My dear friends and posters on my thread.
I am forever indebted to each and everyone of you for your guidance, wisdom, support and kindness (Freshstart, flattery will get you everywhere!).
Although I don't count days, out of curiosity, I flicked back and noted my Big Plan date - 9th September 2016. Two months in a few days. Why I didn't do this two decades ago, is beyond me. But so too are the recriminations, regrets and despondency: they have no place in this brave new world of mine. I wallowed in those insane feelings for far too long, whilst drinking.
Now that I'm firmly placed on the non-drinker path, until the end of my days, I have much rebuilding and living to do. I stagnated and rotted during, what should've been, the best decades of my life. Hey-Ho, it happened, I've moved on.
I've suffered dreadful intrusive thoughts, regarding a distressing incident I witnessed a couple of years ago. I reflected on AVRT and thought of the brain as a computer, randomly selecting memory files like a juke box, without my permission.
I decided to 'play' that intrusive thought scene (graphic and horrid as it was -if I'd consulted a doctor I guess they'd call it PTSD) and then replace the scene, with Teletubbies and Sesame Street type humorous characters. I did this repeatedly, and amazingly, it worked. No more intrusive thoughts and when I purposely 'open' that memory file, there are no gory details, just funny characters. Akin to over-writing a file in a computer program after a virus, I suppose.
Well I'm rambling now, but my point is, the mind is so powerful. The success of AVRT for me, after decades of struggling, trying, is proof of that. Yet the mind appears to have additional capacities, which have yet to be documented. We are living in enlightening times.