Making the transition

I am making the transition to winter. It will be snowing soon and out come the skiboards, snowboards, XC skis, snowtube and snowshoes. I've been enjoying healthy soups and stews and taking saunas this time of year. The air is crisp and clean with no annoying bugs. I like to sit in my backyard making a fire in our stone fire pit relaxing as I watch the logs turn into glowing coals and the sparks shoot upwards into the dark sky. One equation for finding happiness states, that to be happy we need someone to love, someone to love us, something to do and something to look forward to. Sustainable, healthy and positive activities fit the bill when it comes to having something to do and something to look forward to. In the past, all I had to occupy me was my addictions. How many addicts turn to their addiction out of boredom? While it is good to be mindful of the present moment, as the Buddhists say, we are still humans and cannot be 100% perfect. So, when it comes to looking forward I now look foreword to the new seasons and all that those seasons provide in new tastes in healthy and natural foods and activities.

Many people run from the snow like it is the plague. Myself? I run TO the snow and NOT away from it. In fact, I can go out my backdoor and snowshoe or cross country ski if I please. Thoreau had the well developed ability of finding contentment and happiness in the present moment. This is what enlightenment is all about - being at peace within and with all in whatever circumstances we find ourselves and without pre qualifiers. How many times do you hear persons talking negatively about the rain or the snow like it is hell. For me it is heaven, for without snow I could not ski or snowboard and without rain plants and life would not flourish on earth nor could I kayak, jet ski or fish. Thoreau wrote of such contentment in Walden, detailing the building of his log cabin. As he chopped down the trees and hewed the logs, he appreciated little things like the fragrance on his hands from the pine sap as he ate his simple lunch of bread and butter among the wood chips and talked with local wanderers. In his own words, "I made no haste in my work, but rather made the most of it." Taking my que from Thoreau when it comes to snow...I make the most of it.

Developing a list of positive time fillers was a big help with my addictions. As Thoreau also wrote in Walden , "The devil finds work for idle hands." Before heading in this new direction, most of my time was occupied by what to buy next, overeating rich foods and getting fat and when I wanted a break from that I had a picnic basket of other addictive areas to get drugged up with. Most of my new activities are sport or movement related as they also serve the purposes of helping with my overeating disease and have the added benefit of improved health and don't produce clutter like some hobbies do. Sustainability is of the highest importance with an activity. You see, I can mountain bike, hike, ski or canoe as much as I please and not produce and debt or manufacture clutter or drive me to drink as some of my less healthy pastimes would produce. In addition, these movement and sport related activities help with battling depression and improving balance, equilibrium and brain functioning.

Keeping busy is not the cure-all all for addictions, but it is a necessary foundational pillar. (My earlier post entitled "7 Benefits of Addictions Provide Us" goes into more detail on this subject) There are other benefits from these movent based sport activities in that they can relax our mind while simultaneously stimulating it for healthy growth potential. We all seem to build up too much stress chemicals and sport related activities helps dissipate these chemicals. (See my snip from a magazine at end of post.) Bottom line: is the activity pleasing to us, healthy, nurturing and sustainable? You can also use the SCA guidelines for any questions you have asking: is the activity placing unreasonable demands on my time and energy, will it place me in legal jeopardy or endanger my mental, physical or spiritual health? Remember, as Jack LaLane said, exercise and eating healthy foods are the king and queen of good health. The king and queen must also sit on a thrown of low stress living to run a good kingdom. If you hate to move and hate to eat well, then do as he also said; "I developed a liking for things that are good for me." Getting proper exercise is of special import to any computer addicts out there that only seem to exercise their fingers.

A lady wrote me about her addictions asking for advice. She was 150 pounds overweight, a clutterer and abused alcohol and prescription pain meds. She detailed how she had two hobbies in life - she liked to knit and liked to bake. She would sit for most of the day knitting. She had a large output from her knitting hobby and although she gave some away, she would keep the bulk of it. This produced much clutter as the output was continuos. She also liked to bake pastry and would give away some of her baking output, but again ate most of it herself. From all the sitting from her knitting hobby her back and joints were sore most of the time. Her joints were irritated from her sugar rich diet which was also loaded with salt. Salt is a corrosive and her joints were just getting more corroded as she ate an unbalanced diet. Carrying around an extra person in fat did not help her joints either. At night she turned to alcohol for some relief. During the day she would pop pills. She had high blood pressure, swollen legs and high cholesterol to boot. From her example, we can see her two hobbies were 'addiction promoting and health destroying' and not good ones for her - if her goal was to live a healthy life.

Can baking and knitting be healthy pastimes? Yes, but not as she did. A knitter would have to limit their time sitting and would have be mindful to exercise in order to make up for their inactive time while knitting otherwise they will deteriorate from a sedentary lifestyle. The only thing getting exercise with a knitter is the fingers and maybe as little of the mind. If they suffer from clutter, then they have to sell or give away all their output from knitting. With baking, it is the same. If you suffer from fat and like to bake you cannot eat much of your output and have to sell or give it all away. If you cannot control yourself with just eating a little, then you have to give it all away without a taste. If you cannot do that then find another hobby. As the saying goes, "If you don't want to slip, then stay out of slippery places." How did this lady end up after my advice? She kept on going her own way, deteriorating and dropped out of the program. All I can do is plant recovery seeds - I can't force them to sprout.

Many people say they do not like this or that when it comes to healthy foods, sweat and exercise. I tell them; "you have been getting what YOU liked all along and it got YOU where your at TODAY. Maybe YOU should try doing what YOUR RECOVERY PROGRAM likes instead of what YOU like?" So, if your happy with the status quo, then keep on keeping on, and if you are not happy, then try another way. You see, a person that thinks as they always thought will continue to get what they always got. We need to learn new ways and must unlearn old ways as well. Some addicts think that by just reciting the 12 steps all will be well without changing a thing. If nothing changes - nothing changes. My own life had to change radically 180 degrees from how I used to live in order to get new life. This is why most addicts fail. They refuse to change and want to keep their old life as well as a new life. We have to choose which way to go, but one thing is for sure, we can't have both.

Now I have much to look forward to in life for activities or rewards that are not destructive and are sustainable. Activities to occupy yourself that don't revolve around spending, eating, gambling, sex, drugs or alcohol or other addictive areas only go so far in recovery though. You also have to be careful to take time to relax and not escape life through activity. Horace wrote, "Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt--You can run away as far as you like but you'll never get away from yourself." 12 Step work, reducing stress, repairing the wreckage of the past and living a balanced life all contribute to heading in the right recovery direction. I've enclosed some of my activities below for your perusal. Also be careful you don't find another excuse to compulsively spend with each new activity or sport you take up. That is something I have to watch. For instance. If you take up rollerblading, you buy one pair of skates and one set or protective gear, etc. You don't buy 5 pairs of skates 5 different skate bags and 8 sets of skate clothes, in all colors for each day of the week plus one extra for holidays. If you want different skates, you sell the old pair and then buy a different set. Everything is on a "one in ~ one out" basis to avoid compulsive spending, stockpiling and clutter. Sure, you have to spend initially to be set up in an activity, but once set up the spending stops except for some very small incidentals and fees.

Partial List of My Positive Time Filling Activities:

Hiking, Mountain Bike, Climbing Gym and Rock Climbing, Basketball, Rollerblading, Trail Running, Jet Skiing, Racquetball, Swimming, Sun Bath, Fishing, Canoeing, Skateboarding, Weight Training, Target Shooting, Camping, Jogging, Kayaking, Motorcycling, Skiboarding, Snowshoeing, Downhill Skiing, XC Skiing, Yoga, Massage, Meditation, Dirt Bike, Free Lectures and Movies at a Local University, Snow Tubing, Snorkeling, Scuba, Napping or Relaxing in a Hammock, Picnics, Library, Spiritual Studies, Free Musical Events and Concerts, Church Services, Scenic Seasonal Car Trips, Travel.

Here is a small snip in Psychotherapy magazine from an article on the benefits of exercise with addiction.

Why does exercise have such an impact on the emotional brain? Naturally, there is, first of all, its effect on endorphins. These tiny molecules secreted by the brain resemble opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin. The emotional brain contains many receptors for endorphins, and that's why it is so sensitive to opium-it immediately radiates a sensation of well-being and satisfaction by hijacking one of the emotional brain's own intrinsic mechanisms. Opium has a powerful effect on emotions-in fact, it's the strongest known antidote to the pangs of separation and mourning. However, when derivatives of opium are used too often, they can become habit forming. Brain receptors become inured to them, so the dose must be systematically increased in order to produce the same effect. Moreover, because the receptors become less and less sensitive, regular pleasures lose all their power and potency-including sex, the pleasure of which is often reduced in drug addicts.

The secretion of endorphins brought on by physical exercise does exactly the opposite. The more the natural mechanism of pleasure is gently stimulated by exercise, the more sensitive the mechanism itself becomes. In addition to relishing sex and life's other big pleasures, people who exercise regularly actually get more pleasure out of the little things in life: their friendships, their cats, their meals, their hobbies, or even the smiles of passersby in the street. Essentially, it becomes easier for them to be satisfied, And in fact, the experience of pleasure is just the opposite of depression. Depression is defined, above all, by the absence of pleasure, more so than by sadness, which is probably the reason why the release of endorphins has such a potent antidepressant and anxiolytic effect. Stimulating the emotional brain by exercise also kindles the immune system. It promotes the proliferation of "natural killer" cells, making them more aggressive against infections and cancer cells. The opposite effect occurs with heroin addicts, whose immune defenses collapse, often causing them to become gravely ill.

Exercise may also strengthen another physiological mechanism related to emotional health. This mechanism involves what we have already learned about heart rate variability. "'People who exercise regularly show a greater variability in heart rate and more coherence than people who do not. This means that their parasympathetic system, the physiological "brake" that brings on periods of calm, is healthier and stronger. A good balance between the two branches of the autonomic nervous system is one of the best potential antidotes to anxiety and panic attacks. All the symptoms of anxiety start with an overactive sympathetic system, a dry mouth, accelerated heartbeat, sweating, trembling, a rise in blood pressure. The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are always in opposition. Thus, the more stimulation the parasympathetic branch receives, the stronger it becomes-like a developing muscle.


Take Care,


V (Male)

A Christian-Buddhist practitioner living a life of Voluntary Simplicity and grateful recovering Debtor, Drug, Alcohol and Substance Abuser, Compulsive Overeater, Clutterer, Hoarder, Rageaholic, Speculative Gambler, Compulsive Spender, Sex and Sensation Addict.