Nonsensical

I think the thing I had the most trouble with in dealing with my alcohol addiction was in realizing and accepting that part of my brain was actively working against me. It was actively seeking to keep me drinking. While I KNEW drinking was destroying my life, I still FELT like drinking again. This led to a very drawn out cycle of stopping for a while, convincing myself that I could control it again, drinking, losing control...repeat.

My brain continued to perceive that I could drink moderately, but that was not reality. How does a brain become so deluded? I couldn't accept that it was happening to me.

Turns out it's not that uncommon. The brain puts everything into context. Sometimes that context causes the brain's perception to be different from reality.

Consider the image below. What can you conclude about squares A and B?


Unless you have seen this graphic before (and been told the result) the one thing that your human mind would not conclude is that squares A and B are exactly the same color. Exactly.

You can't see it. Your mind can't perceive it in the current context, but that is the reality.

So, too, it was for me and alcohol. My mind perceived that I needed alcohol to be free of the anxiety and desire for it. That I could never be happy unless I could also sometimes drink. That I could drink just a few and then stop.

I had to override what my own brain was telling me - because it was not reality.

Reality is a much better place to be.

Dee74

Great post Nons...but I need to go to bed now... lol

D

IOAA2

I when drinking filled my "brain" with so much BS in regards to drinking I believed a lot of it afterwards. Obviously I was dishonest with myself and until that part of me changed I couldn't. When my pain got bad enough I was forced to do a simple thing that made sense to me. I accepted the fact, which I so often proved, that I could no longer drink alcohol in safety and when I did my life was unmanageable. Then came the work to STAY sober, a lot of which was quite enjoyable and If I could would not change my journey one iota.

BE WELL

Holli

Huh, My brain definitely sees two different colors...interesting analogy!

Adnamaeel

Nonsensical,
the emperor looks naked to me. Unless the two squares are different saturations and/or values of the same color, I don't get it.
Would you explain that graphic, please.

Nonsensical

The two squares are the same color. By changing the context we can start to see it.

Anna

It's so true. It's very scary and very hard to deal with.

I think that's why it's so hard to take that first step and accept that you are an alcoholic.

Adnamaeel

Ok, looking at that I can see that they are different values of the same color. Sorry, I can't help it. I'm an artist, and have studied color extensively.

biminiblue

A man walked into his garage and saw a huge snake coiled on the floor. He was understandably shocked and afraid. He went in the house and told his wife to stay inside and he got his gun.

He went back out to the garage, turned on the light and saw a rope, coiled on the floor.





Perception is everything. Fear is an automatic response that gears up the entire body for fight or flight. It is a destructive process for the body when overused. Constant hits of cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones are really bad for us in many ways.

There's a great book about this, "Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers." Definitely worth a read this summer.

Nonsensical

Perception made the man react inappropriately to a rope on his garage floor. Reality created better results.

Nonsensical

Or, perhaps your brain is unable to accept the reality?

I have a successful career, a beautiful family, a big house in a great neighborhood. Sure, I get drunk a lot, and I drink inappropriately at times, but I'm successful and alcoholics aren't successful - so I can't be one, right?

Adnamaeel

That is certainly up for debate. I trust my assessment of myself as an addict. I trust my living to my sense of color. Reality is entirely subjective.
None of this actually relates to the point of your original post, however, and I really didn't mean to change the subject because I think you were talking about something important.
I just got stuck on the graphic.

UnixBer

Interesting and kind of shocking, as most optical illusions.
Adnamaeel they are the exact same color. Try a color picker, RGB:120,120,120, both the same color.

Adnamaeel

UnixBer, I don't think I can do that on the tablet I'm using, but it doesn't matter. I do believe you. I also believe myself. I can't help but see reality as fluid, I hesitate to accept artificial intelligence as a substitute for my own, and I willingly accept all perspectives and perceptions as equally valid.
One plus one equals two, but if you add one pile of sand to another pile of sand, you still only have one pile of sand. The rules are mutable.
The bottom line is that if a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, it probably doesn't really matter.
Nonsensical, I really do apologize, I just couldn't help myself.

Nonsensical

Not a problem, it was just an analogy, and you have actually helped make the point I was originally driving at.

I found it very difficult to accept the fact that I could never drink again because my brain kept telling me that there must be a way. Despite the growing mountain of evidence to the contrary, there had to be a way.

There had to be a way, DAMMIT!

Letting go of my own perceptions and accepting the reality of the situation has produced much better results.

OpioPhobe

Adna - try focusing on the A square and staring at it for a while. They still looked like different colors to me even with the lines across the board. My mind got really confused by the picture with the lines actually.

LBrain

First thing I saw was a shadow cast over B and not A. After a few minutes I had to move on to find out what you were getting at.
In your second graphic, the adjoining space appears to combine them to give the illusion of being the same color. But if you go back to the first graphic, you'll notice that the shadow cast on square 'B' is also on the corners of the adjacent squares. If they were the same color as attempted to be shown in the second graphic, then there would be no border or color delineation from the corners of the adjacent squares that are partially covered by the shadow. This is what is called suggestive reasoning. Your second graphic suggest they are the same color and it is accepted as fact. When in reality it is not. If you look at the square below 'B' in the second, the bottom right corner of the square below should not be 'different'. There is definable contrast there.
Of course this may also be a factor of my computer screen monochrome display capability.
I'd have to see it on a hard copy to,,, never mind.

Nonsensical

The illusion was developed by a professor at MIT, so I will let him explain it:

Checkershadow Illusion

Adnamaeel

Back to your point Nonsensical, I'm glad you arrived at the realization that you can't drink again. I think alcohol must be an especially difficult addiction to overcome because it's legal, acceptable, and everywhere. In my case the drugs I'm addicted to we're used secretly and illegally. I don't have to see people around me enjoying an evening of responsible use, I don't know how I'd deal with that.
I'm sorry we got off track, because I think your point about changing your perspective is an important one, and I give you a lot of credit for pulling it off.

LBrain

sorry

I didn't look at MIT link, but I'll bet a million of Dee's dollars that the same professor says there is no such thing as the color 'pink'. Pink is not a color, it is an illusion.