Good morning sjtsng. While you have a few good tools, I must disagree with your mental training.

If I imagined myself drinking and the feelings at the time of warmth, etc., I would associate it with romancing the drink. I found working the 12 Steps to be a more direct way to deal with the problem.

When I was drinking, I believed in the reward system too! I don't live by that today. I had to chuckle though, because it was such a huge thing back in the day. Have a great, sober day!

If you are still think alcohol is a good thing, maybe.
That would be like:
I imagine I will be doing cocaine, feel the first hit and warmth, and then, before I loose myself, I think what would happen at the end.
Why even go there?
It means that you are still entertained and still think alcohol is rewarding, IMO.
I do not do those type of exersizes. since you asked.

No, I do not think alcohol is a good think, nor I romance it. Just trying to build safe switches available. Every time I relapsed, it took a snap moment decision, before I can do anything to stop it.

Daily mindful meditation has been a great tool for me. I also take lessons from a Buddhist monk. I learned not attach, to accept, to stay in the now, and realize that the only person that I can change is me. These and other tools have prevented relapse. I was relapsing after 6 months to a year of sobriety, until i learned how to use these tools.

Another tool that I have is a variety of healthy healthy rewards. I have been taking online courses. I am into photography, I cook for the homeless. I am taking a group of some school kids on field trips every Friday. By having a variety, when one ends. At the end of the summer when the field trips are over I have other ways of rewarding myself.

jstng, thank you for the explanation. If that's what works for you, who's to say it won't work. Be on the lookout though for stray thoughts you may have that makes booze attractive!.

I don't know about you but for me, I couldn't sober up with the same brain I got drunk with. I hope you talk to other alcoholics who are sober. That was vital for me at the beginning. Best of luck!

Great topic jstsng. I can speak to relapsing, but just my own experience. I was sober 3.5 years and really thought I was not an alcoholic and that I could drink socially. It became very simple math for me, I could not stop at one, then it was a struggle to stop completely again.

I think our brain can play some tricks on us. I say this just from the stories that I hear in AA and read in this forum. I WANTED to not be an alcoholic, and to be able to be like the others who I tend to socialize with. But I proved myself to simply have a problem with alcohol. Stopping was my only option. Moderation, switching drinks, scheduling drinks, none of that worked for me.

As for tools? I use visualization as well. I remember the tears and fear in my teenage sons eyes when he broke down and told me how I had let him down, how he thought I was the rock in the family and the strong one. I hate to let people down. To let my son down and look him in the eyes simply broke my heart. I gave him all the time he needed to tell me what he needed to tell me. I knew that this was important for him, and me. Then I promised him I would stop. What I did not know was how hard it would be.

So remembing how let down my family was is a big motivator.

Remembering what it was like to get bailed out of jail by my wife after my DUI is another motivator. I felt humiliation.

I also try to think about the great times during my 3.5 years before I relapsed, how I quit throwing up in the morning, I could think clearer, I felt better about myself, and I gained the respect of my family. My health got better. My hands quit shaking.

I hope some of these help you.

Retraining our brains to not rely on that immediate gratification is difficult, but very cool of you to acknowledge this and take action.
Thanks to Impermanence, I started mindful meditation and it has worked wonders for me. As he mentioned, it helps you be in the moment, as well as detach
Do you go to any groups, AA or anything? I do not, just curious as to if you do.

I remember the last time I bought liquer before I sought help through detox, I was actually coming out of the store. I was all done work and wanted to go home and enjoy myself with my bottle, and I never gave it a second thought.

Nowadays, I think about the conseqences of my actions before I do something I know I will later regret. I think about the people I will hurt and I think about al the sober time I will be throwing away. I thin about the damage I will be doing to my body and the weight I will gain....That's all, but that's more then enough!

When I went through my divorce and had that one slip, I didn't care about all that stuff because I was losing the one person that helped me get sober and the one person that had been by my side for the previous 24 years....none of that seemed to matter. At 2 beers I stopped, and I prayed, and I asked God to help me.

3 years post divorce and I get along better with my ex then I did when I was married, and I have never been happier!

See how that all works?

God Bless!

Play the tape through.

It's like a horror movie for me, it starts out all great, a wonderful camping trip to the woods... Then bam Jason shows up with a chainsaw...

Play the whole tape through in your mind

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I did a lot of visualization in my first year of sobriety. Before I went someplace where people were drinking, I visualized myself being there and saying no when offered a drink. I pictured myself happily sober.

I visualized a red circle with a line through it (symbol meaning NO) on bottles of wine and liquor.

But not once have I visualized myself drinking or imagined putting an alcoholic drink to my lips.That does not help with sobriety -- it reinforces the idea of drinking.