We've been talking a lot lately about the need to undergo a fundamental psychic change in order to truly recovery from our alcohol problem. That change can be made through meditation, spirituality, etc. but it does need to occur in order for us to emerge as happy & content former drinkers.
I wanted to share a passage from the Big Book that talks about this issue. I know some aren't fans of AA and that is fine, but this is really pretty generic and I think relates to all of us:
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Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks-drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.
On the other hand-and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand-once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.
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Those rules can be anything as long as it is working your plan for recovery. Wishing and hoping won't do it, you have to have something concrete is place or your chances are most likely slim. It is also amazing to me that something written in 1939 can still apply to us today, and not just to those in AA - it would seem to be a strong course of action for anyone have difficulty with alcohol.
I wanted to share a passage from the Big Book that talks about this issue. I know some aren't fans of AA and that is fine, but this is really pretty generic and I think relates to all of us:
-------------------------------------
Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks-drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.
On the other hand-and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand-once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.
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Those rules can be anything as long as it is working your plan for recovery. Wishing and hoping won't do it, you have to have something concrete is place or your chances are most likely slim. It is also amazing to me that something written in 1939 can still apply to us today, and not just to those in AA - it would seem to be a strong course of action for anyone have difficulty with alcohol.
awprint: RUBY Imagine yourself doing What you love and loving What you do, Being happy From the inside Out, experiencing your Dreams wide awake, 
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