{"id":19399,"date":"2020-04-22T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=19399"},"modified":"2020-04-15T12:44:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T19:44:17","slug":"freedom-from-addiction-slowing-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/04\/22\/freedom-from-addiction-slowing-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom from Addiction<\/em>: Slowing down"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was talking to a friend today about the tendency to move quickly\u2014specifically, getting involved with someone sexually or romantically before knowing them well enough, and trying to be ultra-productive or ultra-distracted in general.<\/p>\n

As sex and love addicts, we certainly relate to moving too quickly into relationships, and as a society we are conditioned and encouraged to live and work fast in a fast-paced system.<\/p>\n

Now, however, as our economic movement comes to a grinding halt and we watch many of our usual social distractions crash and burn, many of us are forced to slow down.<\/p>\n

As a person who has struggled considerably with addiction and anxiety, slowing down is essential to my well-being and my addiction recovery. A practice focused on breathing\u2014such as meditation, yoga, qigong, or tai chi\u2014is one way of doing this, and is quite essential to optimal functioning for virtually everyone, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

When we focus on our natural, relaxed breath, our thoughts begin to slow down, and a sense of peace and ease may arise. Give it a try\u2014breathe deeply in, and then let go, exhale. Do that a few more times.<\/p>\n

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

Rapid, anxious thoughts that cause fear and discomfort are often a precursor to addictive behaviour. I have found, mainly through meditation and meditative movement (for example, yoga), that compulsive, unhealthy behaviour of any kind\u2014including working, eating junk food, or leaping head-first into a relationship\u2014is tempered. When I slow my mind and my body, addiction\u2019s vice-like grip is weakened.<\/p>\n

As an addict, I know that addictive behaviour and addictive thinking patterns permeate every part of my reality. Addictive behaviour requires quick, compulsive, action driven by fast-moving and slippery thought processes. Slowing down allows me to become aware of underlying patterns at work that fuel and feed the addictive entity within me.<\/p>\n

Slowing down my daily activities and learning to do one thing at a time, thoughtfully, has and will continue to help me manage the addiction I live with. This \u201cmanagement\u201d is basically just becoming aware of myself and my world, and seeking support to maintain and expand this awareness.<\/p>\n

So, I encourage you to embrace, as best as you can, this time of slowing down. Perhaps you can be willing to become aware of your own inner world a little more, including your patterns of thinking, your feelings, your deeper needs, and your sensations.<\/p>\n

Perhaps together (but apart) we can practice slowing down while the opportunity to do so is upon us; we can get in touch with our breathing, and we can be willing to expand our awareness a little. Then maybe, when the wheels of our society start picking up speed again, we can be a little more present and authentic, and a little less driven by addiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was talking to a friend today about the tendency to move quickly\u2014specifically, getting involved with someone sexually or romantically before knowing them well enough, and trying to be ultra-productive or ultra-distracted in general. As sex and love addicts, we certainly relate to moving too quickly into relationships, and as a society we are conditioned […]<\/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":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19399","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=19399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19400,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19399\/revisions\/19400"}],"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=19399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}