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Daily Motivation – Week 1

September 15, 2016
5:05 pm

Not only is it the first of the month but at 10:03am BST today it is the New Moon making this the absolute PERFECT time to set your intentions and start something new; could that be sobriety?
From today I will bring you a daily message, sometimes small sometimes longer, to motivate your sobriety. I hope you enjoy and are inspired to be your best, and please get in touch if you have any questions about any of the topics that I cover over the coming days, weeks, months and years…..

Day 1

The Flashback.

Last night here in Spain we went out to one of my parents’ favourite restaurants. They’ve lived on the Costa Blanca for 20 years and it’s only in the last four that I’ve been sober; this means that I have had a fair few drunken nights out here.

Looking back I don’t think that I have been sober before in this particular restaurant and when I went to the toilet I had a sudden flashback; the room began to spin and I saw everything as if I were drunk. I tried to see myself in the mirror but the image looking back at me was blurred; I reached for the folded individual hand towels on the high shelf and felt unsteady on my feet; and all of a sudden I felt sick.

Of course I couldn’t wait to get out of the toilet as it was in some sort of drink demon time warp and as soon as I sat back down at the table the sensation ceased. What on earth just happened?

Many report early on in sobriety that they have dreams about drinking, and wake up in a high stress hoping that it didn’t really happen. Take this as a good sign! It means that you are releasing the urge at a deep level, another layer shed, and us working hard at a subconscious level to move to the next level.

As I began to explain to my family what had just happened I had a huge shift in consciousness for in that moment I could truly see how far I have come:

1,415 days of sobriety
1,415 nights of no blurred vision, unsteadiness or nausea
1,415 mornings without a hangover
1,415 days of belief in myself and pride that I am worth sobriety
1,415 nights of better sleep
1,415 days of better skin
1,415 days of stronger bones, organs, muscles, blood and cells

I LOVE ME

I am worth it
And so are you
Embrace the uncomfortableness
Jump into the fire of sobriety
And join me in this dance of FREEDOM

Day 2

Finding Space.

We all have struggles, there is no one on earth that doesn’t, and the ONLY difference is HOW we deal with them. And it’s so interesting that for so long I turned to substances and behaviours that I thought were ‘fixing’ it but actually were making the situation a whole load worse. However once I broke through the conditioning and saw my addiction for what it was, I could simply LET IT GO and get on with life.

And suddenly there was so much space

Meditation will teach you to connect with SPACE; the space that is just beyond your shoulders; the space that is between you and the sounds you can hear; the space between you and the drama that is playing out in your life at the moment; the space between pure consciousness and the urge to use.

Ultimately this is what it’s all about, this is the learning, and when we get it there is no going back to a life of struggle, pain and drowning in the cycle of addiction for now you are free….

Day 3

Sobriety Is Easy, Really?

I’ve just got back from my summer holiday and spent the plane journey back from Spain writing a blog about the conditioning we must fight our way through if we are to find freedom (out soon). It’s the very first hurdle in this sobriety conundrum and the most important, for if we believe as we’ve been told up until now, that sobriety is difficult and that we will always yearn for a drink / line / cake for forevermore then we are setting ourselves up for a tough time for sure.

What if I told you that the exact OPPOSITE is true? It’s easy! And all that you’ve been told is NOT true! Quantum Sobriety teaches you that it can be as easy as the blink of an eye;
I now NEVER have an urge to drink
I DON’T call myself an alcoholic or ‘in recovery’ because it’s all gone

I’m recovered

The fight is over
I am free
I have CHOSEN to leave that life of struggle behind and it no longer is a burden around my neck, pulling me under. I don’t feel like I’m drowning anymore, in fact life is amazing BECAUSE of what I’ve been through:

The energy I used to spend on my addiction

I now direct to my good health

It’s all about your mindset, and it can be easy or difficult, it’s up to you but it will all boil down to: What do you believe it’s going to be like? For you can ONLY experience what you believe. Therefore, change your beliefs and you change your reality; it really can be as simple as that….

Day 4

The Lucky Ones.

I really do believe that we are the lucky ones us addicts, for we have the potential for greatness. Life for us is either black or white; using or clean; high or low; and we have a decision to make = all or nothing.

On the other hand those that we often wish to be; the elusive ‘social drinker’ / ‘social user’, does not get this opportunity and will be forever trapped in the cycle of consumption of a poison. So can you flip this belief on its head and begin to see that in fact WE ARE THE LUCKY ONES? That in fact it is us that holds the key to incomprehensible (right now) expansion!

I have lived on both sides of the fence and can categorically state:

The Grass IS Greener Over On The Sober Side

For it’s pretty shit when you are stuck in the cycle of substance abuse; knowing that you don’t want to be doing something, yet going back to it over and over again. Like a toxic relationship that you know is not healthy but are unable to extract yourself from (I’ve been there a number of times too), our lives are controlled by something else.

As I said yesterday “the energy I used to spend on my addiction I now direct to my good health” and us addicts are STRONG. We are so motivated to use and when we finally realise this and harness this energy, guiding it instead into a positive rather than destroying ourselves, we have got the most amazing opportunity to live from our hearts.

So stop feeling sorry for yourself that you can never take another drink and fully embrace the fact that YOU have actually been chosen for something much greater than everyone else….

Day 5

Are We There Yet?

Quantum Sobriety

We have been taught that this journey is a tough one, and so we wait and expect the struggle as we take our last drink / line / sweet. And then BAM! it hits us; the ure, the compulsion, the desire to use again.

And now we are at a junction
One where we can only turn either left or right

Left takes us deeper into the struggle, it’s a place filled with those that are ‘trying’ not to have another drink / line / cake. Everyone is talking here about how difficult it is; sharing their wounded stories of craving and hardship.

Right however is a new path, one where rather than wishing you were still drinking / using / bingeing and viewing yourself as WHO YOU USED TO BE, you instead:

Embrace Who You Are About To Become

So who do you want to be?
What do you want to become?
What would it FEEL like to be there already?
What will you be SAYING when you get there?

And do you know what, all of that is already part of you; inside somewhere waiting to be heard, believed and lived. So when the next urge comes you have a choice, will you be turning left or right?

Day 6

Yes, YOU Deserve It.

YOU Deserve It ALL

You didn’t think I was talking to someone else did you? You didn’t think that Freedom in Sobriety was reserved only for others did you? Or perhaps you have been thinking like this up until now?

Well I am going to set the record straight; we ALL have unlimited potential and the capacity to change our lives for the better. There isn’t a higher power or God who looks down and decides that some can have it and other can’t. Ultimately what it boils down to is that we ALL have it in us and the only thing that separates those that succeed from those that don’t is MINDSET.

What are your BELIEFS around addiction?
Your BELIEFS around yourself?
Your BELIEFS around what is possible in life?

That is the ONLY thing that is different about us. I do believe and if you are still stuck on the merry-go-round of addiction you don’t believe 100% yet. But you have the potential to, and this is fantastic news!!
So, are you yet ready to quantum leap?

Day 7

But Why Couldn’t I Stop?

I stopped drinking in October 2011 whilst I was writing my first book and honestly thought i’d cracked it.

Then in May 2012 Dom and I went on honeymoon and I had ‘just one’ because it was a ‘special occasion’. I controlled my drinking over the two weeks of holiday because I didn’t want to ruin my honeymoon, and thought I could control it once I got home once more. However, that didn’t quite pan out as the drink demon had reawakened I went into six months of bingeing. In fact my drinking was even worse and I was consuming higher levels of alcohol than ever before.

Couple this with the shame of my book being launched which was all about my ‘success in sobriety’, and I felt like a fraud.
And it was the shame that added so much weight to the burden I was already carrying and seemed to make it even more difficult to stop.

All of the reasons for sobriety pilling on top of me;

I knew I wanted to stop
I knew I could do it
I knew how to do it
I didn’t want to be the drunk yoga teacher anymore
I didn’t want to be sending drunk messages on my phone or on Facebook
I knew I was better than this
I was about to have my book published

BUT WHY COULDN’T I STOP?

And I was like a pressure cooker, my top about to explode, all of this stress has to go somewhere, and I knew that something was about to happen…..

…..and it did.
It happened at the absolute last minute.
I had my final ever drink 12 days before my booked launched.
That was 1,422 days ago and next month I will be celebrating four years of sobriety. I know categorically that I will never drink again because now I see it for what it is: A TRAP

And I don’t want to be put in a trap anymore.
No more hamster wheel; doing something that you don’t want to be doing and feeling that you can’t stop doing it.
That has gone.
I am free.

And the reason that I could finally do it became clear to me.
All of a sudden I became aware of the bigger picture:

It Wasn’t Just About Me Any Longer.

I realised that my sobriety had a hugely positive effect on many people, and although it was myself I was letting down by drinking I was also cutting others off too. Just think, these emails wouldn’t be coming to you everyday if I was still drinking; my words of sober ‘wisdom’ would be laughed at if I was still drinking.

NO ONE ELSE COULD BE SUPPORTED

And it was this one realisation that changed it for me; I recognised that if I didn’t step up into the sober future that I had visualised in my meditation, then I wasn’t embracing my purpose.
I was literally stunting my growth.

Quote’s Of The Week

In this section you will read something that has been said by one of the Quantum Sobriety Online Programme members over on the very lively private forum:
” I am just over 2 months in to this program and in the past loved my wine and associated it with many things. Reward, relax, fun, good day, bad day, cooking, you name it. If i didn’t have responsibilities to do wine was often the reward. So for all you people here struggling, keep on going. If my brain can change in this time, so can yours. It gets easier with each baby step and each uncomfortable alcohol itch passed upgrades us and a alcohol neuron gets weaker… “

Thank you Jayne!

“Good morning everyone, Jo wrote in her blog – “Magic lies OUTSIDE your comfort zone”. Your addiction is your comfort zone. We all know it, even if we are not admitting it.
I wonder what this magic is she talks about?? Is their fairy dust or pixies, is their a different universe, is there lots of people only hugging and smiling, is it a place free of all poison, what is this place of magic she talks about. I mean seriously I want to know!! Don’t you want to know. I do. I want to know right now!!
So after meditation I say I’m going to stop doing everything in my comfort zone and go find this magic. Jo found it, I can too, you can too.
Its actually good fun wondering around believing in finding magic. Let go of this already serious life.
You deserve better. I deserve better”

Thank you Tommy!

“Well, lovely people, I cannot believe that tomorrow will be my 14th day without a drink. And I can honestly say I’ve hardly even thought about alcohol. Hardly had a craving. Not even a wistful ‘I wish I was one of those people that could drink in moderation’. It’s quite incredible. How can a mindset just change? Please, please don’t let complacency set in. Someday soon I might be on here screaming that I need a drink, want a drink. I really hope I will be able to meet that challenge. I thank you all for your posts- your successes, your fears, your lapses. Keeping in real. Thanks! M x”

New Online Programme member, UK

“In a weird but wonderful way, i am truly grateful for my addiction to booze. Despite bringing me pain & destruction in the past, i am now so far beyond that. Learnt so much about myself & being here with you guys is so inspiring, every day”

Kirsty, Online Course Member, UK

“Yesterday I had an emotional melt down. I don’t know where it came from but I obviously needed to let it out. I cried and sobbed and felt exhausted all day. Today is a new day. The sun is shining and I feel at peace with myself. I thank you Jo. The forgiveness meditation has come at just the right time for me. 30 minutes went so quickly, with an amazing uplifting feeling, tingles all over! I have been strong enough to cut the ties that were binding me still. I will cut them again when I meditate tomorrow and again and again as often as I feel I need to. Feeling free and light with love in my heart. I think I am finally moving on! Slowly but surely. Feels so good to let go.”

Lee, Online Course Member, UK

“I am powerful. I can change. My brain can change. The possibilities in life are only limited by yourself.
QS’s guided meditations have helped me create new pathways to a struggle free, alcohol free life while giving a community of like minded ‘Quantum Explorers’!!”

Nikki, Online Course Member, USA

“It’s hard to believe you ever struggled like that Jo! It just shows me that it is possible to be totally free! I have had great moments of freedom and am really starting to feel free…”

M, Online Course Member, USA