WEEKLY MEDITATION
There is a crack in everything. That’s where the light gets in.
-Leonard Cohen
Addiction can be viewed as a great opportunity. Addictions develop as a misguided attempt at emotional protection. Though it may seem as if the focal point of addiction is that to which we are addicted, and while separating ourselves from these substances or behaviors is initially very important, we must also look beyond this for the ‘cracks’ in our psyches that led to the need for protection in the first place. No person develops without such cracks, they are a part of the human condition. But for some of us, the emotional wounds that inevitably develop, hurt enough that our reactions to them become problematic. Addictions develop as a remedy to this pain, they stand as external regulators to this internal discomfort, a balm promising to ease the discomfort that underlies the daily experience of consciousness. And therein lies the opportunity. If we can follow the pain to its source, we have the opportunity to heal. If we learn to properly tell the story of our brokenness, we hold the key to our healing. With this information we can provide ourselves with a corrective experience, eventually bringing light into the very parts of ourselves that we have worked so hard to avoid through the painful mechanics of our addictions.
