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FINDING THE POWER TO LIVE FOR A CHANGE

This book has been written for those who want to change. It is for men and women who feel the need to deepen their lives, to live more freely, to be happier. If you are not sure whether this includes you, let me be a little more specific: One Day at a Time has been written especially for those

•who worry too much—whose waking hours are plagued by all kinds of fears (about the future, about their relationships, about their children, about their health, about their finances) and who sometimes waken in the middle of the night with an anxious knot in their stomach and cannot get back to sleep.

•who struggle with some form of compulsive and addictive behavior—perhaps an addiction to a substance like alcohol, drugs, or tranquilizers; or perhaps to activities like making money, gambling, working too hard, watching TV soaps, online chats, computer games, shopping, sex, or even going to church every night of the week.

•who battle with increasing levels of stress and tension—those who feel that they cannot cope with the demands being made upon them, who feel that their energy resources have been depleted and that they cannot handle any more pressure.

•who sabotage their relationships with destructive patterns of behavior—things like trying to control others too much, withdrawing into sulky silences, blowing up in anger, always trying to “fix” those around them, or getting stuck in the mud of their resentments.

•who feel trapped by feelings of self-condemnation, guilt, and regret—who are weighed down by secret sins and baggage from the past; who constantly hear in their heads those inner, shaming voices, saying, “You are no good! You are not acceptable! You will never amount to anything! You are beyond redemption!”

•who may worship on a regular basis but somehow feel that their faith has become bogged down in pious clichés and empty ritual—those who long for a living and vital spiritu­ality that leads toward the transformation of their personal lives and the environments in which they live, work, and play.

If you can identify with any of these descriptions, take heart. There is hope. There are others like you, and many of them are discovering a new depth and freedom and joy in their daily lives. How they are finding this power to live for a change is what this book is all about.

THE POWER DILEMMA

When we look around today, we see that in spite of all the self-help books and self-fulfillment techniques flooding the market human misery abounds. There remain in our midst in ever-increasing numbers sad incidents of despair, suicide, addiction, violence, corruption, and personal emptiness, and what seems to be a tragic inability to get along even with those we say we love. Massive social changes, even those for the better, seem unable to transform the hearts of men and women. Clearly, when it comes to inner change, human resources alone are not sufficient. We need a power from beyond ourselves.

There is good news! Those who wrote God’s Good Book were unanimous about one thing: There is available to all of us as human beings a Power greater than ourselves—a power that can inwardly change us, that can set us free from life-spoiling habits and addictions, that can help us grow into better people; that can help us heal relationships, that can equip us to make a creative difference where we live and work. It is a power that enables us to know the living presence of God in our lives. However, if we want to experience this life-changing power, we need to learn how to plug into it.

In the following pages I will show you one way to do this. While this way may surprise you, it is not original. It draws from one of the most powerful programs for change and spiritual progress ever devised: the Twelve Step program made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous. The Twelve Step pro­cess is an experience of being changed by a caring and powerful God who knows what we need—a God who is able to reach deep inside our lives and change us for the better. I hope that, as you explore and follow these steps, they will become as helpful to you as they have been to me.