Saturday, April 27th
Letting Go of Character Defects
I first went to SCA meetings to try to control my compulsive behaviors.
Step Three is about letting go and turning over trust and control to a higher power of our understanding. This Step is part of the spiritual transformation that leads to growth and enables us to change our behaviors and outlook on life.
As we move through the Steps, we find guidance on making changes, facing our facts, identifying our character defects, and humbly praying to have them removed.
Steps Six and Seven describe the ways our Higher Power can remove our character defects and shortcomings. Sometimes, we are confronted by a particularly tough character defect. Self-will exerts itself, and we reject all suggestions to take contrary action. Removing the defect is not just exercising self-discipline or self-control, which often did not work in the past. We can pray, asking our Higher Power to help us let go of our desire to hold onto that defect.
By letting go of our hesitation to surrender, we can replace our learned impulses with positive actions. By doing so, we begin to change. Allowing our character defects to be removed makes us feel “right-sized” — neither better nor worse than our fellows.
We may experience freedom and a sense of lightness as we let go of our character defects.