Addiction is defined as “a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.” (American Society of Addiction Medicine 2011)

It is often considered a “spiritual, physical, and emotional problem,” (Dodes 2015) and make no mistake, it is. Addiction is never just about your physical experience. Addiction has a spiritual component. Understanding the spiritual purpose behind addiction is the only way to truly cope with it, and more importantly, work through it. It doesn’t matter if it is you that is directly affected by it, or if it is someone you love. Everyone touched by it has a clear purpose related to it for learning and growth.

The Source of Addiction: A Spiritual Perspective

Addiction patterns affect your brain directly at the physical level. It has everything to do with brain chemicals, hormones, neurotransmitters, behavior patterns, your environment, the people you associate with, and your perceptions of the world around you.

But have you ever considered what the true source of addiction might be?

While addiction might affect the brain at the physical and conscious level, it doesn’t start there. Traumatic and stressful experiences, regardless of when they occurred, are often at the source of an addiction pattern. Sometimes we want to escape something we are having trouble coping with, sometimes we carry the stress of life that others bring to us, and sometimes we don’t realize the level of stress we are carrying.

Often, healing addiction is a matter of better nutrition or finding healthier coping mechanisms, but regardless of what the solution is, the first step is getting to the core of why the addiction pattern began in the first place.

This is what makes the Akashic Records such a valuable tool for identifying the source of issues. You can research when and where something began, rather than only looking at where you are now.

Once you have a clear understanding of when and why a pattern or issue began, you can not only heal yourself and your life from that point forward in time, but you can also start to make choices that will change future outcomes for the better.

It is only when you fully understand why you have created the pattern of addiction that you can go on to create a new pattern with different outcomes to allow the necessary healing to take place within you.

It is the process of letting go of past negative experiences that allows you to create new and much healthier experiences. The future is built upon the past, so healing your past changes your future in a multitude of positive ways.