Eureka?

OK, I've had a bit of a light bulb moment I thought I'd share for comments. It was clearly a bit of an eye opener for me, but you may all think I'm stating the bleedin' obvious.... I just find it helps me to organise the ideas if I write them down.

Let's assume that I am most likely to PMO under certain conditions : I'm stressed, lonely, tired, hungry whatever. Doesn't matter. I am doing it because I (at some level) think that it would make me feel better (which implies I'm feeling bad) .

Therefore, I'm using it as means of buffering my brain against bad emotions. There's a bunch of other things I could do, that might have a similar effect (stuffing my face with chocolate, getting high, getting drunk. Again it doesn't matter what). These all have side effects (weight gain, brain damage, getting into a fight in the pub...)

The key is the trigger. Why am I doing this stuff? What circumstances make me likely to run to some random comfort behavior?

Once I know this I can employ my secret weapon. The thing that separates me from your average gorilla... my brain (and shaving). Presumably if there's a pattern, like I PMO when I'm lonely, I can take reasoned steps to make sure I'm less isolated and develop my social life. Reduce the number of triggers, reduce the amount of pressure on the system.

Mind triumphs over matter, and thus is addiction defeated....

So I've probably just reinvented the wheel, but I'd appreciate any comments.

Blessings all.