Terminally Unique

I'm not suggesting that people don't get rid of the supply initially if that will pose a problem for them, but here is a typical scenario. A newly abstinent person gets rid of all the booze in the house, and avoids all functions and "slippery places" that serve alcohol, hiding at home watching TV instead.

Initially, their Addictive Voice will rail at them, but eventually, it settles down. At this point, they think "WOW, this is great! No more AV!" and then hop on the forums and announce to everyone "I HAVE NO DESIRE TO DRINK."

This seemingly innocent announcement, while on the surface appears to be a good thing, when viewed through the lens of AVRT, is identified as pure Addictive Voice. Why? Because it suggests that if they did have a desire to drink, that they would go straight to the liquor store.

So, not hearing their AV, the newly-abstinent person decides to go out again, to a party, for example. They think "WOW! This AVRT stuff is great! I can't wait to test it out at Joe's BBQ!" This, too, is their Addictive Voice, because it is based on the uncertainty principle, since "testing it out" suggests that they might not succeed.

In any case, they go to Joe's BBQ, and perhaps they give in and have a few beers, perhaps not. If their AV doesn't pop up too much, and they don't have any beers, they then think "WOW, this is great! That AV is a goner." So, they go on about their life, and lo and behold, one fine day, they end up drunk. They think "I don't know what happened, I was driving home, and next thing I knew, I was at the liquor store."

What happened is that they didn't get any practice identifying their AV, which will lay low until the perfect opportunity presents itself, and they got broadsided. The idea is to prevent this sort of thing. Don't let your Beast hide in the dark. Instead, bring that sucker out, even if it doesn't want to come out.

For me, the first few months had intense Beast activity, so I didn't have to do anything to bring it out. But, after a few months, things started looking good, no more AV. So I hopped on Youtube and searched for "Single Malt Scotch reviews" and sat down and watched them. They go into great detail about taste, smell, etc, so my Beast got very aroused.

Instantly, I used the shifting technique, where I switched back and forth between how my Beast saw the scotch [Yummy! Fun Times! ] and how I saw the scotch [Evil! Danger! Poison! Ruin! ]. Then, I wiggled my fingers, stopped to look at my hand, and said "OK, Mr. Beast, if you are so powerful, wiggle my fingers, then. If you can do it, I will head over to the liquor store and get really loaded."

Naturally, Mr. Beast, while IT wasn't too happy about being jerked around this way, wasn't able to wiggle my fingers. I repeated this exercise every single day for a while, until I felt comfortable. Eventually, I moved on to the real thing, a live bottle, which I still have, BTW. Over time, it became apparent to me that my Beast was powerless to do a damn thing without my approval. I had become its master, and IT had become my servant. The gig was up.