Hi are you getting to meetings (AA)there lies your answer , i found out all my questions in the rooms , i kept on going back please take care............ Bob

I CANNOT ANSWER THAT FOR YOU...JUST LIVE SOBER AND IT HAPPENS! AND GIVE IT TIME....WITHOUT TIME IT WILL NEVER END...SO ONE DAY AT A TIME DO NOT DRINK....

Are you doing a gratitude list and saying thanks before you go to bed last night for a sober day? I used to aim for 10 a night in my early days.

I find my awakening thoughts are the way my spiritual world talks to me. If I have things to 'clear', it comes as a reminder.

Hello Magpie2,

If you are an alcoholic you suffer from a mental obsession for alcohol and until the obsession is removed you will continue to think about drinking.

There are probably several ways of losing the obsession but for many alcoholics it requires some sort of spiritual awakening which brings about a change of personality. A person who undergoes this spiritual awakening becomes less obsessed with self and more concerned about others. Somewhere along the way, that obsession for alcohol which had such a tight grip just slips away.

I will give you an example of what happens, based on my own experience. I drank a lot and drank for a long time. After many years I drank mostly straight whiskey because the craving for alcohol was so strong that I couldnt be bothered with anything weaker. When I entered a bar room I was drawn to those bottles on the wall like iron to a magnet. Life without alcohol was something that I could not imagine. When I was defeated by alcohol and ended up going to AA meetings I began to lose that obsession that I thought would be impossible to part with. After getting a sponsor and doing those much maligned 12 Steps it just happened without me even knowing about it the obsession was gone. I spent one long evening at a social function in a bar (one that I could not avoid) and had no thoughts of drinking although I was surrounded by other people who drank plenty. It was not until I was driving to an AA meeting the following evening that I realized that I had spent hours in a bar and had not even seen those once attractive bottles.

The big debate centres on how to achieve a spiritual awakening and there are probably many ways. However, the Twelve Step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous was developed specifically for the purpose of enabling you to find that spiritual awakening or psychic change.

I found that during the first month I thought about alcohol a LOT. I am not just talking about cravings -- even when I was feeling good it was on my mind.

Drinking consumed my thoughts when I was drinking, and it continued to consume my thoughts when I quit. But at least I wasn't getting drunk, wasn't suffering from hangovers, and I was getting my life back.

The cravings (or obsession as some people think of it) went away gradually (seemed relatively quickly considering how long and how much I drank) and the general thinking about drinking and not drinking took longer. I still think about it, but not so much now.

Why not start a new "wake up ritual" to shift what your mornings are like? Wake up, take deep cleansing breaths, clear your mind and as m8bears suggests, offer thanks for what you are grateful for.

I will def try the new ritual. I have done that. But not often enough. It needs to become ritual.

For me those thoughts didnt go as the result of passage of time, they went as the result of action that I put into a recovery program. Until I did that the thoughts did not go away. They might fade briefly but would always come back as strong as ever. Often for no reason, completely taking me by suprise.

As soon as you stop trying to not think about alcohol. Or, at least, give up the importance of not trying to think about alcohol in the morning.

What we resist, persists!

The key here is acceptance of what is at any moment. As soon as we say yes to the existence of something, the resistance, and ultimately, the pain (caused by your resistance to what is at this moment) will disappear.

I love the responses so far. I would often think of alcohol first thing as I was hung over. So of course I'd wake up and say "oh god not again." ....and so it went for years. By 4 or 5 p.m. I'd forgotten how awful I was feeling, or felt, and was ready to start drinking again shortly thereafter.
Repeat.
Now I wake up with a clear head. Most mornings I get up for my a.m. home group meeting. Its very early so I wake up earlier still, do 1/2 hour or so of yoga, read a short prayer, and go to my meeting. No time to wallow in misery. Time to be thankful, grateful, and present. Or at least most mornings:)
It gets easier and recovery is just as progressive as alcoholism when we get into a program. Find one.

Wonderful insight basdist!

Magpie, I believe this will pass, be patient with yourself and work whatever your program is with calm confidence. Sometimes I think it just takes some time for all the parts of us to get going in the same direction.

As a sweet help, could you always plan to have a delicious breakfast food waiting in a clean kitchen and maybe some flowers or a plant at your bedside? Mornings are soooo much better when we're on a sober path, the poor addict in you is just too slow and frightened to see it right away.

This is all great advice. So Smart recovery that's a program right?
This will take some time indeed. Maybe I should plan to go jogging in the am. Then I'll be thinking how I don't want to go jogging. LOL! That just might work. It's weird, I'm not thinking about drinking it. Just IDK. It's weird. The flowers are a fantastic idea.