Man you just started my craving. Gin and tonic used to be beautiful day drink. Just keep playing that tape to the end. Do we really want that drink that bad? I know a good nights sleep helps me get over the cravings.

I reallly don't care for the slogan's in AA, but that one there is a keeper..
It deals with the thinking part of this sickness. Thinking the insanity all the way through..Nice one
I really do not get cravings anymore,, but I have worked the steps,,,soooooooo???????

i don't have them either but i know i'm subject to getting them again at some point. believe you me, i had several bottoms. none of them pretty. one thought: remembering how i felt when my little girl was removed from my arms to the arms of my mother due to "projected neglect." in other words the judge felt the neglect was coming fast and furiousand before it did she meant to protect my daughter. she was right.

wow another great line of wisdom i learned in the rooms.
i think back to the dumb things ive done
sometimes in the past, well a lot of times i didnt care. i drank to forget the dumb stuff and piled on more.
just being able to read and share with people who relate has helped me so far.
plus ill get something to eat or say f the world im going to bed, when i can. lol

Hi Loved1 for me the physical craving started after I took a drink then one drink was to many and one hundred not enough.

But early in my recovery when I desired or felt like I needed a drink I would have a chocolate milkshake or two especially when I was out believe me you wont feel like a drink after a couple of milkshakes.

I would also imagine there was a poison sticker on the bottle or cast of alcohol I was about to drink.

Also if I felt like a drink I would imagine my class or bottle was filled with maggots I would also look into the bottom of the glass a remember where my last drunk took me then ask myself did I want to go there again.

Also if I was out shopping and needed to go to the toilet a few times I would head for the local bar but I had to learn to ask myself do I have any business being in there because I wasnt drinking and because there where other public amenities I could use. Daniel didnt go back into the lions den.

Just a few

God Bless

Lionel

Playing the tape through worked a bit for me as a short term strategy when I 1st got sober but doesnt work for me as a long term way to not drink. Even in AA and continually aware of the consequences of taking a drink I kept on relapsing.

My experience is best described by what it says in the big book "unable to remember with sufficient force the suffering and humiliation of a month or even a week ago... at certain times without mental defence against first drink"

I dont know when those times will be when I will convince myself that this time will be different, or some other justification/excuse, or wont care either way, and the insane idea to pick up a drink will win over my rational thinking.

Working the steps worked for me as I needed a way not to take the first drink that didnt rely on my unreliable thinking.

Last time I had an obsession to drink I admitted my powerlessness, surrendered to the 12 step program and open mindedness to another way of life and reliance on something other than me to keep me sober. I havent had an obsession to drink since then. Thats my experience so far anyway.

Gert modern man. Tapes are ancient we play MP3s.

That is a problem that i have withe AA way. I don't like listening to someones drinking stories. It triggers me to want a drink.

Anh Minh, AA is not all about drinking stories, perhaps you should look for different meetings - like Big Book or Step meetings where the focus is on recovery, as it should be.

I don't subscribe to the tape idea because that only works when you can use willpower and not when the mental blindspot gets in the way. When that happens we are powerless and doomed to drink again because we are without defense. The sensible recall is not available to us.

Far better then to work through the Steps toward a spiritual experience which gets rid of the craving in the first place.

Yep that is one that works for me too.Alway's think of the consequences of our actions.

AnhMinh wrote:

"That is a problem that i have withe AA way. I don't like listening to someones drinking stories. It triggers me to want a drink. "

I agree with you 100%. Checkout:

http://www.aaprimarypurpose.org/rotation/speakers2.htm

Download a Chris R. MP3 file and you will hear someone who agrees with you as well.

well, i play the tape in addition to the steps and aa. the steps and aa are great but if you are subject to depression/anxiety/ptsd or any other diagnosis of the psychiatric/biochemical realm you may need a bigger tool box than a one size fits all solution. d.