WEEKLY MEDITATION
We may think we have the will to change, but we may only have the whim to change.
-Dan Millman
The types of changes that make for successful recovery from addiction must be made over and over, consistently, through time. It is not enough to follow a path of recovery just long enough until the addictive behaviors have stopped. This can be viewed as the difference between having a “will” vs. having a “whim” to change. Whims can be fun and exciting and certainly have their place. But recovery from addiction requires having a will to change and this must be manifested in the material world through consistent action. A will to change reflects decision and discipline, and we cannot rely upon a natural and constant innate desire to keep working at it. Will must be made new regularly, daily, even during times when we would otherwise like to stop working at it. Our addictions didn’t flourish without our hard work and neither will our successful recovery from them. But if we create, recreate, and defend our decision through our consistent actions, we can easily have the will it takes to recover from our addictions.