I am adding video that I think is especially relevant, enlightening, and helpful.
I hope you get as much out of these as I did.

What is Addiction?

“All the substances of abuse, whether they’re opiates or cocaine or anything else, they’re actually pain killers. Some of them specifically are painkillers. But physical pain and emotional pain, the suffering is experienced in the same part of the brain. So when people suffer emotional rejection, the same part of the brain will light up as if you stuck them with a knife. Eckhart Tolle says very nicely that addictions begin with pain and end with pain. So that all the addictions are attempts to soothe the pain. When I work with addictions, the first question is always, not why the addiction but why the pain. And what you find is emotional loss or a trauma.

In the case of the severe addicts as in the downtown Eastside here, there were every single one of them traumatized. There’s no women walking the streets here who have not been sexually abused, not even by accident. But you know, whether it’s a sex addiction, or internet, or a relationship, or shopping, or work addiction, these are all attempts to get away from distress.

Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones guitarist, who used to have a severe heroin addiction, as you know, said, “All the contortions we go through are just not to be ourselves for a few hours.” Why would somebody not want to be themselves? Because they’re in too much distress, in too much pain. So I don’t care what they tell you, about genetics or choices or any of that nonsense, it’s always about pain.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, it’s got a wonderful line in it,
Whatever you do, don’t try and escape from your pain, but be with it.

Because the attempt to escape from pain is what creates more pain, and that’s the reality of addiction. But the question is how can people be with their pain? Only if they sense some compassion from somebody. As another teacher says, only when compassion is present will people allow themselves to see the truth.

So addicted people need a compassionate present which will permit them to experience their pain without having to run away from it. And all the attempt to run away, it’s like another teacher says, the surest way to go to hell is to try to run away from hell. So you gotta be with that pain, you just have to be with it, but you have to have some support.

And we live in a society that, one way or the other is always about instant relief, quick satisfaction, distraction. In other words, we live in a culture that is based on, both economically and psychologically, on not supporting people to be with themselves. So its always the quick getaway. So its very difficult to deal with addictions in this society.

It is a matter of, at some point finding a way of being with your pain, so that you can actually get to know what it’s really all about.” – Dr. Gabor Maté

 

 

Filmed at Plum Village, France, May 2014. Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh answers the question,

“How can I fight the injustices of this world without being consumed with anger, bitterness, outrage, and resentment?”

“You can realize a doctor, a physician who has to meet with many sick people. And he can say, “How can I enjoy my health if many people around me are sick?” You know that if the doctor is sick there is no hope for anyone. So the job and the duty of a doctor is to keep himself healthy so that he can help his patients. So if you see too many people suffer in the world, and you don’t know how to suffer less, how to nourish yourself with joy and happiness you will be like everyone and you can not help. So there must be a way to help you to suffer less, so that you can help other people who suffer more. And that is why the practice of mindfulness can help you. In principle you know that there is fresh air available, there is fresh water available, that many refreshing and healing elements of nature around us and in us and if you know how to get in touch with them, you can get the nourishment and healing that you need and that is not only for you, because If you suffer less and you can nourish yourself with joy and happiness and then you will be able to help other people around you. So your practice is to preserve ourself, not to allow ourself to be overwhelmed by the situation of suffering all around and this is possible with mindfulness because you know that the fresh air is available, the sunshine is available, the fresh water is available, many wonders of life are available, mother earth is there to help you heal and be nourished and if you are aware of that you allow mother earth and all these wonders to embrace you and to help you heal and you become an instrument of healing for other people around you. So the doctor, the physician has to take care of himself. He knows that his well-being, his health is very important for the people who suffer and come to him for help. The practice of mindful breathing, mindful walking, allowing yourself to be fully present in the here and now and to be nourished by nature is very important. If you can stop running, looking for things, you can allow yourself to be fully present in the here and now and let refreshing and healing elements of nature to heal us and then you can become an instrument of peace, of happiness, of joy to help other people to suffer less. Around us there may be a lot of anger, bitterness, resentment, and if you don’t know how to hold ourselves, take care of ourselves, nourish ourselves, we will be overwhelmed by that collective energy of hate, anger, bitterness. So take care of yourself, it’s very important. And in order to do that you have to go home to yourself. There is a safe island within. You have to go home to ourselves by way of mindful breathing, mindful walking, and you can calm down our body, our feelings and begin to feel peace and you will be able to see things more clearly. We know what to do and what not to do in order not to make the situation worse. We realize that one in-breath, one mindful step, can already help to bring a little bit more of calm, of peace, so that we do not give up. We see that hope is always there, and we don’t feel powerless, helpless. Because if you know how to practice mindfulness, of breathing, of walking we see that one single in-breath, one single step, can already make a difference. And that is exactly what makes us hopeful. The problem is not only what you can do, you are motivated by the desire to do something, to help the world suffer less. But ‘to do’ is just one of the things you can do, ‘to be’ is another way of doing. If you can be relaxed, if you can be peaceful, if you can be compassionate, that is a lot of action already. And the way you sit and look at people can all be very helpful, if you have peace, tranquility, compassion, then your presence is already very helpful. So ‘to be’ is very important. And ‘to do’ is something that comes from that kind of being. ‘To be’ peace first, and ‘to do’ peace later. And there is the factor of sungar – if you have friends who know how ‘to be.’ To be relaxed, to be peaceful, to be fresh, to be healthy and then together you can create a powerful collective energy of peace, joy, and happiness that can rescue many people. And that also belongs in the realm of being. You are peace, you are fresh, you are compassionate. And that collective energy of peace, freshness, and compassion has begun to contribute to the well-being of the world. And of course that energy of peace and compassion will allow you to know what to do in order to promote more peace and freshness and joy in the world. So the answer is how to protect oneself from being carried away by the collective energy of hate, violence, bitterness, anger. How to create an island of peace and freshness and compassion within. And then if there is a group of people who can do that and they can be a refuge for many other people. This is why building a group of practitioners is very, very important.” – Thich Nhat Hanh