Addictions & Meditation

I went to a 3 hour lecture on meditation this weekend. A zen monastery close to my house had a visiting nun from Canada and when they have guest they usually have a reception to allow the community to hear the thoughts of the honored guest. I can't remember this lady's name but she was very interesting. Her main focus was on meditation, of course, but more specifically it was about how to use meditation to overcome addictions. Normally when we think of addictions we think of alcohol, drugs, smoking, and those sorts of things but she included addictions such as self loathing, over eating, hatred of others, negative thoughts, etc. It was so interesting and very revealing. She showed us how to spot these addictions in our own personality, how to acknowledge these addictions as we are doing them, and what to do if we want to stop.

I discovered that my addictions are:
1. Negative Thoughts
2. Eating
3. Shopping
4. Sleeping

She made the analogy of an addiction being a bad itch, the more you scratch it the more it itches. So, I am sure my addictions will get worse before it gets better.

Most of us don't normally take the time to hear ourselves think. Spending three hours in a monastery and being at peace with yourself and with those around you is such a wonderful experience. I use to go a lot on Saturday mornings for the meditation lecture and to meditate for an hour but I stopped going several months ago. I am now going to make an effort to go at least once a month and spend sometime by myself.