You've tried everything but that "thing" you are addicted to..... and it doesn't really matter what it is, yes I said," it doesn't matter what it is"!

The addiction is what you "do", it is not the problem! Anyway, it just won't go away. So you start looking for external things to solve the problem. I mean things like nicotine patches, self help books, step programs or articles like this one.

Now don't get me wrong these things can all be useful. They prepare you for the "final revelation" which will help rid you forever of your addiction. You do deals with yourself. "If I don't have (insert your personal addiction here) today, then I will be able to have one tomorrow" or "I am useless because I can't control this". "I feel so bad today I need my little helper". Maybe, your inner voice tells you no-one understands how hard it is, or you are just more sensitive than others, or it makes you interesting, or my friends wouldn't like me any other way or or or....

We can run in these circles for years, swapping addiction for addiction. Blaming everyone for our problems. "I was an unloved child" "My father was an alcoholic" "I have issues with commitment". Sound familiar? Now please, don't get me wrong. Being the child of an alcoholic is no small thing! I am not belittling it, just as I would not dream of belittling anything that someone believed was the cause of there addiction.

But, and here is the problem. If you "believe" something external caused you to set off on the road to oblivion, then you are going to need an equally powerful external tool to make you change that path. Well, it's not going to happen! There is nothing external to you that will alter your course. Sorry, but thats the truth.

You can justify, lie, blame others and spend a fortune on self-help guru's, until you realise one simple truth and that is this. The secret to stopping your addiction is to Stop. Yes Stop! and the point is you won't until you realise the answer to your difficulty lies inside you.

Fear is stopping you contacting the part of you that can help. Whatever it is you do to allay that fear, "your addiction," stops you hearing that clever part of you.

The trick is to recognise the fear for what it is. Understand it is standing in the way of you hearing your inner voice. You have been tricked into believing that the fear is as deep as you can go. The fear is shallow. Make the decision to Stop, Stick with it and move on. Once the thing you are doing "your addiction" is no longer ruling you then you have a chance to work out how you got into this mess, That's if you feel you need to? Maybe just getting on with your life is an option too?

Remember! The answer to the question is you! The secret of stopping, is to stop!