I did it to myself. It wasn’t society – it wasn’t a pusher, it wasn’t being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.

~ RAY CHARLES

Practicing the lesson - post your answers below!

Now that you have a deeper understanding of your mental addictions, list five that you would like to change within yourself.

1. For each of those items, create one not-doing. A not-doing is an action that is different from your normal programmed behavior. For example, if you tend to talk about yourself incessantly to others, a not-doing would be to take the time to talk about some other person who has taken a wonderful action. If you gossip, a not-doing would be to remove yourself from the room whenever that is going on. A not-doing for sarcastic humor would be to create a sentence that you say to yourself whenever you are tempted to be cutting.
2. Observe your addictions without judgment. Make a list of the real reason behind those behaviors. In other words, what are the lies do your hear your mind whispering to you that are compelling you to take those actions? If you are a workaholic, for example, is your mind commanding you to work hard so that you can get ahead and be appreciated and validated? If so, look carefully at your statements. Is it really true that we must validate ourselves in the eyes of another to be worthy in life? No, this is absolutely a lie. We are all worthy and the only validation necessary is our own self-love and respect.
3. Refrain is the key word when it comes to addictions, and that can only be exercised when we have the thinking and doing awareness of what we are thinking and doing in the moment.

Today’s Affirmation

I forgive myself for my addiction to the compelling lies of my ego-mind, and for taking actions that have created self-sabotaging behaviors that have hurt my self and others.

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