Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.
This is an epanalepsis.
Epanalepsis is a rhetorical tool; the last and first words are the same. Phrases like ‘Dog eat dog,’ ‘Man and his inhumanity to man,’ or ‘Nothing comes from nothing,’ are examples of epanalepsis.
The circular nature of an epanalepsis, ending as it began, creates a sense of continuous circularity. Round and round it goes. The rhythm and rhyme of the epanalepsis leaves a feeling that the truth of the phrase is never-ending.
It reminds me of a circular saw. Round and round it goes, cutting through the wood.
When applied to Recovery, the phrase “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change” highlights the continuous change that results from practicing the Program principles in all our affairs.
In our Recovery journeys, we constantly change how we think, pray, and live. Change is the essential element of our second life.
When we encounter the phrase, “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change,” the idea of continuous change resonates. In Recovery, change is not a fleeting occurrence but a perpetual state. It is invoked with each application of the program’s Principles in our affairs.
And the phrase suggests an internal change causes an external change: that when we change our within, we transform our without. The without is changed in two ways. Our perception of what we observe changes as we change the attitudes and biases which filter reality. And many of us have observed that our mental states can manifest in changes around us—the mystery and magic of spiritual power as described by Emmet Fox.
Gotta love a good epanalepsis.
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