Powerlessness

One of the important bits of my learning about recovery from alcoholism was discovering that I had to accept that I was completely powerless over alcohol.


That learning was extended into the areas in my life where I needed to change; I discovered that I was powerless over everything that needed to change in me - starting with my attitude.


I learned that I couldn't just discard old patterns of thinking or behaviour. And it was the same with everything that kept me trapped in my sleepwalk through life. Giving attention to something I wanted to be rid of served only to give that thing more power. Renouncing or denying something in me kept me tied to it.


Negating something only made it more real. Fighting too only gave it more power. 


It was only by conceding that I was completely powerless that I began to slip loose of those crippling ways of being and behaving. I began to live the saying that I had heard often: "The only way to win is to quit fighting, to accept defeat." Then when I observed my defects of character or my wrong thinking, I did just that - I observed and accepted them as being part of me. And slowly their power diminished. By concentrating more on the solution, the problem grew smaller.