Hi P,
It is a bit unfair to the Easy Way book to summarize the whole thing in a short journal post, but I will at least give you my perspective on it. Allen Carr is very specific in the book to say you must read the book from cover to cover before you can or should embark on your efforts to not gamble. He makes it clear that there are no shortcuts, and you can’t just read the punchline and really get it at a deep level. So with that caveat, here goes…
I have decided that gambling, smoking pot and drinking alcohol were all a problem for me, and I want to stop. That’s the first step. Allen then explains, point by point, each so called “benefit” of the behavior, or reason most people do it. He then systematically destroys each “benefit” as misinformation: brainwashing that the alcohol, tobacco, and gambling industries have used to make every user believe that their product is something good that you need. Advertising for these poisons is everywhere, and it covertly and overtly has hoodwinked everyone into believing that they offer benefits. Obviously if they can convince people that their product is an essential thing in your life, you will use it, right? For example, do you think alcohol tastes good? No! It tastes horrible! But we have been brainwashed to believe it tastes good, and if you say you think it tastes bad, people look at you like you are a wimp. All your friends believe it, so if you do not, suddenly you are an outsider, and you question your own logic. Wow, I guess I am wrong and they are right, so I better follow along and do the substance. You follow the herd, and use these harmful products just like the rest of modern society. If you gamble, smoke, drink alcohol, you will be popular, the life of every party, successful, rich, and life will be amazing. If you do not use their products, you will be dull, poor, an outcast, and your life will generally suck. You get the idea…
In reality, these hundred billion dollar industries offer poison and misery and generally just take a bunch of your productive time and money away. Do alcohol conglomerates have commercials about drunk loud obnoxious partiers that throw up on the floor and have a huge hangover the next day? No, that’s the dirty little secret that no one talks about. You hide it, because it doesn’t fit the advertising, so you must be doing it wrong. Same for smoking and gambling. Why are all the others such good drinkers and I always drink too much and feel crappy the next day? Why do so many people win at gambling but I always seem to lose? In reality many people feel crappy the next day, but nobody really talks about it. The real reason you feel crappy the next day is because it is poison. And of course everyone loses at gambling, only the house wins, but that of course is not advertised. The advertising glamorizes a poisonous substance that does nothing for my health or well being.
Alan destroys every supposed “benefit” of gambling, drinking and smoking. You begin to realize that you have been fooled for your whole life, the lightbulb comes on, and you have no desire whatsoever to ever do it again. In fact, you start realizing that I would be a complete fool to do any of those foolish things!
The second part of Allen’s strategy is to point out that this is a progressive disease and no one is immune to this. Once you are so far into it, you believe you need the substance (or the bet) to feel good. In reality after you have repeated the substance (or betting) many many times, he correctly points out that doing it again doesn’t make you feel good, it makes you feel less bad. Your brain tricks you into thinking the substance will make you feel good. In reality you are in a cycle of feeling bad due to a lack of it, and feeling less bad when you do it. That’s the addiction. By this time, you have forgotten what it feels like to feel normal, let alone actually feel good.
Whew! Long post. But that’s only part of it, you really need to read the Easy Way book to really understand it. All I can tell you is that I have a group of friends that get together every month to socialize, drink and smoke pot. In the past I have tried to use the will power method and not partake in the smoking and drinking part of our parties. And I have failed every time. Since Easy Way, I can party and have a great time with them, with no anxiety whatsoever while they smoke pot and drink, and I do not. I have lemonade and snacks, listen to music, get into philosophical discussions, and have a great time, but my desire for the pot and alcohol is completely gone. In fact, I watch them and think, “why do they feel a need to do that to have a good time?”.