Too often in today's society, we jump into action without thought. A person is rude and we reach for a sickerette; an accident occurs and we can't wait to light up; another bill we can't afford comes in the mail and we run to the gas station for a pack of killer sticks....
If we can just stop a moment and put things into perspective, we might be better able to access our desires and realize that we're under the hypnotic influence of addictive thinking! How do you recognize addictive thinking? Simple, really - your addictive mind has only one goal - your next FIX! It's so easy to go on auto-pilot and just walk into that store, mumble those familiar words [mine is Marlboro Reds 100s, hard pack] and before you even know what happened, there you are again with that da#@ enemy hanging off your lip, sucking in the death fumes!
Those separation EXercises are all about preparing ahead of time - imagine yourself coming upon one of those automatic situations and just for one second, stopping and thinking - Is this what I really want? What can I do instead???? Write these practice runs down - in detail. Think of as many different scenarios as you can come up with. Visualize that NEW YOU deciding on a different outcome - not resentfully, but happily, knowing that you are making a FREEDOM decision!
The first step is to STOP and THINK!
"Be still and know that I am God!" Ps 46:10
