This is the million dollar question, isn't it.

Depending, on who you talk to, the root cause of any addiction, trauma, depression, anxiety, phobia, behavioral tick, or other issue might be:

• - Something genetic

• - a disease

• - the result of an injury or horrible event

• - your parent's fault

• - a spiritual flaw or moral failing

• - a childhood trauma

The list could go on, and get really granular and precise, but here's the rub:

Once you know the root cause, how do you get rid of it?

Because that's what people really want. It's what I wanted for sure.

As an addict for 18 years (watching p*** online instead of connecting with friends, sorting out social situations, and handling relationship issues), and then getting into other drugs afterward, I didn't care what the "root issue" was. I just wanted to be free. To stop being such a schmuck and finally be able to move on with my life.

Unfortunately, almost every program or training out there on this (at least at the time I was really struggling) seemed to say that not only was that a root issue (aka—something wrong with me) but there was really no way out. It would be a lifelong struggle.

And I went along with that for a while until I realized that no one else seemed to really be getting better either.

Even if they were "sober", they certainly weren't happy.

Nor were their spouses happy, either.

And the day I realized that if I didn't do something different, I would end up being some 90-year old creepy guy whose sole claim to fame was that he managed to NOT look at p*** for the rest of his life. That's it. No dreams achieved, mountains conquered, goals hit. No legacy left behind because I had spent all my effort fighting that and other addictions.

Not to mention the mood swings, the frustration, anger, and sense of helplessness that would periodically make me wonder if it wouldn't have been better if I hadn't been born.

So...

I did something different.

And the first thing major thing I did (after already having been practicing some of the physical stuff you may have found in Choose Your Own Emotion) in order to tackle the bigger problem and find "the root" is what you have before you:

A 20-day adventure to help you do essentially 3 things:

1. Unload the years of baggage you've been carrying that have been making ALL of your life more difficult without even realizing it

2. Identify the underlying patterns beneath that gunk that have been driving all the other behaviors, reactions, and feelings

3. Begin the process of dismantling that pattern by confronting it with the one thing that ALWAYS works.

Once you've accomplished that, you'll be ready for the Reality Check™, the third of the core programs that will allow you to retrain your brain to never go back.

Now... this process took me around 20 hours to do for myself the first go round, and I did it in the least efficient way possible, making for four incredibly difficult days (I taught at nights and did this during the day)

Yet I felt such relief and freedom from the past that virtually all of those constant addictive urges almost went completely away.

More:

For perhaps the first time in my life, I felt true compassion and understanding toward myself to the point where I no longer beat myself up for being the way that I was.

Others have had varying results, but ALL of them have seen tremendous things happen:

• Brad, who had been molested for 5 years as a kid, found a way to process all those old memories and forgive

• Jasmine (my wife) found a way to let go of the resentments she had toward me during my years as an absent-minded, addicted husband

• Tucker wanted so badly to be free of his own addiction that he dug deep, unearthing and releasing things he had never been able to verbalize before. Which changed more than his addictive behaviors. It actually got rid of many of his anger issues.

There are well over a thousand more stories like that as people have used this process to shut off the downward spiral and finally get their feet on some solid ground.

I look forward to hearing your own story as well.