My AVRT initially was a 'that's not me / that is AV / that AV has no power any more' situation which took me months into my sobriety. That became a secure place to get active, work out details of how my new life was going to be, and become comfortable in daily life with out alcohol.
A little more pondering made my Big Plan a moral decision. I related to that part of the AVRT book by Mr. Trimpey that explained how this was going to seal the deal for good. I have a friend whose life was irrevocably changed when she lost her husband and 6 week old daughter to a drunk driver in an instant. I made the connection from this tragedy to the idea of drinking again, and conflated the two ideas into something that can turn my stomach if I need it to, by visualizing myself sitting on the curb with flashing lights around me, and carnage all over the place. I made this connection around 9 months sober.
My AVRT now has become a mindful thing, as Robby suggested, and my life has become more present. The awareness of myself in the moment which comes from AVRT has spilled over into other aspects of my life too. This mindfulness does double duty in that my emotions have become things that I can merely observe if I choose, just like my AV. Anger, frustration, embarrassment, anxiety, worry, all the things that I drank to relieve, are now just things that come and go. Just like an urge to drink, they have no power over me simply because I can become the person who watches myself have these emotions. Mindful.
Tabasco and I have done that exercise of visualizing a situation where we are watching a screen that shows us as we are in the present moment. I imagined a little cctv monitor, but Tabasco did it up right with a big screen, a comfy chair and popcorn. This is separating, becoming mindful, being present in a personal, visual way.
I still have rough times in my life, but they just don't drag me down into that black pit where I drowned in vodka. I don't want to appear presumptuous, so just let me say that this has been my experience. I hope you find it helpful. Remember, you can do this if you only decide that you can, that is all you need to do.