The fact that many people suffer from an addiction is not new. However, most don’t really understand where addiction comes from, why we have them and how we can really get rid of them. Just stopping the addictive behavior is namely not a cure. The origin stems from something deeper, something that we first need to understand and then get over, before we can fight it. Dan Millman explains this in his book “No Ordinary Moments – A peaceful Warrior’s Guide to Daily Life” which serves as my primary source of research for this article.
Blockages in our body and what they do
Energy flows through our body at all times. It’s how we are powered and are able to live. We get our energy through multiple sources, like food, sun light, physical activities etc. Through different kinds of obstacles, we get blockages in our bodies that hinder this energy to flow easily. When a lot of energy encounters an obstacle, we suffer pain. Hence, we search for outlets that enable us to release this excess energy. If we don’t get rid of those blockages though we need these outlets over and over again in order not to suffer. After a while we develop addictions to deal with the redundant energy.
Where they come from
There are different kinds of obstacles that lead to the blockages and they originate from different sources. There are acute and chronic blockages. People usually suffer from both. Acute blockages can be temporary problems and injuries, neck pain for an example, a cramped or pulled muscle, worries due to a job or money, arguments with people and relationship problems or general frustrations. We might get over these soon but still they make us want to ease the “pain” with different outlets. Chronic blockages however usually originate in childhood and are caused through traumas, abuse, neglect, lack of safety or love etc. As we go through life and experience more stress, problems, hurt and pain, heartbreak and so on we might build up more and more of these blockages if we don’t heal the wounds that caused the pain in the first place.
Different types of obstacles
Usually, the obstacles can be categorized in three different ways. Mental obstacles may be worries, regret, inner resistances, judgements etc. Emotional obstacles come from fear, anger, jealousy, depression, annoyance or trouble. Physical obstacles finally are injuries, bad posture, not enough or wrong movement and so on. It’s important to be able to identify the different possible roots that trigger your need to let energy out through addictive behaviors.
8 different kinds of outlets
This is a list of different kinds of activities or consumption goods that we turn to when we need an outlet. Engagement with these things does not automatically mean you’re addicted or that you have an energy blockage. However, when people feel the need to “have” these things repeatedly, regularly or before or after certain events over time, it can easily and likely turn into an addiction.
- Alcohol, nicotine, drugs (also sugar, fat and coffee)
- Social media
- Sex
- Excessive or binge-eating
- Injuries and illnesses
- Overworking & excessive physical activity
- Exposure to danger (adrenaline-junkies)
- Cruelty
Health issues and what they tell us
We have three different selves inside us, more on this in another text though. The three selves are the base self, the conscious self and the higher self. They all do different things for and need different things from us. They all operate in our favor but in different ways. However, sometimes we neglect them. The base self, which is basically our inner child, communicates with us through feelings and emotions. When we ignore soft indications of what we need like dreams, our intuition etc. it has to make use of harsher ways of making us see we’re on the wrong path. Hence, we experience hurtful indications like physical pain and suffering. Whenever we suppress our feelings and try to bury them, after a while we might get sick and experience symptoms of disease, infections and pains.
Cure and healing
Fighting an addiction is an impressive achievement. However, it’s not the solution to the underlying problem. If we don’t manage to identify the obstacles, meaning our traumas, stress, pain, worries etc., the then caused blockages are still there. Just because we don’t engage in this one addictive behavior doesn’t actually mean that the blockages are gone. The energy still can’t flow effortlessly. And it’s actually pretty likely that we soon fall back into our addictive behavior or we find a different outlet, which is not healthier in any way. The only way to free oneself from addiction in the long-term is to heal our wounds, rest, cure what hurt us, go to therapy, resolve our issues and work on freeing our body from anything that is making us not feel good – whether the obstacles are mental, emotional or physical.
I hope, this text helps you in any way, see you next time <3
