Our society has become addicted to anything and everything on many levels. I am asked often about addiction from the limited viewpoint of illicit substances. This is a bigger issue than street drugs or alcohol. To achieve freedom from suffering, learn how to reprogram addictions. Your inner addictions cause as much pain and suffering as any outside addiction. Being controlled by anger, stress, money, work, suffering, pain, loneliness, pride and more can cause as much or more pain than the other addictions.
When I speak of recovery from addiction, I speak of these inner addictions as often and the traditional substances. Many of my colleagues narrow their focus and I believe they are missing a large part of the picture.
You are addicted when you are being controlled by something and you cannot manage your emotions.
Here are some strategies to help free yourself from your inner addictive patterns that may be part of the cause of your other addictions. ALL people suffer from some type of addiction process at some point. These addictive patterns can be as deadly as the outer substances so commonly talked about. Now is the time to move beyond and transcend the patterns that bind you.
There are steps that you can take to help you break your inner additive patterns that are causing repeat destructive cycles in your life.
Be willing to explore your pain and suffering.
You may want to play the movie through of your suffering and the consequences. It is with this level of honesty that you are poised to move into increased freedom from addictions. As you begin the journey of freeing yourself from the bondage of inner suffering, you begin to develop the courage to never retreat from the opportunity to move through and beyond your suffering into a new freedom.
Some traditions encourage denying the pain and suffering and focusing only on the god about life. This can give your ego an added inroad to creating even more pain. The first step in becoming free is to tell yourself the truth about the pain and suffering you are feeling now and also in the past. This is not to be stuck there. It is to be clear about your stating point as you move out of the cesspool of addictive patterns controlling your thoughts, emotions and life.
Now is the time to be internally honest. What is the current state of affairs in your life, really
Identify Your Addictions
Your addictions started in the outside world and you have knowingly and unknowingly adopted the beliefs that have been perpetuating your suffering. The constant input from your environment helps you become more aware of your emotional and mental programming and beliefs. These stuck patterns of suffering must change in order for you to transform and transcend the addictive patterns within.
Identify the strongest phrases that hold power for you, even when you are experiencing strong emotions. These intense phrases are the ones to begin to reprogram and replace with phrases that serve your higher good more succinctly.
Choose New Self Talk and Beliefs
What you tell yourself is crucial. Life is messy and having messy thinking that is undisciplined ia a big culprit to the origin and perpetuation of your inner suffering. You must change the way you talk to yourself about your life if you want to be free. Every time you look outside of you with blame or upset, you are making yourself the slave of the outside person or event. This is ineffective.
Build up your intensity and inner power of your new emotions and beliefs. Build leverage by really seeing and experiencing the damage the old negative addictions have caused you emotionally and physically. Now, focus on your future and what you see for yourself that is possible when freed from the bondage. It is time to release the old emotions that have been haunting you for years. Develop self-confidence that you can absolutely by the master of your mind and destiny.
Focus your thoughts, words and consciousness on retraining your mind
Whatever you tell yourself when you are emotionally charged can either discharge the old toxins or create new toxins. Blowing out the old toxins is useful, AND this MUST be your intention. Rehashing and constantly talking about the pain and suffering can itself become an addiction. Your motivation and intention are what makes the difference between freedom and continued imprisonment. Holding onto old hurts and suffering and continuously rehashing them can create the cancer of cynicism.
Proper, healthy focus can change anything. Remember that the problems are not outside of you, rather they are all internal. The outside world is doing you a huge favor and by reflecting back to you your own discord and suffering so you can free yourself from the pain and fear.
Welcome the people and events that mirror back to you your addictions in thought, word and action.
Become acutely aware of your own inner process and addictive patterns. The world and everyone in it is mirroring back to you, your own reality and programming. When you find yourself emotionally charged, pay attention and ask: “What is this telling me right now?” Yes, life can be messy and often confusing. Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions and realize that they are always talking to you. By listening, you can free yourself from the bondage of lower thoughts and emotions that keep you hostage to anger, angst and fear.
All anxiousness and stress are because of your addictive patterns and deep-rooted programming. Whenever your ego and rational mind automatically justify negative emotions, you tend to perpetuate the negative experience. Remember that your ego is not always your friend and can lead you astray. Now is the time to take control of your thoughts and direct them to your inner world and free them from the bondage or trance of external lies.
Deep-rooted emotion-backed inner addictions will not disappear overnight.
You may have had these patterns playing for decades and this will be a big shift to divorce your constant companion. The pain and withdrawal are real, even when you are willing and ready to be free of the addiction. One great new phrase to adopt is: “Every day, in every way, I am getting better, better and better.” Hold empowering and loving thoughts in your mind. Allow your emotions to follow suit and keep your attention on your inner landscape. This is ow you break old addictive patterns. It is possible. You can do it.
Have fun in your life, even while dealing with releasing old distortions and addictions. Transformation and transcendence are part of your spiritual walk. No matter your personal path, it is vital to have some fun and allow your natural state of joy to emerge from time to time. Hold the mindset that you are here doing your thing and the world is revolving around you and you do not have the be taken off course. Act from within and you are essentially free! Freedom from Suffering requires learning to reprogram your addictions.
The more practice you do the freer of addictions and the negative consequences you become. I am here to support your journey and your ultimate freedom. Click here for personal support.
One Comment on “Freedom from Suffering – How to Reprogram Addictions”
Always and thank you Dianne for helping me turn on my light…well the light was on but noone was home!
I now appreciate our friendship and still have ahhhaaa moments. True friendship!!