Human beings are pleasure principled beings. This means that we are pre-programmed, genetically, philosophically and spiritually, to seek pleasure and avoid pain. This seems elementary, yet it is this pain/pleasure principle that makes kicking a habit or addiction so difficult. I see all walks of life in my office; young teenagers who have difficulty regulating the role that pot should play in their youthful lives, soccer moms who just want to stop recreational, casual drinking, crystal meth users, young adults who just like to “party” and use a little too much coke, booze or ecstasy. You don’t have to be a fall-down drunk or hard core addict to make the discovery we all make when we decide to change a habit: that it is much more difficult than we think it’s going to be. The reason for this is because of the pain/pleasure principle.
Absolutely everything we experience gets divided into these two categories: pain or pleasure. If it pleasurable, the brain and mind make a record of that experience and store it. Where it is stored is proportionate to the degree of how pleasurable or painful an experience is. The more pleasurable, the more in the forefront of consciousness it is stored for easy retrieval. The mind’s job is to re-experience pleasure so it creates certain conditions to attain pleasure. It whispers sweet nothings to you like, “c’mon, cookies are good” in an attempt to convince you to eat them, even though they may be bad for you. The greater the experience of pleasure and the longer you have experienced it, the more amplified its attempt is to convince you. Now, I don’t care what anyone says: drugs feel great. It feels great to get high, to have sex and to eat cookies too! Since drugs go straight to the pleasure centers of the brain and feel great, the mind works overtime trying to re-experience it. It makes no difference that you consciously understand drugs or alcohol is bad for you, the pleasure principle overrides reason 10 to one. There is an easier way to get back on track and take control of this, and every other area of your life. Get the guidance and training a professional can give you and you can be in control easily and quickly. Why waste time?
Scott Spackey is a California Registered Addiction Specialist, Interventionist, Life-Coach and Hypnotherapist. For more information, please call 661-299-1966, visit www.LIFE-MIND.com or email Scott@Life-Mind.com .