The Al-Anon Promises.

"We will laugh more."

I love British humour, and have recently come across dvds at my library, of two gentlemen by the names of Fry & Laurie. Last night I put one on, and was watching it, while sewing. When it got to this song, I had to stop what I was doing and find it on Youtube, to send to a friend. I knew he'd have the same response of helpless laughter I had. Clever and silly, my favourite:
Hugh Laurie singing "Mystery"
 
They do a marvellous job of skewering various sacred cows, in their skits.
 
I definitely laugh more than I did prior to my involvement in Al-Anon. I laugh at myself much more often. That ability to see the humour in our own human frailties, is what makes our coffee get-togethers after my home group meeting, so hilarious. Old-timers and newcomers alike, when we sit down and start to talk, the conversation always, at some point, ranges over our own various forms of insanity, and in that comfortable and loving venue, that insanity becomes screamingly funny. We laugh until we have tears in our eyes, and about what? Things we've done, and thoughts we've had. Being able to laugh like that about ourselves, means that we don't take ourselves so seriously.
 
I've noticed that newcomers seem to flourish in this environment. Perhaps watching the people who've been in program "for a hundred years" admitting to their own faults, makes it seem possible, and less intimidating.
 
I was having a conversation with a program friend the other day, in which she used humour to point out to me that I was treading a conversational path we'd  tread together not that long ago, and I'd been perfectly able to see where I was going wrong, but was still unable to put it into practise. For me, when I've had that kind of laughing fit over one of my character defects, I lose my embarassment or any shame I might have about it.
 
Shame or embarassment can obscure my motives or my driving forces. When they've slid away, I can see myself, and how I work, more clearly. That clarity is necessary for me to change. If I don't know where I am, a map won't help me.
Humour helps me to recognise and admit my present position, and enjoy myself at the same time. I'd have been quite disbelieving if you'd told me years back, that admitting my character defects could be so entertaining.