Nice @clayboyn, I've gone through a similar process and continue to. I like that you focused on addiction a bit, I feel like I used to be addicted to negative thinking, and not really purposefully. Like all my negative thoughts would subconsciously come up as I went about my day, and I didn't know how to deal with them so I just kept thinking that way and eventually became pretty apathetic towards the world because I never could listen to anyone either.

My method for dealing with these thoughts during the day is by catching myself thinking them whenever they come up. They come up quick, so I can't really avoid them, but once I notice I can sort of release them, because like you said, I was

identifying ourselves as the negative thought patterns or behaviors and start looking at ourselves as the one allowing them.

Once I realized I was apart from my thoughts it really helped, I just had to remain aware of them.

And of course, meditation has been huge, I started being able to be quiet and let the rest of the world speak to me, it actually took longer to be able to listen during conversation, I was less open to other people's words and opinions at first. That was a difficult step, but one I knew I needed to make.

Awesome article, this topic is a huge interest of mine and really cool to see your perspective on things!