Soul Sustenance

The Origin of Addictions: How to Overcome Them (cont.) In order to change an addiction, we need to work out what need lies behind this addiction. What is the spiritual desire that we are trying to satisfy? If we smoke for relaxation (by smoking we breathe deeply and this relaxes us), perhaps what we really need is peace of mind. Any doctor will tell you that mental peace cannot be found in a cigarette. On the contrary, instead of calming your stress, it makes you more irritable and nervous, especially when going through withdrawal symptoms. We can learn to find relaxation and peace through meditation and will not have the need to smoke. The same applies to all the other qualities that we need to experience in our lives so that we feel satisfied and happy: it is in our inner self where we can turn to discover what we need. Although our mind often asks for visible and material things, its needs are deeper and nothing superficial can satisfy it. Meditation leads us to what is genuine and eternal.