www.12stepgazette.com
January/February 2013
The Power of Believing Religious individuals and people who, while they may not classify themselves as religious, but nonetheless believe in a Higher Power, know the power of belief. But we don’t have to be religious to know instinctively that there is tremendous power in believing something even if there is no proof that it is so. Take, for example, the belief that if we keep doing the work of recovery, we will eventually find peace, serenity and happiness. We know there are no guarantees of success and that not every person will take the same path toward common goals, but we are inspired by the accomplishments of others to the point where we feel encouraged enough to push ahead despite difficulties in order to achieve our own goals. This is the power of belief. We may have absolutely no previous record of success in this area. We may have failed at pretty much everything we’ve ever attempted, save our uncanny ability to remain steeped in our addictive ways. What’s there to point to that would give us any inkling that we’d be able to remain steadfast in our sobriety, let alone achieve goals that we say are important to us? That’s right. It is belief that we can that motivates us, that adds steel to our spines and brings about the wind at our feet. When it seems as if all is lost and we’ve got nothing left, we manage to cling to our sobriety like an iron-grip on a life-raft and stay the course until we reach safety. Belief helps make this a reality. Belief helps give us the courage to push through our fears, to do what is necessary to get through the rough patch and stay true to our commitment. Think, for a minute, about some particularly difficult or challenging issue or task that we’ve tried to tackle. We put in a good amount of effort, had more or less a reasonable and logical chance at success, and then were thrown into a tizzy over some unexpected development, a set-back or new set of obstacles. We felt the awful gnaw of fear in the pit of our stomachs as we worried that we might not make it through this troubling
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time. What kept us going? It was very likely the power of belief. We could have given up, of course, and that would have been perfectly understandable. This doesn’t mean that we were a failure, just that we may have encountered obstacles for which we weren’t adequately prepared. Or we may have lacked the necessary skills or experience in order to be able to manage the situation. Still, this didn’t equate to failure, although our first inclination may have been to see it that way. What about those of us who are only now entering recovery, those of us that have no track record of achieving any sobriety milestones or other goals yet? Here’s something that may help. We can take comfort from knowing that we will get stronger every day, and that others in the rooms of recovery will steadfastly offer us their encouragement and support, and we will gradually begin to see that we’re making progress. We didn’t get here overnight. Our addiction took some time to reach critical levels. It took us however long it was before we made the decision to seek treatment and get clean and sober. Doesn’t it stand to reason that it will likely take some time for us to be able to achieve some of the goals we want in our new life in sobriety? But we have already come such a long way. And that is also a testament to the power of belief. If we didn’t believe we could do it, guess what? We wouldn’t have been able to make it this far. We would have given up long ago. Even those of us who have relapsed time and time again have somehow found the courage and determination and the hope for a better tomorrow and got back into recovery. Something attracts us and helps motivate us to do the hard work of recovery. It is the power of belief, pure and simple. So, the next time that we feel like we’re chugging uphill pushing a very heavy load, look at how far we’ve already come. This load should be getting a little bit lighter. If we can see the summit or even envision it in our thoughts, we are adding steam to our engine so that we can keep right on going until we get where we want to go.
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