service), but when it comes to life, such outsourcing of analysis and direction to another person is deadly—for both individuals concerned.
People can get very upset or disappointed when one refuses to do their thinking for them. Sometimes, they will complain, ‘What’s the point in sponsorship, then?!’, but it’s important to stand firm with this principle. One might even lose such thinking-outsourcers to other sponsors, but sobeit.