[Wayne Dyer Article] on Addiction & Recovery

Found this article and wanted to share it as it's relevant to the addiction & recovery forum

"Manifesting Wayne Dyer"
By Mary Grace McCord

First an excerpt
Dyer candidly admits to battling his own demons. While not physically addicted to alcohol or other drugs, he says their “recreational presence” compromised his quality of life for many years. He has now been alcohol- and drug-free for 20 years.


And here is an excerpt from the article
A What constitutes rehabilitation from any unhealthy addiction?

WD Choosing to consciously live your life based on the notion that there are no justified resentments. Addictions often result from resentments held inside and owned. 'By God, I am entitled to this pain. It is mine.' But what you think about expands. If you dwell on resentments that you consider justified, they grow like cancer. Substance abuse becomes a predictable escape.

A Your own father was an alcoholic who deserted a family of three small children...

WD ...and he was also my greatest teacher. Growing up in Detroit orphanages I was immersed in opportunities to learn self-sufficiency at an early age. Of course, so were all the other children around me. It's just that I was already aware, by age 10, that whatever happened to me, my own destiny was right in my very own little hands and in nobody else's. That's a liberating realization at any age.

Continue reading http//www.aquarius-atlanta.com/may/heal1.html

Any comments?

Do we ever realize that everything we do in this life we lead - everything - is the result of an addiction? What do you mean by an addiction? Is it something you do because you feel you must do it in order to survive? Is an addiction a ruling force in our life without our being aware of it? And how do we cope with our addictions? The simplest thing we do constantly in life is breathe - an addiction by all standards - one we feel we must do in order to survive. The same is true for everything else. Why do we buy the things we buy unless we feel we must have them? Call it compulsive behavior it you must, but it is an addiction. Our eating is certainly one of our biggest addictions, and while some of us beleive we are doing it the right way - veggie - etc., we are still compulsively eating - and drinking water, coffee, soda, etc. And of course this brings us to the addictions we feel are harmful - alcohol, drugs, etc. Some say that others tolerate alcohol better than others. Some say they can take alcohol or leave it. While others will tell you if they take alcohol, they won't be able to stop.

What is your take on addictions? What is your take on alcoholism, drugs, etc.? I know there are many stories out there from you on this subject. And Wayne himself was addicted to soda for a long time. But remember how he quit? He just quit - he decided no more soda. He held the thought of no more soda. Is quitting drugs and alcohol that simple also? Or have we given more power, more fear to them?

Let's hear your comments, please. Your comments help all of us.

Namaste - Ron

How about smoking??? What a horrible addiction....

I had started about 4 years ago, as I was *stressed* with life issues I have had to handle. Believing that it would make a difference. I *needed* to "hold on" to something, thinking it would make me *feel* better.....

Numerous times I *tried* giving it up., but as soon as something happened in my life that I found hard to *handle*, there it was, craving for that cigarette....holding on to something....

Nicotine patches...not only once...I tried them many times over the last 14 months. I even stuck them on me, just to take them off in the evening, to have this longed for cigarette, hoping it would make me feel better. It made me feel sick, as a patch mixed with smoking is even worse than JUST smoking. I so wished to have the "willpower" I *used* to have and JUST stop IT.....Everytime when I made my mind up, there was that little voice saying JUST one more...the smell, taste...it WAS horrible....

I am smoke free for 15 days. NO nicotine patch - CLEAN smelling clothes, CLEAN smelling hair - CLEAN, FRESH smelling hands, but best of all FRESH BREATH & TASTE lol

It took me a while, but the focus on myself and *regaining* my willpower (after a realtionship) makes me realise how important I and my life are to me.

WILLPOWER!!!!
AND
I *WILL* KEEP IT UP!!!!

I just finished reading a book and recommend it highly to all - whether you believe you have an addiction or not - and the spirituality in this book is for all. It is "One Breath at at Time" - "Buddhism and the Twelve Steps" by Kevin Griffin. Buddhism and other Eastern Thought are so like the Course - which Wayne mentions so often. You will see the similarity clearly between Buddism and the Course - between Griffin and Dyer.
Enjoy

Namaste - Ron