Distractions/Addiction
This topic has been on my mind for a while and I decided to take a stab at it this afternoon/evening. Addiction was something I considered blogging about a while ago when I was attempting to quit smoking. I had found that there were many distractions in my thought patterns that were preventing me from becoming a non-smoker. I'm not a psychologist, but it seems to me that these mind games may be a common occurrence because it makes sense. I don't know, maybe it just makes sense to my mind? 
I'll try distractions as my first topic. Distractions to me are thoughts of the flesh that are not in line with my spiritual desires. Smoking - My spiritual self doesn't like that garbage in my temple. My flesh self is addicted and likes it. Now that I think of it, this topic will go hand in hand with a few other topics, but specifically, my topic on Justification. I'll just concentrate on the specific distractions though. These habitual thought patterns were burned into the chemistry of my brain. I have attempted to quit smoking many times in my life and every time, I always had a justifying mentality when I wanted a cigarette. Phrases such as "Screw it", "I haven't had one all day", "I'll only have this one", "I'm stressed and really need one", "I enjoy a cigarette w/ a drink", "I'm smoking NATURAL tobacco" (used to roll my own), and many other distractions would enter my mind. These distractions filtered down to making a choice (see previous postings on Choice, Ultimate Choice, Wisdom, etc). Once I was able to utilize my ultimate choice, then these distractions weren't individual choices any longer. They were, umm... what's the word. Well, distractions! At this time, I realized that these thoughts don't need to lead me to my actions. The thoughts that were in-line w/ my spiritual desires are the ones that should be leading me to my actions. As a friend once said, allow your soul to testify for you. As in, question every thing and challenge it. For example with thoughts: Is this thought good for me or is it bad? Is this a distraction that isn't in line w/ my spiritual desires? If it's not in line w/ my spirit, then no action should follow. If it's in line w/ my spirit, then I would confirm it's good with a deeper analysis, then I would proceed w/ caution. (this deeper analysis was a very important step so that I knew that I was in line w/ my spirit and not just something my flesh wanted, craved, and/or something that my ego or past molds were generating. I had to make sure I wasn't tricking myself, because sometimes I thought I was on the right path, but some deeper flesh issues were found and I was fooling myself/distracting myself). Basically, these distractions were viewed as a thought that wasn't in line w/ my spiritual desires. Then they were seen for what they really were, the devil's temptations. I'm obviously a spiritual type person but for anyone else reading this, this can easily be interpreted as unhealthy thoughts. Once these things were realized and the thoughts were analyzed, forethought than became a factor. Forethought being whereas I could see the thoughts forming and I could recognize them as something I already had determined was a distraction or, I could recognize if the thought was forming from my flesh or old molds. From there, the thoughts could be seen for what they were, distractions. I then would laugh, thank the Lord for His Wisdom, and distract the distractions with good thoughts! After a while, when peace and a stress free life starts setting in, when thoughts are retrained/remolded and when the garbage is gone, then the righteousness starts being in focus. This is when things get really good, but that's for another topic.
Addiction, oh my. What a mess an addiction is. My cigarette addiction was conquered by using thought and putting my spirit in charge of this temple. I once had a video game addiction, which was more emotional than a physical addiction like nicotine. I'm not sure if this could relate to alcohol, but I'm fairly certain the addiction to alcohol will match this addiction. I'm not certain because I've never been addicted to alcohol, but I have had my share of drinks and there isn't an addictive quality like nicotine whereas you just have to have one cuz your body craves it. I heard nicotine's addictive qualities are worse than morphine, crack, etc. Those drugs, including nicotine, do something to your body whereas it craves. I've never had a night of drinking and woke up wanting more and I'm sure many can relate, lol. But... with video games. Ahhh, video games. The great escape. The mind numb'r. The distraction! It emptied my mind of all problems because I was concentrated on something emotional that I didn't want to concentrate on. Boy, I got a lot of experience in this one. haha. I used to play video games so that my mind would be taken off of stress, hurt, worry, sorrow, etc. It was a great way to think about something else outside of thinking about the things that were bothering me. I would play video games so that I could take my mind off of life... Then I'd get more stressed because I was a loser playing video games all day....so guess what? I had to play more video games. Snowball affect, all the way into a drunken state whereas I wanted to spend my entire life not thinking about life's problems, not thinking period. Well, someone had to do something. And God bless V for being a tool of God because she helped my mind get onto thinking about all of these things in life. For anyone who is in a place like this with an emotional addiction, just email me and I'll see what I can do to assist. There's so much to discuss on this topic that it may need another entry. The bottom line for my emotionally based addiction is that self defeating thoughts (distractions!) fed the need for an addiction (distraction!), which helped take my mind off of the self defeating thoughts (distractions!). Addiction (distraction!) caused additional self defeating thoughts (distractions!), thus it snowballed into a full blown addiction (distraction!). My previous postings on thought, deeper thought, choice, justification, and so on... they all played a major part to my growth. I experienced 2 different types of addiction: Emotional and Physical. Both were taken care of by utilizing God as a guide on my thoughts.
Once I placed these things into practice with the Lord's help, the chemistry of my brain was retrained. I read recently (forgive me for my lack of scientific knowledge/words) that when a brain goes through the same thought patterns over and over, it is trained and always prefers that path. Once these are challenged and new thoughts form, then those start to become in focus. It takes hard work to change one's mind from what an upbringing or surroundings have caused in our inner child. It can be done. If there's a will, there's a way.
God bless,
Joseph
I'll try distractions as my first topic. Distractions to me are thoughts of the flesh that are not in line with my spiritual desires. Smoking - My spiritual self doesn't like that garbage in my temple. My flesh self is addicted and likes it. Now that I think of it, this topic will go hand in hand with a few other topics, but specifically, my topic on Justification. I'll just concentrate on the specific distractions though. These habitual thought patterns were burned into the chemistry of my brain. I have attempted to quit smoking many times in my life and every time, I always had a justifying mentality when I wanted a cigarette. Phrases such as "Screw it", "I haven't had one all day", "I'll only have this one", "I'm stressed and really need one", "I enjoy a cigarette w/ a drink", "I'm smoking NATURAL tobacco" (used to roll my own), and many other distractions would enter my mind. These distractions filtered down to making a choice (see previous postings on Choice, Ultimate Choice, Wisdom, etc). Once I was able to utilize my ultimate choice, then these distractions weren't individual choices any longer. They were, umm... what's the word. Well, distractions! At this time, I realized that these thoughts don't need to lead me to my actions. The thoughts that were in-line w/ my spiritual desires are the ones that should be leading me to my actions. As a friend once said, allow your soul to testify for you. As in, question every thing and challenge it. For example with thoughts: Is this thought good for me or is it bad? Is this a distraction that isn't in line w/ my spiritual desires? If it's not in line w/ my spirit, then no action should follow. If it's in line w/ my spirit, then I would confirm it's good with a deeper analysis, then I would proceed w/ caution. (this deeper analysis was a very important step so that I knew that I was in line w/ my spirit and not just something my flesh wanted, craved, and/or something that my ego or past molds were generating. I had to make sure I wasn't tricking myself, because sometimes I thought I was on the right path, but some deeper flesh issues were found and I was fooling myself/distracting myself). Basically, these distractions were viewed as a thought that wasn't in line w/ my spiritual desires. Then they were seen for what they really were, the devil's temptations. I'm obviously a spiritual type person but for anyone else reading this, this can easily be interpreted as unhealthy thoughts. Once these things were realized and the thoughts were analyzed, forethought than became a factor. Forethought being whereas I could see the thoughts forming and I could recognize them as something I already had determined was a distraction or, I could recognize if the thought was forming from my flesh or old molds. From there, the thoughts could be seen for what they were, distractions. I then would laugh, thank the Lord for His Wisdom, and distract the distractions with good thoughts!
After a while, when peace and a stress free life starts setting in, when thoughts are retrained/remolded and when the garbage is gone, then the righteousness starts being in focus. This is when things get really good, but that's for another topic. Addiction, oh my. What a mess an addiction is. My cigarette addiction was conquered by using thought and putting my spirit in charge of this temple. I once had a video game addiction, which was more emotional than a physical addiction like nicotine. I'm not sure if this could relate to alcohol, but I'm fairly certain the addiction to alcohol will match this addiction. I'm not certain because I've never been addicted to alcohol, but I have had my share of drinks and there isn't an addictive quality like nicotine whereas you just have to have one cuz your body craves it. I heard nicotine's addictive qualities are worse than morphine, crack, etc. Those drugs, including nicotine, do something to your body whereas it craves. I've never had a night of drinking and woke up wanting more and I'm sure many can relate, lol. But... with video games. Ahhh, video games. The great escape. The mind numb'r. The distraction! It emptied my mind of all problems because I was concentrated on something emotional that I didn't want to concentrate on. Boy, I got a lot of experience in this one. haha. I used to play video games so that my mind would be taken off of stress, hurt, worry, sorrow, etc. It was a great way to think about something else outside of thinking about the things that were bothering me. I would play video games so that I could take my mind off of life... Then I'd get more stressed because I was a loser playing video games all day....so guess what? I had to play more video games. Snowball affect, all the way into a drunken state whereas I wanted to spend my entire life not thinking about life's problems, not thinking period. Well, someone had to do something. And God bless V for being a tool of God because she helped my mind get onto thinking about all of these things in life. For anyone who is in a place like this with an emotional addiction, just email me and I'll see what I can do to assist. There's so much to discuss on this topic that it may need another entry. The bottom line for my emotionally based addiction is that self defeating thoughts (distractions!) fed the need for an addiction (distraction!), which helped take my mind off of the self defeating thoughts (distractions!). Addiction (distraction!) caused additional self defeating thoughts (distractions!), thus it snowballed into a full blown addiction (distraction!). My previous postings on thought, deeper thought, choice, justification, and so on... they all played a major part to my growth. I experienced 2 different types of addiction: Emotional and Physical. Both were taken care of by utilizing God as a guide on my thoughts.
Once I placed these things into practice with the Lord's help, the chemistry of my brain was retrained. I read recently (forgive me for my lack of scientific knowledge/words) that when a brain goes through the same thought patterns over and over, it is trained and always prefers that path. Once these are challenged and new thoughts form, then those start to become in focus. It takes hard work to change one's mind from what an upbringing or surroundings have caused in our inner child. It can be done. If there's a will, there's a way.
God bless,
Joseph
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