Thanks for a great post, Cliff 
Somewhat OT:
My dad visited me recently. I have always looked up to him: he is a kind, honest, and loving person: big heart, great parent.
Just last week, though, he brought on a big OMG! moment.
We were talking about (someone's situation). Out of the blue, he said "I'm very surprised at you, Matthew... People don't change! You're a grown man, I would have thought you'd learnt that by now".
O.o!
Right then and there I realised that's the message he has been giving me *all* my life: people don't change. And, for a very, very long time, I had automatically accepted that ridiculous belief, and acted in consequence. I still do, in many areas of my life... and it's outrageous. Basically, my arrested development is a direct result of believing that a tiger never changes its stripes.
I now believe that my recovery proper began when I -probably unconsciously- countered that precept with... I CAN CHANGE! Everything changes all the time.. so we might as well go with the flow. Changing consciously.
More to the point, and to state the obvious, imo it's impossible to recover from addiction if you don't believe in change.
Last edited by Mattcake; 01-25-2010 at 11:05 AM.
Reason: typo