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Post by Susan Peabody on Jun 6, 2024 9:25:45 GMT -8
Recovery is more than dealing with our addiction, because our addiction is nothing more than a coping mechanism to deal with past suffering.
The mind copes with the trauma by sending the memory and accompanying emotions underground to what Carl Jung called the unconscious. It is like putting everything in the closet and closing the door.
Unfortunately, the memories do not just go away. They haunt us. To cope we distract ourselves with anything that works: drugs, alcohol, shopping, gambling, eating, falling in love, etc. The memories are persistent in their effort to rise to the surface (consciousness) and our coping mechanisms become addictions.
Addictions either kill us or act as a wake-up call. If we are blessed, we begin the process of recovery. Recovery begins with a process of self-awareness. We explore what happened to us, and what we did to cope, and then release the pain to the universe and move on with our lives.
Bill Wilson, in the book Alcoholics Anonymous, said that “alcohol is but a symptom of our problem.” When we deal with the origins of the problem we embrace them, forgive others, and accept “life on life’s terms.”
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