13-11-07 -- WHAT ARE YOUR VALUES?
Every Tuesday, we read from the Blueprint for Progress. Today we read from the chapter on Values.
"Some of us have spent so much time and energy coping with alcoholism that we aren't sure what we believe. We may have pushed our values aside in order to keep peace in our alcoholic home. We might have even ignored what we believe is right and acted contrary to our beliefs. For example, if we feel it is morally wrong to cheat on our income taxes, we might still have signed an inaccurate joint return, if the alcoholic insisted, to avoid conflict. Perhaps we found a joke offensive but we didn't speak up, fearful of looking like we didn't belong with the crowd.
In Al-Anon, we are learning what our principles truly are, and how to practice them in all our thoughts and actions. Acting with integrity based on our own value system can be an important way to take care of ourselves." -- P. 71.
I felt guilty reading this this morning and I feel guilty re-reading it 12 hours later. Maybe guilty is not the right word. Uncomfortable with myself is a better way of explaining how I feel. Today I told someone some stuff about someone else. I'm not sure why I did it. To get closer to him maybe? I'm not sure. But I felt it was inappropriate and showed me in a bad light - to him and to myself. I think what happened has to do with values. What are mine, exactly?
I don't know. That makes me feel uncomfortable. I also feel some shame today. Here's the wife of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama on the subject of values:
