Friday, July 13, 2018

Addiction: Finding the Why

He who has the why to live can bear almost any how.
(Friedrich Nietzsche)

There is always a last time of usage, of getting stoned, and getting taken for a ride by the inner demons. It may not be a day when the will-power is the most pronounced. It is probably a day when the game we have been playing with ourselves is finally understood. The reason why we were running away from ourselves. It is a day when we know why we need to show up in live here and now and who depends on us. The day of break-through comes for everyone, hopefully well before the day of reckoning.


Dr. Spackman described this break-through day for one of his addicted clients in ‘The Winner’s Bible’. She focused all her energy on getting her son back, and stopping to use was the only way to get them reunited. In her case, the ‘why’ focused on her her loved one, whereas in some other cases the ‘why’ is about understanding what this bondage was all about, and doing something about it. Addiction, painful as it is, is a journey towards healing, wholeness and spiritual transformation. It’s a journey despite ourselves for the simple reason that there is no alternative.


Just as all the folks showed up when they did to inflict the pain on us in the past to send us on this journey of misery, the wheels are now in motion to send us the folks who help us on our healing mission. The pain unfortunately will linger for quite a while; the temptations are unfortunately sure to return, but we don’t need to be afraid either. Let’s figure out the why today, and we are sure to handle almost any how. That’s what a break-through moment to be done with addiction looks like. With God’s Grace we can experience it today.

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