Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

April 2, 2018

“The good thing about principles is that they make life easy.  I have heard it said that when someone bases his life on principles, 99 percent of his decisions are already made.” –Dave Ramsey

What guides me in my decisions?  For many addicts it is avoiding pain or emotional discomfort.  This is hardly a life principle.  Luckily, recovery offers many principles to live by:  rigorous honesty, do the next right thing, I am always responsible for what I have done, continue to take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it, etc.  Living by these principles does not mean we will always be comfortable or that things will always work out the way we want.  It does mean that we are creating a foundation for our future and are avoiding the harm created by short-sighted thinking.

What has guided my decisions in life?  How has this worked for me?  What gifts await me as I embrace principles and allow them to guide my decisions?