[nandm]

Our restoration to sanity is the result of the replacement of selfishness and self-centeredness with God consciousness. Rather than leap immediately into planning how to arrange our affairs to suit ourselves, we pray for direction from God. God's will, rather than self-seeking, is the focus of our thoughts. Should we ignore these clear-cut directions, our thinking will be self-directed. Remembering how well self-directed thinking has worked for us in the past, we can be motivated to follow this method of re-directing the focus of our thoughts.

Many people joke that AA will ruin one's drinking. Likewise praying for God to keep our thinking from being influenced by our defects serves to make us conscious of our motivations. We see plainly what it is that is driving our thoughts and actions and turn to God for relief.