Tag: addiction

Ego anonymous: a practice

Ego Anonymous: 1. We admitted we were powerless — we have no ultimate control over anything and this body will die one day. We are fighting this fact in one way or another. This fight is insane because it’s in contradiction to reality. 2. Came to believe that Nature could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to life-force as we understand it 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves 5 Shared our pain/trauma with life-force, ourselves, and with friends. 6. Were entirely ready to have life-force transform all our trauma. ...

Hungry ghosts

From Wikipedia for those who do not know the term: Hungry ghost is a concept in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese traditional religion representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. (NOTE: when I saw this I thought that hungry ghosts originated in Tibetan Buddhism but figured I was wrong. A friend on twitter just said the same thing,... Continue Reading →

Addiction: what is it?

Addiction is a societal issue. Consumerism and capitalism is dependent on the addict in everyone. Recognizing this fundamental issue with our society is part of a much deeper social commentary that this speaks to. Gabor Mate, Marion Woodman and others speak to this expertly if you’d like to do further research. Our society needs healing, it’s not just particular individuals who need to heal. We are all connected. Inextricably so. This argument can be true and we can also note real differences in how people use drugs. There is no argument there on my part. Language is inherently imprecise and context must always be considered.

Addiction

For me addiction is about having trouble letting go of ANYTHING that has ever been helpful. That includes people, food, experiences, substances of all kinds etc. I have no conventionally understood addictions right now, but I am deeply resonant with the concept of addiction. Our consumer oriented culture teaches us to cling to everything. Healing for me is learning to stop clinging. Completely. ...

Addiction: it ain’t what you think

Professor Alexander argues this discovery is a profound challenge both to the right-wing view that addiction is a moral failing caused by too much hedonistic partying, and the liberal view that addiction is a disease taking place in a chemically hijacked brain. In fact, he argues, addiction is an adaptation. It's not you. It's your cage. ...

We accept a cultural value that annihilates the Earth (making us all sick and in denial)

We are still accepting a cultural value that annihilates the Earth. If we don’t change, we are going to our own extinction. This is precisely what addicts do. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

A recovery from addiction (eating disorders and cocaine)

We don’t offer a quick fix. That is what many of us were trying to do when we first distracted ourselves from unpleasant mental states or experiences. We self medicated, gave ourselves misguided kindness and compassion, to help take care of difficult things happening in our lives. And why not ? You may ask. Well quick fixes, are like band aids that fall off minutes later. Quick fixes perpetuate the vicious cycle of addiction. Why? Because while we may be momentarily relieved from our suffering, guarantee the unpleasant mental states we have been avoiding, will emerge again. Guarantee the craving for a better experience, or more pleasant mental states will emerge again. And when they do we will be reaching for that same or similar quick fix. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Addiction is not an Illness

I don’t see addiction as an illness. But some of the things we choose as an addiction are far more physically and emotionally destructive than others. I also don’t see addiction as limited to drug use. I see addiction as the way that we live. It is, a necessity, at this stage of living. But only because we have not fully grasped that the way that we are living, forces us into lives of distraction. I feel that most of us have this reversed. The prevailing presumption is that our lives of distraction drive us to ignore the things around us. When really there is so much damage done to the paradise of nature and the sense of community and connection…that distraction is just about the final frontier for us to not go insane from the realization of just how dire things are here and now. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Ask, not why the addiction, but why the pain?

I've not come across anyone else who more elegantly speaks to the pain and trauma of humanity than Gabor Maté. He clearly explains how that which gets labled mental illness, addiction and most chronic physical illness is in large part the result of childhood loss and trauma. Another voice that touches on some of these themes is Marion Woodman. She points out our addiction to stuff is killing us. We need to own our inner addicts. All of us. Together these two weave an important social commentary as well as raising a public health emergency that needs tending to. I've not come across anyone else who more elegantly speaks to the pain and trauma of humanity than Gabor Maté. He clearly explains how that which gets labled mental illness, addiction and most chronic physical illness is in large part the result of childhood loss and trauma. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery

Brand meets a whole range of people from whom he draws insights - scientists at the cutting edge of research into the psychology of addiction, those involved in innovative recovery treatments and drug addicts themselves. Is addiction a disease? Should it be criminalized? And is abstinence-based recovery, which worked for Brand, a possible way forward? In this documentary Brand challenges conventional theory and practice as well as government policy in his own inimitable style, confronting the reality of addiction head on. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

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