One Day at a Time in Al-Anon:
Once upon a time a new member came to Al-Anon, full of trouble and confusion. She was a willing learner, studied the Steps and tried to use them. The Miraculous Change (the one we’re all searching for) came to her quite soon, and everyone marveled. One evening she was asked to speak:
“I was eager to get the program, so I read all the Steps at once before starting to work on them one by one. One word in the Eleventh Step stopped me: meditation. Each morning I set aside ten minutes, and tried to keep my mind on one subject, thinking of all its elements and qualities. At first I concentrated on the idea of this day to which I had awakened. I’d say ‘Here is a day full of hours and minutes in which nothing has yet happened. I’ve made no mistakes, suffered no trouble.’ Just then my willful mind switched over to the happenings of the days just past and I found myself reliving all the horrors. ‘Stop!’ I said: ‘You’ve lost track of your meditation!’ and back I went to the contemplation of this one single unmarred day. Again my mind took off in another direction: dread of tomorrow. And again I brought it back to the subject of today and its unlimited possibilities.
“Gradually it grew easier to make myself concentrate on one idea, without straying into thoughts of resentment and fear. I am sure these meditations are giving me a sense of reality about my life. I use it on the Steps, on the Serenity Prayer, and on any helpful spiritual idea. It really works.”