Principles and Practices of REBT and SMART Recovery
1. Completely accept that you are fallible. Your fallibility includes thinking in a manner that greatly hinders you in your individual pursuits and in relating to people with whom you live, work, and associate.
2. Intensely focus on eliminating your emotional upsets quickly (as soon as they occur) and regularly (several times a week). Follow this practice to give yourself more freedom from self-defeat and toward happiness.
3. Forgive yourself your mistakes. You will make many of them. Practice effective self-help techniques and you will eventually improve your behaviors and your abilities to change. Tolerate others’ shortcomings and forgive their mistakes. Keep your friendships even with their problems, because you won’t find any that do not have them.
4. Accept that you are a creature who thrives on happiness, delight, joy, and love, and work to develop your ability to find and achieve these in as many ways as you can.
5. Accept yourself with your mistakes and shortcomings.
6. Work and practice, and you will eventually improve your abilities to change.
7. If you have attended SMART Recovery meetings and found them helpful, continue to attend and help yourself and others.
8. Continue your Rational-Emotive education through reading REBT books and other materials.
9. Work on upsets quickly (as soon as they occur) using DIBs and the other REBT techniques you have learned.
10. Work and practice-practice and work!
11. Absorb yourself in a long-term interest that brings you happiness.
From Alcohol: How To Give It Up And Be Glad You Did, pp. 186 – 7 Author: Phillip Tate
