Wednesday, June 9, 2021

We’re All Addicted to Something

Blurry double image half blue, half red of man looking down

Elaine Jackson


Drugs and alcohol are not my problem, reality is my problem, drugs and alcohol are my solution. — Russell Brand

A sweet friend of mine recently lost his mother to lung cancer. We were talking one day about how his grief was playing out, and he described being angry that she had been a heavy smoker despite knowing all the risks and potential outcomes of the behavior. He said something like this: “I can’t believe her addiction was more powerful than her brain.” In response I asked him to give me his cellphone for the day. You can guess what his reply was.

In short, we’re all addicted to something, and the part of the brain that controls judgment is simply not as powerful as the lizard brain that wants what it wants.

In recent years, with advances in brain-imaging technology, and with the internet allowing research to become public knowledge faster than it used to, we’ve learned a lot about addiction. We’ve discovered that temperament plays a role, and that children who have difficulty with delayed gratification at the age of five have a higher likelihood of suffering from addiction later in life. We’ve learned that children can learn to delay gratification with a little help from caring adults. Also, we’ve discovered physiological differences from person to person that directly affect how prone we are to become addicted to substances. Finally, we’ve awakened to the idea that the fundamental cause of addiction is pain—not lack of willpower.
The pain could be physical, emotional, or even existential; for example, being unemployed or on the receiving end of discrimination or prejudice.

In yoga psychology, we examine the spaces between having a sensation in the body, developing a feeling about it (I like this, I hate this), and taking action. An addiction works something like this: It’s dreary and damp outside, I feel tired and depressed, I don’t like the feeling, so I go get myself a piece of chocolate from the leftover Halloween stash. The chocolate gives me a way to feel something I like better. Myriad things achieve the same end—caffeine, nicotine, potato chips, Facebook, TV, wine—basically anything I find pleasurable. In moderation, none of these things are a problem. If we turn to them habitually and compulsively, however, and if we lose our ability to moderate, all can be damaging to our well-being.

The way we treat addicts, unfortunately, is usually based in judgment and intellectual ideals as opposed to a sophisticated understanding of the complexity of the problem. Historically we’ve treated addicts as losers who lack self-discipline. We’ve denied them the benefit of sympathy or curiosity. It’s easier not to regard their suffering if we think about them as “less than” or “inferior” to the rest of us. This is not to deny the fact that people with addictions can cause terrible pain and suffering to the people who love them, but rather to say that addiction is complex, and that we’re all affected by it.

Our whole culture is addicted to consuming at rates higher than at any other time in human history. According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, since the 1970's we have been “over-shooting” the natural resources the Earth can sustainably regenerate. The amounts of water, soil, minerals, fish, trees, and fuels we consume have been growing at alarming rates and are leading to deforestation, extinctions, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and climate change. “Earth Overshoot Day,” the date each year that marks us taking more than Nature can regenerate, fell on July 29, 2019, the earliest date since these metrics have been collected. We are “consuming” ourselves to extinction.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with diversion or enjoying the finer things in life—as long as it feels like a choice. The hope is that as we practice more, we develop better awareness of what is driving us, the cheese balls and cocktails become less tempting, and we can consciously decide between self-restraint or indulging in life’s little pleasures.

Practice & Reflect

Journal:
  • What are you addicted to? When are those addictions most likely to show up? When you’re alone? With others?
  • Are you addicted to something that you haven’t previously thought of as an addiction? Horoscopes? Newsfeeds? Instagram?
  • How do you feel about others who have addictions? Choose three descriptive words.
  • How do you feel about your own addictions? Choose three descriptive words.
Excerpt from Enough Already, Elaine Jackson. Apple Books.

Elaine Jackson
began working in healthcare as a teenager and was a licensed Occupational Therapist for 29 years. She completed her 775-hour yoga teacher training (Scaravelli Method) in 2003-2004 at Esther Myers Yoga in Toronto. She has been teaching and learning about yoga ever since. In November 2020 she published Enough Already: 7 Yoga-Inspired Steps Toward Calm Amid Chaos. She can be found online at www.jacksonyoga.ca or about ten minutes by car outside of the rural village of Mount Albert, Ontario.


This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, Managing Editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors.

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