What is addiction?

Addiction is when we become dependent upon a substance or behavior or when we rely on something outside of ourselves to fill a void or escape reality. Addiction is not really about pleasure; it's about escaping reality, and there's a feeling of 'no choice' within it.

Part of addiction is a compulsion—or an intense urge to do something. As addiction develops, it involves a feeling of compulsion to take some kind of substance or to engage in addictive behavior.

We often link addiction to drugs or alcohol, but we can be addicted to many things. We could become addicted to food or cigarettes. We could be addicted to people. We can even become addicted to controlling. Our brain doesn't recognize the differences between being addicted to something like control or other people and being addicted to substances. We can experience the same compulsions and withdrawal symptoms, no matter the addiction.

Addiction occurs even when it could harm us or our loved ones. With addiction, there is often short-term pleasure but long-term consequences to our health, relationships, or self-esteem. At some point, we may no longer enjoy the substance or behavior we are addicted to, but we turn to it for relief.

Addiction often involves a lack of awareness or denial about the negative consequences. Those of us who do have addictions may be in denial about our reliance on that external source of relief. In this FREE webinar, I'll talk about identifying our own addictive and compulsive behaviors and conduct an energy clearing to start setting us free.