Sunday, January 26, 2020


                                       Blog 95 Addiction:  Shaking the Habit

Recently, I listened to an interesting interview with Annie Grace, where she described her addiction to alcohol and how she eventually overcame it.  One of the things she did was do extensive research for a year about how to overcome addictions (in her case, alcohol) and how to reconcile conflicts between the conscious and subconscious minds regarding habits and life choices.  The person’s conscious mind might want to stop drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes or consuming large amounts of sugar, or whatever else a person might do that impacts their health and their self-esteem negatively, (to say nothing of their finances).  But their subconscious mind may want to continue engaging in addictive habits.  Until a person can resolve this conflict, they will be struggling with themselves, something that consumes energy and negatively impacts health and self-esteem in the long run. 

She presented approaches which had worked for herself.  For one thing, she had never labeled herself as an alcoholic, and felt that her attitude gave her more power to take the next step.  She stopped drinking alcohol for one month.  She stopped 100% and promised herself that after a solid 30 days without alcohol, she would then allow herself to take a drink, and she had to do this mindfully.  This meant that she was completely aware of what she was thinking, feeling, tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, and touching as she purchased the alcohol, as she took it home, and she opened the bottle, as she poured herself a drink, as she raised the glass to her lips, as she took a sip, as she swallowed, and as the alcohol then traveled down her esophagus and into her stomach.  Now, understand that she already consciously wanted to quit, but her subconscious had felt differently.  She chose a month free from the substance because by that time, the physical aspect of the addiction would be past, and what would be left was the mental and emotional attachments.  When she listened to her mind and body as she took that first sip after 30 days, she realized that she did not even like the feel of the alcohol in her body.  She also understood that she had survived emotionally and socially for 30 days without the substance.  She was able to quit, and no longer felt conflicted regarding alcohol consumption.  Understand, if she had been so addicted that she had severe shakes when she stopped drinking, then should would have needed some professional help to free herself from the substance.  Fortunately, she was not that seriously addicted.   

Annie Grace has shared her experiences and approach to quitting free of charge, and has helped many other people free themselves from alcohol addiction. Some of these people occasionally may have a drink. One to two drinks per week probably will not increase the risk of cancer, stroke, ulcers, autoimmune illness, heart attack, etc.  But more than this can negatively impact one’s health.  And generally, when people have been struggling unsuccessfully with a habit for a long time, they are relieved to finally succeed in freeing themselves.  It would make no sense to go back to the way things were.

Something struck me as I listened to her interview:  the same method of quitting alcohol should be helpful in quitting any other substance, as long as as a person is not seriously physically addicted.  I am including a link to Annie Grace speaking for a few minutes about her overcoming her addiction.  If that sounds good to you, or if you think it could help someone you know, you can find more information on her website.  Here is the link:  it would be best to cut and paste it to your browser.  Free Alcohol Experiment program 

This blog’s offer:  Consider having several sessions of hypnosis, as well as self-hypnosis instruction to help quit any undesired and harmful habit.  As a certified hypnotist, I can offer this service and instruction.  Happy New Year 2020. 



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