the grip of addiction and how to overcome it (rant)

Here is a word that takes on many forms; such as food, drugs and behavior.

Addiction could be an issue for some, or god-send for others. In our society we often give addiction a very dark reputation.

One that represents "self destruction" to one degree or another. I have a different view on addiction, I believe it is primarily caused by... Habit.

Professionals will often blame the reaction (chemical change, if you will) caused by eating food with sugar, or taking drugs for pleasure as the route cause for addiction. However, after much personal experience I would have to say it's more so caused by being on "Autopilot mode" or not making decisions consciously.

This is where habit comes into play. When you drive your car it doesn't require much awareness because of our mechanism called habit. Habit just kind of happens, without thinking about it. This mechanism is incredibly powerful and has the ability to vastly improve your life or destroy it.

The reason I'm talking about habit, is because I believe addiction is directly caused by habit more than it is through chemical reactions. If you break the habit, for most will break the addiction. How do we accomplish this?

Awareness;
Being present in the moment, disrupting the "Autopilot mode".

Those who smoke know it is bad, and wish to quit, but they just seem to keep smoking unconsciously. I always recommend for people to "consciously smoke" and when someone does so, they find it much more difficult to finish the cigarette than if they didn't think about it.

Most of us are so caught up with stress and the future or past that we forget about the present.

• Try Meditation, take a deep breath every now and then to re-focus your mind and just maybe, your addiction will crumble.

I wish you all great health and prosperity, lets start by taking control of our own minds!
Cheers!