Courage to Change: One Day at a Time in Al-Anon II

as a daily reader, i feel this is the best, and a step up from al-anon's also-great "one day at a time" reader from the sixties, the predecessor of "the courage to change". the philosophy is powerful yet simple, positive but not squishy at all, the readings are comprehensive (as is the index - and you can look up just about any emotion you happen to be feeling and find a strong reading on it), the quotations are excellent, there's no gender bias, there's no attacking the alcoholic, and it's gentle from start to finish - but firm throughout.

i would recommend this book to anyone whether you're in al-anon or not. it's a prime book in my library and life.

This inspirational daily reader helped me to get through every minute of every day for the first 5 years in Nar-anon. The fact that it is written by people who came before me and they share their information and experience, makes it so much easier to read. Not some clinical Dr. telling you what to do to fix your life, just people helping other people.

This little book was a great help to me while I was coming to terms with having grown up with Alcoholic parents. I highly recommend it.

This is the best daily reader I've found so far, even among the other Al-Anon books. I struggle with depression, tiredness, and having grown up the child of generations of alcoholics. Sometimes I don't feel that Al-Anon fits what I'm struggling with, and that leaves me feeling lonely - but this book almost always has something that soothes me in a deep way (which I'm despretely seeking when depression tears at me) and helps me feel stronger in that particular moment.

I read a page a day (when I remember), but mostly I use the index. I look up whatever topic I feel fits at that time - acceptance, anxiety, detatchment, fear, gratitude, mistakes, self-acceptance, self-esteem, and so on - and read all the pages on that topic. If I still feel torn up inside I look up another topic and read those pages. By the end of reading, although my problems haven't been solved, I feel a more able to deal with the world.

I've found there are a lot of useful quotes, not just the ones at the bottom of the pages but within the text. All of my copies are dog-eared and underlined, and I write a lot of quotes down to help later because often a simple phrase clicks within me whereas a torrent of wise words cannot.

In summary, this book has helped more than the many self-help books I've bought, probably because I've made it a part of my life. No book can answer my problems and the fact that I inevitably have to deal with them - difficult when I feel I just don't know how. But that's why this book is perfect; it exists to help people survive, one day at a time. It's straight-forward simplicity, without the too-sweet, new-age feel other books can have, is why it is personally indispensible.

This little book helps me focus on something positive (or a lesson I'm working on) in very bite-size pieces. Sometimes it's all I have time to read (each day is only 3-4 paragraphs), but it's effective.

From the Preface: Taking life one day at a time has proven essential in the Al-Anon program of recovery for those whose lives have been adversely affected by the problem of alcoholism in a relative or a friend. This book, like it's companion volume _One Day at a Time in Al-Anon_, is designed to keep our focus on today and give us the courage ot change the things we can. ...Because these selections are based on sharings from individuals, they contain references to gender and to specific relationships, but the thoughts are applicable to people of all walks of life.