Originally Posted by
Terminally Unique 
Kanamit,
A question: Is it you that doesn't feel like a lifelong non-drinker or IT (your Beast)? Let the Beast count time and worry about forever. You just worry about the only time that you can possibly abstain, which is right now, as in "I never now drink."
Something to ponder.
On re-reading the RR book I found a point that resonated with me. In the early part of Part II (The Action on page 121) he mentions that you may be in a supermarket and see some strawberries and think to yourself, I'll take that without paying for it, but you don't.
This makes good sense to me and shows that we actually use AVRT many times in that we recognise and ignore the pleasure/survival drive all the time. In this case, the Beast wanted the immediate pleasure of the strawberry but morally this was wrong so the the individual recognised the thought, ignored it and took no action. So long as you find shoplifting morally objectionable there is no way you would get into a should you/shouldn't you debate as to whether you should steal.
I can say with 100% certainty I will never shoplift, and I will never change my mind. I need to view drinking as the same.
Looking at my pet cats, I can see how fitting it is to call it the Beast brain. They don't plan ahead; they think of nothing but now. Everything they do is linked to their own survival. Eating, sleeping, etc.
I don't wish to sound like a broken record but thanks again for this thread, it has been so helpeful. If anyone has yet to buy the book, please order it now. It must have saved me hundreds of pounds in alcohol already.