“Your mind is an addict.” So said The Grasshopper this morning.

My personal view on addiction is that it’s a mental pattern that can be outgrown, not a life sentence.

But we can be addicted to a thought for a lifetime if we don’t stop and notice the addiction.

What is a recurring, nagging thought other than an addiction? Your mind is addicted to that thought. It doesn’t matter how much logic you heap upon your mind to the contrary, that thought keeps coming back and hooking you. That’s addiction.

You can try positive thinking to countermand that thought but that never has a long-term result. Positive thinking has the lasting effect of a pep rally – gone before you get home.

Much like the line from The Godfather: Part III, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,” we get pulled back in to argue with our mind.

The real addiction is arguing with our mind. Have you ever stopped to notice that you’ve NEVER won an argument with your mind? That fact doesn’t seem to register with us and we keep arguing.

You have to notice an addiction before you can outgrow it.

Notice the addictive thought without engaging with it. Just observe the argument that your mind presents and choose not to participate. The thought will go away because it can’t get you to play. Oh, it will come back again in a “sexy outfit” attempting to lure you in, but if you remain in observation mode each visit, the thought will eventually visit much less.

The thought may never completely go away but its frequency of temptation to get you to argue will dwindle.

We argue for our limitations when we argue with our mind. What addict do you know who doesn’t argue for their limitations?

You can outgrow being addicted to your mind; you just have to start observing it.

All the best,

John