Hello Everyone!  It is time once again for the Annual Business Conference and Inaugural ACA World Convention…  This year is going to be in Delray Beach, Florida.  Sign up now and make new friends world wide…

 

New Edition of Tony A.’s Book – The Laundry List

The Laundry List Kindle Edition    (  <–  click on link to Amazon)

I am so glad to finally be able to share this with everyone!  This is the original book written by Tony A. that began the Adult Children of Alcoholics movement.  This is where you will find the 12 steps that Tony developed.  Tony A.’s life story and how he came to create the ACoA group.  This is available as a Kindle ebook for $9.99.  Please get a copy and enjoy.  Much of the information on this blog was quoted from this book.

Just Lexxie, Chatter’in Again

 

ACA Retreat in Prescott, AZ

I am so glad to be able to share this information with everyone.  There is actually an ACA Retreat!  This is the 28th year for the ACA Mingus Mountain Retreat just outside of Prescott, Arizona.  Who Knew!!   We ACA’s are not always the best at tooting our own horns…  lol

The Mingus Mountain Retreat is located just outside of Prescott, Arizona.  The retreat will be held September 6-8th, 2013.

Please go check out all the details for this retreat on the Arizona Intergroup Website.   Everyone have a good time!!

Just Lexxie,
Chatterin’ Again

 

The Laundry List Book ~ Reprint!!

I bet this is the ONLY place on the internet that you will find this news flash!!

In the last couple of weeks I have had a couple of emails from Carline, Tony A.’s widow and she gave me permission to announce to everyone that she is in the process of getting Tony’s book, The Laundry List, reprinted…  HALLELUJAH!!!

I just checked Amazon.com yesterday and prices for a used copy of Tony’s book range from $30 all the way up to $184 for a USED copy.

Over the years, several have asked me about my progress in finding the copyright holders.  They have also asked if I had any information about Tony’s book being reprinted.  Now I can clearly state, YES, I have been successful in contacting the legitimate copyright holder, Tony’s widow, Carline.  Yes, I have news about the book getting reprinted.

I don’t have any kind of a timeline as to when this might actually hit the marketplace, but I am hoping that Carline will let us know when she has a release date for the reprint.

So, again, YEAH!!!  I am so glad that this is finally going to happen.

Just Lexxie,Chatterin’ Again!

 

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

 

Tony A.’s Adult Child of an Alcoholic Story

When I was first finding out about Tony A and ACA and how it all started and who Tony was, I dug and dug around on the internet trying to find his story. What happened in Tony’s life that qualified him to be the fore-father of ACA? I am always looking for the back-story. Sadly, I never found it. Even today as I am writing this, I have not found anywhere on the internet that tells Tony’s story.  So, I decided to put it out there on the internet for anyone who is interested.  I created a page (you can find it up at the top) and have posted Tony A’s story.  I hope everyone finds this as interesting as I did.

Now, on the official ACA World Service Organizations website, at http://www.adultchildren.org/lit/EarlyHistory.s , they do give the history of the starting of the ACA groups.  It talks about how Tony and the Alateens got together and started a group that was separate from anything else they were doing at the time.

Just Lexxie, Chatterin’ Again!

 

FIGHT FAIR RULES

1.  Acknowledge that you get angry when you have angry feelings.  You are entitled to get angry.  Learn to speak up.  Do not deny the fact that you are personally angry.
2.  Fighting between intimates, parents, children, and friends is natural.  There is no need to feel guilty about expressing anger.
3.  Attempt to deal with the feelings of your partner or child.  He/she has a right to be angry, too.   Respect their anger and avoid smiling or laughing at them.
4.  Listen and keep listening.  Paraphrase what he/she says; make perception checks so you understand what he/she is saying and thinking.
5.  Be sure you have an issue or position to fight for.  Shift your aggression from personal attack to the issue.  Attack the problem, not each other.
6.  Avoid putting your partner down.  He/she will become more defensive and become more difficult to reach.
7.  Learn to recognize when you are merely letting off steam (venting).  Don’t create fights when your partner is letting off steam.  It is not directed to you personally.
8.  Try not to become an injury, injustice, or grievance collector.
9.  Avoid hitting below the belt, throwing back information given in trust, or bringing up past mistakes or skeletons.
10.  Avoid handicapping your fighting form, i.e.,  trying to solve problems when tired, sleepy, hungry, or when drunk or unstable.
11.  When you become aware that you are wrong, admit it.  It may be embarrassing and painful, but it is necessary for your own growth.

 

I Might Be In a Relapse IF….

• I start taking on other people’s work, neglecting my own. 
•   I smile a lot and am dishonest with my feelings. 
•   I become argumentative. 
•   I start replaying old resentment tapes. 
•   I don’t share my depression with my friends. 
•   I get cocky.
•   I stop following up; I don’t keep promises.
•   I become complacent.
•   I start expecting things of others and resent it when they don’t live up to my expectations.
•   I get into “shoulding” all over myself.
•   I stop praying and meditating.
•   I stop doing my inventory.
•   I become bored (and boring).
•   I lose my faith and become flooded with irrational fears.
•   I become scattered and can’t concentrate.
•   I become judgmental.  I stop accepting people for what they are and start not accepting them because they are not what they “should” be.
•   I stop listening to that small, still, inner voice.
•   I become a martyr.
•   I stop asking for help.
•   I don’t accept others; I do their inventory.

 

But My Parents Weren’t Alcoholic…

    Many newcomers in ACA report they identify with the characteristics listed in “The Problem” (or “The Laundry List” or “The Characteristics”), but they can find no alcoholism in their family.  There can be many explanations — perhaps the family denial system prevents the newcomer from seeing the disease, or the family addiction has taken another form (drugs, compulsive over-eating, workaholism, violence, gambling, etc.) or there may actually be no aspect of alcoholism in the home.  The fact is, it doesn’t matter!  Our program is not about our parents or whether or not you can identify an alcoholic in your past.  Our program is about us. 

     For the first time in our lives, we are dealing with ourselves — we identify the characteristics in each and every one of us.  With this new focus on “self” and away from the personality, disease or identity of our parents or caretakers, we come to see how our program addresses us as “Adult Children” in the here and now.  We begin to experience a reality that is our own life, independent of the family drama that resulted in acquiring the characteristics that brought us to meetings. 

     In a healthy home, a child is allowed to develop a sense of “self” through the stability of the parents, through exploration and individuation.  The early stage called “The Terrible Twos” is the time when a healthy family allows the child to establish appropriate boundaries.  The child has learned the quality of trust necessary to risk finding their own identity (“I want…”, “Give me…”, “I don’t like…”, etc.) and the meaning of the word “No.” 

     In our homes (for whatever reason) we were not able to experience the stability needed for this vital process. Healthy exploration was distorted by unstable, unstructured lives.  Individuation was not possible. 

     We enter ACA feeling more comfortable talking about other people — what they did, what they said, what they were, etc.  We have had no experience in defining ourselves — what we feel, what we need, what we are.  When we grew up, we became extensions of those around us — learning their fears, behaviors, limitations, and prejudices.  In ACA we find a need to discover ourselves as unique individuals instead of living as extensions of those around us. 

     For many of us, the early stages of this process resulted in a feeling of guilt — as though we are “bad” for betraying the role placed on us by the family system.  There are those among us who froze at this stage of our voyage of Discovery/Recovery, but most of us progress at our speed if we are simply willing to admit those feelings to others.  The rigid and frightened child inside, who has come to view any change as a threat, can be loved, supported and nurtured through the changes necessary to become a healthy adult.

     We can see now that our lives, while sharing history and learned reactions with our family, are separate from our parents or caretakers.  We are not doomed to perpetuate the patterns we found necessary to our survival as children.

     Any Adult Child, through guidance of our loving Higher Power, can heal, accept the past and grow through the clear and consistent direction provided by the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.  Whether from the most violent alcoholic background or from the illusion of serenity in other dysfunctional homes, every Adult Child can begin progressing through the process of Recovery and the Discovery of “self”.

                              Joe D., Kelly M., Christian C., and Charlie Ann P.   1987

 

A Checklist for ACA’s in the Workplace

I just added a new page to this blog.  It is titled ACA’s and Workplace.  It is a laundry list from the Red Book, pages 417-19, outlining some of the common problems that ACA’s have in the Workplace.  Just another way of identifying some of the problems that we bump up against on a daily basis because of the simple fact of having grown up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional home.

If it is something that you can relate to, leave a comment.

Lexxie