Belief

The power of believing something could happen involves a mix of values such as faith, confidence, trust, persistence, resilience and courage.

Bill Wilson is the co-founder of AA, he created a 12-step program for fellow alcoholics and the spotlight of the program is the belief in a higher power. Since then, Alcoholics Anonymous has helped an estimated 10 million people get sober.

Before founding AA, Wilson, an alcoholic of almost two decades, was told by a friend that God had been his ticket to sobriety. He laughed at first.

Many of AA’s participants are former non-believers or lack religion altogether. So why, exactly, does a program where 7 of its 12 steps require participants to belief in a higher power? The answer lies in how habits are changed.

One of the topics discussed in the book The Power of Habit from Charles Duhigg is how the program works and why some people succeed and others don’t.

The author describes the “Golden Rule of Habit Change”, you have to identify the 3 parts of the habit loop: 1. what triggers the behavior (cue), 2. the routine/behavior and 3. the reward. We must swap out the routine — while keeping the trigger and reward the same.

AA helps its members to create a list of triggers, and to discover what reward they get from drinking. To alter the habit, AA teaches members to rewire their routines so as to achieve the same reward without the unwanted behavior. For example, instead of drinking with a colleague at a bar when stressed, members are encouraged to meet with their sponsor. Often, the “reward” from drinking isn’t being drunk, it’s social interaction or relaxation.

Researchers had been perplexed that the former alcoholics they spoke with pointed God as the key to why they remained sober. But then they realized that God was just one way that people strengthened their cognitive ability to believe. Once alcoholics were able to believe in God, they were able to start believing in the change required for their new habits. AA hadn’t given people a religion, it had given the ability to believe in changes.

Faith is a key pillar to change.

Babi

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