I Don’t Know Anyone Who’s not Addicted
It can be an addiction to alcohol or drugs, or an addiction to being right or in control, or an addiction to love and approval from others. There are an infinite number of ways that the addictive tendency can show up.
But the process is basically the same in every case.
The addict wants to escape some discomfort inside and turns to something outside to make him or her feel better. The addict also ignores the harmful side effects of the drug of choice until it has worn off. Then he or she goes into self-attack.
This Is a Vicious Cycle
But luckily today there are many programs which support addicts of all kinds in their recovery. Twelve-Step programs, like Alcoholics Anonymous, are a very powerful support for recovery. If you, or someone you know, suffers from an addiction, I highly recommend these programs.
Meditation is also very helpful. Personally, I am familiar with Transcendental Meditation and recommend it.
And The Work of Byron Katie is another powerful tool to help with addiction.
All three of these approaches work in different ways to strengthen the mind, to remove internal stress, and to shift attention back towards life supporting activities.
How Does The Work of Byron Katie Help?
The Work of Byron Katie is basically a way to start noticing the difference between what hurts and what doesn’t hurt. When an addiction is active, this more sane part of the mind gets overpowered .
But through the habit of self-inquiry, the mind starts noticing what’s really going on. And as awareness increases, addictions become less appealing. If the mind wakes up to what it’s doing, it will often not choose to inflict pain on itself (even if it’s mixed with pleasure).
So awareness is one key area where The Work can help. But there’s an even more important area where The Work can really help with addictions.
The Work Can Help You Unravel Your Stressful Stories
The main reason why addicts fall prey to their addictions is that they get stressed by life in other ways. It can be relationship stress, stress about money or job, stress from any traumatic event in the past, or just the build up of stress from daily life. And when the mind is stressed, the addiction suddenly seems like a valid way to cope. A way out.
The Work of Byron Katie helps unravel the irrational beliefs which keep us stressed. It is a way to question what we think is true about our relationships, and our jobs, and our stressful experiences, and to find examples of how what we thought was a problem is actually not.
This can radically free the mind, and can leave it with no reason to turn to addiction.
Have a great week,
Todd
“And if you believe that you really want to keep drinking, just notice what it does to you. There’s no pity in it. There’s no victim in it. And eventually there’s no fun in it–only a hangover.” — Byron Katie, Loving What Is, pp. 208-209.
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