Step 2 of the 12 steps

I'm willing to let go of my usual ways, in the hope that this will help me see things from a broader perspective.

Original wording (AA):
Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Letting go

In Step One, you realized the absurdity of clinging to "solutions" that don't work.

Why then do you still cling to them? Probably because it feels somehow safer to have a "solution" (even one that doesn't work) rather than no solution at all.

Step Two is about letting go of these useless "solutions" to make room for new ones.

Now, of course, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will find a solution that works. There's a big difference between hoping that things work out, vs. expecting and demanding that they do.

It is quite possible that your fears will turn out to be realized. But, even then, you can keep the hope that there’s still potential for happiness, even after your fears are realized.

In other words, Step 2 is about letting go of the old, narrow sense of who you are because it doesn't work (even though you somehow believe it should work)...

A new perspective

There once was an actor who couldn't use his voice the way he wanted to. At some point, he decided to stop trying so hard to make the sounds he wanted happen. Instead, he started paying close attention to how he made sounds - not just his voice per se, but also the movements of his body.

He seemed to have lost his original focus on the voice as he kept experimenting with the movements of his body. But eventually he discovered that he now had an even better command of his body and voice than ever before. So he didn't just go back to the stage; he started teaching his method of movement to the public - it's known after his name, as the Alexander method.

Feeling stuck as a starting point

This story shows the difference between acknowledging your stuckness vs. falling into a spiral of despair.

When you hit a really difficult spot, you probably start to feel overwhelmed. You convince yourself that there's nothing you can do about it or about anything else... You start to believe that you are doomed...

This is not necessarily true. Alexander's first step was to take stock of reality - the way things were, he simply couldn't be an actor any more. He was powerless in that sense. But he didn't jump to the hasty conclusion that all was lost. He stayed in the simple reality of observing what was happening. He kept trying to move consciously, focusing his attention on the mechanics and feelings of making movements...

He used his energy to deal with the specific problems at hand instead of using it to generate predictions of hopelessness and doom.

Alexander's story is hardly unique. Way back from antiquity, there are examples of people who have overcome major obstacles through conscious attention. For instance, Demosthenes, born a stutterer, became one of Greece's most famous orators.