DEEP DOWN under all our addictions is the presence of self-love. I recently gave up coffee. It’s taken me years, and I’ve finally nailed the sucker, really nailed it. I’m not in some struggle to give it up either, it’s more like I’ve floated free. Sugar went with it, and a whole load of other things. What I was left with was me. No distractions.

It’s taken me years to be able to be present with me – to just look at myself, my life, with all its cracks and holes, all my deficiencies, and just be with it. With each step closer to being able to do that, I’ve lost more addictions, including the addiction to misery, pain and suffering. My lesson is this: if you work on yourself correctly, from the top down, layer by layer, those addictions simply float free. If you have addictions, the answer is not behavioural, it’s spiritual. It’s uncovering your essence until you can love yourself. In that space, addictions don’t hang around. It’s a long journey.

And so, forget the credit crisis, there’s a bigger wave still to hit us: the psychological credit crisis. Yes, all those anti-depressants are like buying happiness on credit. We still have to deal with the underlying issues. We still have to learn to love ourselves.