Addictions - Innocent but Misguided Strategies
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There are very few things in life that are benign. Most activities, substances, and belief systems are either soul nurturing or they are soul robbing. We sometimes get out of balance and create attachments or addictions to these things. Addictions tend to serve one of two purposes or sometimes both. First, they are fear based and designed to distract or anesthetize us so we don't have to face or feel some pain and suffering in our life. Secondly, they are designed to artificially create a feeling we want to experience and can't seem to find in our own every day life. At their root, addictions are an innocent but misguided response to our own fear and unhappiness. Whatever your addiction is, whether it is alcohol, drugs, porn, gambling or a dark belief system, it will interfere with the quality of your life.
“Imagine a big circle in the sky.”
Imagine a big circle in the sky. Inside this circle is your addiction. Absolutely everything that has anything to do with your addiction is in this circle. In the circle is every penny you've ever spent on it, every moment of time you've been at the effect of it or been involved in it, every moment you've ever spent thinking about the next time you would do it, every moment of time you have spent thinking about or dealing with the effects of the last time you were engaged in it. Every effect this addiction has had on your relationships, your health, your career or your spiritual sense of yourself is in the huge circle in the sky.
“The addiction is designed to help you avoid facing the void.”
Now imagine erasing everything from the circle, everything that was ever in the circle is now gone. There would be a huge void in your life. The addiction is designed to help you avoid facing the void. To get free of the addiction, you have to be willing to walk into the void and surrender to it. The anticipation of facing and walking into the void feels like you will die, or that you will have to give up some essential part of who you are. It is not true that you will die or that you have to give up any part of who you really are, but it does feel like that could happen.
“Addictive behaviors rob us of our freedom and our life energy.”
My personal experience is that once you step away from the addictive behavior, when you have finally suffered enough to learn what the suffering is trying to tell you, when you are willing to step completely into the void, you will begin to fill the void and your life with healthier activities, experiences, and people. You will discover a sense of freedom and relief you had not anticipated. Instead of feeling afraid and angry that you don't get to do your addictive behavior any more, you realize that you don't have to do that behavior any more. There truly is a sense of freedom, but to get there you have to be willing to face the void, to face and walk toward the very thing you are most afraid to face.
Best wishes on our journey my friends.
Frank Robinson
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