Why does it take such a radical shift in thinking in order to enable a person to live in the moment?

 Well, for one, being in the moment has some scary consequences. It means that you open yourself up to something outside of yourself beyond your control; namely, life. In order to avoid being hurt or feeling too much, we've learned to seek self-stimulation that can draw us deep into ourselves and protect us from having to feel too much about things we can't control. Whether our addiction is drugs, alcohol, eating, inappropriate physical intimacy, staying late at the office or wasting hours mindlessly surfing the net, it's all the same. It stems from a fear of vulnerability to life and an obsessive need for control. Simply put, every addiction is an addiction to self.

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