Wednesday, June 26, 2013

I'm back, going to the dark side

Holidays, or hollow daze, one of the two. Too many km, too much relatives, too much food, not enough rest, and I read a bit more of the Stoics and Smart authors.

OA is going by the wayside, and I am starting to understand the disease, which is likely hypersensitivity to some self produced chemical, dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, or some opioid peptide. We look at food, the chemical starts to flow, temptation and craving starts, and we are on the way. Or perhaps we eat a food that causes the chemical to flow or supplies a bit of it; either way, we are into resisting the chemical drive, which is natural result of a chemical in our brains, and, in our case, produces a desire to eat. Smart talk of increased resistance to impulses. Now the Stoics tell us how to reduce the desire many different ways, as does SMART. OA offers one method only and for we not-thesis, it is a stretch. 

Motivation is normally levered off a values, and there are stronger value than faith to use, especially if we think gods are man made concepts that explain the unknowns of the time. 

OA does offer support, and a extended social network, but that is one of about a dozen human needs. Oh well. I am grateful to OA for getting me this far, but perhaps it is time to look for actually recovery, rather than just management of the problem. SMART offers this promise, but can it deliver. I owe myself a shot at it. That is not to say that I am abandoning OA entirely, but rather using it to provide my extended social need.   

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