Over the next few weeks I am sharing extracts from my book “WALKING BACK TO HAPPINESS - THE SECRET TO ALCOHOL-FREE LIVING & WELL-BEING” to be published in May / June 2022, offering insights into the life changing experiences I encountered on my first year of going alcohol-free. I’m currently on Day 494…

A Zen teaching says our entire life arises out of the spirit of intention. From intention springs the deed. From deeds spring the habits. From the habits grow the character. From the character develops the destiny. So what we intend to do shapes who we are.

Neuroscience shows that the neurons in our brains fire together and wire together, which basically means the more you do something the more it becomes a normal and accepted thing for you to do.

Depending on your intention, this can be good or bad news for you. Henry Ford’s famous saying sums this up beautifully: “I think I can or I think I can’t, either way I’m probably right”. This is simply self-fulfilling prophecy, if you tell yourself something or others start telling you, ‘you are this’, ‘you do this’, then you will start to believe it. If you keep telling yourself it, you will do it and you’ll become it. ‘It’ will become your destiny, so be careful of your intentions and what you wish for.

This holds for everything. If you intend to drink alcohol every day. It will soon become your destiny. If you eat well and work out every day you will become fit.

There are many ways to understand your deepest intentions. The one I started with is called the ‘wisdom of impermanence’. This basically means you start to question who you are when something bad happens to you. I started questioning my relationship with alcohol when I realised the enormous effects it was having on my health and my relationships and my life expectancy. This made me question my intentions and what I wanted out of my life.

Another way is to just start questioning. Step outside yourself and with a scout mentality ask yourself What are my intentions? In short, you need to shift from an ego intention to an aspirational intention and by that, I mean ask yourself What do I aspire to be? What is my purpose?

ABOUT THE BOOK

This is the story of how a 50-something-year-old, who had been locked into the habit of drinking alcohol for over 35 years, finally woke up and said, "I want a different life"; how he found his purpose and in doing so, transformed his mind and body; how he lost 30% of his body weight and made anxiety and sleepless nights a thing of the past.

Set out in six sections…

The book follows my experiences over the first year of alcohol-free living, covering:

-       Time To Act: Day 1

-       The Journey Begins: The First Few Days

-       Discovering The New You: The First Few Weeks

-       Understanding The New You: The First Few Months

-       The New You: Beyond 90 Days

-       A New Life: One Year & Beyond

Each chapter comprises…

-       My Story

-       What I Learnt

-       Steps You Can Take

-       Key Learnings

The book will help you:

-       Identify your values

-       Cement your beliefs

-       Find your purpose

-       Reduce your anxiety

-       Lose weight

-       Improve your well-being

-       Discover the power of mindfulness & meditation

-       Be more present

-       Unleash your alcohol-free superpower

-       Transform your mind & body

 To be published in May / June 2022. Available on Amazon, other leading book sellers and through www.9kmby9am.com

Follow me

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/9kmby9am

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@9kmby9am

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/9kmby9am