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January 18

“The message is not that we sit passively and wait for things to happen. Rather, it is a shift in our attitude in which we admit that we don’t always know where we should be going or how we should get there.”

Tools of Recovery, page 19

As a practicing addict, I felt a compulsive need to be decisive and to control outcomes. The inevitable fruits were frustration and alienation. This yearning for control ultimately stems from fear that my needs may not be met. Admitting that I don’t always know what to do or how to respond is a large step toward living a serene and real life.

In my experience, the forces at work in any situation are as varied and powerful as a winter storm, and I can manage these forces about as well as I can a typical blizzard.

In recovery I am free to let go of my fear and my need (to try) to control situations that are beyond my power. I can then allow life to unfold in its own way and know that my needs will be met. Perhaps more importantly, I can then put my energies into those things over which I do have control, like my well-being, my responsibilities, my life.

Allowing things to be as they are is not necessarily a sign of weakness or passivity. It can also be a sign of strength and of confidence in my Higher Power.

Higher Power, help me see what is mine to care for, and grant me the courage to act with grace.