from A State of Grace
TEMPORARY SOLUTION
The temporary addictive escape from a painfully perceived reality would be sought more and more, until the seeking itself felt like some primitive drive for survival in pursuit of which everything, including self-worth, would be sacrificed. — SLAA Basic Text, Page viii
We seek out temporary solutions for our pain, because any solution that will provide a lasting effect requires time and hard work. These are not things that the typical addict is willing to give. We want what we want, when we want it, and right now would be preferable. Acting out provides us with a momentary escape, a quick fix, but when we come down from that high, we’re still the same person in the same situation we were in when we started. We choose these methods because they are easy and immediate, but they are also empty and fleeting. Whatever joy our acting out may produce, it is quickly replaced by shame and self-loathing. Recovery requires a rewiring of our way of thinking. We must learn to love the longer path to results. When we can appreciate that real growth comes through struggle and rigorous honesty, then we will no longer see the temporary solution as the better option.
God, I know that these temptations are only temporary. Help me to recognize the more effective solutions in my life.
From Answers in the Heart
I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.
— Montaigne
One of our tools of recovery is reading. Most of our groups have daily meditation books from which we read aloud, and many of us read a meditation each day at home. We find that the writing, short and compressed, helps us to collect our thoughts, and then our minds and feelings expand outward beyond our reading.
Reading is not only entertainment; it is a kind of silent conversation with ourselves. And as we browse through our favorite books, we carry on a dialogue with old friends. We are taken out of ourselves and moved more deeply into the process of living.
As sex addicts, we need this. Most of us are often locked away in our worlds of fantasy and fear. We need the kind of intimacy that can come from reading, and we need the interaction and stimulus that inspiring books give us. We can move out and talk about them with our friends and enlarge our circle of knowledge and experience.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to read, which takes me out of myself.
Daily Meditation Books
Answers in the Heart - daily meditations for people recovering from sex addiction
Touchstones - daily meditations for recovering men A State of Grace - daily meditations by SLAA members
Comments