Originally Posted by
Aellyce2 
...I personally find that the cognitive exercises in AVRT are helpful for me when the cravings are relatively mild, but those real monster ones that always do me in need much more than that for me. So far, I've only had two of those bad urges this week and many minor, passing ones. ...
I suppose in a broad sense AVRT is a “cognitive” exercise, but all it really is is a simple binary Re-Cognitive Technique. You think about your thinking about drinking by sorting those thoughts and feelings into two obvious categories - those supporting drinking anytime in the future and those supporting not drinking at any time in the future. The category supporting drinking is the old bad habit of loving and repeating that deep pleasure from ethanol in the blood called the Beast. The category supporting not drinking ever again is YOU, the complex sentient human being that is capable of second order thinking (re-cognition) and using (as Tatsy has summed up) WON’T power. I would go even further and call WON’Ting the desire to drink a non-act of simple thought that requires no power, just inhibitory willfulness.
In the quote from your post above you will notice I highlighted the single word that indicates it is just a matter of time before one of those monster (Beastly) cravings will
do you in by YOU playing the keystone role of going along with IT and actually putting the ethanol in your mouth and swallowing it. (AAHHHhhhh, MMMmmmm, YES!)
My point here is, the simple thought process of changing that
do to a
did and putting the verb tense of YOU and drinking always into the past tense is simple and effortless, and it allows YOU to feel what is odd, refreshing, hopeful, unbelievable, sad, etc. about using the past tense when you have always been using the present tense about future drinking up to now. Then you will have further opportunity to simply think about those emotions and sort them out as well into the two categories I mentioned above.
This simple separation technique gives addicted people incredible clarity about what is going on during those critical minutes when that desire to drink comes up in the future; IF they choose to use it. And it need not have anything to do with what’s going on in the rest of your life. Keeping being a permanent abstainer a secret in your life is a lot easier than keeping being a dependent drinker a secret. I know from experience. And I know you can learn to know that as well.