Alcohemy: The Solution to Ending Your Alcohol Habit for Good: Privately, Discreetly, and Fully in Control

By David Norman

Alcohemy is a proven process for anyone questioning the role of alcohol in their life. It gives you the power to succeed, revealing that alcohol doesn’t free you to be yourself, but actually limits your full potential. With Alcohemy, you can recover from the depths of despair to become the “master of your fate, and captain of your soul.” Alcohemy is a proven 13-element plan that will help you become alcohol-free based on real-life, personal experience. It will change you from the inside and deliver the outward results. You will not have to constantly resist drinking or be labeled an alcoholic for the rest of your life; the desire to drink will truly disappear. The Alcohemy process can be accomplished discreetly in the privacy of your own home. This book highlights the real cost of alcohol-related problems globally and personally and puts the power to succeed back in your hands, where it should be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781614485728

Book preview

ALCOHEMY

Why, Belief and How are the focus points in David’s Alcohemy. He shows how the mind is our greatest asset in changing any negative habitual behavior. David went from the very depths of alcohol dependency to blissfully alcohol-free by changing how he thought about alcohol use. Since 1934 Alcoholics Anonymous has earned a tremendous reputation world-wide for helping millions of people with addictions. Seventy-five years from now, David’s book Alcohemy will have done the same.

—Bob Proctor, best-selling author, You Were Born Rich

This amazing book will truly help you see what is possible and live a richer life at the next level! When I work with my life and business planning clients, I challenge them to think differently about what is and what is possible. Then, we create the plan of action needed to get to what is possible. Alcohemy is a powerful life plan for people struggling with alcohol dependency, or any other negative habit. It’s clear throughout the book that David Norman is committed to helping people deal with these challenges successfully.

—Linda McLean, Speaker, Coach and #1 International Bestselling Author of Next Level Living: Today’s Guide for Tomorrow’s Abundant Life.

David’s Alcohemy not only reveals the real and hidden consequences of alcohol dependency, also the step-by-step process to being alcohol-free. He himself rose from the darkness and struggle to be completely free from desiring alcohol at all; simply by changing the way he thought. This should be a compelling read for all that habitually use alcohol.

—Bill Harris, Director, Centerpointe Research Institute, Inc., Creators of The Holosync Solution and The Life Principles Integration Process

Powerful, life-changing! David’s open, honest approach to life, love and the road to recovery are riveting. His step-by-step process encourages and empowers the individual to take charge of their own lives, reminding them that the power to choose their own destiny is already inside them. His discreet, dignified, do-it-yourself solution is a powerful remedy for any dependency or addiction and simultaneously provides the reader confidence to repair and heal the past. Alcohemy is a true catalyst for change! David delivers his disciples from the depths of alcohol dependency, to leading a life filled with their greatest dreams and desires! Cheers to your success David!

—Michelle Corr, Host of Michelle Corr 6˚ on Voice America & KWSS 93.9 FM & CEO of 6° Media

David’s journey through life and personal transformation has proven once again that nothing is more powerful than the mind. After years of struggle and heartache, David tapped deep into his own mind and developed his innate abilities to utilize this most powerful tool. However, he didn’t just stop once he broke through; he continually backed his efforts with positive influences and named his process Alcohemy. He now shares the secret of his personal success in the hope that others can experience the joy of living a life free from negative habitual behaviour. This is a must read for anyone concerned about creating sustained change in their life.

—Michael Fitzgerald, Sr. Co-Founder of MyCause Water

Alcohemy is a refreshing look into the how and why behind addiction, and David Norman’s story gives powerful insight into the role of the mind, emotion and belief in finding healing.

—Dina Proctor, Best-Selling Author of Madly Chasing Peace

As a scientist by training, I was rather skeptical when I realized that this book is basically a personal story. A case of one can be misleading. All of us are unique and different, and what works for David may well only work for him. What convinces me is experimental evidence, controls and comparisons.

However, as I read on, I became more and more impressed. Either David is a genius who invented all this, or he has trained himself very well indeed in the fine details of psychotherapy. I have worked as a counseling psychologist since 1991, and a great deal of the contents of this book could have come from my case notes with clients. I have not found a single statement in Alcohemy that is not evidence-based.

The method described in this book worked for David, and will work for you, because it is best psychotherapeutic practice.

At the same time, it is new and novel. Like everyone else, until I read Alcohemy, I believed that an alcoholic can only become a dry alcoholic, because the condition is a disease, as stated by AA. I agreed with the general assessment that many years of abstinence can be broken if an alcoholic takes a drink, even unknowingly. The urge, the desire is always there in the background.

David has convinced me that it is possible to get rid of this urge, this desire to drink alcohol, and by implication to get rid of any other addiction. I have started to apply David’s ideas in my therapeutic practice, and hope the book will be widely enough known that it becomes the new accepted wisdom.

—Dr Bob Rich, MSc, PhD, MAPS, Counselling Psychologist

Member of the Australian Psychological Society

Member, APS College of Counselling Psychologists

Member, International Positive Psychology Association

ALCOHEMY

The Solution to Ending

Your Alcohol Habit for Good

Privately, Discreetly, and

Fully in Control

DAVID NORMAN

NEW YORK

ALCOHEMY

The Solution to Ending Your Alcohol Habit for Good—

Privately, Discreetly, and Fully in Control

© 2014 David Norman. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other‚—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing. Morgan James and The Entrepreneurial Publisher are trademarks of Morgan James, LLC. www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

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ISBN 978-1-61448-571-1 paperback

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ISBN 978-1-61448-572-8 eBook

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MEDICAL DISCLAIMER

(1) No advice

This book has been written as an information resource to help increase awareness of alcohol dependency. It contains general information about alcohol consumption, effects and possible treatment options. The information is not professional or medical advice, and should not be treated as such.

(2) No warranties

Any medical information in this book is provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied. The author makes no representations or warranties in relation to the information in this book.

Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, we do not warrant that:

(a) the medical information in this book will be constantly available, or available at all; or

(b) the medical information in this book is complete, true, accurate, up-to-date, or non-misleading.

(3) Professional assistance

You must not rely on the information in this book as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information in this book.

(4) Limiting our liability

Nothing in this medical disclaimer will:

(a) limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence;

(b) limit or exclude our liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;

(c) limit any of our liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or

(d) exclude any of our liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Part One: Exposing Alcohol Dependency

Part Two: The Alcohemy Process

INTRODUCTION

Oh shit, it’s happened again! What did I do last night? I can’t remember. Jeez, I hope I didn’t do or say anything to embarrass myself or Donna. It couldn’t have been good though as I feel like crap this morning and once again can’t remember anything past . . . what is my last clear memory? Think, man, think! I’ll just lie here pretending to be asleep until I can recall enough of the night’s events so I can at least have a bit of a chance of defending myself when Donna wakes up. Bloody hell, I hate it when I drink too much and can’t remember what’s happened. I can’t keep doing this to myself or her. But what the hell do I do? I don’t believe I could ever stop drinking completely.

This thought process was typical of what used to go through my mind all too frequently on weekend mornings for many years. It was even more of a common occurrence when I was younger and unmarried and partied harder and more frequently. Actually, in those days I didn’t need a party; I often just drank with or without company, weekdays or weekends—it didn’t matter.

You could say I was living an ordinary life, living in the seaside city of Hervey Bay in Queensland, Australia, married with two sons, and working as a staff supervisor for an electricity distribution company. My general circumstances would be similar to those of hundreds of millions of people around the world, particularly given that more than 3.5 billion adults globally drink alcohol. Unfortunately I also became a less desirable World Health Organization (WHO) statistic as one of 140 million who developed an alcohol dependency and one of more than 400 million with alcohol-related problems. According to a WHO document, 78 percent of people don’t seek help and their dependency goes untreated. Furthermore, 2.5 million people die annually from harmful use of alcohol. Sadly, of these approximately 320,000 are young people between fifteen and twenty.¹

Drinking is what Aussies do—I simply couldn’t imagine life without alcohol. My social life depended on it, my ability to relax and unwind depended on it, and my ability to feel good at all depended on it. In other words, I depended on it. And so did most people around me. I prided myself on being a clear and analytical thinker and completely devoted to my family. Yet week after week my alcohol habit would lead me to act in ways completely incongruous with my personality and my values, and ultimately threatened all I held dear. I felt powerless to change.

However, even though I was beginning to admit that I had a deep-seated dependency on alcohol, I did not see myself as what I pictured to be a typical alcoholic. To me the word alcoholic conjured up visions of someone living on the streets or in homeless shelters, with ragged clothes and drinking out of a bottle in a paper bag—or at best someone who couldn’t hold down or function properly in their job, was sneaking alcohol at every chance available, and had abusive relationships with family and friends (if any at all). Even though I obviously had alcohol-related problems, my internal sense of dignity and self-esteem and a deep knowing of who I really was without the impact of alcohol prevented me from using those forms of assistance. I flatly refused to consider going to a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or even discussing it with my regular doctor. Even though I knew I had a very serious habit that was resulting in embarrassing behavior, my tenacious pride and core belief that I was an intelligent and very good person at heart (not a typical alcoholic) prohibited me from seeking support-group assistance.

I want to be clear: I have nothing against organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous. I believe they form an important support network for people with alcohol problems who don’t have the tools, knowledge, or motivation to manage on their own. Personally, though, there was no way in a pink fit that I was going to submit myself to the humiliation of publically declaring I was a hopeless drunk or had lost full control of any part of my life. Such was my obstinate mindset: I was going to do it myself, or not at all.

This resolve was the main driving force that eventually led me to develop a private DIY method (that I could work through by myself) that released me from the habit and bonds of alcohol dependency forever. After several years of reading and listening to personal growth material, I started to see there may be a way to give my habit a good shake and possibly break free. It began with discovering the power of belief. I had the profound realization that anything was possible with belief—and nothing was possible without it. But I also knew the standard wisdom on alcohol dependency: once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Could the power of belief be applied to my alcohol habit?

When I finally believed I could be alcohol-free, the process of how began to reveal itself to me, piece by piece. After even more research and many months of quality time analyzing what it would take to develop a non-drinker’s mindset, I slowly devised and worked through a series of mental exercises and elements that I believed would be necessary for permanent change.

What I ended up creating for myself was a fully comprehensive plan from start to finish that covers all the aspects I had to think about, prepare for, and deal with in order to become truly alcohol-free. Much to my absolute elation, this process did what I expected it would. I have been free from even the thought of needing alcohol ever since. Drinking alcohol literally does not enter into my consciousness as an option, and, as I prefer to phrase it now, alcohol is irrelevant to my desires.

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the process I discovered is the same basic process that lies behind establishing any new habit, whether large or small—as recent behavioral studies have shown. It all comes down to the why, belief, and how behind your behavior. First you must understand why you engage in your current unwanted behaviors and what benefits they bring you, as well as why you want to establish new, better behaviors. Second, you must believe that it is possible for you to change. And third, you must lay out exactly how you are going to make this change in your behavior, step by step.

You can successfully apply this general process to any habitual behavior you’d like to change (I have since changed many old habits using this process), but what I think is revolutionary about this book is that I’ve discovered you can successfully apply it to alcohol dependency as well—which current cultural (and even psychological and medical) wisdom says is a lifelong condition and is impossible to fully eradicate. My experience has proven that this just isn’t the case.

I am fully aware that this position directly contradicts the wisdom behind a program that has been a respected part of our culture for more than one hundred years. But I am convinced that my do-it-yourself self-help program can reach so many more people struggling with alcohol habits who would naturally resist going to their doctor or public forums for help.

The Alcohemy process is a way to free yourself from the bonds of your alcohol habit quietly and privately through a process that puts the power back into your hands and allows you to retain your personal dignity, self-respect, and privacy. You remain in control, and you choose if you tell others, when you tell others, whom you tell, and how much you tell them. The long-term benefits of being in control of the entire process—from the journey of understanding why you started your alcohol habit, to identifying your beliefs about drinking versus ceasing, to analyzing your fears and choosing the reasons you want to stop—all make this your process. This gives you and you alone the power over your destiny. I believe this is far more powerful and results in a far greater chance of lifelong results than having a support group or private practitioner tell you what to think and do, and then hold your hand all the way through.

The risk with that approach is when the outside support is no longer there, you have a reduced inner substance or self-belief to fall back on. If it felt to you that someone else was really driving your success, and you were just following orders, when they are gone, what then? If you perceived they had the power to make sure you achieved your results, not you, you will most likely need their ongoing support for life, for fear of relapsing back into your old ways. You would have to ask yourself, Where did the true power to change come from: you, or the support person or group?

My process, on the other hand, was a completely self-driven journey of discovery, personalized according to where I came from and why I had an alcohol habit. All my analysis was spent digging into my own experiences, thoughts, and feelings about alcohol in my life. Every element of the process was about my personal beliefs, fears, and hopes. I had to make choices and decisions about my own responses to my family and my friends. How I prepared to handle different situations was up to me: I chose my start date, my milestones, and how I rewarded myself. Ultimately I took responsibility for the detail and the execution of my plan, and, yes, I damned well am taking credit for my fantastic success!

Most significantly, following the process, my support system didn’t ride off into the sunset and leave me alone floundering into the future. The sense of self-achievement I got from what I accomplished on my own is incredible and has since led to other successful feats and opened up further possibilities in other areas of my life. Because I did it myself, the belief, confidence, and power remain with me forever.

By changing from the inside out rather than trying to control behaviors from the outside in (through the combination of the why, the how, and belief process I will explain in detail throughout the book), I have truly been alcohol-free since then. The self-directed process made me not just free of alcohol, but free from alcohol. The result was an utter transformation: even though my body and external appearance were the same, my spirit had been completely transformed in a profound and positive way.

Because this transformation went so far beyond the mere outward action of consuming alcohol, I refer to my process as Alcohemy. Alchemy has been defined as a magical power or process of transmuting a common substance (usually of little value), into a substance of great value. It was practiced mainly in the Middle Ages to try to turn base metals into gold and to discover an elixir of life, resulting in great power to the person who could succeed.

We may never know whether anyone actually found the elixir of life or turned lead into gold with alchemy, but I have proof that my Alcohemy can indeed turn wine into water. Before the end of my alcohol habit, red wine was my drink of choice and I consumed it every single day. Now, apart from the occasional apple juice, just about the only thing I ever drink is water. Yes, plain, as unadulterated as possible, natural, healthy water. I know that many people who regularly drink alcohol, soft drinks, coffee, tea, juices, and other artificially flavored beverages will have a very hard time comprehending that I enjoy and now prefer pure water. But the fact is that water has been the only thing that has ever really quenched my thirst. After all, that is the only real reason we need to drink: to replace and maintain our body fluids, which are all water-based.

So not only did my Alcohemy process turn wine into water, it may well have revealed that the real elixir of life was literally right under my nose all along: healthy, natural water.

But Alcohemy does much more than change wine into water. It transforms our very nature. I transformed myself from the low-value base of my alcohol dependency, characterized by constant struggle and frustration, to a valuable, highly rewarded husband, father, friend, colleague, and member of the world community. I turned an ordinary existence into one that has new, expanded goals and expectations of achievement, power, passion, and promise, and I turned my lifelong desire to make a difference into the reality of touching and helping the lives of many people around the world. The changes and rewards I have experienced after leaving my alcohol-fueled life behind and embracing my alcohol-free lifestyle have truly been priceless.

I did my apprenticeship the hard way: over years of personal frustration, heartache, and trial and error. But with determination and the belief that I could be the master of my fate, I slowly uncovered the secret elements to my complete transformation. Although the ancient art of alchemy may have been practiced by conjuring