Shizzle (Dope)
Question:
since I am battling with the feeling of craving of an addiction I am looking for distractions. What are your thoughts?
Lee
Answer:
Personally I like to present distraction (“Afleiding” in Dutch) in the 3 A’s of a Dutch “coping-with- Craving ABCD under the ‘D’ of Things to Do. And not one of the 3 main A’s (where you often have to do 2 out of 3).
But I do rank it under Acceptation (the 3rd of the 3 A’s in “to Do”). Nothing wrong with (temporary!) distraction if it’s seen in the department of Acceptation.
Being aware of the limitations of ones own pre-frontal awareness-system is perhaps the higher form of awareness 😉
and therefore very much in line with Mindful Acceptance.
But as a addiction coach I often find people who are using it as an Alternative behavior (the 2nd of the 3 A’s). And if seen there it tends te be a snake biting its own tail. Trying to long-term distract yourself from the feeling of craving (or the feelings underneath) keeps one busy until one is so damn tired that one collapses ‘asleep’ or (just as often) succumbs to the urge because one just has nothing left to inhibit with anymore (thinking and inhibition is a Pre Frontal Cortex function). Distraction yourself from a feeling is something completely different from trying to distract yourself from the task of acceptation for a while (tho it might look the same if you’d see the behavior on video).
Keep it up and DO have fun along the way 😉
Hans
If you like to see the Dutch! -being expat and all- video about the whole “Coping with Craving” ABCD? See:
You-tube van het ABCD-tje: Coping with Craving
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