This is not about alcoholism. Yet, the subject leads us to why most of us do not change. Pattern change can be as disorienting as the shattered sky in the surrealist photograph. 

     Here is how a Divinity School class mate shared her struggle with alcohol: "I knew I was drinking a lot but I did not think it was a problem. I started to attend AA meetings because of a friend's pressure. The more meetings, the more sure I was that I was not like the others. They had problems. I did not.

   "I was about to quit going to AA meetings with all those drunks when a new person joined the group. She was my age, looked like me &, hardest of all, drank like me. That night I realized my denial. And it took seeing someone almost exactly like me! 

  Changing any long held pattern is tough. We have got to be aware of the need for change, accept it as a priority, start making a picture of a different life & walk into the picture with new actions.

   Control leaders do not want to give up control. Rude surgeons think their anger is justified. The same with nurses who disdain compassion as "touchy-feely" stuff.

   Which is harder? Changing from fear-based to loving leadership or for an alcoholic to quit drinking? Both start in the same place: Overcoming denial.

-Erie Chapman   

"Shattered Patterns" – (c) Erie Chapman 2017