Our Many Addictions are Loss of Mind Control

The mind can be a devious master. All our lives we battle for control. Many times we submit because we can’t stand the heat.

We are familiar with the difficult battles of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. These pernicious chemicals create a dependence that affect our mood, attitude, and behavior. Without them, we think we are not ourselves.

But there are also the lighter addictions like coffee, chocolate, soda, eating, TV, Face Book, smart phones, internet surfing, gambling,and sex.  There are probably many more and each of us might have things we habitually need in our daily routine.

In a newspaper article Judd Handler reports:

“The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) earlier this month released a new definition of addiction. This applies to cup o’ Joe addicts as well. Got caffeine addiction? Here’s how to break the habit…

The ASAM now defines addiction as a chronic brain disorder. Whether it’s caffeine or illicit drugs or gambling or sex, addiction’s roots are not a behavioral, psychological or emotional problem; it’s a problem with your noggin’s wiring.”

Some habits we don’t realize are addictions. Some we acknowledge and say we want to break. Some habits we are powerless of breaking. One common trait of habits is they take up our time and maybe are the main focus of our lives while everything else is filler.

Maybe they give our lives meaning because we have been unable to find something else that fills the empty space with the same impact. Maybe the habits define who we are or give us our identity. These can be anything from our addiction to texting to our need for gambling.

The common solution is to find something as a substitute that takes the habit off our plate; more easily said than done if we have a chemical or psychological habit that goes deep into our wiring. It takes acknowledgement, courage, and strength to break habits.

I have never had a chemical addiction other than maybe caffeine, but I have faced many of the smaller ones. I have realized that being in control of my mind is a powerful and worthwhile effort.

The first step for most addictions is finding a substitute. Even if the substitute is also harmful, breaking the psychological connection allows winding down the substitutes until we arrive at something healthy.  Adding healthy habits to our lives helps tip the scales to eventually have predominantly good habits.

On the lighter and superficial scale, I once broke my nightly ice cream habit by substituting Snickers and then granola bars. I have broken many food habits by eliminating the bad foods and adding something healthy one item at a time.

I have suggested to friends who drink too much that I was once shown that after reaching a good buzz you could start drinking water and it felt the same. Now not only are you satisfying the urge to keep drinking, but you are getting better and staying in the party longer.

Exercise is a great device for mind control. Your ability to push past the pain level when the mind says you are killing yourself is a great exercise to show how the mind can be wrong. It might be the first insight that you can observe what the mind is telling you and make a decision to do differently.

If you do what the mind says every time you are not in control. If you can observe and make an independent judgment or find a different route, you often train the mind to follow your lead. The mind and body want to do the best thing for you and they will be great supporters.

When I realized how much time I spent watching the news and sports on TV, I eliminated it and let other things fill my time. I wish people could go on bike rides, drive, go to the beach, and walk without the need to check their smart phones. No one is that indispensable and there is rarely anything that important coming over the wire.

Eliminating addictive habits and substituting healthy ones gives us time to be creative, innovative, inspired, productive, and happier.