We all have an innate desire to lead emotionally fulfilling lives, but too often we are tripped up by our dependence on seemingly harmless habits - shopping, watching television, gossiping, surfing the Net - routines that can insulate us from our thoughts, our feelings, and from other people. These seemingly harmless habits are "soft addictions", and they form a powerful net that traps us and prevents us from realizing our dreams. "Soft addictions" satisfy surface needs but they ignore our deeper needs. They numb feelings and help us avoid anxieties, substituting a superficial high or sense of activity for genuine purpose and fulfilment. In a very real sense, we become hooked on these habitual behaviours. But unlike drugs or alcohol, our "soft addictions" arrive in the guise of a "normal", socially acceptable activity. Judith Wright helps identify the deeper needs behind these addictions and offers a complete, eight-step programme that has been used by hundreds of her students to help them to open up their lives to a greater sense of purpose and happiness.
I learned what "Soft Addictions" are and why people engage in them as Wright states"...they are a way of numbing ourselves as a result of a checked-out state of low emotion that we accept as normal. But it is not normal." After reading this book I stopped to think and finally admitted to myself that going to Starbucks every single day and ordering an iced mocha even though it started not to taste so good anymore like it used to when I had one only as a treat once in while was a "Soft addition". It was not benefiting my health nor pocket book. I started becoming more goal oriented and tapping back into who I was before this soft addiction by reading more and I became a lot more happy inside myself. This book gave me a reality check.