Dwtbd,

Sorry, but I just find that too evasive. So I don't really know how to continue this.

If I may, I’ll just chalk that up to my lack of communication skills. :)

You do see the AV , mostly cultural btw that I keep trying to point , no?

My view.

"I will remain abstinent" implies the very realistic circumstance in the future WHEN the Beast will rear its ugly head and I will employ the AVRT techniques to dismiss it. (AVRT as a process).

"I don't drink" implies that I have made a BP and that any muttering from the Beast is meaningless. (AVRT as an event)

My assertion is that I am at the former "stage" now and I will move towards the latter statement as I practice AVRT further.

Whether it's neuroplasticity or not is irrelevant so I won't use that term again.

I separated/dissociated from the Beast when I made my Big Plan. The BP then acted as an anti-virus program, instantly recognising and ignoring the Beast’s AV, when it arose.

Maybe I’m missing something. RR/AVRT seems straightforward to me. If I’m overlooking a key concept, process, or nuance, it matters not, because my understanding and practise of it, definitely works, awesomely well.

This is my understanding from my reading and interaction with Secular Connections and when I made my BP in September 2016. I stand to be corrected by a purist, of course, perhaps for the purpose of clarity and the benefit of Newcomers......... but personally, I can’t say I would’ve successfully learnt and applied RR/AVRT had I landed on SR this year....

Meant to add: when I made my Big Plan, I became a non-drinker. Separation from the Beast was an event, whereas recognition was a process.

Tatsy
So you would say that you ended your addiction by deciding to never put alcohol in your mouth ever again, and that you feel confident in your ability to keep that commitment to yourself, regardless of thoughts to the contrary that spring up internally or that you may encounter from others?
Sounds pretty straight forward to me.

Why wait to progress to the ‘next’ stage ? If you have a copy of TNC , read through and practice some of the shifting exercises, show the Beast who is the owner of the title “The Boss” :)

Yes, 100%. Although I’ll add, I only ever drank in reaction to my internal thoughts (AV) and not due to any thoughts that I encountered from others.

Don't rush me.
I'm doing alright! :c006:

Yeah me too :) I only drank because I wanted to.
I was susceptible though, to the idea that I couldn’t just stop doing that :)

To me, AVRT is as simple as deciding to never ever drink again, and then not letting anything, but especially yourself, talk you out of it. It's hard at first because of those habitual thoughts and the messages from the media and institutions and recoveryism, there should be a deprogramming process to figure out what is truth vs AV, even with the illusions one has created in their own minds about why they are addicted. But the key, is to not ever let anything change your mind about never drinking again. Got to conquer the internal enemy.

I do agree that once addicted people are at greater risk of getting addicted to something else. I have experience it during this last 11 months. I've had a sugar addiction, I've recently felt like a sex addict, although that may not be such a bad thing haha! But also even getting really into topics or interests. Heck, I was hooked on SR for the longest time. Drugs and alcohol aren't the only things people can get addicted to. I know I have to monitor my behaviours and stay mindful of my thoughts about anything I find really pleasurable because enough is never enough for me! I don't drink anymore, but I'm still quite hedonistic.

Oh yes, I agree. Prior to learning AVRT, I was also susceptible to, and adversely influenced by the mistaken belief, that I couldn’t just stop drinking......lost quite a few years to that ideology, sadly.

Yes, although I’ll never become addicted to alcohol again, I may have developed new addictions to exercise, cooking, baking, bread-making (hence the exercise) music (particularly live) and SR. Yikes!

I'm definitely addicted to music too! Got the house music pumping right now! Nothing wrong with healthy addictions, but I can still be obsessive and compulsive about whatever I'm into. Just my experience though.

I can neither rush you nor hold you back, it's self-recovery ;)

i'm reckless eric and so is my wife!

Reluctant to rehash this but...

I really don't see that you need to progress to any other stage at all. I don't think there is any "event" stage that once you reach it will forever remove the need to practice the technique.

The reason I mention this is because of the suggestion that if you believe that there is such an "advanced" stage, as opposed to the stage you are in now, you may feel vulnerable towards drinking again until you reach it. You may not be feeling that, of course, it's just that I think I would if I believed that.

lol!

I believe the same thing , using the shifting exercise/technique reinforces that idea.

"I'll never be as quit as I am now( neither more or less), no matter when now happens to be " :)

I made a big plan before I ever heard about
a big plan. It was 3 months after I made my commtment to never drink agian before I heard of avrt. I adopted the "big plan" as a means to put a name to it. There are people who are not alcoholic who also make such a plan - and never heard of it. My wife is one. There are many others. Are there degrees or stages to it? No. It's like being dead. My dad died 15 years ago. He's no more dead today than he was 15 years ago. I quit drinking 4 years ago. I'm no more quit than i was 4 years ago. And no less.

Brilliant, Eric. :lmao: