Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine a world in which no human being suffers from alcoholism or addiction? I can. Do you often feel that your personal struggle to overcome a particular problem could be important for humanity as a whole? I do. As I move forward with my exploration into healing my own addictions, I will be meditating on this future reality, one in which all sentient beings are free of the bonds of addictive thinking and behavior. This is a form of the metta or lovingkindness meditation that many Buddhists practice in which they extend their hopes for their own transcendence to the entire human community. First, to their family and friends, then to the larger community in which they live and on to the global family of which we are all a part. I'd also like to mention that members of AA often practice a form of this meditation in which they pray for a person they are having problems with. They are instructed to pray that the troubling person be gifted with all the same things that the pray-er would want for themselves - happiness, fulfillment, strong relationships, abundance and of course, freedom. This meditation, however, carries it a bit further. Whether you have already conquered your addiction problems, or like me, are still struggling for the answers that will work, I invite you to join me in this meditation.

I met with my therapist yesterday and am happy to say that I think we will be able to work well together. She did not, as was my fear, say "Get thee to AA." We spent two hours in a general assessment and have an appointment scheduled for next week. In the meantime, I have obtained the hypnotherapy CD's from the My Way Out program and started those yesterday as well. In addition, I am using the nutritional supplements recommended in this program and will be using the anti-craving drug, Topamax, which I will start in a week or two. I started an exercise program several months ago and will continue with it as part of this holistic process. The meditation is my way of adding a spriritual component, which I believe is vital, into the mix.

This idea, that one individual's healing can imprint the entire fabric of humanity, is being brought home to me in a book I'm reading called, "Dark Night, Early Dawn" by Christopher M. Bache. Before reading this book, it all just seemed like a somewhat utopian idea, but the more I read the more real it becomes. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it rings with a truth that my soul can't deny.