Last night I saw Hamilton at the theatre with my family.
In the show there was a scene where Hamilton, who has a wife, is being seduced by a woman.
[HAMILTON]
That’s when I began to pray:
Lord, show me how to
Say no to this
I don’t know how to
Say no to this
There is a back and forth between Hamilton and the Ensemble. [HAMILTON]
Nooo, show me how to
[HAMILTON/ENSEMBLE]
Say no to this
[HAMILTON]
I don’t know how to
[HAMILTON/ENSEMBLE]
Say no to this
Hamilton eventually gives in to his cravings and cheats on his wife.
He was asking the wrong question. He had resistance. He didn't want to say no.
Now hundreds of years later and many people still don't know how to say "no" to their desires.
And the problem isn't whether they say no or not. The problem is whether they say yes to an alternative or not.
We shift people's language from saying no to saying yes. Other people have talked about this concept before. But they have it wrong. They talk about saying yes to alternatives and substitutions. Distractions and avoidance. We say yes to the temporary discomfort of withdrawal and yes to the life beyond compulsion awaiting for us on the other side of dealing with compulsive correctly, repeatedly.
The 5-fact script which enables people to do this correctly facilitates real change in the addicted neural pathways. This is how permanent mental freedom is possible.
If we had have had the chance to work with Hamilton, maybe he'd have said yes to temporary discomfort and made a choice which wouldn't have ruined his career.