OUR READINESS IS ENTIRELY UP TO US

I need to be willing to give up that which attracts me in the first place. -- Anonymous

There is the first step in learning detachment...it's all about unlearning, and the quickest way to detach is to not pick it up in the first place. Doesn't matter what the "it" is...booze for an alcoholic, food for a compulsive overeater, a dollar bet for a gambler, or restraint of tongue, pen, e-mail, self.

All of our defects of character could be transmuted in a second if we quit using them...and now, not later, not "next time." 

How easy it is to think of that as just so many words...like my budget on paper. On paper, I should be able to save as much as I need, spend as much as I want and have some left over. The truth is the only reason my budget on paper is not reality in my life is that I do not use that which I have written as possible for me to live by...I use my want-to. The same is true of defects of character. 

I'm convinced the only thing that can change that is a deeper want to...a want to have a higher power active in our lives. That want then grows into a need, and God answers needs, not wants...on his own timetable. The key being: His timetable is based on our readiness, never His caprice.

Our readiness is entirely up to us, upon our conscious decision and our follow-through actions. That is why we need to practice spiritual principles in all of our affairs at all times...which starts with a need to be willing to give up that which attracts us in the first place. 

Thank You.