Staying clean - going beyond psycho-babble and addicition

For those of you who showed an interest in my acronym for staying clean here's a little more detail

Substance - most addiction is misguided self-medication. A dysfunctional wisdom to help deal with pain. It is always involves a substance - this may be alcohol for example of internally driven - adrenalin in the case of gambling addiction or serotonin in the case of porn addiction.
Getting to know the triggers and opportunities for that substance to gain control and the disinhibition mechanisms of the cycle is important in claiming ownership.

Ongoing - staying consciously clean is an ongoing process. There is never a moment when this cannot be. This can be traumatic or reframed into a life-enhancing meditation. Having awareness and compassion and ultimately love for oneself is key.

Bad or Breakthrough? Do you experience sobriety as bad, painful, a miserable struggle or if you could teach yourself to spot and reward your own incredible sometimes moment by moment breakthroughs which would you choose? Learning how to do this is something that most of us never get taught.

Responsibility - taking responsibility is such a hackneyed, psycho-babbled phrase. And yet the first step in any 12 step programme is just that. Owning it. But the second part - that one admits powerlessness is often overlooked. Responsibility is a two part thang - self ownerships and realising that one cannot do this alone. Finding a power source, a loving therapist (someone, something over and above friends and family) is key to so called 'personal responsibility'...after all if you could have done this alone before now you would have.

Intelligence - how totally wise addicts are. How human, vulnerable, hurting. We are all enslaved to something. But for the substance addict what is forgotten is that the substance itself robs the addict of the ability to connect to this intelligent self. The Catch 22 is that only when we are clean can we benefit from being clean.

Emotional journey - the state of sobriety is complex. It is spiritual - it involves not just the mind and body but the soul. However the major healing blocks are emotions. Those deep parts of ourselves which have learnt to hurt and bury. Allowing that past hurt to reveal itself in moments of unexpected joy or anger or grief is part of the journey.

Task(s) - daily. Little. Brief. Enormous. Have you made yourself a wonderful cup of tea today? Have you managed to smile at a stranger? Have to planted a plant in your garden? Held hands with your child? This is discipline. It involves the will. It means you must rejoice.

You...You...You will emerge. You will claim yourself from anxiety, pain, trauma into the stream of love and light that is your life.