How to Overcome Your Drinking Habit

8/2/2019 How to Overcome Your Drinking Habit

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How to Overcome Your

Drinking HabitAnd Any Other Habit You Choose

By: Justin Qualler


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Table of Contents

Compulsive and Addictive Behavior: How it Effects You!3

What do you want for your life?!5Identify People, Places, Things, Etc. That Attract the

Qualities You Want to Possess, Create Distance from

People, Places, and Things that Do the Opposite--Take

Action!!11Raja Yoga Subconscious Character Building Exercise !13A Confident Expectation!16

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Compulsive and Addictive

Behavior: How it Effects YouAddictions and compulsions undermine consciousness and take

away your control of life.

There is, of course, a sliding scale. A methamphetamine addiction is

going to impact someones life more than a coffee addiction, even

though both are stimulants. Yet, still, coffee can exert an extremely

powerful influence on someones life.

In America, we have a strong belief about freedom. We want

freedom to do what we want, to say what we want, and to be who we

want. In a memorable sermon by Stuart Briscoe (a Milwaukee,

Wisconsin pastor), he talked about his return to America following

9/11. Everyone was talking about how they took our freedom, Stuart

said.

He went on to say that what was meant by freedom was this

superficial do what we want without consequences freedom. Sure,

we want to eat whatever we want, but we dont want to suffer any

kind of digestive disorder or sickness. We don t want to accept the

negative consequences of our actions, after all, were free!

Yet, this is precisely why were not free. Were a nation of addicts,

whether were addicted to coffee, caffeine, pills (the medicinal

narcotics are quite popular, as are the anti-depressants and anti-

anxiety meds), food, sex, etc.

Without going into an extensive social commentary, nearly anyone

capable of non-judgmental empirical observation can see that most

Americans are addicted to something, whether it is coffee,

cigarettes, booze, food, or pills.

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Addictions to sugar, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine not only

undercut physical fitness, personal appearance, personality, and

health, but will steadily diminish a persons self-control, self-esteem,

and happiness. Such addictions are rampantly common, yet widelyunadmitted. Addictions and compulsions also undermine honesty

because they constantly require dishonest rationalizations. That

dishonesty, in turn, reduces self-esteem, competence,

productivity The Neo-Tech Discovery, Frank R. Wallace

Who doesnt want to be calm, in control, and collected? Who doesnt

want peace of mind? You cant have it when youre divided against

yourself. You cant have it when your behavior is controlled by

addictions and compulsions.

Addictions and compulsions take you out of the drivers seat and put

you in the backseat. This book aims to put you in the passenger seat

first, and then back in the drivers seat where you belong.

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What do you want for your life?

Catherine Ponder, in her book The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity

writes The amazing thing is that, of the millions of people who think

they want to be successful, few of them have any really strong,

impelling desires.

Before you can cut out drinking, or any other addiction or

compulsion, you must have something to supplant it with--something

that you want more than you want your next fix.

Most people are very clear about what they dont want, but that

thinking prompts them to focus on the things they dont want, which,

ironically, tends to draw those things towards them.

First, work on discovering your purpose and desires. This is the most

important step. What is more important than working to figure out the

reason why youre here in the first place?

Here are a few different techniques for working on this, the first one

from Steve Pavlinas website (stevepavlina.com), the second one

from a book called Red Goldby Grigori Raiport, and the third one

from Napoleon Hills Law of Success.

Following these three techniques are two more: the 30 day

technique and the John Rockefeller Secret.

Pick one of these techniques to become more clear on your

purpose, desires, and goals. Youll need this information to supplant

addictions.

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Steve Pavlinas Purpose Finding TechniqueHeres how Steve recommends finding your purpose:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor

where you can type (I prefer the latter because its faster).

2. Write at the top, What is my true purpose in life?

3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesnt

have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.

4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This

is your purpose.

Source: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/how-to-discover-

your-life-purpose-in-about-20-minutes/

Red Gold Ideal Self TechniqueThe technique from the book Red Goldby Grigori Raiport involves

an exercise where you figure out what you want, what you dont

want, and learn to use your mind make yourself desire the things

you want more than the things you dont want. Its very powerful.

Defining Your Ideal Self

The first thing you need to do is to clearly define what you want to

be. Your Ideal Self. Here is where you can write anything down and

let your imagination run wild.

Defining Your Goal SelfAfter you've developed your Ideal Self, then you want to develop

your Goal Self--this is the self that you are targeting to become.

While the ideal self is a good list, ideals by their very nature are

unattainable according to the book. The Goal Self is something you

are striving for, something within your means, something you're

passionate about.

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Defining Your Current SelfNext, you want to develop your Current Self. This is what you

currently are. Here, list the habits you have that you want to get rid

of. For instance, a habit of uncontrolled drinking is incompatible with

a Goal Self of being healthy and strong. Make a list of all the

undesirable qualities you currently have. Make this list as

comprehensive as possible.

Making Use of the ListsYou have several lists, but you'll only be working with two--the Goal

Self and the Current Self. For the Goal Self list, begin to form a

strong identification with the items on the list. Imagine yourself being

these qualities and in possession of these traits each night andevery morning. Feel good when you think about possessing those

qualities. When you look at your Current Self list, become disgusted

with the qualities on it. You want to feel repulsion from the items on

that list to encourage the change in behavior.

This is called Attraction and Repulsion. You can do this when you

look at the list, and you can also do it in real life--if you succumb to

your drinking habit, pay attention to how it makes you feel and notice

all the negative and none of the positive. When youre sober, notice

only the positive and none of the negative. This dual technique is

extremely powerful. It helps you stay more conscious about the

things you are doing and the thoughts you are thinking.

Even if you just have a thought about drinking, immediately work to

think about the negative aspect of the activity, and then revert to

thinking about not drinking and let yourself feel extremely positive

emotions.

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Napoleon Hills Law of Success Self

Development Techniques"How may a man be sure that he has attained success unless he

has established in his mind some definite object that he wishes?"

Napoleon Hill has a famous book called Think and Grow Rich. He

has perhaps an even better book, in my opinion, than that one. It's

called The Law of Success.

Like Catherine Ponder, he quips that most people know quite

definitely what they don't want, but when you ask them what they

want they can't answer. Of course, if you're going to get what you

want, then you'll have to change that.

There are three exercises that you can do to begin to figure out your

definite purpose:

Figure Out Your Burning DesireWhat is your burningdesire? What do you want to do more than

anything? At first, if you haven't thought about this type of thing, it

might take you a while to figure out what it is. It might take you

several revisions before you get down to what your burning desire

really is. Once you have it, you'll feel emotionally charged about it.

That's how you know it is your burning desire--you have passion an

emotion backing it. Write this down and reflect on it morning and

night.

Figure Out Your Definite PurposeThe next exercise is to create your definite purpose based off of your

burning desire. "I want to be rich and famous" is not a definite

purpose. A definite purpose needs to be specific and measurable--

and realistic. "I want to own and operate a coffee shop and cafeteria

so I can provide the local community with a good cup of coffee and

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snacks and provide a comfortable life for my family" is better--

assuming your area isn't saturated with coffee shops! Write down

your definite purpose and put it in a place where you will see it often.

Figure Out What Actions You Need to Take to AccomplishYour Definite PurposeThe next step is to list the specific actions you will need to take to

accomplish your definite purpose. If you want to open a coffee shop,

you might need to meet with the local government to see what

permitting you'll need. You might want to meet with other coffee shop

owners to find out what's worked for them (assuming these people

aren't in your area and would therefore see you as competition). You

might look for books about starting a business and talk to otherbusiness owners in the area. Maybe you'll join a meet up group. As

you move farther down the road, your specific actions will change,

but you need to constantly be thinking about what actions you need

to take to support your definite purpose.

The 30 Day Technique30 days isnt much time, but if youre dedicated and practice

something for 30 days, youll work to start forming a habit. Pick one

of the techniques above and follow it. Then, for 30 days, review the

results of whatever technique you picked. Every morning, review the

results and visualize yourself as if youve already attained what you

want to attain. You should allow yourself to feel amazing about this

fact. Wow! Youve done it! If youre following the Red Gold

technique, for 30 days youre active nearly all day long watching

your thoughts and correcting them.

It took me six months of working the Red Gold technique to stop

drinking. Im certainly not insinuating that youre drinking will

magically go away, but have faith in the process and continue until it

does.

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Reinforcing the technique with AA or some other outlet might be

advised depending on your situation.

John Rockefellers SecretI dont know about you, but I wanted to have control over my

drinking. Maybe I still wanted to drink at a special occasion. To

achieve this, I employed John Rockefellers Secret--anything that is

watched and measured improves. I kept a spreadsheet and

monitored my drinking (among other things) to make sure I never

strayed. I set the intention that I only wanted to drink on special

occasions.

Depending on the severity of your addiction it might not be advisable

to attempt this. Eliminating completely might be better.

Im not a slave to the spreadsheet, either. Ive since stopped putting

a 0 in the Alcohol column for each day because I just haven t been

drinking nor do I have the desire.

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Identify People, Places, Things,

Etc. That Attract the Qualities You

Want to Possess, Create Distancefrom People, Places, and Things

that Do the Opposite--Take Action!Action, action, action! - Bruce Lee

He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of

fools will suffer harm. Proverbs 13:20

That friend you have who is always encouraging you to drink?

Maybe not so much of a friend. It might be that the alcohol is all that

is holding you together. Hey, it happens.

Going to a bar might not be advisable if youre trying to stop drinking,

either. Similarly, if youre trying to lose weight, you wouldnt want to

head to a family restaurant where all the patrons are overweight and

the portion sizes are huge.

As I said in the first chapter, when youre talking about addictions

and compulsions, youre really talking about consciousness. As you

gain control over your addictions and compulsions, youll begin to be

more aware--more conscious. Youll notice different things about

places you used to frequent.

You might notice a particular establishment has a low energy andevery time you leave there, you feel worse. Time to move on.

Youll develop different interests and potentially shed your old ones.

Its a transition phase. Youre vulnerable here.

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You might lose friends here who were never really your friends. This

is where support can help. Keep up with the exercises. Youre

embracing something higher and moving away from something

lower, but right now you might be caught in between. It could go

either way.

Stay strong and pick the correct course of action. Surround yourself

with people who can help. If you dont have people like that, find

them!

By the way, if youre cutting out alcohol--get it out of your house!

Limit your chances to exposure.

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Raja Yoga Subconscious

Character Building ExerciseThe average person recognizes his strong and weak points of

character, but is very apt to regard them as fixed and unalterable, or

practically so. He does not realize that he himself is really the maker

of himself, from the raw and crude material given him at his birth.

First of all, what is your character? It is nothing more than the sum of

your habits.

So, how do you change your character? You change your habits

through auto-suggestion. Or, I should say, it happens through auto-

suggestion because whether you do it consciously or unconsciously,

it happens either way.

The first step is to form a desire. You must desire to change. The

desire to change must be higher than other desires. If you want to

get drunk more than you want to be sober, then youll drink.

I can hear the question already. What if I dont want to give

something up? What if my desire for sugar is really high?

You can build up desire for something else. You dwell on the subject

until desire is created. To use the example from the book:

A young man has no desire to indulge in the excesses of a fast

life. But after a while he hears, or reads something about others

leading that sort of life, and he begins to allow his mind to dwellupon the subject, turning it around and examining it mentally, and

going over it in his imagination. After a time he begins to find a

desire gradually sending forth roots and branches, and if he

continues to water the thing in his imagination, before long he will

find within himself a blossoming inclination, which will try to insist

upon expression in action.

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The process described above was unconscious. How often has that

happened to you? You desire a sundae, even though youre full.

Youve eaten already. But you imagine that sundaeoh, itll taste so

good! The waitress asks if youd like dessert. Before you have a

chance to stop yourself, youve said yes and now you find you cant

stop yourself.

Thought, word, deed... Change the thought, nurture a different

thought, and get different results.

Pick a desire, and indulge it. See yourself exhibiting the desirable

traits you want to have. Imagine people complimenting you on your

new self. You will begin to feel a stronger desire forming.

While youre going through this process, you might slip up and enact

a habit you want to rid yourself of. Relax. Dont beat yourself up.

Youre not trying to engage in a monumental battle of willpower that

you have to fight all the time. So you slipped up. So what? Go back

to cultivating a higher desire and refusing to dwell on your other

lower desire, whatever it is. Dont allow yourself to experience the

frustration, just view it as something that happened, and go back to

work on the process.

Therein lies the secret. You have higher desires and lower desires.

You want to replace your lower desires with higher ones. Heres

what you do: starve the lower desires of any thought whatsoever.

Dont even think of them. Lavish the higher desires with all sorts of

positive attention.

Thought control is very difficult so it is likely youll experience some

difficulty keeping your mind off your lower desire. I find that for me, it

works well, if I accidentally start thinking about the lower desire, to

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think only of negative qualities about it. For instance, with drinking, I

would just think of the hangover, of getting sick, or of making a fool

out of myself. This is the technique from the book Red Gold, called

attraction and repulsion. Youre attracting yourself to the positive

desire and repulsing yourself from the negative one.

Remember, each victory gives you strength, each defeat weakens

you.

So far youve formed a desire and youre promoting it over some

other, lower desire. The only other ingredient you need is faitha

confident expectation. Youre going through a process, the process

is based on psychological law, and it works. Let it work. Expect it to

work.

Continue the process and you will find that you are easily, and

happilyjoyfully, evenmaking the correct decisions and your old

habits are a thing of the past. Youll feel great. Youll be calm. Youll

feel in charge of yourself because you have consciously worked to

make a positive and wonderful change in your life. Youll look back at

your old self and wonder just how you allowed that to happen. Youll

be on a whole new conscious plane of existence.

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A Confident ExpectationBe diligent. Be assiduous in your practice of figuring what your

purpose is, what your goals are, and what habits youll need to

eliminate to reach it. Then expect good things. Have a strong faith.Youre doing the work, you know where you want to go, you will

succeed.

If thoughts drift, as they do, gently put them back in order. If you

make a mistake, no sense in beating yourself up over it, just

recognize what happened and continue to proceed with your work,

confidently expecting the best possible outcome.

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How to Overcome Your Drinking Habit

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