**BEFORE COMPLETING THIS WEEK’S READING AND JOURNALING WORK**, please carefully consider the following advice from David Richo’s excellent book, “When The Past Is Present”:
“Some of our experience is too sensitive to be dealt with now ~ or at all ~ so our repression is in favor of our health. What we call resistance or denial might be in our best interest. . . . Memories undiscovered may be less harmful than memories confronted when we are too fragile to handle them. . . . It is important for us to calibrate the load-bearing capacity of our psyche. How much of ourselves can we safely know?”
Please complete the following Steps work *only if it feels safe and appropriate for you:*
Denial: My Behavior readings:
Yellow workbook page 94, the section titled “My Behavior: The Laundry List Reflection” OR BRB pages 177 – 182
Red Book page xxiii, the first three paragraphs starting, “For those new to . . .”
Red Book page 22, the three paragraphs under the heading “Internalizing Our Parents”
Red Book pages 32-33
Red Book page 105, the three paragraphs starting, “Lastly, any discussion . . .”
Red Book page 344, under the heading, “What is Denial? Are There Different Types of Denial?”
Recommended weekly reading:
“The Laundry List” or “The Problem,” “The Solution,” and “The Promises” on pages 587-591 of the Red Book or in the first several pages of the yellow workbook;
“The Twelve Steps” on pages 91-92 of the Red Book (also on pages 1-2 of the workbook); and
“The Twelve Traditions” on page 592 of the Red Book
Tradition Four (the tradition for the month of April) in detail starting on Red Book page 508
Suggested supplemental readings on denial:
Whitfield, Charles, “Healing the Child Within,” pages 40-42 in Chapter 5 under the heading “Denial of Feelings and Reality” See ACAWSO’s Literature Policy: “It has always been accepted that ACA should remain eclectic in choosing literature. That is, ACA meetings may draw from various sources without censorship.”
Mellody, Pia, “Facing Codependence,” Chapter 8 titled “Facing Abuse” See ACAWSO’s Literature Policy: “It has always been accepted that ACA should remain eclectic in choosing literature. That is, ACA meetings may draw from various sources without censorship.”
The journaling assignment on Denial: My Behavior is found on page 95 of the yellow workbook. The following questions are adapted from the workbook:
Describe an incident in which your own behavior was hurtful, neglectful, or possibly abusive. Consider incidents that happened with relatives, co-workers, and spouses or partners. What happened? How have you victimized others? How have you been an authority figure? How have you judged others harshly? Do you gossip? Malicious gossip can be a form of perpetration.
“© Adult Children of Alcoholics World Service Organization.”
Suggested supplemental journaling:
The section titled “Guilt” on pages 44-45 of AlAnon’s Blueprint for Progress, Revised Edition, copyright 2004.
Deep Dive questions:
A. What behaviors do I find unacceptable?
B. How have I justified my unacceptable actions?
C. How do I behave in ways I would not tolerate from others?
© Al-Anon’s Blueprint for Progress Workbook
ACA Workbook Study 