Buddha's response to craving and addiction was very similiar to a saying made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous, "one day at a time". Not becoming overwhelmed is the main objective to controlling and preventing the addictive cycle from continueing. I will explain more here. According to Buddha we should not be fighting the craving responses when they occurred. Instead we should be preventing these cravings from entering our minds in the first place. He suggested filling the mind with the right thoughts and to actively persue only positive and proper actions. He said that we must prevent those things that create the craving response in the first place. Buddha described life as being about the journey, not the destination. Each day should be made to be happy serene positive and productive. Buddha has told us to live life for the moment and to disreguard thoughts of past troubles and to not dwell on future fears. Also, if craving responses were to begin to enter the mind, we must have the ability to immediately empty our minds of these thoughts, hence meditation.

Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that we must live life" one day at a time and " and we must have "no stinkin thinkin". We are told that when thoughts of drinking enter our minds we should think of something else, stay busy and call a fellow AA member for support and to clear our minds of our compulsion. AA tells us that if we feel the craving to have a drink we are to go to a meeting. AA tells us to stay away from the people and places we used to frequent when we drank. Not to worry about what happened when we were drinking in the past, nor to worry about what may happen tomorrow. Think only for today, the now. Do not get overwhelmed. AA tells us that we are to keep busy and occupied with productive activities, and to work with other suffering addicts who are in need of help to end their suffering.

There are many close similiarities in Buddha's and AA's principals to staying sober and free from addiction. There is a lot to be learned in understanding these simple but proven ideas to free the mind of worry and repetitive addictive activity. Buddha rightly tells us that the best way to conquer addictive thoughts is by not letting them enter our mind in the first place. We can do this by staying away from the things that trigger our mind to addictive thinking and craving. AA tells us to avoid "stinkin thinkin". Stinking thinking can be avoided by staying away from the addicts we used to hang out with when we used, and also staying away from the places we used to hang around when we used. To lead an addiction free life we must go through a re-thinking process, a changing of how we once were to a new person who is free from worry and stress. AA tells us that a good way to be free from worry and stress is by not worring about the trouble we caused when we were lost and addicted, and to not trouble our minds with the repetetive thoughts and worries of what may or may not come tomorrow. Buddha tells us the same things when he advises that life is supposed to be about the journey and not the destination, and that we should live for the moment and disreguard the thoughts of past troubles and not to dwell on our future fears.

Modern psychology treats addiction several ways. First they will look to see if the patient has a co-ocurring phsychological disorder whiach may be influencing the need to seek addictive drugs. Often times the addict will be self medicating due to issues with anxiety or depression. Surely anxiety is present in most addictive disorders. It's this anxiety that is causing the unquiet mind which is leading to the need for a calming substance such as street drugs or alcohol. If a psychiatrist can properly treat an addict with medication for their anxiety it can often lead to the addiction being greatly reduced or even eliminated. There are newer drugs out that are part of the normal addiction therapy process. These drugs are supposed to help cut down the craving for the addictive drugs. These medications go by the names of Naltrexone and Campral. These newer drugs to cut down on cravings and also all phsychiatric medications do not eliminate the addiction all by them self. There is no such thing as a magic bullet cure for addiction. These drugs must be taken as part of the regular addiction therapies such as group meetings, meditation, stress reduction, detox, rehab and so on. there is no one cure all for addiction recovery. But here I have briefly and to the point explained the basics needed to know in order to understand how addiction treatment is successfully acomplished.

With these powerful thoughts in mind you should be able to grasp to a great degree just what will be required of you to enter into and maintain a life free from the chains of addictive thinking and behavoir. As you practice these guiding principals they will become easier and easier to maintain and adhere to. Cut down on your stress any way you possibly can and seek a more calm and serene lifestyle when you are faced with lifes many choices. Take the easiest road possible.