WEEKLY MEDITATION
With every mistake we must surely be learning…
-George Harrison
The motivation to make changes that are strong enough to successfully challenge addictive patterns has to come from somewhere. And often, this level of motivation originates from the ever-worsening pain that addictive behaviors create. If interpreted properly, our feelings can be read as sign posts that can lead us toward different versions of ourselves. Pain is often what will lead us both to, and through, our addictions. Pain can be the guiding light, acting as a teacher and motivator for us to make the kind of difficult changes that will lead to its decline. It was the synthetic positive feelings provided by the addictions that led us to trouble and pain, and that very pain can lead us back out again if we decide to learn from it. The idea of hitting “rock bottom” is tricky because there is always lower to go. It is not necessary that we “lose everything” before making changes, but often we will need some kind of a wake-up call before we are really ready to try life without our addictions. With time we may be able to decipher, faster and faster, when our “mistakes” are worthy of our making life changes. And always, in life, we must, “…surely be learning.”
