WEEKLY MEDITATION
An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is a normal behavior.
-Victor Frankl
Addictions can often seem nonsensical. Especially to the observer, addictions seem like nothing more than obviously destructive behaviors that anyone would want to stop. But if we remember that addictions are an honest though reactionary and unconscious attempt to quell an underlying sense of dis-ease, we can find the logic in their application. There is always an abnormal emotional foundation upon which the addictions are built, and it is vital that we see past our addictions themselves to this foundation. Recovery is less the process of stopping the addictive behavior and more the process of learning to speak to the parts of us that are hurting and providing a new framework for addressing this pain. It is normal to hurt. It is normal to attempt to make hurt go away. It is normal for habits to form whether they are healthy or not. But when we reach the place in our lives when our addictions hurt more than the underlying discomfort that they have been employed to treat, we become motivated to make changes. But until then, they are actually, in their way, very normal.
