In just these few words, I can hear your frustration. Here are 4 Keys to healing any addiction, whether it's sugar, spending, drinking, cheating, lying, gambling, or whatever else you have been overtaken by.
1. Realize what a slippery slope addiction is: It's a lot easier to trade addictions than it is to release them. This is why people who have gastric bypass surgery may find themselves becoming addicted to alcohol or gambling--issues they never had before. Addiction isn't "to a thing," it is "a thing."
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 feel whatever we would feel if we didn't do the addiction. 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. Stop lying to yourself: Trading addictions isn't healing addictions. It is a game your addictive mind plays but you can't win at it. Continuing your addictive behavior causes low self-esteem. Sugar addiction may also cause weight gain, the "sugar blues," and poor health. Don't minimize your addiction by saying, "It's just sugar." Treat this addiction as seriously as smoking or alcochol abuse.
4. Reach out: You are misusing sugar 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. Don't feel that you have to go it alone thinking, "I should know better."
The bottom line is that you don't have to suffer tomorrow just because you are suffering today. You are a worthy being who deserves to thrive and live your extraordinary life.
Jane Straus is a trusted life coach, dynamic keynote speaker, and the author of Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life. With humor and grace, Jane offers her clients and seminar participants insights and exercises to ensure that the next chapter of their lives is about thriving as the unique individuals they have always been and the extraordinary ones they are still becoming. She serves clients worldwide and invites you to visit her site, www.stopenduring.com. Here you will find excerpts from her book, more articles, TV and radio interviews, and clips from her presentations.
She is also the author of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, www.grammarbook.com, an award-winning online resource and workbook with easy-to-understand rules, real-world examples, and fun quizzes.
Contact Jane at Jane@JaneStraus.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment