Addicted To Fear

We have just witnessed some horrible acts of violence at the hands of a shooter in Colorado.  My heart goes out to the survivors and family who remain behind.  I can only imagine the horror they are facing in the quiet moments.  The depth of their pain is great and unless you've been through this, it is hard to imagine the fullness of it.

One thing I find sad though is how addicted to fear we have become in our country.  As a result of this tragedy, we had the nonstop coverage on the news regarding this story.  Even when the news had nothing to say, they invented things to say.  One reporter thought that the shooter was a member of the tea party when in fact, this "investigative" reporter failed to fully do his job.

In these tragedies, we all expect our news programs to run continuous coverage of these events.  Whether they have anything to say or not, we as a nation are sitting on the edge of our seats just in case they have something new to report.  In my opinion, this is some of the most destructive behavior we can engage in. Yet, we drink the news as if it is our favorite alcoholic beverage.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from this book I am reading by Dr. Joe Dispenza.  Often we want to escape our past experiences, and so we try to run from them, avoid them and act as if they don't exist.  

However, as is shared in this book, they are an addiction.  Until we deal with the chemicals that make up that addiction, we'll never get past it.  

The body is so habituated to memorizing the chemical records of our past experiences that it grows attached to these emotions. In a very real sense, we become addicted to those familiar feelings.  - Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself