It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting

Act as if” and “It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting” are classic AA phrases that William James would have agreed with whole-heartedly.
A contemporary and friend of James wrote about what he called “the fixation of belief” and suggested that beliefs needed to be tested by personal experience to survive. That is: it was the consequences of beliefs that mattered and beliefs could be reduced 100% to their personal consequences. That brings us back to “HOW” – “Honesty, openness, and willingness”. James would have agreed in the importance of these principles. Finally, I remember an old timer telling me once, “If you get sober, you’ll change your story.” Another classic piece of James straight out of the Will to Believe.

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