Work the program, not the problem

"Work the program, not the problem." That's a slogan used in the 12-step groups such as AA, Narcotics Anonymous, and many others. Why are members advised to do this?

Let's answer this question with another question. Have you ever gotten sick of listening to yourself rehash the problem? We can get so bogged down in analyzing the difficulty, probing its causes, conjuring up its childhood origins, and evaluating all its related implications, that we forget to solve it.

How can we ever find our way clear to the solution with all these distractions?

If this sounds like you, consider asking yourself a new question, "Am I so used to this problem that I'm comfortable working the problem forever?" "If I identify my 'strongly prefers', do I strongly prefer to solve the problem and move on?" It's up to you whether you would strongly prefer to get out of your rut.

In fact, you probably never needed to work the problem as hard as you have. A little self-awareness is nice, but then maybe it's time to move on to find solutions. Move on to "working the program" instead of the problem.

But what do we mean by working the program? Do we mean a new diet or food program? No. Working the program is a broad term that means working out solutions. For non-dieters it means working the tools of recovery you've learned, such as more rational beliefs and better self-talk. It means practicing hunger and fullness. It means adopting new attitudes and values such as delayed gratification, balance, and temperance in all things.

I once overhead an interesting objection at a Weight Watchers meeting. A woman said, "But it's not fair that after all that work to lose the weight, our reward is we have to eat less food!"

This woman is working the problem, not the program. She needs to understand that wanting the right amount is a goal to be achieved. That working the program has far more to do with the mind than with food.

There are so many positive steps you can take while learning normal eating. Why get bogged down working the problem? When we work the program, what we're really doing is coping with life and our frailty with all the tools we can find. We're simply staying positive. Working the program, then, is simply working life to the fullest.

I like Beethoven. One of the greatest classical composers and musicians of all time, Beethoven had a problem--he was losing his hearing. By the time he was 50 he was completely deaf. Yet he wrote some of the world's greatest music even though he could not hear a note of it.

Beethoven's violent temper and moodiness can be blamed in part on his hearing loss. For a while, he was so angry and sad over his deafness that he thought of killing himself. He even once wrote a suicide note. Indeed, for a while, he was working the problem. But eventually he chose to cope with his handicap, and went on to write some of the world's greatest music.

To hear sounds, Beethoven cut off the legs of his piano and placed the instrument on the floor. He did this to feel the vibrations in the floor when he played. Now that's what I call working the program.

s=books&v=glance&n=283155&tagActionCode=lindamorannet-20">How to Survive Your Diet.