We all have trauma in our lives. None of us has been loved perfectly or

loved others perfectly. We all carry unresolved pain and we all deserve

tenderness and compassion.

Dr. Gabor Mate, a renowned addiction expert who has spent many years

working on the lower east side of Vancouver, says that the many forms of

addiction in our society are coming from our endless search to relieve past

pain and trauma and to externally fill a void we feel inside: “There are

many, many addictions. Yes, there’s the addiction to drugs, but there’s

also the addiction to consumerism, the addiction to sex, to the internet,

to food. For each person there’s a different way of feeding the emptiness.”