456 The Hidden Addiction Nobody Talks About456 The Hidden Addiction Nobody Talks About
The One Day At A Time Recovery Podcast
Host Arlina Allen talks with recovery coach and former Buddhist monk Jeremy Lipkowitz about porn addiction, pleasure versus real happiness, and practical mindfulness tools. Their conversation focuses on shame-free honesty, inner contentment, and finding unconditional freedom in recovery.
51:23•12 Nov 2026
The Hidden Addiction: Porn, Pleasure and Unconditional Freedom
Episode Overview
- Chasing pleasure alone, whether through porn, sex, alcohol or validation, keeps people trapped in craving and blocks deeper happiness.
- Mindfulness is presented as a practical tool to pause during cravings, notice what’s happening, and choose a more skilful response.
- "Unconditional freedom" means feeling inner peace regardless of achievements, mistakes, or whether others approve of you.
- Contentment and equanimity come from accepting "right now it's like this" while still allowing room for growth and change.
- Counting streaks can help with motivation, but treating slips as data points rather than total failure supports long-term recovery.
“"You're perfect the way you are and there's still room for improvement."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between host Arlina Allen and guest Jeremy Lipkowitz takes that question into territory many recovery spaces still avoid: porn addiction. Jeremy, a former Buddhist monk and now a porn addiction recovery coach, shares how his own compulsive use of porn and objectification of women left him feeling like "a slave to lust" and afraid he'd become "some creepy old perverted dude" hanging around college bars.
He talks openly about the spectrum of porn and sex addiction, the common experience of "post-nut clarity", and why shame and secrecy keep so many people stuck. You’ll hear Jeremy break down the crucial difference between pleasure and real happiness. For him, chasing pleasure alone—whether through sex, porn, alcohol, or validation—"is a recipe for disaster" that leaves people locked in craving and never truly satisfied.
Drawing on Buddhist philosophy and brain science, he explains how qualities like gratitude, compassion and contentment support genuine inner fulfilment, while greed and craving fuel suffering. A big part of the chat centres on practical recovery tools. Jeremy describes mindfulness as a "superpower" you can use in the exact moment a craving shows up: noticing "oh, craving is here" and pausing long enough to ask if the next action is truly wise.
He and Arlina also swap experiences about overachieving, the "not good enough" voice, and the idea of "unconditional freedom"—feeling okay without having to earn your right to exist through constant productivity. For anyone in recovery who’s curious about hidden behaviours affecting their sobriety, this episode offers grounded, shame-free conversation, relatable stories, and concrete practices. It asks you to reflect honestly: is chasing pleasure quietly steering your life, and what might unconditional freedom look like for you?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.