The Core Addiction

There are still occasions when I behave in an addictive fashion around my drug of choice - food.

I've come a long way, and I still need to be mindful and take charge of my addiction process.

I've joked that my final addiction is my addiction to negative thinking. In truth, it's really not a joke. It's real. And it's an addiction we all have to a lesser or greater degree.

It's not something we need to be hard on ourselves about because it comes with the territory of being human. We were trained as children to think both positively and negatively. And for most of us it's been a life-long process of learning to overcome negative, ingrained thought patterns.

One of the most effective ways I've found to deal with the negative thoughts once I become conscious of them is by using a mantra. Don Miguel Ruiz, Toltec Shaman and author of The Four Agreements and other books, says that he overcame what he calls his inner parasite (negative voice) by singing Beatles' songs. At the time he didn't speak English so he didn't know what the words meant, he just sang them over and over to drown out his negative thoughts.

A mantra doesn't need to be religious in nature. It's simply a phrase that helps us focus. And a mantra doesn't have to be done in a meditative or altered state of consciousness. One of my favorites is: All God, All Good, All Ways, Always.

It should be something you relate to personally. A string of positive words can be an excellent choice: Peace, Presence, Positive, Power.

The main point is to shift your focus from the negative to something more positive or, at least, neutral.

A mantra can be used to program our minds with something we truly want. In the case of my food addiction using "Vibrant Health, Ideal Weight" has been useful. It isn't a magic formula but when I allow myself to use it, it does at least temporarily prevent inappropriate behavior.

Step-by-step I'm making progress, and I trust you are also.