How to Break the Spell of the Broken Brain Hey Randy, “Where’s the brain in your definition of addiction? You don’t have any mention of it at all.” I’ll often make it blunt and clear to establish some polarity by answering, “I don’t care about the brain.” Now, of course, I care about the brain. But what I absolutely do not want is to cast a spell of dependence. And one of them, one of the biggest ones we have in this society, is this idea of the broken brain. When someone points to the brain as a problem, for whatever reason or diagnosis, I have one question, “Do I still have a choice?” If I find myself sitting at a barstool, with a lime, salt, and three shots of tequila lined up in front of me, and because by every definition of “alcoholic” there is, I am one, the question remains, do I have a choice to indulge - or don’t I? I believe I do. (And of course, if I find myself in that situation, it’s because I’ve already made a long series of bad choices to get there! But still, in that moment, there’s one more choice to be made, and one last opportunity to make it a healthy one.) Because when a client says, “I can’t fill-in-the-blank because I’ve got this diagnosis. I don’t have a choice. I’ve got a broken brain,” someone has removed this client’s ability to choose. To me, that’s a powerful spell. One that we need to call out, pull apart and examine. That’s what we’re going to be diving into this episode, as well as looking at: * Do I have a choice or not? * What’s missing from Gabor Mate’s definition of addiction * The Spell’s effect on over 100,000,000 Americans with ADHD, anxiety & depression * Why a cyclical perception of time is one answer to fix things One of the most important aspects of my work is to bring clarity to what your choices are, where in the cycle you can make them, and then exactly what it’s going to take for you to pull them off. No one can do it for you. And the beauty is, once you’ve done that, no one can take it away. Blessings, Randy If you’re new to Alchemist Recovery, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Alchemist Recovery at alchemistrecovery.substack.com/subscribe
