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MountainWings A MountainWings Moment
#1184 Wings Over The Mountains of Life
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Weeds and Seeds
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This is not the typical inspirational or funny MountainWings; 
this is more educational and enlightening. It is something that 
will hopefully give you the knowledge and power to change, 
not just a quick good feeling. 

This is an actual request sent to MountainWings.com

"PLEASE, IM TRYING TO QUIT SMOKING, I HAVE DONE IT FOR 30
YEARS AND IT'S HARDER THAN I THOUGHT. MY HUSBAND SMOKES AND 
MOST OF THE FAMILY AND THEY ARE NOT MUCH HELP. 
I REALLY WANT TO QUIT. THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU."

Has there ever been something that your inner soul was quietly 
or loudly telling you to do? Smoking has mountains of evidence, 
articles, doctors, and advertisements telling you why you should 
quit. The real change has to come from the inside.

Cigarettes are a narcotic. Period. 
They are the third most widely used addictive substance. 

The third?

Yes, the third. 
More people are addicted to the first two.

Did you know that chocolate contains ingredients that affect 
the brain in a similar manner as marijuana?

I quote from a research study: "scientists reported that cocoa 
contains anandamide, a pleasure-inducing compound produced in 
the brain, and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and N-
acylethanolamines (NAEs), substances that further mimic 
marijuana by enhancing anandamide's effects."

The other of the top two is caffeine. Simple coffee.

Notice the similarity of the source plants of cocaine, chocolate 
and coffee: coca, cocoa, and coffee.

If you want to know specific details, you can order the book:
"From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know About 
Mind-Altering Drugs - The Newly revised authoritative source 
book covering substances from coffee to marijuana."

The majority of addictive drugs are in a chemical class called 
alkaloids. Just notice the "ine" sound in heroin, amphetamine, 
morphine, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, etc.

I will try to keep the technical stuff short, but I was educated 
in chemistry before I became a Pastor and the writer of 
MountainWings.com. It sometimes helps to understand the science.

There is a graph that illustrates the relative dependence on 
various common addictive drugs. Click below to see it.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/addictiv.htm

Notice that cigarettes (nicotine) make you more dependant than 
heroin and coffee makes you more dependant than marijuana. 

You didn't know that cigarettes were more addicting than heroin, 
and that coffee was more addicting than marijuana did you? 

No, you didn't.

I say to the person that wrote that prayer request, MOST of us 
are addicted to something that we would be better off without. 
Even internet addiction has been compared to strong drugs.

The prayer request has five common elements with our addictions. 

1. We want to change 
2. We have been in the old habit for a long time.
3. It's hard to change.
4. Most people around us are unchanged.
5. We often need outside help or encouragement.

So how do you break an addiction to anything? 

First, you need to understand what it is.

Look at the word – ADDICTION. ADD – I – C – TION

The word "Addiction" has five key words in it:

ADD – You have added something to your life. Anytime you add 
anything to life, it must fit into a space that is either empty 
or it has moved something else out of the way.

I – It's a personal thing. Regardless of those around you, 
it's always a personal thing and a personal choice.

C – You ADD things to your life only because you "SEE" them. 
If it's unknown you can't see it.
If you can't see it you can't add it.

TION – This is a word ending that makes the root verb a thing.
Educate + tion = education, confuse + tion = confusion, 
relate + tion = relation, etc. When I ADD an addicting 
thing that I SEE, then I have an addicTION.

All addictions come from the "thing" filling a missing space.
Often when people stop smoking, they start eating more. 
They gain weight because now they use food to fill the space the 
cigarettes filled. Overeating is another addiction, a big one.

If you really digest this, you will get the knowledge for a long 
lasting good feeling. You need this kind of thing, though 
it isn't as much fun to read. Forgive the length, 
even a surface treatment of the addictions in our lives is long.

Each of the five key words of "addiction" gives you a key to 
unlock and release you from the addictive thing in your life.

ADD – If your life is full, you won't need to add the addictive 
thing to it. A person doesn't drink to get full, they drink 
because they are empty. There is a difference. The addictive 
things attempt to fill an empty spot. Fill your life with good 
things, make it overflow, and there will be no room for the bad 
addictive thing.

I – It's still up to you. No matter what is going on in your 
world, you have the final say.

C – (SEE) Often you need to change your environment because what 
you see each day influences you. If you let your children run 
with other kids that do drugs, guess what? Your kids are far 
more likely to do what they SEE. So are you. If you change 
what you see, you will affect what you do.

Realize this, once you change, then YOU will become what others 
SEE and they may change because they SEE YOU. If your family 
smokes, then all that they SEE are smokers. 

Suppose you quit? Now they can SEE a non-smoker.
In all things there must be a first, why not you, why not now?

TION – Knowledge is great, but without acTION it is useless.
If you don't take the knowledge and use it, and make it a thing, 
the knowledge is null and void.

Realize that addiction is not a bad thing. 
Addiction to a bad thing is a bad thing.

Some are addicted to truth, to helping others, or to the 
constant climb away from low thinking and low living.

See the thing; if it's a negative subtract it from your life.
Only YOU can do it. 

The fifth key word in addiction is "diction." 
That's how you say something. 
You have the final say.

Speak and believe that NOTHING of the earth controls you, 
especially not weeds and seeds.

Make it so.


Right now you know at least ten people that need to read this.


So what are you waiting for?

I hope that you understand the many meanings of that question.

A MountainWings Original

Thank you for inviting MountainWings in your mailbox. 
See you tomorrow.