"How Loretta Overcame Her Destructive Complexes
'I think it best,' Loretta S. opened the conversation with me, 'that I
speak about a specific situation which must be changed. I see the futility
of going along with it any more. You have already done that much for me.
To get to the point, I feel as if I am not living my own life.'
'In what way?' I asked.
She laughed lightly. 'I hope it doesn't sound as if I have a persecution
complex, but I feel as if everything I do is compulsive. I feel as if I'm
being dragged over rocky ground, but have no will to escape. Am I making
sense?'
Of course Loretta was making sense. Honesty always makes sense. To be
honest about misery is the first necessary step toward removal. Loretta's
feeling is common to those who have not as yet found the way out. It is the
feeling of being oppressed, of living in a hostile world with no defense,
of being at the mercy of unexpected blows from lurking assailants.
But all this can be overcome. I assure you of this. You can be fully in the
world and yet removed from its griefs, much like a bottle dancing freely
and undisturbed in a stormy sea. All you really need at the start is an
intense longing to find out.
Loretta had that longing. So together we worked out definite plans for
reclaiming her life. The following plan which worked for her can also work
for you. Your objective is to _watch._"
The One Way to Change Your Life Amazingly
Pathways to Perfect Living, Chap. 2, p. 15 (Original version)
Chap. 2, p. 29 (Current version)