I was pondering life recently, specifically addiction. I didn’t just write a holistic alcohol book with a catchy name, you know; I also work with addicts to help them understand and heal their addictions.
I was thinking about how all addictions do one of two things, they take us in or they take us out. Meaning that they help us either remember or forget. Some only allow us to forget and some only allow us to remember and then some allow us to make the choice. Based upon your addiction of choice, one can often see from the outside which option you are choosing.
So what do I mean by rememeber and forget?
When you remember it is when you use an addiction to bring yourself back to yourself, to wake yourself up. Many Shamanic herbs do this, meditation does this, yoga, marijuana and various psychedelics CAN do this. But if you need these substances to acheive this state of rememebering, it will lead to addiction (yes, one can be addicted to yoga or any other ‘good’ thing). If you don’t understand where your wounds and blocks are that are stopping you from acheiving enlightenment on the regular, you will become dependent on something outside of yourself. Which is called addiction.
Forgetting is far more obvious and common. One disappears into alcohol, facebook, porn, food….. to forget about what is happening in their life. They use these things to avoid their problems and emotions. They use these things to avoid reality. To avoid themslves. Everyone has days when ‘they just can’t’, but when you make that a habit, it becomes an addiction.
I have recieved a lot of complaints about the title of my book, The Conscious Alcoholic, and how it is inappropriate. I get it, it is a touchy subject. But what I want people to understand is that addiction is not someones problem, addiction is someones solution. Their chosen addiction is what is keeping them afloat in a sea of their own trauma. To “cure” addiction one has to be willing to go deep inside themselves, to remember, without the use of a substance. One has to be willing to find the most hurt aspect of themselves and begin the process of loving it.
This book isn’t promoting alcoholism, it is promoting education and wellness. And if it finds an acloholic, and that alcoholic starts using better quality alcohol to keep themselves afloat, I count that as a step forward.
If you or anyone you know is an addict and is ready to begin the process of finding and loving those hurt aspect of the Self, please reach out to me. [email protected]
