The purpose of this article is for me to give you a general overview of how I approach addiction healing and also to hopefully give you a few pointers on how you can also approach your own addictions healing, as well (if you are currently facing such a challenge).

Where did I get my approach? Unfortunately, my approach comes from my own experience of addictions, but fortunately, I am here to show you the living proof, myself, that you CAN get to that light at the end of the tunnel, and that you CAN live your life on the sunny side of the street.

Jumping straight to what worked for me, as opposed to the many approaches I have read and watched about online, it is focusing on the bright side of the addictions releasing, rather than on mitigating and softening the painful side.

By the painful side, I mean the actual suffering and pain from letting go of the substance or the behavior. When I tried again and again to use the “tough it out” method, I ended up going back to the substance, because I did not replace the void that would be revealed by the absence of the substance.
And there really is a void. There is a darkness, an unhappiness, a dissatisfaction with something in life that we are trying to fill with substances or behaviors.

Let’s say, when you take the substance, you may find that your fear of speaking and expressing yourself goes away, you get a boost of energy to do things, you don’t normally want to do, you become more able to focus on a task and actually complete it, you become more calm and content with yourself and your life, your anxieties dissipate, replaced by a warm feeling of contentment and satisfaction and peace.

Some of the other things, that you may be getting from the substances or behaviors, is not being bored or boring anymore, people may seem more interesting, movies, books and activities may seem more interesting, some heavy burden of a general sense of failure or guilt, that you haven’t achieved enough in life, and don’t have enough to show for yourself, may be released and replaced with contentment, peace and satisfaction about yourself and your situation.

These are just examples of what you may be receiving from the addictive substances or behaviors in your life. Everyone has their own void to fill. So we can say that the darkness, the void, is being temporarily healed and made brighter by the substance or behavior. Like a painkiller, it gives a temporary relief, but does not cure the reason for the pain. Once you remove the substance, the original darkness, pain, or void is still there, but now it is not being temporarily fixed, but is felt like an open wound.

We may have the tough will to stop using the substance or engage in a behavior, but sober life often proves unsustainable after the physical discomfort calms down, as the darkness, or the void is too painful to live with. If we don’t introduce light into our darkness by healthy means, we will end up going back to the addiction we may have fought so hard to let go of. After a number of courageous attempts to quit, we may become disheartened, disappointed and lose hope completely to ever live a sober life, and stop trying after all.

So the approach that I found useful is the approach of light, not darkness. The reason I could release my addictions is because one particularly bad day, I decided to change my life around. My particular void consisted of an unauthentic life. I hated my job, which took up most of my life’s time. I couldn’t be my true self with others, because I had psychic visions, which I could not share with people. I could not be my true self with almost anyone. I always had to pretend to be a decent human being, respectable by society.

From the outside, I looked like I had a great job, a good amount of money, a great apartment, I was self-reliant and I was pleasant to be around with. Inside, however, I pushed down my real self and acted in artificial ways, which would be acceptable and respectable by the people, who raised me, by my employers, by people, I called friends, by strangers in a pub, by people I dated, by everyone, except the most important person in my life: me.

I had a desire to draw, to paint, to write and express all of the beautiful and wonderful things I saw in my psychic / third eye visions since I was a child, but that would mean revealing who I truly am, and that person would be fired from my job, laughed at and ridiculed by friends, family and strangers, ununderstood and thought of as mentally sick, perhaps. Also, I was taught that a respectable person needs to work a “real job” full time to earn money, and if you want to draw, well then draw on the weekends or when you retire.

I believed everything that was educated into me explicitly at home and schools, or implicitly by example and social pressure. I felt that if I were to stand up and just be my true self, I would be standing alone against a tsunami of the whole world around me. So I felt that it was safer for me to pretend to be like everyone else and live a “respectable” life. A life of self-deprecation, a lie of a life, a life that had nothing much to do with living.

Surely enough, this life of an actress, who pretended to be someone else all day, every day, needed some extra help. The addictions I accepted helped me to live a life of a convenient person. Convenient for anyone, but myself.

The only reason I could release my addictions is because I decided one day to turn my life around, to be happy, to be myself, to quit my job, to leave people, I thought were my friends, to switch everything around and shed light into my void, which was me not living the life I wanted and not being the true me that I truly wanted to be.

In no way am I recommending people to drastically change their lives to heal their addictions. I did not change my life drastically. Actually, all I did was to make that decision and accept my desire to be the true me.

Then, as if I had made an order at a universal restaurant, I started experiencing coincidences and synchronicities, that one by one helped me to meet my husband, quit my job, move to another country and leave all of the people, who helped me keep up my addictions, and I was finally substance free.

I later met my teacher in shamanism, and I learned how to develop my psychic gifts and abilities, how to become more and more self-aware, how to heal myself, how to heal and release things that were blocking me from being the true me, how be confident, how to not be afraid to speak my truth, how to not live life according to other people’s beliefs, thoughts and expectations, how not to judge myself or feel guilty for being the real me, how to heal my current and past life traumas, how to heal my body and much, much more.

This is what I can offer in my shamanic healing sessions. I will not promise you to rid you of a “curse” of addiction or to hypnotize the addiction out of you, or promise sobriety after one session of sixty minutes, but I can offer to connect to your soul and see what is the void of darkness that is the reason for your addiction.

It may be a current or a past life trauma, an unfulfilled desire, false beliefs, fears, a repeating karmic cycle that is tough to break. Whatever it is, I can pinpoint it, let you know what it is, offer you help from the spirit world with shamanic healing blessings and energy work, that helps tipping that balance of the scale, where we can begin to bring light into our lives, even if it is just a decision and a desire at first.

This is what is needed to start the rotation of your “wheel of fortune”, starting to feed your soul with your own love, appreciation, acceptance and freedom of expression. Once you begin to fill your own self with light and love, the desire and need for addictive substances and behaviors will start falling away, like dry scabs from a healing wound.

This would be a balanced approach to addictions healing, starting with light and not with more pain and suffering. The path to recovery would also always involve more light and love, instead of toughing it out. That is not to say that this process is quick or easy, but it is very much worth it, once you find yourself living your true authentic and healthy life on the sunny side of the street, free and in pleasure from being exactly who you truly are and who you were always meant to be.

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed physician or a mental health provider. My services and content are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis and/or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or a mental health condition. Never disregard professional medical and/or mental health advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.