The Three A's
Acceptance:
Can you get to place in your life where you can accept your flaws, your past and that certain things in life (like alcohol) don't serve you?
Accepting that you probably aren't someone that can moderate alcohol and accepting that it is time to move on from it. When we get to a place of acceptance, we can then make changes with a more joyful heart. Once you have made the decision that alcohol is not for you you will no longer grieve that fact.
It can be so hard to learn to love and accept our flaws and weaknesses, but without accepting them how can we change them?
Can you take some time to be with yourself and think about your flaws or perhaps things in your past you aren't proud of but just be with them. Don't judge them, but view them with compassion. Know that we all have wounds and while we don't want to be ruled by them, accepting them and having compassion for them helps us to heal. Making peace with yourself before is the first step to healing.
"If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is 'the quiet acceptance of what is'." - Wayne Dyer
Allowing:
Once you get to a place of acceptance can you then allow change to happen?
Often we get in the way of our transformation by resisting rather than allowing the change to just happen. There is so much grace in just letting go and allowing changes to take place. Trust and faith in the process of change. It may feel scary to change old beliefs and old ways of being.
Imagine the flow of water, when water is flowing down a river it doesn't become stuck at a rock it moves it's way around the rock and keep on going on it's journey. Be like water and let the change flow.
Awareness:
Awareness is everything! Without becoming aware of what is going on in our mind how can we change? If you are having an urge to drink the most powerful thing you can realise is that, that is just a thought.
Tell yourself "I don't NEED a drink, I am just having an obsessive thought about it". In that moment of awareness, you can arrest that urge and flow on to another more helpful thought or activity. You don't need to become stuck there with that thought and react with your normal automatic response. You can instead allow yourself to react in another way that is more empowering and healing.