Oct 19, 2018
Today I want you to focus. Real change in the brain can only happen by active relearning — not through avoidance. You have to focus on the pain in order to fix it.
Usually, when addictions start, they’re almost always about escaping or trying to avoid paying attention to something that’s going on in your life. It can be psychological, environmental, physical, or emotional. But the thing is… sometimes by the “end” of the addiction (or when you begin to seek help), you forget what it even looked like in the beginning — what caused you to originally run away. It’s crucial that we get to the core of what first caused the addiction so we can address the main issue.
In this episode, I outline some of the ways we avoid the real issues in our life by using addiction, how we can begin to change our behavior and stop running away, and some of my real-world examples from clients I have worked with facing the same issues.
Topics Discussed:
[:46] About today’s episode.
[2:03] Where my addiction started and then ended up, as well as a story from The Abstinence Myth.
[5:48] What do you think you were trying to escape from when you first started your addiction?
[6:04] An example of an early client of mine and how her addiction began as a coping mechanism.
[10:13] We all get so used to running away from stuff that we literally forget what we’re running from. The problem with a lot of the approaches that we currently have for addiction help is that they actually teach us to escape.
[13:15] Real change in the brain can only happen by active relearning — not through avoidance. You have to focus on the pain in order to fix it.
[14:42] One of my current favorite clients who acts out in a variety of ways and how we’ve come to address his issues.
[18:08] Addiction is not only biological — you cannot ignore the environmental and psychological factors.
[18:52] Where to find some of my testimonials and some of the factors that have led to addiction with the clients that I’ve worked with.
[20:24] Tip of the week: Identify one area in your life you’ve been running away from and just spend a little bit of time exploring why you’ve been running away from it. To make this easier start simple. Nothing you can’t handle on your own. Sit there and really meditate on it, explore it honestly, and develop awareness around it. Focus on the pain instead of running away from it.
Mentioned in this Episode:
The Abstinence
Myth, by Dr. Adi Jaffe
Julia’s
IGNTD Recovery Testimonial
The “Rock Bottom” Myth and the Shame it Brings On
IGNTD.com (Sign up and get a free Wheel of Life assessment)
Find out more about IGNTD:
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