The root cause of addiction is the refusal to face pain.
The root cause of addiction is the feeling that something is missing.
Addiction begins with the desire to escape from pain. To escape from boredom. To escape from the mundane. To escape from the present reality. To escape from the void. And this escape takes many forms. From eating to drinking to gossiping to alcohol to social media checking to porn to masturbation to drugs, each with a differing intensity. An escape from the present reality into a fantasy world or a pleasure sensation. And with each escape, a neural pathway is formed. And as this behavior is repeated, these pathways get stronger and deeper. And the brain stops producing its natural feel good hormones. And the feedback loop continues. This makes it even more painful to face the present reality and requires a larger dose of the addicting item to feel the same pleasure intensity.
To avoid falling into the trap of addiction, the only way is to refuse to escape from the present reality, no matter how painful it may be. Willingness to accept the painful reality and take refuge within is the only way out. In fact, treat suffering as a blessing in disguise. Do not try to escape the pain. Do not try to escape from your self.
Remain as you are enduring the present moment, no matter how painful. The only refuge is within. Stop seeking pleasurable sensations to kill the pain.
Yes, life is painful and filled with suffering and despair. No matter what your circumstance, suffering cannot be escaped from. Pain cannot be escaped from. Pleasure seeking is not the purpose of life.
Life can sometimes seem dull, boring, mundane, serious and lacking excitement. Sometimes, all that you desire is to escape the dullness and monotony. And this escape can take many forms. But invariably, the dullness returns. No matter how many times you try to escape it through pleasure and fantasy, the dullness always returns. And this can be depressing. And you might cry out in despair from the very pits of your soul. But this despair and dullness has depth. A depth that when followed through will lead you deep inside your self. Escaping into fantasy will not accomplish anything. It will only bring more misery.
Meaninglessness, despair and dullness may not be easy to endure. But the alternative route of escaping into fantasy is not a better option. In fact, in the long term, it only makes your misery worse.
Hence whenever despair strikes, just be with it. Look into it. Do not escape into fantasy.
If nothing, remember this. Mental health and sanity is the most valuable treasure. Sanity lies in facing reality head on. Mental health is freedom from fantasy. A pure mind is one with no fantasies. And this my friend is your best friend. It will never fail you.
Its strange but the way out of addiction is to seek pain instead of pleasure.
The root cause of addiction is the feeling that something is missing.
Addiction begins with the desire to escape from pain. To escape from boredom. To escape from the mundane. To escape from the present reality. To escape from the void. And this escape takes many forms. From eating to drinking to gossiping to alcohol to social media checking to porn to masturbation to drugs, each with a differing intensity. An escape from the present reality into a fantasy world or a pleasure sensation. And with each escape, a neural pathway is formed. And as this behavior is repeated, these pathways get stronger and deeper. And the brain stops producing its natural feel good hormones. And the feedback loop continues. This makes it even more painful to face the present reality and requires a larger dose of the addicting item to feel the same pleasure intensity.
To avoid falling into the trap of addiction, the only way is to refuse to escape from the present reality, no matter how painful it may be. Willingness to accept the painful reality and take refuge within is the only way out. In fact, treat suffering as a blessing in disguise. Do not try to escape the pain. Do not try to escape from your self.
Remain as you are enduring the present moment, no matter how painful. The only refuge is within. Stop seeking pleasurable sensations to kill the pain.
Yes, life is painful and filled with suffering and despair. No matter what your circumstance, suffering cannot be escaped from. Pain cannot be escaped from. Pleasure seeking is not the purpose of life.
Life can sometimes seem dull, boring, mundane, serious and lacking excitement. Sometimes, all that you desire is to escape the dullness and monotony. And this escape can take many forms. But invariably, the dullness returns. No matter how many times you try to escape it through pleasure and fantasy, the dullness always returns. And this can be depressing. And you might cry out in despair from the very pits of your soul. But this despair and dullness has depth. A depth that when followed through will lead you deep inside your self. Escaping into fantasy will not accomplish anything. It will only bring more misery.
Meaninglessness, despair and dullness may not be easy to endure. But the alternative route of escaping into fantasy is not a better option. In fact, in the long term, it only makes your misery worse.
Hence whenever despair strikes, just be with it. Look into it. Do not escape into fantasy.
If nothing, remember this. Mental health and sanity is the most valuable treasure. Sanity lies in facing reality head on. Mental health is freedom from fantasy. A pure mind is one with no fantasies. And this my friend is your best friend. It will never fail you.
Its strange but the way out of addiction is to seek pain instead of pleasure.
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