I am going to make two bold statements that might upset many:
1) Every human being "knows addiction" if they are honest with themselves because everyone has sought outside themselves for relief when in pain at one time or another.
Who here has never tried to escape or distract themselves from the present moment or soothe the discomfort of being a human being through materialism, shopping, sex, money, alcohol, drugs, people, relationships, work, smartphone, internet or food???
My point is that those with an addiction and those without one, are more alike than not. Compassion is the bridge to all understanding.
2) I would even go further and say that most human beings have experienced addiction at one time or another or still are, and that addiction is thinking of ourselves obsessively.
Thinking about ourselves has become compulsive for many, and it's the core of every addiction. I would even say; there is only one addiction that expresses itself in many different ways, and that addiction is the addiction to ME—I—Myself.
It's easy to become addicted to our stories and seek relief from our negative thoughts with an outside solution. This was me for many years and my solution was using cocaine to deal with the pain of not liking who I was. But my real issue was the MIND. The false belief that "I was the mind". Make no mistake about it; anyone with an addiction is a prisoner of their minds and pain is the bars. I call it an identity crisis of not knowing who we are. (Mistaken Identity)
It does not matter what we are seeking; it's still an attempt to not be in the present moment and believing we are incomplete, not whole. The tragedy of any addiction is the endless search for something we can never find because are the Love, Peace and Joy that we seek.
I encourage everyone to stop looking outside themselves for comfort because all those things are forever changing and impermanent; look within and experience that which is real and eternal. Nothing outside ourselves can bring us a feeling of home.
The bottom line, recovery is an inside job. It's why our most dependable solution to addiction is - Awakening of Consciousness. But it does require us to seek help and support from others who have been there and done it.
I would not be here today had I not done the painful work of recovery (which was many things) and peeled the layers of my Mistaken Identity and experience Love as much true state of Being. Having had a spiritual awakening, I lost all desire to use and it has never come back. Blessed am I!
But make no mistake about it, addiction is about pain; the pain of not knowing or liking who we are.( Mistaken Identity) which is the name of my book out soon.
copyright protected by Paul Noiles but can be shared.
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