Originally Posted by
Jack16 
Was thinking more about the notion of the Big Plan since my previous post and your reply, Algorithm.
I had an insight: if I made a 'plan' to take my shoes off, of course, my confidence level in my ability to carry that out would be 100%. It would be completely within my control to do it.
What I realised last night was that a plan to never drink again is no different, no different whatsoever. I can choose not to physically put alcohol into my body (picking up a glass, bringing it to my lips, etc), and that's that.
The only difference between the two scenarios is that there is no AV attached to the plan to take my shoes off. But, apart from that both actions are equally within my power.
It feels like a significant penny dropping moment. I hope I have managed to articulate it.
Thanks again for your reply, Algorithm - very helpful.
Hi Jack,
Your recent concerns about using AVRT on another thread leads me to pick up the conversation on this thread.
By stating that you are now in your second period of using AVRT, I am going to assume that you did not make a Big Plan during your first practice of AVRT, and that you had some more to drink during the interim period. Please correct me if I am wrong.
You recently mentioned on the other thread that you started to engage in a huge series of time-consuming, complex, voluntary motor actions that would result in your swallowing more alcohol, but before you did the swallowing, you changed your mind a second time back to the don’t drink position and interrupted those complex motor activities. When, after changing your mind the first time, during that period of time in which you decided to drink some more, did the idea of the Big Plan come up? Is that what got you to interrupt your actions and decide don’t drink now?
Let me go back to what is in this thread. I find a huge difference between even the very simple ACTION of taking off my shoes and the very simple INACTION of not pouring alcohol into my mouth.
To me, this difference is the essential beauty of the Big Plan. Succeeding at the Big Plan requires DOING absolutely NOTHING. It requires ONLY one very specific thought. “Oh, there IT is, but, I will never drink again.” The only similarity with removing my shoes is that they both take about five seconds.
The beauty of the Big Plan is that it is only BIG regarding ONE aspect, it ends an addiction for the rest of all time, in other words it will be in effect for eternity, an infinite period that will never end. Nothing can be bigger than that. And, of course, it made a BIG positive difference in my life.
Further beauties of the Big Plan are that it is very, very small in many other aspects.
1 - It takes only about five seconds to pledge The Big Plan, “I will never drink again.”
2 - It is about an extremely tiny, tiny behavior within all the trillions of things I can do as a human being. It is ONLY about swallowing ethanol, the same stuff they add to gasoline. (or some other substance or specific behavior). A behavior that takes place three inches from my eyes, and one inch from my nose, and engulfs my tongue.
3 - It can be known only to one human being, the person who made it; and it MUST be known to that person because it is impossible for an adult human being to lie to him/herself. Try telling yourself a lie and see if it fools you.
4 - It costs exactly zero cents to accomplish, and zero cents to ‘maintain’ the Big Plan.
5 - The waiting period before being able to make such a plan is zero seconds.
6 - It requires that I expend about one tenth of a calorie while at rest for the five seconds it takes to make the Big Plan, and less than that for each time I recall that I made it.
7 - It appears to have zero interest to those serving addicted people with complex treatment to get them to not drink any more. (this last one is not a beauty of the Big Plan, but a recognition of the institutionalized Addictive Voice within our society.)
GT