This week is only two days old and I’ve already rubbed up against a couple addiction stories. My heart breaks every time I hear the sad tale of someone choosing a bottle, a needle, an artificial relationship, or any substance that numbs the senses over experiencing their real feelings. Addictions, remember, are mostly a “feelings” disorder. Addicts are simply addicting to playing it safe. Funny, huh.
C.S. Lewis warned us of the high cost of the ultimate feeling when he talked about the high price of LOVE. Check this out slowly. Read it. Write what you think. AND, stop looking in all the wrong places…
“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in the casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
AND, once you’ve decided that “never again,” then you’re really screwed…
Why are you afraid of loving from a full heart?
Why are you chasing numbers instead of your neighbors?
Why are you building an impenetrable fortress, an airtight chamber, and locking your heart away from your maker, your miss, your mister, and your best friends?
Do you see the seeds of addiction being planted in your backyard?
Why do you think it won’t happen to you, to your friends, or to your family?
Tell me more, my friend.
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 
Thank you, Toto.
Right after you wrote this yesterday I got a tearful call from the bride of a good friend I met through our BTL work, desperate for help & guidance on how to address a lingering addiction of her groom that had been kept a secret for months & years.
She set a boundary for him to talk to someone and seek help within 24 hours, which thankfully he did. I met with him today too and was reminded of a CORE principal of what we stand for.
If you are ALONE, you are all the more vulnerable to an ADDICTION. The antidote for addiction is becoming ALL ONE with fellow builders in your life who know you and LOVE you enough to know and ASK how you’re doing.
It’s one ‘L’ of a difference between ALONE & ALL ONE, and the L stands for LOVE.
If you’re ALONE, you’re a Desperado, ripe to be picked off by addiction. . . take heed, just as the last line of the Eagles song says —
“You better let somebody LOVE you, before it’s tooooo late.”
Chet
Had some time to look over you site a little more. This struck me – I am interested at some point to talk about our paths through life – I wonder if they are ending at the same place – hope so.
Scott