“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale, minister and author, best-known for The Power of Positive Thinking (1898-1993) It sounds too easy. Just change your thoughts and everything else changes. But when we try to do that, we may find ourselves in a bit of difficulty. For one thing, we’re not used to looking at life in a positive light, more than likely. We’ve been too recently down in the pit of our addiction, chained to our vicious using cycle, seemingly helpless to overcome it. Then, however, and it may seem like something of a miracle to us now, we got clean and sober. We went into rehab or underwent intensive outpatient therapy and stuck it out until we purged our system of toxic substances and began the lifelong learning process of how to live in sobriety. Still, we know we have a long way to go – the rest of our life, in fact. We are aware that there will be ups and downs, and that we’ll have good days and bad ones and some that are somewhere in-between. But thinking to facilitate change? How do we do that? As recovery experts, therapists, 12-step sponsors and fellow group members in the rooms of recovery will tell us, it begins with a sense of purpose. Maybe they don’t express it in exactly those words, but the idea is that we have to begin by wanting to change. We may not have a clear picture at the outset of where we want to go or what, exactly, we wish to do with our life, but we do need to have a profound desire to change. With that conscious intent begins the change process. The first thought we have is that we want to change. Then we go about discovering things that appeal to us, interest us enough to put forth time and effort to achieve goals related to those interests or desires. We seek help from others along the way, perhaps in the form of guidance or suggestions, definitely in terms of support and encouragement. As we attempt new things and succeed in our efforts, we become more self-confident and begin to believe in our capabilities. We learn that we have abilities we never knew existed and we develop more that may astound us. We’ll also encounter some challenges that may prove disheartening or discouraging and success may not always immediately follow even our most determined efforts. When this happens, we need to step back and look at all the good that we’ve accomplished thus far. Learn from everything that happened, not just the times when we achieved our goal the first time out. Each and every day brings new opportunities to learn just a little bit more, to gain more skill and experience, to fuel our desire to continue on a tough or lengthy project or task because the goal is worth it. Starting out in recovery, we may be filled with doubt and indecision, not knowing what our values are much less where we should turn next. We do what has been recommended and attend 12-step meetings, try to take better care of ourselves, read recovery literature, work on the Twelve Steps, strengthen and widen our support network, and begin to craft goals and action plans to achieve them. If we put a blockade in front of us, we’ll likely give up. That’s why thinking about change is the first step. Be willing to change. Welcome it, in fact. Then, take it slowly and step by step and change will happen.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 13:18:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015