While it is probable that no one consciously sets out to create a life of substance abuse, those who end up addicted to substances are choosing certain thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that will likely end up leading to some form of substance abuse - drugs, alcohol, nicotine, food, junk food, sugar, and/or caffeine. Since substance abuse is the result of these choices, if substance abuse is part of your life-style, why not do them consciously instead of unconsciously?

Substance abuse is the result of self-abandonment. Here are the seven major self-abandoning choices you can make to make sure you end up substance addicted:

1. Ignore Your Feelings

Your feelings are your inner guidance system, instantly letting you know when you are thinking or behaving in ways that are supporting your highest good and when you are not. Your painful feelings of anxiety, depression, hurt, anger, guilt, shame, emptiness, aloneness, and so on are your inner guidance system letting you know that you are very off course in your thinking. By ignoring them, you get to continue indulging yourself in thoughts and behaviors that are causing your pain. You will then turn to substances to numb out the pain, and can indulge yourself even more!

2. Judge Yourself

Every time you judge yourself as being stupid, a jerk, not good enough, a failure, bad, ugly, unworthy, and so on, you make yourself feel awful. Then, of course, you need to ignore the fact that you are the one making yourself feel awful! Once again, you now have a good reason to turn to substances to numb out the pain.

3. Lie to Yourself

Scaring yourself by telling yourself all the bad things that can happen to you is a sure way to create fear, anxiety, or depression. If you are not 100% certain that the bad things are going to happen, then you are lying to yourself by telling yourself that they are going to happen. Once again, you then have a really good reason to numb out your painful feelings with substances!

4. Give Yourself up

When you give yourself up, you are going along with what someone else wants you to do or believe rather than standing in your own truth. When you give yourself up, you are trying to control how someone else feels about you rather than taking responsibility for your own feelings. Since giving yourself up feels awful, and you certainly don't want to feel these awful feelings and know that you are the one causing them, be sure to numb out with substances.

5. Make Others Responsible for Your Feelings

Why take care of yourself and your own feelings when you can try to get someone else to do it for you? Maybe if you get needy enough, sad enough, pathetic enough, angry enough, blaming enough, or give yourself up enough, you can get someone else to do it for you. By trying to get someone else to take care of your feelings of worth and happiness, you are abandoning yourself and letting yourself know that you don’t think you are worth taking care of. The resulting feelings of shame and unworthiness need to be numbed out with your substance addictions!

6. Turn to More Addictions, Not to Your Higher Power

In addition to turning to your substance addictions, but sure to turn to other addictions to numb out your feelings - TV, spending, gambling, sex, porno, Internet, work, anger, blame, and so on. By focusing outside yourself to fill the emptiness and avoid the pain, instead of opening to your Higher Power, you can now justify all your addictions!

7. Denial

Well, it's too late now, but you really don't want to read this article! To continue your substance addictions, you need to stay in denial that you are the one causing your pain. However, since you have already this article, you can certainly blot out your awareness with your favorite substance addiction!

About the Author/Author Bio

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?" and "Healing Your Aloneness." She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her website for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.inner bonding.com or email her at margaret@innerbonding.com. Phone sessions available.

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Addictions" article category.

People interested in the above article "7 Step Guide to Creating a Life of Substance Abuse" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

Drug Treatment Center - Drug Detox

Do you know enough about the treatment techniques which are being used by drug treatment centers to treat drug addicts and alcohol abusers? A treatment program is divided into various steps and parts. The first step in each and every treatment program is known as detoxification step.

Recovery is like Discipleship

Let’s say you did a “man on the street” survey of Americans and asked them what religion they practiced. Off the top of my head I would guess that well over half would say “Christian.” That response might take a few different forms, as many would respond “Catholic,” or “Lutheran,” or name some other denomination. Taking their response on face value, you then ask them if they are a disciple. A what? You might follow up and ask them if they have had any training beyond the confirmation or first communion that so many kids go through. Chances are they will say they have not, unless they went to a religious school.

Family Matters

Everybody knew that “Jerry” needed to get some help with his drinking. His routine of having a couple of drinks with the boys after work began to include several after dinner drinks as well. The change in him was gradual, but over time everybody knew something had to be done. Jerry had missed meetings with his daughter’s teacher, and had not attended a soccer game or dance recital in months.

Addiction Is Like Drowning!

The expressions on their faces reflect their experience of helplessness and fear, when people recall what it is like to come close to drowning. It’s difficult at best to try to imagine what near drowning is like for those of us who have not gone through that experience, but the frightening tales that are shared in our group discussion on spirituality and 12-Step bring a chilling illustration to our understanding of the first three steps.

Breakthrough Spiritual Research on the Root Cause of Addictions

Addictions are a worldwide phenomenon adversely affecting the lives of millions across all geographical boundaries and cultures. At a personal level, people’s lives are destroyed by their addictions and their loved ones also suffer the trauma from the negative ripple effect.