2:Quitting Addiction Exercises
Quitting Addiction Exercises
One of the biggest keys to quitting addiction is to know (and have organized) what exercises you need to do to overcome the addiction. On this web site and on many others there are mental exercises you can do. But to simply read about them and then to do them for a few days is not the answer. What is needed is to have a journal to write down every exercise you come across so that you can reference them at any time in the future. It does not need to be fancy; a Wal-mart one subject notebook for a dollar is just fine.
The way I would organize the journal would be to reserve the first 4 pages for exercises you know you would like to do every day. In the next section I would jot down idea’s that seem to be good, but ones that you are not sure you want to review every day. Over time if you change your mind about one of the exercises, you could promote it to the front everyday section.
You can fill your journal with quitting addiction idea’s every day (that you find a new exercise). You can write down key points from my articles or any articles on the internet. You can put in idea’s you get from overcoming addiction books. You can write down idea’s you get at addiction help groups you attend. The point is to write down all the great idea’s you hear or read that you think will work for you, so that you can have instant access to them in the future. Most of us don’t realize how quickly we forget things. We can’t afford to forget things that affect our future, family, finances, freedom and many other things.
The following are examples of some types of exercises you may want in your journal.
1: Form a habit to say to yourself 5 times a day that “my addiction causes me financial destruction. It has in the past and it will in the future.”
2: Have a list of the benefits of quitting your addiction. Write down all the benefits then memorize the top 5 and top ten benefits. This will allow you to say the benefits multiple times each day until you get on more solid footing in your recovery.
3: Pray often each day “Lord keep me from temptation”(This is part of the Lord’s prayer from the Bible).
Every day keep adding ideas that work for you. You can choose to work on your journal all day. But if your addiction is long term it is more important to make it a habit to review it or work on it every day.
Your use (or lack of use) of a journal will tell you exactly how much you really want to quit your addiction. If you can’t spend four minutes per day reviewing and doing mental exercises you probably have a good chance of staying addicted. On the other hand if you start the journal and are careless with reviewing it every day you have also learned something. You have learned that one of the reasons that you are still addicted is because you are not dedicated enough to having a new routine. For more severe addictions you may need to refer to your journal several times each day to that you will remember to do your exercises consistently.
Even when you are having one of those days where you strongly suspect that you are going to fall, still, review your journal. Maybe it will help turn you around. But it will at the very least keep you in your new routine as long as possible. You never know when fighting off that craving for as long as possible will lead to you never giving in again as long as you live.
The rest of this video will be Spiritual in nature. Often addictions involve sin that kills the Spirit. James 2:26 says “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”.
God is not upset with you if you break these commands because you were “naughty”. He is upset because if you are a Christian you know that He has unconditional love for you. And He knows that your love for Him was so shallow that you shut him completely out. He is also upset because He knows how much destruction you are going to do to yourself and to others.
A person is made up of Spirit, Soul and Body. Certain sins fully divide us. A sex addict’s adultery divides them from their spouse (and at least temporarily from God). A person who idolizes greed is worshiping the wrong thing. The Bible says we cannot serve God and money. Intoxication makes the body comes first instead of the Spirit. Run from sins that quench the Spirit.
If you think that your addiction is also a sin that quenches the Spirit you need to get additional help from people who understand how sin affects addiction. Find a Pastor who is experienced in helping people who have addictions. If your current Pastor or Priest can’t help you, find one who can.
When we change and start doing things God’s way He will start to bless us and start to help us get the addiction out. When we are sincere He will help us every step of the way.