{"id":19071,"date":"2020-02-19T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=19071"},"modified":"2020-02-14T15:19:39","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T23:19:39","slug":"freedom-from-addiction-choose-the-red-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/02\/19\/freedom-from-addiction-choose-the-red-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom from Addiction<\/em>: Choose the red pill"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I think of waking up to reality, I often think of the popular 1999 movie The Matrix<\/i>. The main character, Neo, must choose either the red pill, which would allow him to know things as they really are, or the blue pill, which would enable him to continue his life as usual.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neo doesn\u2019t know what he is choosing in taking the red pill, but he senses that there is something important he needs to become aware of. He can feel that something in his current reality is not right.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Freedom from Addiction<\/em> is a column exploring issues relating to addiction (photo by Katie Mondey\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Part of the reason this film was so impactful lies in the symbolism of the two pills and the choice to face an uncertain reality or to go on in denial. I think facing addiction is like this. It may slowly creep into a person\u2019s awareness, or it may come in one swift, ground-rattling moment\u2014a kind of red-pill moment. Either way, there is a deep sense of \u201coh no\u201d when the reality of how we\u2019re living becomes apparent and clear. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Facing reality\u2014if you\u2019ve been running from it\u2014is not easy or pleasant. It can be downright disorienting, and these effects can last a while.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing\u2014and this is important.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, I do not believe there is any alternative. Things are as they are. We can see them or not see them, but still, things are as they are. And here\u2019s what\u2019s really important: we all affect one another. We all share this planet, and everything on it (albeit not always very well).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that addictive thinking, or addictive brain wiring, is in large part what\u2019s behind many of our world\u2019s problems, small and large.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe we must wake up from the snare and cycle of addiction in order to survive, and definitely to thrive, individually and collectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is good news, too. Following the \u201coh no\u201d phase, when everything feels bleak and we feel forlorn, there\u2019s a gradual but unmistakable release from fear, tension, dread, and control. Slowly but surely, we begin to heal. We begin to open. We begin to stand in our true power. And we begin to be of greater and greater value to others.<\/p>\n

I think many of us desire more people in the world who are awake, aware, compassionate, and grounded in reality, in the here and now. This is the promise of facing our addictions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Red pill? Yes, please. Let reality be what it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I think of waking up to reality, I often think of the popular 1999 movie The Matrix. The main character, Neo, must choose either the red pill, which would allow him to know things as they really are, or the blue pill, which would enable him to continue his life as usual.\u00a0 Neo doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,248],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-february-19-2020"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19072,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19071\/revisions\/19072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}