Life hurts. It is full of dangers and difficulties.
Each life includes its share of suffering. The Buddha faced this truth head on. Over a long life of teaching, he claimed to teach only the truth of suffering and the way out of suffering.
When life hurts or is difficult, we are tempted to run from life. We seek temporary shelter in many things, many of them not helpful or even destructive. This is particularly so when we seek shelter in the false refuge of drugs or alcohol.
This often seems to start innocently enough. What does it hurt to have a little fun? But once we begin to run from life in this way, it becomes very difficult to find our way out. The trap closes on us before we even know it to be a trap.
The abuse of drugs or alcohol is a kind of forgetfulness.
Not only does it work at best in a very temporary way, but it actually adds to our pain. The next morning, we feel terrible. And the difficulties we sought to escape have if anything only becomes worse. What’s more, we lose our capacity to take in and enjoy the many wonderful aspects of being alive as well.
Mindfulness is the opposite.
Mindfulness can teach the recovering person to walk in the direction of healing and awareness and leave behind the destruction and forgetfulness of drug addiction.
There are many practices, which help us come back to the present moment, and learn to enjoy life again. These practices include meditation, journaling, working with relationships, dream work, and others.
Mindful Recovery: A Spiritual Path to Healing from Addiction guides you step by step in living more mindfully and overcoming addiction. It combines eastern spiritual practice with psychological knowledge to help you leave addiction behind and find a more enjoyable, deep, spiritual way of living.
Thomas Bien, PH.D., Mindful Recovery: A Spiritual Path to Healing From Addiction, September 2003. Retrieved 05 August 2008 from http://www.mindfulpsychology.com/recovery.htm
