Now Is The Time. Final Thoughts About Addiction
Sending a message out to the world: Addiction Uncovered
Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi
Hear the voices of everyday people
I had decided not to wait until every chapter was published. I felt that my final thoughts on Addiction are relevant now and need to get out. I am jumping ahead over 20 chapters to get to the conclusion. The rest of the stories will still come with time in the Illumination book chapters.
One of the greatest joys in creating this book is all the wonderful conversations I had with people. Conversations went in all kinds of directions. They become very personal sometimes. I enjoyed writing too. Sometimes it has been emotionally hard. I had to step away for a few hours or days here and there. Some people had to reschedule multiple times because of issues that happen in life. I want to say thank you to everyone sharing their experiences with me. A while back I was thinking of addiction and had this image in my head:
One small drop in the sea can change the color of the water.
It really can’t, but many drops can. Just keep adding drops. Depending on also how strong of the color of the drop is, and how big is our water is. It has been years since this thought come to me. Change takes time and it would come slowly.
One action, one support class, one person can make a difference and change something that gives a spark of hope in recovery. It will take time. Dealing with addiction is a difficult journey. It is possible. Since our minds are a wonder with a lot of unknown properties; every little action or seed can make a difference, because every action is stored in our unconscious mind even if we are aware of it or not.
This would be the glutamate system in our brain that is keeping our memories.
Addiction to anything in this world is not a choice that an individual makes for themselves; it is a disease, a very bad disease. It might seem like an easy choice to stop what harming us, and it is not. Our brains and emotions are very powerful.
Addiction is a deadly disease.
Addiction is a disease that kills and claims millions of lives every day. One drop of a drug can change the way a person thinks acts and lives their life. There is so much more to learn about the neurobiology of addiction and any other type of disease.
Positive reinforcement can go a long way. I would like to say thank you for reading this book. I hope it helped in some way. It helped me write this book. It has been a joyful and difficult journey. I met wonderful people on the way. It has also been very painful and sad to hear about the experiences people had.
We shared sadness, tears, anger, laughter, and joy.
Finally, I like to share some thoughts with you. One day during the summer of 2019 when I was visiting a friend in Seattle and was just in the beginning to decide between continuing to write this book. I woke up and was thinking about some points, some ways I want to live my life. I felt this was important, so I wrote them down. Here they are:
- Be good.
- Do no harm.
- Help when you can.
- Breathe.
- Love.
- Forgive yourself and others for their mistakes.
- Don’t blame others.
- Reach out.
- Ask for help when you need it.
- Advocate for yourself and for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
I had a recent conversation with Mike who is a pastor and EMT. He told me that a lot of people get stuck at number 6. Forgive yourself and others for their mistakes. It is not easy. It can be very hard. Assume good intentions. We are human.
We make mistakes.
I believe that we are all connected to everyone and everything. The better we do, the stronger the connection is. I imagine connection strings between me and others I get in touch with, colors can be blue (healing), pink (caring, love), gold (protection). These are the colors for me, it might be different for you. I believe that all living things are connected. The better we do the stronger the light of love shines in us. I see it in light pink and gold.
The connections can go dark and become damaged based on individual behavior, intentionally causing pain to others including our environment hurts everyone and everything. Connections can turn gray and black.
Be kind, do good, don’t hurt others, love everyone and everything that is living as we are all connected. Show empathy and compassion toward others. Save all you can. We can all do our part. Pick up trash. Don’t create more trash and harm. Help one another. Take a walk in the forest. Enjoy your life. Smile. Laugh. Grow vegetables and fruit if you can. Have good intentions. Do the best you can.
When you mess up ask for help. And please don’t put people in a box. It is ok if not everyone fits into a checkmark or acts differently than others.
Help and provide support when you can. Remember no borders, no state lines, no country lines when it comes to disease, loss, sadness, or joy. Be there for others.
We are all in this together.
Wishing everyone lots of joy in their life.
Thank you for reading and listening,
Gabriella
This book is dedicated to the memory of Bagóczky József my uncle who died at age 19 — alcohol related car accident and to everyone else who has been hurt or lost related to addiction.
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