You may not be aware of this but every thought we have and every action we take has a chemical reaction attached to it. A thought for example, when initiated sets off a reaction in the brain which in turn creates a chemical that is then sent into the bloodstream where it is received by all our body"s cells.
You should however be aware of the dependency a large portion of us in society have on chemicals such as nicotine, caffeine, alcohol just to name a few. The addiction to such chemicals is caused by excessive usage, but what you may not know is that it is our body cells that become addicted.
Any time a chemical enters our blood stream it will be received by every cell in our body through cell receptors. Only a certain receptor will receive a certain chemical, however the more our cells are subjected to a particular chemical, the more of these receptors the cells will make.
Eventually over time the increase in cell receptors made specifically for a particular chemical causes the cells to crave more of that chemical. If the cells don"t get enough of the chemical to match the number of receptors it creates, it sends a message to the brain of its displeasure. This is the feeling we get when we crave something. Our brain is responding to our cells requests. As you can see this is a no win situation as the more we pump in of that chemical, the more we end up needing it.
Now if you think of something you don"t like, it could be anything from an argument you recently had or the person you had the argument with, a particular vegetable, your line of work, anything that makes you feel bad, and think of it enough right at this moment, you"ll start to feel bad feelings. What you are doing is getting a dose of a chemical created by your brain that is making you feel bad.
The mere fact that all you are doing is remembering is irrelevant. For every memory we have has an emotional signature, that when called upon releases the very same chemical that was created when the original incident took place. This was evolutions idea of keeping us alive by attaching emotions to events so as to prevent us from doing it again, such as a kid touching a hot plate.
However it doesn"t always prevent us from doing it again and the reason is because we may not think the implications of our actions or thoughts warrant a massive change in our being. Take spending money for example: Most of western civilization does not like to save money, we in fact associate pain with it; well we certainly don"t associate pleasure with it, and this is because we seek instant gratification.
By having something now, we actually feed a chemical addiction. If you remember any time where you bought something new (or even second hand), the feelings you had at the time would have been good. We can all think of examples of when this has happened, from a new car, to a new computer, to a CD. This feeling is the brain releasing a chemical into our blood stream that is received by the body"s cells. The feeling was so good it is only a matter of time when we will want to feel that feeling again.
You can"t go back to the original item you purchased to get that fix of chemical, the novelty has worn off; you need to go out and buy something else. This is your body"s reaction to it being deprived of its wanted chemicals and the brains way of getting it for the body; the brain turns on your little voice inside which find all the reasons in the world why you should pull out that money you saved just last month and go and buy something.
These chemical dependencies are every where in our day to day lives from the arguments we have with spouses, to watching TV, to eating chocolate, to spending, to cursing at traffic, all the way down to the inability to keep focused on one single good thought for too long.
If you"ve ever tried to meditate and find you can"t think of one thought for more than a short time, it"s because your body is addicted to all sorts of mind producing chemicals that need your attention and your memories activated. The activation of memories will release chemicals, and this is your brains way of keeping your body happy.
Have a look at any habit you have that is undesirable at the conscious level; at the sub conscious level though it is desirable because it is keeping your body happy. If you find yourself performing the same bad behaviour that you know is detrimental to you, yet you find you can not stop it, know now that it is your body that is controlling the roost here.
Chemical addictions are hard to break, and it doesn"t matter if its cigarettes, having an argumentative nature, or spending more than you earn. Your body is addicted to the feelings associated with your actions. Whenever you attempt to break a habit you are fighting your body"s dependency on these chemicals, caused by the increase in receptors the cells have made.
However by understanding what is going on, and having the right tools you can beat dependency, no matter what it is. The whole process starts from admitting your body is addicted and then getting your mind to become greater than your body. Although we think we have free will, most of us live in default making automatic decisions based on our body"s chemical addictions; in other words, while we live this way our body is more powerful than our own minds.
To give the mind power of the body means feeling the discomfort associated with taking away the body"s chemicals; there is no other way. However the upside is that if you give your mind something more constructive, more positive and more desirable in its place, the mind will have less ways to trick you into going back to your old way of thinking. It"s like a trade off.