Where addiction starts

According to Tibetan Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron, all addiction stems from the same place.

It’s that place where you are restless, anxious, ill-at-ease or in some way in your head and you feel a deep need to soften the discomfort with something or someone.

It’s not enough to be in the present.

Chodron also reminds us that there is no greater teacher than this present moment right now and, lucky for us, it is with us all the time wherever we go.

Her teachings bring to mind a wonderful definition of addiction that I once heard:

“A consistent neglect of self in favor of someone or something else”.

This definition tells us that we are all addicted in one way or another.  It’s a continuum.

The ability to stay with where we are, regardless of whether it is giving us pleasure or pain, can be strengthened with self-awareness, meditation and practice.