What if you were an addict and you didnt know it?!

What does it mean to have addictive behavior?!

How many of us experience addictive behavior, or have experienced addictive behavior at some point in our lives?

When we think of addictive behavior, it may be easy to turn our shoulders and quietly reply to ourselves inside of our minds with a nonchalant statement such as, "addict, no....not me, Im not an addict, there's no way!" And then we continue on with our day not paying any further attention to the topic.

It is easy for us to see addictive behavior, or "addicts", only as the drunk fathers whom habitually beat their wives, weak after weak due to a long standing alcoholic abuse pattern.

Or we see addicts as the homeless woman on the street corner in busy downtown alley ways holding a cardboard sign, scraggled with hand written sympathy gestures, drooling on herself due to a lack of nutrition and an overconsumption of some sort of hallucinogenic, or meth based street drug.

And we also relate addictive behavior to the woman on the street corner with the 4 inch high heels and the black flashy fish net tights with bright red lipstick and a burning desire for some man to come by in his nice cadillac, pull out his billfold, and take her to the nearest hotel to get a quick partial fix to try and fill an inner void that burns holes inside millions of us every day.

And even the man with the shiny black shoes, and the flashy cadillac can be known as an addict, or having an addictive behavior for the inner urge to act on his impulses, leave the comfort of his family home, and go out in search for the women on the corner in an attempt to fill the very same void.

Are they all addicts?
Of course they are, they are all addicted to something, in one way or another. One is addicted to sex, the other to pleasure, the other to drugs, and another to alcohol, but even deeper than that, they are addicted to something that cant exactly be seen on the surface.
They are not the only ones....

What about the wife whom has an incessant desire to fill her closet with more shoes than she can wear in a month? And when those shoes no longer fill her desire, she gives them to goodwill or as a charity donation, and seeks out another pair to fill her desire, only to find out time and time again that they can only last for so long before she is unhappy again and in the need to buy more... Isn't she also an addict?

What about the executive chairman of a business, whom always feels the need to make his employees, whom have less "value" then him, (at least in the eyes of that particular business model) feel inferior and of a lesser status than him. How about the way he only speaks to those whom are important enough to not be spoken to, and if he speaks to anybody less than himself, he feels sickened, or invaluable himself....Isnt he also addicted to the status of himself?

What about the "nosy neighbor" that always starts conversations within the group of friends with, "did you see the way she did this yesterday? I cant believe it!" or with "I cant believe that guy, he is always doing this and doing that, and doing the other thing, dont you guys just hate him?"
I could go on forever here, and we know this, but I think you know what I mean when I talk about people that love to talk about other people...Arent they addicted to the gossip? Am I an addict for talking about those people?

What about the girlfriend who always wants the boyfriend to buy her roses, chocolates, cakes, food and fancy dinners, or else she wont open herself up to him and use her own body as a revenge tool against him....and what about the boyfriend who falls for this, and allows himself to be controlled...aren't they both addicts of their own behavior?

What about the greedy, angry 34 year old who always looks for mistakes in the check at the restaurant, just so he/she can start a confrontation with the waiter/waitress to receive a discount on the bill? Arent they also addicted to the drama and the money?

I could go on for hours, and hours, and maybe many more hours on this topic, and maybe I will another day, but the point is this...

There are many things in life that we easily become addicted to, and that's the truth.
It's not only the drug addicts and sexual predators, it's normal everyday human being like you and me that can easily be influenced by our own choices, and lead into creating and forming new addictive behaviors and patterns with anything from food and clothing, to sex, sleep, drama and tv shows.

Now, the question is...are we actually addicts, or is that just a title that was created to label certain behavioral patterns that we create by our habits and our unconscious and conscious practicing?

If you drink alcohol, and you drink it at least 3 times a week, in the eyes of a therapist, you are definitely and alcoholic-addict, right?
And even if If you feel the need to have one drink of alcohol once a week, then you are an addict..."but an under control addict" - at least in the eyes of therapists.

The funny thing, is that as soon as somebody can label a pattern or habit with a title, a case study, and a PHD to back it up, then you are now categorized along with all of the other hopeless humans in that sad life story, and you need to be on meds, therapy, counseling, or a treatment program the rest of your life, all in the meantime filling "their" pockets with cash, cash, and of course...more cash.

Now, I know what it means to be an addict. And I know what it means to be a sober.
And I know that I went from an extreme alcoholic, drug abusing, genetically defected, hopeless child that could never touch drugs or alcohol without getting into craziness because it was a disease I was labeled with and needed a lot of special attention and payment plans to cover them...to a defiant, hard headed, sober, happy, balanced guy that can drink a glass of wine happily once a week, once a month, once a year, or never, under the total control of myself. No prescriptions, no drugs, no counseling, no payment plans.

I went from a heavy user and abuser...to a heavy non-user and non-abuser, or rather, just a simple,sober, happy human being.

Of course it is true that we can become addicts of things, ideas, events, emotions, substances and so much more, but as long as we continue to call ourselves addicts, and we continue to declare to ourselves that we have addictive behaviors, and we need something to replace something, we will always experience just that..."Being an addict."

We need to face and accept the truth..it is everywhere.

It wasnt until I changed my decisions in myself to become a better human being, that I was able to get a handle on my habits and behavioral patterns. I did it naturally by learning to listen within myself what is good for me, and what isn't, and what I should and shouldn't do, and most important of all, I had to get to the root cause within myself of "why" I had created those habits. Once I figure that out, I think around age 17 or 18, then I was able to dive within myself and transform the very addictive personality that "I was born with and couldnt be changed" due to my parents, and grandparents, and entire family being previous users and abusers, to a very well balanced, happy human condition....all without books, PHDs, therapists, or meds.

I understand that certain people can be more susceptible to creating an addictive behavior than others, but even if we look at the world today, I can bet that at least 95% of the people here on the earth are addicted to something, one way or another. Or maybe it's 99.9%...

The question we need to ask ourselves is, how do we control ourselves and our emotions better, so that addictions dont run our lives?

The answer is very simple, but remember, simplicity is equivalent to profoundness....

We choose to do so.....and then we practice.
And we use 4th Dimensional Thinking.


(This is getting too long, soorrrryyy.....But Thanks for reading, I will have to extend this into a part 2 .)

Have a great day!