Fighting Addiction … does it really work?

Resisting our addictions does not help us eliminate them. Let's use the example of smoking.

When we think of ourselves as addicted to smoking, who do we become?

Remember when we believe it, we automatically feel and act is if it's true … So it follows course then, that if we believe we're an addict, we play the part, which reinforces the addiction. Then of course, we “hate” ourselves for it. We call ourselves names: “I'm weak, can't control myself,” etc. and feel increasingly hopeless. So then we smoke to relieve our suffering and so the “addiction cycle” goes round ….

BUT, what if we were to reframe our perception of the behavior? What would happen if we were to perceive smoking as a sacred ritual, instead of an addiction we can't get past? What would happen, do you suppose, should we give ourselves permission to smoke (since we ARE smoking anyway) and framed it as a ritual we partake in only when it's necessary (every time we smoke) instead?

I've found that when we change our perception from being a problem to being a lesson – or as an initiatory process we are moving through – it leaves us room to move past it eventually instead of staying stuck in the addictive cycle.

Stop forbidding yourself to be where you are … back off and look for the ways it's exactly where you need to be instead … and you just may find that one day you simply move away from the behavior, not because it's a “bad” thing but because it's outlived its usefulness.

This is one example of making peace, not war, with our addictions.

May it serve you. 🙂