It is not what we don’t know that gets us in trouble, it is what we think we know that just ain’t so that gets us into trouble.
—Mark Twain
My best thinking got me here, into the rooms of AA.
My thinking was bad, and that got me into the Program, but the bad thinking and concomitant bad decisions were the results of clinging to bad theories and beliefs and persistently denying evidence and facts. My ability to honestly and truthfully perceive reality was impaired by my insistence that what I thought I knew must be true. What I thought I knew, that was just not so, was the real problem.
These preconceived notions of reality and truth were slowly replaced by rigorous and honest examination and testing in my life. Inventories were the examination of my life. I discovered that I could not bullshit the paper. A good 4th Step, followed by the discipline of writing the narrative of events and days showed me the reality of my character.
And the Program demanded that I try to act my way into a new way of seeing the truth. Try out new actions and observing reality. If the actions produce good results, continue. If they produced bad results, stop.
A good example of this was my driving habits. For one week, I tried leaving my parking spot in the morning with a new approach. As soon as I started the car, I began looking for an opportunity to let someone in front of me, to allow someone room to enter traffic, to allow someone to get where they needed to be. And I measured that attitude. Not once, when I followed that attitude, did I get angry and upset when driving. And the effect seemed to have a lasting effect on my day. For the next week, I left my parking spot to get where I was going as quickly as possible. Every day I was irritated and upset by someone. Test and verify, those were the new watchwords of this life.
I replaced my best thinking with my best experimentation and examination.
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