Originally Posted by
SteppingItUp 
For an alcoholic of my variety, moral and philosophical convictions galore have proven themselves to be insufficient; hence the existence of alcoholic/addict philosophers, psychiatrists and psychologists, priests, ministers and rabbis.
A passage from the most successful book on alcoholism in the world (the Big Book) springs to mind:
"If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly."
Don't get me wrong, I can certainly understand this. It is a !@#$ to give up. I had quite a few failed start/stop cycles before I finally really quit, all but a couple lasting even a week. I came by this realization slowly, at first using "simple" AVRT to get enough dry days to get my head cleared, and then I did a FMI on drinking, so to speak. That is when it finally stuck. I can't say it will work for
everyone, as it really does have to come from within.
To those who doubt its effectiveness, all I can say is, you would probably have to experience this fundamental change in perspective to understand it. I suspect those who say they've had a spiritual awakening must feel the same way when people doubt them.
I still get thoughts of drinking every so often, to be sure, but they pale in comparison to those first 90 days, where the cravings felt like they were coming from my bones. I now have a mental defense which has become almost like a reflex, much like dropping a hot potato. The downside to it is that I now hear the "Addictive Voice" in many of the posts I read. :-)