I am a recovering know-it-all. For most of my life, self-centered fear made it impossible to accept ideas that didn't square with mine. I had hard and fast opinions about everything and everyone. I would argue to the cows came home to prove I was right. Slowly, slowly the steps melted away self-centered fear and my mind began to open. I am beginning to realize that I know only a little. Today I feel much closer to true open-mindedness than ever before. Today I'd rather be happy than right.
I continue to have strong beliefs about what actions it takes to recover, but even these beliefs are beginning to soften. Go to meetings, work steps, be of service and develop a working partnership with God. These actions were passed onto me by those who came before me. They worked for me and I believe they will help anyone who truly wants relief from alcoholism and a more peaceful, fulfilling life. But sometimes they don't.
I'm often wrong when I try to predict whether or not a newcomer will make it based on their efforts for the first ninety days. I'm coming to believe that those who are supposed to "get it" will and those who are not "supposed to get it" won't. My job is simply to accept everyone exactly as they are and to help where I can. What an order!
Perhaps my strongest belief is my need to have a connection with a spiritual power to solve my problems. Yet, I no longer judge those who say they are atheists or agnostics. I know less about God and life today than I did when I started my spiritual journey in Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm coming to believe I cannot know anything in this ever-changing universe for sure, much less what's in the mind of God.