Those Pesky Compulsions

Did you notice that during the holiday time, your compulsions were more present? Maybe it was the compulsion to stay busy, or eat a lot of Christmas cookies, or go to Starbucks numerous times for a pumpkin spice latte, or buy extra bottles of alcohol. From one view, it can be very scary to see how compulsive we have all become. Thousands of people die each year from opioid overdoses in the US and even though for decades we have tried endless diets, we are heavier than we’ve ever been.

It isn’t only food, alcohol, and drugs where compulsions are evident. You can be compulsive about most anything, all the way from busyness, to biting your fingernails, to OCD, to screen time, to keeping messy, to shopping. And how we deal with compulsions as a problem to be fixed rarely gives long-term results and can actually empower them.

From another view compulsions, rather than problems to be solved, can become teachers to be listened to, for they are one of the most powerful places where you can learn about and discover how to unhook from struggling with life. Why is that? Compulsions will not be healed through struggling with them. In fact, when you try to control them, they end up controlling you! But shift your perception just a bit and you begin to see that they are an invitation to move beyond struggling with life so that you can engage with it, rediscovering the joy of being present each day!

Many of you know that early in my life I was extremely compulsive around alcohol, drugs, food, and self-hate. And yet all of them have been healed. My food compulsion does still come in small waves, but it is my teacher, my ally on this journey back to an abiding and trust-filled connection with myself and with my life. How did that happen?  Through seeing that whenever I was interested in being compulsive, there was something I was experiencing that I didn’t know how to be with.  So rather than falling into my compulsion or trying to get rid of it, the more I was present for what was fueling my compulsive urges, the more my compulsion calmed down. And over time, my compulsion simply became uninteresting because I was taking care of what my compulsion previously was trying to manage.

What a different way to be with our compulsions! Imagine for a moment what your life would be like if you saw that your compulsions are not here because you are doing something wrong or life is punishing you or you are just a weak-willed ninny. They are here to heal you to your core. As I share this with you, I am feeling such joy. It is truly possible to heal and be healed by your compulsions.

If this is something you are curious about, my online self-paced course, Being Healed by Our Compulsions, is a good place to discover a new relationship with your compulsions, allowing them to show you how to move beyond not only your compulsion but also beyond struggling with life.  And because our world is so enmeshed in struggle right now I want to offer you the course for a sliding scale from its regular price of $347 to $50. And if the $50 is beyond you, let us know. This will be available through January 31st. CLICK HERE to learn more about the course. Please email Aja at aja@maryomalley.com for your coupon code.

If what I’m sharing intrigues you, I invite you to CLICK HERE and listen to this short Masterclass video. It will give you a sense of what you will be exploring as you shift your relationship with your compulsions from something wrong with you to a fierce but trustable teacher.

You can also listen to my radio show on this topic called The Suffering of Reaction. The Joy of Response. Click HERE to listen. On Jan 4^th you can listen at 5 AM and 5 PM PST.  After the 4^th you can listen to it at any time by clicking on Episodes on Demand on my Dreamvisions Radio page.