Before recovery, many of us ran on self-will. Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that this kind of life “can hardly be a success.” But many of us were determined to try. Even if we were not drinking and were trying with wild sincerity to make our lives better, we thought the force of our will would be the deciding factor in our success or failure.

But Step One brought us up short: to continue on a spiritual path, we had to admit that our will was not strong enough to overcome an addiction or make life what we wanted it to be.

Today, if I’m struggling with troublesome thinking or behavior at work, or if I’m trying to make the world around me conform to my vision of How Things Should Be, I will remember that willpower usually offers only limited effects. I will try gently cultivating new habits rather than steamrolling old ones. I will try the prayer “Bless them, change me” rather than attempting to redirect another human being. And I will sit still for a moment, cultivating the humility of accepting God’s will by staying present to what is happening around me.