HEALING ADDICTIONS
Here are 5 Keys to healing any addiction, whether it’s spending, drinking,
cheating, lying, gambling, eating, or whatever else you have been overtaken
by.
1. Realize what a slippery slope addiction is: It’s a lot easier to get into debt
than to get out of it. This is because getting into debt doesn’t require a plan;
in fact, it often requires unconsciously not planning. The same can be said for
an addiction to food or any other addiction. It’s much easier to gain the weight
than it is to lose it because gaining it means simply “going unconscious.”
2. Recognize the benefits you get from going unconscious: There are two
short-term benefits to going unconscious using addictive behaviors: First, we
get temporary relief from the pressure of having to take responsibility.
Secondly, we get a temporary high from our addiction. The relief and the high
are intertwined because the high offers a heightened sense of relief.
3. Reach out NOW: You obviously can’t maintain an addictive high permanently.
When you do finally come down, it is a crash landing. Each time you experience
the cycle of your addiction, you tend to feel worse and fall further, right?
Consequences become ever more severe, including destitution, suicidal
thoughts/depression, total loss of self-esteem, or poor health or even death.
If you try to go it alone, you will probably let your shame run you.
Shame isn’t a good motivator. Compassion is.
Find a group or a competent coach or therapist to work with.
4. Stop lying to yourself: Quit telling yourself that if you had more money,
you wouldn’t be in this much financial trouble. Or if you had better metabolism,
you’d be thin. Or if you had a nicer mate, you wouldn’t be cheating. None of
these excuses are true.
If you continue to believe your excuses, you will lose
more of your dignity and waste more of your precious life and energy. If you are
in deeper and deeper debt, what is true is that you are addicted.
Winning the lottery wouldn’t change that.
After all, over 70% of people who win the lottery end up with as little or less
than they had before they won. If you are drinking more and more, changing from
“the hard stuff” to wine isn’t the cure. That’s like believing that smoking will
cure a food addiction. Trading addictions isn’t healing addictions. It is a game
your addictive mind will try to play but you can’t win at it.
5. “Tap” into healing: You are misusing money or food or sex or alcohol or
drugs or TV to try to numb something. What memories, feelings, or situations
trigger your addiction? Once you stop avoiding the core reason for your
addictive behaviors and begin to get comfortable with feelings you once dreaded,
you will feel less compulsion to behave addictively. There are so many valid
options for healing addictions, including 12-step programs, therapy and
coaching, acupuncture
and other holistic approaches, even prayer for many people. In addition, I use
EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, with my clients. EFT is a quick, efficient,
yet powerful “tapping” method for releasing the anxiety and pain that trigger addictions.
The bottom line is that you don’t have to suffer tomorrow from your
addictions just because you are suffering today. You are a worthy being who
deserves to thrive and live your extraordinary life.
Author's Bio:
Author, life coach, relationship expert, and media guest, Jane Straus works
her magic "live" with individuals and couples on air, on the phone, or in the
privacy of her office. She is the author of the popular "Enough Is Enough! Stop
Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life," written after being
diagnosed and treated for a brain tumor when she was 48. Her philosophy of
thriving is based on her 25 years of experience helping people overcome fears,
self-judgments, and limiting beliefs. Her wise, compassionate, and witty
approach is uniquely inspiring. For more information, visit
AskJaneNow.com.
Here are 5 Keys to healing any addiction, whether it’s spending, drinking,
cheating, lying, gambling, eating, or whatever else you have been overtaken
by.
1. Realize what a slippery slope addiction is: It’s a lot easier to get into debt
than to get out of it. This is because getting into debt doesn’t require a plan;
in fact, it often requires unconsciously not planning. The same can be said for
an addiction to food or any other addiction. It’s much easier to gain the weight
than it is to lose it because gaining it means simply “going unconscious.”
2. Recognize the benefits you get from going unconscious: There are two
short-term benefits to going unconscious using addictive behaviors: First, we
get temporary relief from the pressure of having to take responsibility.
Secondly, we get a temporary high from our addiction. The relief and the high
are intertwined because the high offers a heightened sense of relief.
3. Reach out NOW: You obviously can’t maintain an addictive high permanently.
When you do finally come down, it is a crash landing. Each time you experience
the cycle of your addiction, you tend to feel worse and fall further, right?
Consequences become ever more severe, including destitution, suicidal
thoughts/depression, total loss of self-esteem, or poor health or even death.
If you try to go it alone, you will probably let your shame run you.
Shame isn’t a good motivator. Compassion is.
Find a group or a competent coach or therapist to work with.
4. Stop lying to yourself: Quit telling yourself that if you had more money,
you wouldn’t be in this much financial trouble. Or if you had better metabolism,
you’d be thin. Or if you had a nicer mate, you wouldn’t be cheating. None of
these excuses are true.
If you continue to believe your excuses, you will lose
more of your dignity and waste more of your precious life and energy. If you are
in deeper and deeper debt, what is true is that you are addicted.
Winning the lottery wouldn’t change that.
After all, over 70% of people who win the lottery end up with as little or less
than they had before they won. If you are drinking more and more, changing from
“the hard stuff” to wine isn’t the cure. That’s like believing that smoking will
cure a food addiction. Trading addictions isn’t healing addictions. It is a game
your addictive mind will try to play but you can’t win at it.
5. “Tap” into healing: You are misusing money or food or sex or alcohol or
drugs or TV to try to numb something. What memories, feelings, or situations
trigger your addiction? Once you stop avoiding the core reason for your
addictive behaviors and begin to get comfortable with feelings you once dreaded,
you will feel less compulsion to behave addictively. There are so many valid
options for healing addictions, including 12-step programs, therapy and
coaching, acupuncture
and other holistic approaches, even prayer for many people. In addition, I use
EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, with my clients. EFT is a quick, efficient,
yet powerful “tapping” method for releasing the anxiety and pain that trigger addictions.
The bottom line is that you don’t have to suffer tomorrow from your
addictions just because you are suffering today. You are a worthy being who
deserves to thrive and live your extraordinary life.
Author's Bio:
Author, life coach, relationship expert, and media guest, Jane Straus works
her magic "live" with individuals and couples on air, on the phone, or in the
privacy of her office. She is the author of the popular "Enough Is Enough! Stop
Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life," written after being
diagnosed and treated for a brain tumor when she was 48. Her philosophy of
thriving is based on her 25 years of experience helping people overcome fears,
self-judgments, and limiting beliefs. Her wise, compassionate, and witty
approach is uniquely inspiring. For more information, visit
AskJaneNow.com.