Shining Light On Addictive Emotional Patterns

A quote written in my 5 year old journal:

"When struggling with defiant, unconscious, self-destructive selves we must realize that these selves are activated when we fail to take action; when we fail to make necessary changes in our life. When we fail to give birth to a more mature self, to begin deeper unfoldment.

One's destructive aspects can serve to force change, breaking up ordinary lifestyles, routing one into chaos, suffering, new possibilities. The unconscious is extraordinary in it's capacity to orchestrate events in outer reality to achieve it's ends.

Equally destructive inner selves are those which represent the perfect models of what according to society one's life should be. What always lurks under such behavior is is the need to feel loved and accepted."

David Schnarch Phd. writes: "Many people assume we are our feelings. It sounds like a validating and accepting of feelings, but it creates other problems - that is if you get your identity from your feelings then you cannot afford to have them change. You'll feel like you won't know who you are. When you have a stable sense of self, your feelings can come and go like the weather. I've seen people who have an identity  a "hot head" start to get angry even though they are not really mad. Getting angry reinforces their identity and organizes whatever is unfamiliar into familiar patterns.

Good questions to ask yourself are:

1.) What emotional patterns do you use to keep your self small and preoccupied?

2.) What are the higher qualities that are opposite of your addictive emotional pattern?

3.) How long can you sustain them in your daily life?