Addiction - Why is it so?

What is addiction of any kind? I am not going to define it or try to explain it but just some facts collected based on my experience and readings. There is something called as ego within us who plays a major role in any kind of action we prefer to undertake. Psychologists like Sigmund Freud, Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck, David D Burns and Nathaniel among the few have given indepth overiew on this aspect. From my perspective ego is our constructor as well as destructor. Ego creates our attachment, feelings and emotions which may be positive or negative. Positive is always associated with joy, happiness etc., whereas negative brings sadness, hopelessness and grief.

Some people who are gifted with a healthy ego deal with these negative emotions in a healthy way. The issue is with people who try to escape these feelings and are drawn toward temporary pleasure giving aspects like alcohol, drugs, etc. They are relieved for the moment where the feelings or emotions are suppressed and they do pop up when we become conscious about our feelings again. This deviation from the real feelings is our ego's self fulfulling prophecies as claimed by Nathaniel. Burns says that these are positive distortions since they really give a pleasure for the moment which is positive but they really do not cure the underlying suppressed feelings.

This is a viscious cycle which goes on and on unless a person really takes some courage to deal with it and release those negative feelings and emotions. Deepak Chopra another spiritual author says that this planet is covered with cosmic energy which we need to engulf within to create more energy in our body. When the flow of energy is obstructed with these negative energy we obstruct the path of natural energy to flow within us. Hence the outcome is numerous people suffering with stress, anxiety and depression.

It is a universal truth that thought creates feelings followed by actions. In spirutualism this is called as the delusion of mind or maya. Nothing is real and it is just a projection of our mind to claim it as real. I remember a south indian tamil poet named Kannadasan quoting "What you think, you become that." This thought process is guided by our ego with likes and dislikes and if this inner child is parented in a proper way life would be healthy for everafter...

Serenity prayer from AA

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world

As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.