Addictions have been part of my life for as long as I can remember, but it wasn't until the last several years that I have been aware of them and working to overcome them. And while I don't have any formal training on addiction, I do have years of study and first hand experience.
Whether it be drinking, drugs, smoking, food, or the opposite sex (I could go on....) addictions are very real and they can overtake us. I have found the most effective way (so far) to "overcome" them is to stop thinking and just do. Do what you need to in order to achieve the goal, and do it just once.
For instance, if you ate a salad at the next meal and this caused you to be at your goal weight... wouldn't you eat the salad? If you skipped that glass of wine at dinner and you never felt that compulsion to finish the whole bottle again...wouldn't you skip it? If you skipped that cigarette after dinner just once and became a non-smoker...wouldn't that be worth it?
All of these "just once's" add up to a lifetime of forming new habits. New habits that are free of addiction. If you think about it, all we have is the moment we are in anyway. So, if we use this train of thought to do the next right action, in that moment, eventually we become who we desire to be. Simply from a string of right decisions moment to moment.
The key is not to allow yourselves to think about anything other than what the action is going to be now. Not what you did a minute ago or what you may do a minute from now. Disregard those thoughts and bring your attention to doing what is next in order to reach the goal. If you choose something other than what is helpful to you, that's okay. Dust yourself off and try again. A new moment has just arrived!
And if you have faith, ask for strength. If you don't, you may want to consider that since you didn't create the world outside of yourself (or inside yourself for that matter) that there just might be some thing/force/energy/spirit/god....out there that did. And that is really all the faith you need.
2 comments:
That's powerful - "just once". I, for one, can attest that it works. Not only does it take us to our goals, but it gives inner peace in the moment, which is my ultimate goal.
Peace,
kk
I have so many things I'd like to change, I am best to write them down. Like a dialog so I will remember better and so it will reinforce how I'd like to act.
-SS
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