Overcoming Addiction and How to Heal Emotional Pain

Are you interested in overcoming addiction yourself, getting a good idea for addiction help for a friend or learning how to heal emotional pain as it arises in your life? You may find my solution here simple and effective.

If you have had painful life experiences that still upset you or you are currently experiencing a lot of stress, you may have created self-soothing tools that hurt you more than they help you. In extreme cases, people develop habits or addictions that damage their health, body and/or relationships, which in turn cause more stress.

Smoking, over-consumption of food or alcohol, and recreational drug use are examples of addictions that people develop as a response to stress or emotional pain.

It's important to heal emotional pain and work at overcoming addiction; and the good news is that any of these hurtful behaviors can be reduced and eventually eliminated.

Many recognize what they are doing as bad for them, and are ready for overcoming addiction and learning an easy way to get emotional pain relief. The problem is they don't know what EXACTLY they can do to fix it.

Here is a specific way to heal emotional pain while also overcoming addiction to a destructive habit, and you can do it by yourself. I call it the No More Pain Game. Play it every time you feel hopeless or feel yourself going for your addiction. The No More Pain Game

This is a do-it-yourself solution for how to heal heal emotional pain and for overcoming addiction (smoking, overeating, alcoholism, recreational drug use, etc.) in your life. You can give yourself the gift of addiction help with this "game."

Materials needed:

Pen or pencil

6 sheets of paper or print these 2 documents:
Blank Paper for Writing Your History*
A List for Using Your 5 Senses to Feel Better

Setting Up the Game

1. Recognize and understand that your addiction is your way of trying to make your pain from life experiences stop.

2. Forgive yourself for choosing this hurtful method of trying to help yourself (say: “I forgive you” to yourself).

3. Apologize to yourself for creating this habit (say: “I’m sorry” to yourself).

4. Use one piece of paper and acknowledge your pain by writing down as many things as you can, that have made you (or are still making you) feel sad or angry or afraid. Cry the pain out of your system as you look over your list.

5. Rip up your list and say “thank you” to yourself for being ready to get rid of this heavy baggage you have been carrying.

6. Put the ripped up list in the garbage.

7. Walk away from your ripped up list of problems and say “I love you” to yourself for wanting a better life.

Playing the Game

1. Label each of the 5 sheets of paper with the name of one of our 5 senses: visual, auditory/hearing, touch, smell and tasting.

2. Fill each paper with as many things that you can think of that make you feel good while using that sense. Rule: they are not allowed to include unhealthy food, drugs, violence, or damage to the body.

Examples:

Visual: paintings in a museum, photos online, a real sunrise or sunset, looking into the eyes of your child, watching your baby sleep, flowers in a nursery, all things growing in nature, animals at a zoo/on a farm, birds in the sky, wild animals outside, online multimedia presentations of the beautiful parts of our planet.

Auditory: a waterfall/fountain; the surf at a beach, the trickling sounds of a creek, water movement on a river, wind, rain, a storm, wind chimes, birds singing, children laughing, comedians telling jokes, happy music, restful music, meditation music, peaceful music, classical music, new age music, native cultures music (no loud/angry music or music with sad/angry/painful/violent lyrics).

Touch: feeling things or lying on things that have a soothing texture for your hands, feet or skin that are soft, fuzzy, smooth, cool/warm; foot massage (called reflexology), getting or giving a body massage; foot baths/pedicures; manicures; hand holding with someone you love; snuggling; hugging; petting an animal, touching plants/gardening; walking barefoot on sand, soft earth, warm rocks or anything that feels good; playing with a collection (rocks/crystals, dolls, stamps, cards, etc.) building or creating something with your hands (making music, drawing, coloring a mandala, painting, crafting); body movement: dancing, jumping, running, working out with weights, climbing stairs/hill/mountain, riding a bike/horse; aerobics, doing yoga, fast walking, etc.

Smell:fresh laundry, fresh flowers and herbs, bottles of essential oils, shampoo/conditioner, body lotions, fresh cut wood, fresh/moist dirt, cut grass, fresh air in the woods, new leather, perfume/cologne, freshly washed hair, ocean water or suntain lotion (don’t include food because it could be linked to a food addiction).

Taste:raw fruits, raw vegetables, green smoothies, wheat grass juice, cold water, green tea (only healthy choices can go on this list).

3. Obtain the things on your list, such as a CD of music or nature sounds (some tracks can be found for free online).

4. When you start thinking about how sad or stressed you feel; or if you are getting ready to soothe yourself with your addiction, go get your list and read through each item, until you get to one that you feel interested in.

5. Do that listed activity right away, even if it’s just for a few minutes. If that activity was not effective at changing your mood, pick another and try that. What works one day, may not work another, so try something different when the usual activity does not sound interesting.

6. Make yourself keep trying things from your list, because anything is better than hurting yourself with the old, addictive behavior. If nothing seems to be working, get away from where your bad people/stuff is. Walk away. Consider walking around the neighborhood, the mall, the beach, the office, etc. Consider driving or riding somewhere, where you can enjoy something from your list. Stay away from places where you can participate in your old destructive habit.

7. Say to yourself: “I love you, I am sorry, I forgive you, thank you”- while you are walking away and doing something from your list.

Winning the Game

1. Soak yourself in the experience from your list. Feel the relief deeply. Smile a really big smile and hold it as long as you can. Breathe long, slow and deep breaths. You are now healing your pain and, in that moment, you are free.

2. Finish this round of the game by feeling appreciation and gratitude for the good things in life. Anything good, no matter how small, counts as you think: “thank you for...”

End of the Game

Please pack up this game, by keeping your lists easy to get to and in a safe place. The next time you reach for your addiction or feel stressed, scared, or sad, pull them out for another round of the No More Pain Game.


This game for overcoming addiction and getting emotional pain relief is intended as an easy and cost-free solution to help you help yourself. Realize that there are many other ways for you to get happy with the help of spiritual counselors, professional therapists, and with special therapy, like EFT (emotional freedom technique) or EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) . Talking to anyone about your problems is an ancient and effective way to release your problems, as well.

Your life is meant to be abundant and joyful. All you need to do in overcoming addiction is to release your pain in non-destructive ways and feel gratitude for those things that are good.

RETURN FROM Overcoming Addiction TO STRESS RELIEF TEACHER HOME