I wear glasses to improve my vision.
My glasses alter what I see. My glasses don’t change the outside world, but they do change the picture of the world that is created inside my head. The screen in my mind sees the world differently when I put my glasses on. The lenses of my glasses bend the flow of light that my mind receives. The result is greater clarity and focus.
My attitudes are like the lenses on my glasses. My attitudes don’t change the outside world, but they do change the picture of the world that is created inside my head. The screen in my mind sees the world differently when I change my attitudes. Like lenses which bend the flow of light; attitudes bend the flow of information that my mind receives.
Attitudes like:
- the world revolves around me,
- I know everything, and
- I don’t need God.
And attitudes like:
- the world is against me,
- God does not care, and
- you are a jerk.
These attitudes, like lenses on my glasses, bend the flow of information about the world and what it is doing to me. It clarifies and magnifies the negatives in my life.
Working the Steps, I can change my attitudes. And in changing my attitudes, I change how I perceive the world and what it is doing to me. I can change the lenses in my mental and spiritual glasses.
Attitudes like:
- I am one person among many,
- I can learn from you,
- I am grateful for God’s presence.
And attitudes like:
- the world is unfolding as God would have it,
- God loves me, and
- you are acting up, but you are not a jerk.
These are good attitudes that can replace the bad.
The lens replacement process starts with an admission of powerlessness and unmanageability. Having changed the lenses in my spiritual glasses, then I have to put them on; I do this by understanding and believing that the problem is between my ears, not with the world around me. Of course, once I have put my glasses on, I have to open my eyes, and for me, this is abandoning myself to God. Which counterintuitively gives me power and introduces a level of manageability; so long as I am acting and thinking in alignment with God’s will for me.
That is how I can work the Steps today.
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