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Did / do you use mental techniques (e.g. Visualization) to get / stay sober?



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Did / do you use mental techniques (e.g. Visualization) to get / stay sober?

Old 02-15-2019, 01:53 AM
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Did / do you use mental techniques (e.g. Visualization) to get / stay sober?

Just curious, have / are you using mental techniques?

And, if so, which one did / do you use? Did they helped you? In what way?

- Visualization
- Meditation
- Affirmations
- inner Child Work
- ...
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Old 02-15-2019, 02:04 AM
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I used Andrew Johnson's "Stop Drinking" hypnosis track. I would listen in bed at night as I feel asleep- I love all of his work and found it very beneficial.
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Old 02-15-2019, 04:20 AM
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Originally Posted by ThomPom View Post
Just curious, have / are you using mental techniques?

And, if so, which one did / do you use? Did they helped you? In what way?

- Visualization
- Meditation
- Affirmations
- inner Child Work
- ...
I've used both meditation and affirmations in the past. I found meditation the most helpful although I wasn't like an expert 'meditator' by any means. I basically tried to spend 30 minutes each day in a meditative state and I found that it reduced my stress and anxiety levels. I'm actually planning on going to a local meditation class because I want to get better at doing it. I'd recommend it to other people. There's some good meditation songs/playlists available on youtube. Just make sure you use an adblocker so they're not interrupted when you're meditating.

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Old 02-15-2019, 07:58 AM
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AVRT, great threads on those ideas here on SR in the Secular Recovery forum and Permanent Abstinence sub forum.
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Old 02-15-2019, 08:13 AM
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I'm not sure that I can say that any specific "mental technique" led directly to me being sober, but I can definitely say that the concept of mindfulness is part of my recovery. I also deal with anxiety so I learned about meditation and mindfulness from my counselor as part of my work to seek help for that.

My personal "plan" for sobriety is really multi-faceted. It's really more of a plan for life overall - i do spend a good amount of time here on SR and I use pieces and parts of some other sobriety methods.

So I guess if you are looking for some kind of magic technique to cure your issues with drinking all by itself, I have not found one.
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Old 02-15-2019, 08:49 AM
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nothing formal, but yeah, i "put pictures in my head" of future events and situations and what i would be doing as a sober person in those situations.
as basic as picturing myself with a lovely mug of hot herbal tea on an evening in winter when i'm 75

yes it helped. it replaced the imaginings of sitting in a rocking chair with a glass of wine or a bottle of beer...i had those pictures in my head though the reality never was "a" bottle or "a" glass.
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Old 02-15-2019, 09:43 AM
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Like others here, I didn't use any special mental tricks. What I seemed to do naturally without thinking about it, was that I kept paying attention to the achievers in my AA group, those who had achieved years of sobriety and were outwardly joyful. I was aware of other "old timers" who had achieved long term sobriety, but who confessed to it still being hard, but I kept watching the joyful achievers.

Early on, I was taken by their example of joyful long term sobriety devoid of struggle. It did not expect to meet such people. Intuitively, it seemed like a weird contradiction..., but it's what I wanted. I idolized them and used them for my role models. I gained confidence from them, accepting that such a life was within my grasp.
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Old 02-16-2019, 01:51 AM
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I am really surprised, so few use such technqiues since they are so huge in the Self Help Department as a driver, tool for change.

Why is that?
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Old 02-16-2019, 04:01 AM
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I envision my AV as an overweight, unshaven, unwashed guy. Specifically Bert Young's character in the Rocky movies.
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Old 02-16-2019, 04:18 AM
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Yoga has taught me a lot about visualization of intentions and about freeing myself of thoughts.

One thing I am working on a LOT now is an AA concept and like Scott, I'd venture to say one of the overall good life aims I have. It came to me one day in yoga when I could not get thoughts of my step daughter or worse, my husband's ex wife out of my head.

Kickball.
You easily plop off a person's pretty little head and it goes in a clear version of a kickball, with just that rubber band around it. You kick it way into the distance, and they go out of your head in that ball. There's an anti-rebound feature that prevents returning most of the time - but if the ball does bounce back, the head has remained undamaged and can be reattached to that person as you let them go on their merry way. I mean, I'm not a monster, I just don't want the wrong folks getting my mental energy or impacting my emotional balance.

And it makes me giggle to visualize it.
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