Addiction the Equal Opportunity Destroyer

I remember the day as though it was yesterday. I was standing in the garage with my two sons who were three and six at the time. Together we watched their dad load everything he could in his truck as he prepared to leave. My oldest son held tightly to his dad’s leg and begged him not to leave, but he left anyway. It was this experience etched in my children’s mind followed by a very bad divorce that provided the backdrop for the life that followed.

Now seventeen year’s later this is our life now. My oldest son is now twenty-three and in prison for drugs, and has been in and out of drug programs, since he was fourteen. My youngest son has been arrested for not paying speeding citations, and is currently on probation for minor in possession of alcohol. I have sat in a courtroom with other parents watching a proceeding that would determine the fate of our children. The experience for me as a parent of children in the judicial system has enlightened me. When the verdict is handed down and you make eye contact with your child, you feel their fear and pain, yet there is nothing you can do.

Life for a parent of children struggling with addiction, and life for a child struggling with a parent with addiction provides the element for a series of events that end in incarceration, suicide, and accidental death. Addiction is like a hologram it comes in many forms. Addiction has no financial criteria, physical preference, emotional boundaries, family ties, career choice, or spiritual nurturing. Once addicted you are energetically equal to everyone else addicted and destruction of a physically fit, financially profitable, emotionally balanced, spiritually enlightened, productive life is left powerless. More important than anything is the addiction first and foremost.

Addiction has built a criminal justice system that is overloaded, under funded, under staffed. Our prisons and jails are full of addicts; our state prison budgets are higher than our educational budgets. Every citizen pays the price needed to support addiction someway. Despite the money spent managing the system still the statistics are staggering concerning our youth, and the criminal justice system alone cannot create an environment that will transfer into the home, or school, without parental support.

If you are parenting a child I have been there, I cannot change what has happened in the past, but I will pass on to you what I should have done but didn’t. I have experienced in life many things that caused much stress, but with each experience, I have many inspirational moments that have allowed me to discover my purpose in the process. I have knowledge now that I didn’t have. I know now that Children process their experiences until they are around fifteen and have reached a level of reasoning as out-put in. Before a child is born their spiritual, connection to the source is intact. The pressures to enter this world are stressful, but with the first breathe of air the process of physical life begins. While the child is growing physically, they are also emotionally processing the experiences they are experiencing as how it makes them feel between good and bad. These feeling are stored in the brain, which make up our behaviors. We develop our own set of designer tools to help us navigate through life based on how we felt about things we experienced before we were fifteen. After this we have moved into a process of in-put out. Having this information available helps me understand the term we spend 80% of our adult life getting over the first 20% of it. All information processed before the age of reasoning will determine how we interact in life later on. No wonder we have trouble managing in life as an adult with adult responsibilities using tools designed by someone no more than fifteen.
Using this knowledge, I have developed
Six steps to Success as a guide to parenting. It’s never too late to implement them with your children. Regardless of their age. It’s easier to spiritually prevent addiction than it is to physically treat it.
1. Physically provide your child with activity to prevent boredom, and take time to participate. Teach them early to read, write, and do math.
2. Financially provide for your children’s needs first, and spend your money wisely and remember to never use money and things in replacement of time with you.
3. Emotionally support your child with encouraging words, safe surroundings, and unconditional love.
4. Spiritually develop your child’s essence with trust, tenderness, and time. Energetically support their spiritual connection by never severing their source to the creator with your actions.
5. Provide for your child a family that is committed solely to their spiritual development, through communication, inspiration, information, unconditional love, that nourishes their connection to the creator.
6. Assist them in discovering early in life their purpose and direct their career training towards a purpose driven career.
I hope you find these tips helpful, as you parent, grandparent, co-parent, co-grandparent and assist in the spiritual development of the children.
Karen Mayfield
www.wakeupwomen.com