I want to try delving into the Twelve Steps from a Buddhist Perspective to hopefully get a handle on my addiction to food. I have a book by a fellow named Darren Littlejohn who incorporated Buddhism into his own twelve-step process. I have other legal addictions as well, such as television, but the food thing is the worst one. This will sound awful but I really wish I was addicted to something--ANYTHING else. I wish I was addicted to booze or pot or nicotine or cocaine or gambling or even sex. Because then abstinence would work. I do well with abstinence. But a person HAS to eat. And I have never gotten to the point where I was an "eat to live, not live to eat" person. I have always lived to eat. If I didn't have to eat, I'd be home free. I would simply never buy food again.
People always thinks that I'm belittling their struggles with other substances and I certainly am not. When Nikki Sixx says that his heroin addiction is a monster that would sell his own children to get a fix, I believe him and I feel the pain of that statement. Nikki Sixx the person is a good guy who loves his kids and would never allow harm to come to them and he would wrestle this demon to hell before he would ever allow it to do something so vile. But the ADDICTION has no conscience and he has to live with it in his soul. I do not in any way belittle the magnitude of this. I'm only saying that I personally am pretty good at stuff I can abstain from. I can't abstain from particular TYPES of food very well. As long as I'm putting anything in my mouth, chances are I will again pick up the stuff I shouldn't eat and eat too much of it.
I like Buddhism and am hoping that maybe this perspective will help me gain strength. Overeaters Anonymous didn't work for me. But perhaps this will help.
