I just finished Byron Katie’s book Loving What Is and it is profound. As I was reading it, I kept on thinking about addiction and how we think that we’re powerless over these chemicals. But I have come to believe that addiction help is just a thought away. If you are not familiar with Byron Katie, here is the basic premise: if you believe your thoughts you suffer. She asks “Who would you be without your story?” She calls her process “The Work” and it consists of four questions. You think a thought, let’s say you think “I’m never going to be able to stay sober.” That’s a thought you have. And the Work is to question that thought. The first question you ask is “Is it true?” Is it true that I’m never going to stay sober? You’re immediate reaction might be to say Yes because past experience has shown that you’ve not been able to stay sober. The second question is “Can you absolutely know that it is true?” And this is is where it gets interesting. Can you absolutely know that you’ll never stay sober? No. Of course not. You know lots of people who have stayed sober for years! So it is not physically impossible. The third question is “How do you react when you believe the thought ‘I’m never going to be able to stay sober’? The answer is you react by taking the sort of actions and having the same feelings you’ve had for years — binge drinking, self loathing, guilt, anger. The last question is this: “Who would you be without that thought?” Who would you be if you didn’t think you could never stay sober? If you stopped believing that sobriety was unattainable, well, you’d be sober. You’d be sober and stay sober easily because you’d replace that negative belief with a positive belief. That’s the Work and I can see it having this huge impact on my life and those around me

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