This Naked Mind

During the day I feel in control. I am successful and busy. The outward signs of how much I drink are practically nonexistent. I am so busy that I don’t leave room for honesty, questioning, and broken promises. The evening comes, the drinking starts, and the cycle continues

Why are you so weak? So stupid? If I can just make myself see the horror of how far I’ve fallen, maybe I can regain control. Next come the vows, my promises to myself to do things differently tomorrow. To fix this. Promises I never keep.

Liminal Thinking defines how, through the conscious exploration and acceptance of new ideas and truths, you can influence your unconscious mind. This gives you back your ability to make rational and logical decisions about alcohol, no longer influenced by illogical, emotional, or irrational desires. It will give you
control and freedom by changing your understanding of and therefore your relationship with alcohol.

When you make a conscious decision to quit or cut back on alcohol, your unconscious desires remain unchanged. You have unknowingly created
an internal conflict.

In my early days on this journey, the undermining of my desire to drink less by a strange desire to drink more seemed nothing if not bizarre.

. In my experience it’s often the strongest, smartest, and most successful people who drink more than they should.

what you can to put yourself in a positive frame of mind while reading. There is so much to look forward to! Trust the approach, and more importantly, trust your unconscious to do the right thing for you. You can’t control or micromanage your unconscious. Worry and stress are conscious activities—don’t bother with them.

, for his groundbreaking work on habit and willpower;

• Johann Ha

ourselves our whole lives: as soon as we get to the next meal, party, vacation, sexual encounter, as soon as we get married, get a promotion, get to the airport check-in, get through security and consume a bouquet of Auntie Anne’s Cinnamon Sugar Stix, we’ll feel really good . . . and yet the itch remains.”119 Marketing plays directly to these concerns. Alcohol commercials promise friendship, acceptance, gratification, happiness, and youth.

Existentialist psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom identified what he calls humans’ ultimate concerns: death, isolation (loneliness), freedom, and meaning.118 These concerns reflect our deep fundamental needs. We search to understand the meaning of life, but no question provokes more debate. We feel desperate to experience gratification, so much so that we often rob ourselves of it by overindulging. We grapple with the inevitability of isolation and feel alone even in groups or families. We are painfully aware of the inescapability of death. We pursue pleasure and fulfillment in a never-ending search for satisfaction. H