Interview With Don McCauley, Author of Total Success Now

Recently I read Total Success Now by Don McCauley. He has a remarkable theory on addictions that I found very intriguing. Mr. McCauley very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions. His interview presents some fascinating methods for addiction control. (Please note: No medical advice is offered here. Any person attempting to overcome any addiction should be under the care of a licensed medical practitioner. Neither the author of this blog nor Don McCauley offer any medical advice whatsoever. All questions regarding any medical or psychological issue should be referred to a medical or psychological professional).

You have made a very powerful statement: that ALL addictions can be cured. Can you elaborate on that just a bit?

It IS a powerful statement - one that you might have a hard time believing. Any addiction can be overcome. Easily. Immediately. The very idea seems foreign, doesn’t it?

I am not just talking about the more common addictions such as alcohol, drugs and tobacco. I am including in this statement all addictions, which would include addictions to overeating - sex - gambling - any so-called 'vice'. It does not matter what the object might be. What I am discussing here will overcome an addiction to porn as easily as an addiction to popcorn. I am also including in this addictive relationships. Addiction to depression. Addiction to low self esteem. Addictions to hatred, judgment, fear and self-loathing. We can define addiction as 'any recurring, unwanted thought or desire'. Any thought or idea that causes you pain or grief in any form is a candidate for removal using the technique I teach in Total Success Now.

People are going to have a hard time believing that . . .

Of course. Many may have a hard time believing that ending addiction - not just any addiction but all addiction- is possible at all. It is.

In the modern Western culture, the idea seems strange. It appears to some to be lunacy. The idea is often rejected out of hand. This happens for a simple reason, but one that is particularly likely to be overlooked:

Those who are addicted to anything are addicted in the first place because deep down inside their minds they love the object of their addiction. This goes without saying. Perhaps they love the object for itself. Perhaps they desire it for what it brings with it. Perhaps they feel they need it for what it represents. This ‘why’ does not matter at all.

If you can see clearly for a moment you will realize that this idea, the idea that ends all of this addiction insanity, is quite easy to understand and quite easy to put to use.

Well then, why do you think people cannot accept this?

Their own minds won’t allow it. Addictions counselors and therapists too are loathe to accept this idea, for it threatens them to their very core. To accept the idea that addiction is easily overcome does not sit well with most of them, for if an addicted person were to accept this idea and use it, the counselor or therapist would frankly no longer have a function at all. This is threatening and so the idea will most certainly be rejected out of self interest. All kinds of ideas will be presented as to why it simply will not, cannot work. They will call it too easy. They will see it as too simple. Nonetheless, the method I teach nearly always works.

Similarly, in many cases, the addicted person, (be it heroin or hamburgers), will also reject this idea. This is because the addict has built an entire life, an entire mode of existence, around the object of addiction. Taking away the object of the addiction takes away a huge piece of the addict's very self image. Giving up the addiction sometimes leaves a gigantic hole that cannot be filled, save with another addiction, be it a 12- pack or a 12-step program. Nonetheless, it works.

What is the basis of the idea?

Hedonics. The subconscious mind (below the level of awareness) has sometimes been called the reptilian mind or the ‘monkey mind’. This part of mind is concerned with but a few things:

Survival

Creating Pleasure

Avoiding Pain

This base part of mind loves pleasurable feelings. Seldom does one pick up a drink, a drug, a donut or a horse-racing form without the full expectation of gaining pleasure from the act! Think about it. Would you swallow that vile tasting, throat-burning concoction in the shot glass lest it bring you some form of pleasure? Would you choke on the smoke of a marijuana joint if you gained nothing from it save a smoky, smelly burning sensation? Would you eat a dozen donuts if they each tasted like sand?

No indeed. Your base mind, the subconscious, expects PLEASURE from these things because it has received pleasure from these things in the past. Now, CONSCIOUSLY, being a bit wiser, you may know these things will bring you great harm. You may even decide not to participate in these activities anymore. But the monkey-mind overrides YOUR common sense, in the interest of the pleasure or the sense of safety these things will surely bring to it. It then presents you with the dreaded craving.

Now you are smack in the middle of a terrible war; a war with your own mind. You know you shouldn’t. But you want to. But you know you shouldn’t. But you want to. Shouldn’t. Want to. You know you shouldn’t want to. On and on it goes. Back and forth, back and forth you waver. Fighting but yourself. It is akin to having a foreign will inside of you; something seemingly uncontrollable! The sad part? Your subconscious will often win. And ‘you’ will lose.

This is because the subconscious is relentless. It will not give it up.It simply must have the object of the craving. And, in many cases, the base mind is quite simply stronger than the part of you that knows better. The base mind is, in fact, so strong that it will risk killing YOU to get what IT wants. This is lunacy. Yet it happens precisely that way to millions of otherwise rational people. This is elementary. Psychology 101. There is nothing new in this.

Now, as regards substance addiction specifically, anyone can be detoxed from any drug and most certainly must be if addicted to a chemical substance. One should never try to quit ‘cold turkey’ and always, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, everyone should seek the advice of a medical professional when going through detox. Trying to withdraw from a substance can be life threatening if attempted without medical supervision.

Detoxification is a medical process whereby the offending drug is removed from the body of the addicted person. It is a long and often risky medical procedure that, once accomplished, should be the final step. But for most, it is but the first step. For now, at this point, the fight within the mind begins with a vengence.

The subconscious mind, the monkey-mind, begins to scream its displeasure. Its favorite toy has been taken away. And so, it literally goes berserk. Like a child denied, it goes on the attack. This is unsettling for some, and truly agonizing for others.

YOU don’t want the offending substance or object anymore. The subconscious does want the substance or the object and at any cost.

Again, the reason why the mind became addicted in the first place is not important. What is important is to understand how devious and overwhelmingly obsessive the base mind can be in regards to getting what it wants, not what you necessarily want. Minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day it reminds us. It whispers to us. It is unceasing in its attempts to ensnare us. It is relentless in its pursuit of the desired object. And WE must now pay the price, some of us every single day for the rest of our lives (or so they tell us).

So here is a very simple question. Keep an open mind now, if only for a moment.

What if we could simply shut off the voice of the base mind; turn it off like we turn off our televisions or computers? What if we could do away with this monster once and for all? Push a button and it is gone, like our alarm clocks in the morning. What might happen then?

Quite frankly, the mental tug of war, the incessant struggle would be gone. We would be at peace and would simply be also in a mentally recovered state. All of it behind us. No war. No resistance No fight.

This is precisely what most people believe cannot happen. However, using the technique I demonstrate in Total Success Now, it does happen.

Think hard on this and be completely honest. If the offending substance has been removed from the body, the actual physical need for the object eliminated, what is it that causes a person to relapse back into addiction? It is but the gremlin inside. The monkey-mind. The 'mind with a mind of its own'. We believe this part of our mind cannot be controlled. It can.

Is this a new kind of therapy or technique?

This is one of the first questions most people ask, This is not a therapy. But it is a way to do away with some addictions entirely. My! This must be the most powerful idea in the world, huh? Something completely new, a cutting edge psychological breakthrough, right? Something earth-shattering in its import. The end of all addiction once and for all? Something no one has thought of before? Something mind boggling?

No.

In Total Success Now I wrote 290 pages to explain this idea, so I shall not be able to retell it here, so I will stick with how this idea relates to addiction only. But for now simply be aware that this idea, used correctly, will also create a state of mind in which anyone can experience absolute peace, total joy achieve a state we have come to call ‘mega-success’.

Wow. What is the idea?

Are you ready for this?

Take a deep breath.

Hold on, now.

Here it is . . .

Ready?

Ok . . .

YOU are NOT your mind.

That is all. You believe that you ARE your mind. You are not.

You believe that your mind IS you. It is not.

You believe you must DO what your mind commands, because you believe it IS you.

It is NOT you.

That is all.

This seems so simple. However, though we can understand this immediately, we do not really ACCEPT this idea. Many feel it is too simple. Ridiculously so. They say ‘Oh yes well I know THAT!’

However, when it comes right down to it, they immediately turn around and allow their own minds to destroy their lives.

The key point that must be understood here is that the mind, this mind you possess, has a will of its own. And you simply believe you cannot control it.

Listen to that again. Your mind has a mind of its own. You do not control it. You try, but you can’t. It is necessary not only to understand the idea, but also to see what using this idea can create in your own life. If anyone really understood the idea and internalized it, put it into practice, addiction simply would not be possible at all. However, almost no one can accomplish this.

This mind that you believe is 'you' is really the mind of the body – the ‘body/mind’. It is the reptilian mind .It is the animal mind.

Can you elaborate on that just a bit?

1. You are not your body/mind – your body/mind is not you.
2. Your body/mind DOES have a ‘mind of it’s own’.
3. Your body/mind wants to be in charge – of you.
4. You allow your body/mind to control you

Your body/mind has this power only because you allow it.

You gave it this power. You CAN take it away.

Allow me to rephrase once again in a different way:

You are not your body/mind. You must understand that the mind that has a mind of it's own', this reptilian mind, will never stop giving you thoughts of self-destruction and self-loathing. The body/mind is the ‘baser’ part of your real mind. It is gross. It is animalistic. It loves pleasurable sensations. It loves alcohol and drugs and tobacco. It loves food, sex and gambling. It loves to fight and to judge and to condemn. It loves sadness and sickness and depression and hatred. But it is not you. It wants you to believe you ARE it, but you are not.

We do not know or understand WHY this part of our mind functions in such a way. It is simply there, and it does function in this way. Left to its own devices, the mind can be addicted, slothful, lazy, depressed, sad and negative. As long as we believe we ARE our minds, we believe that WE are addicted, slothful, lazy, depressed, sad or negative. We are not. Our minds are.

Eckhart Tolle sums it up best I think when he says that the mind, (the body/mind) has literally taken 'us' over. We believe we are slaves to it. What should be the slave has now become the master. We do not use our minds - our minds use us.

Your body/mind wants to be in charge - and we really believe that the body/mind has power over US; we have truly become its slave. We believe this because we don’t seem to be able to control our own thoughts, our own beliefs, nor our own feelings. Unwanted thoughts just seem to occur to us – feelings appear out of nowhere! And we don’t know why, or from whence they come.

To make this even more simple, think of it in this way: An extremely large percentage of your thoughts do not come from ‘you’. You receive them from the body/mind, which is trying to gain the upper hand over 'you'. As long as you believe these thoughts come from YOU, you will give them power. These thoughts have no power. They do not matter. These thoughts are not yours – they are the base, reptilian, animalistic thoughts of the body/mind.

This is true for all drugs and substance abuse situations. It holds true for all overindulgence of any kind. This also holds true for any negative mental state you experience and do not wish to experience. It is true in regards to any thought that causes you to underachieve, or to fall short of any desired goal.This single thought holds true regardless of the form of any problem you perceive you might have. Your body/mind is running your life and causing you to fail. You are not failing. Your monkey mind is failing. Once you see this clearly, you can then change this.

I feel like I want to believe this, but I don’t know . . .

If you feel as though you would like to reject this idea now, understand that the thought of rejecting this idea IS being created BY the body/mind.

The body/mind does not want you to hear this idea, because this idea is its total undoing. If you believe the truth and finally see that the body/mind is not 'you', you will never believe in the body/mind again. Nor will you listen to it again.

So how does this specifically relate to the end of all addictions?

‘You’ want to lose weight. Your body/mind does not.

‘You’ want to be free of alcohol, drugs, whatever. Your body/mind does not.

‘You’ want to be free of sickness. Your body/mind does not.

‘You’ want to be free of depression, hatred, sadness; your body/mind does not.

‘You’ often WANT to do one thing, but end up DOING another. This is the body/mind in action.

‘You’ feel flashes of hatred, disgust, disillusionment, depression, anxiety and attack; this is the body/mind, not you.

‘You’ believed yourself to be guilty because you believed ‘you’ were responsible for these thoughts. ‘You’ were not. ‘You’ are completely guiltless.

Again if ‘you’ perhaps do not believe this simple idea could be true, this is your body/mind trying to convince ‘you’ that this cannot work, out of self-preservation. If you will, for but a moment, step completely away from the body/mind, you will see that all of this is true.

In short, ‘YOU” can eliminate all negative states easily, including any addiction, simply by first understanding that this mind is not you, and then developing a system for controlling it.

You have believed you cannot control it. However, if you could control it, you would never experience these unwanted states again. Total Success Now details a method for undoing the control the body/mind holds over you. This method allows this to happen almost instantly, rather than months, years or decades from now. The end result is success in any area of your life you desire.

What causes addictions in the first place?

That is very simple. Every single human alive today has a body/mind. Every single human is presented with unwanted, gross, animalistic, reptilian thoughts. But not every single human listens to this mind. The addict, (regardless of the object of choice) DOES listen. And then obeys.

Why? Because the addict believe the body’mind to BE him or herself.

Can this be corrected? Yes.

Some listen when the body/mind brings up the subject of food - but not liquor. Some listen when the body/mind brings up sex - but not depression. Some listen when the body/mind brings up depression - but not laziness. Some listen when the body/mind brings up murder - but not macaroons. I could go on and on. You get the idea.

The body/mind IS going to bring up these unwanted thoughts, rest assured in that.

Each of us allows our mind to choose our own addictions. There is no right or wrong object of addiction, although some are more socially acceptable than others. You will certainly go to jail for murder, but most likely not for eating too many macaroons. For some, though, the perceived punishment and resultant cost is just as severe. Just look at the weight loss industry. You CHOOSE your addictions by CHOOSING TO LISTEN TO THE BODY/MIND.

If the monkey mind never brought this up in the first place, you would never consider hurting yourself. This is what the method I demonstrate in Total Success Now will accomplish.

What about other forms of addiction programs out there?

Anything can work for certain individuals. Look at the old ‘Just Say No’ campaign This is overly simplistic, and will work. But it will not work very well if your monkey mind is just saying ‘yes, yes, yes’ all the time. There is a larger, more important reason why many addiction therapies simply do not work as they should. They go against what I call the 'First Law Of Mind':

YOU CANNOT CHANGE YOUR MIND BY CHANGING YOUR BEHAVIOR
BUT
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR BY CHANGING YOUR MIND

Most addictive therapies take the 'Just Say No' approach. The theory is that you can stop smoking by stopping the behavior of smoking. This is not so. You cannot stop the addiction to drinking by simply not drinking. Why is this? It is, again, the body/mind.

You can stop putting cigarettes in your mouth - Your body/mind will still want them.

You can stop putting alcohol in your down your throat -Your body/mind will still want it.

You can stop putting cheesecake in your belly - Your body/mind will still want it.

You can stop looking at pornography - Your body/mind will still want to look.

You can stop putting others down all the time - Your body/mind will still want to engage in this.

The addiction does not matter. What DOES matter is that your physical actions will NOT change your MIND. But changing your mind WILL change your physical actions quite easily, WITHOUT strain, WITHOUT struggle and most importantly WITHOUT THE EXTREME SENSE OF LOSS that giving up these things will entail.

The three key logical concepts you need to understand which will reveal the “secret” to overcoming any addiction or undesirable mind-state are as follows:

If you are experiencing an addiction or undesirable state, this means that you are doing something you do not wish to do, against your own will! This is literally impossible unless you believe there is another will present that can control 'you'.

There is another will. It is the 'mind with a mind of its own.You have believed you cannot control this will and that you must do what it asks. In an attempt to justify this, you have externalized it, blaming your parents, society, your spouse, those you love, those you hate perhaps even the devil. This is not the case. This will is inside you. You did NOT ask for it. But it is there.

You believe you cannot control the wants and desires of this will. However, you can choose not to listen. This choice, the choice NOT to listen, has been available to you all along. But, while you believed your body/mind to BE you, you believed you HAD no other choice. If you can see the body/mind for what it is, you CAN choose to ignore it.

You see, the bottom line is this: Your body/mind is addicted. ‘You’ are not. In that most people believe themselves to be their minds, they say ‘I am addicted.’

Why do you feel the Total Success Now system works so well in regards to helping to conquer addictions?

Total Success Now demonstrates a single powerhouse technique set that will overcome the reptilian, monkey-mind once and for all. This is all you need learn to overcome any and all addictions permanently. Not only will the addiction be gone, but the voice that tempts one to relapse will simply not reappear!. It is extremely effective and powerful in this regard . . .

Contact:
Don McCauley ICM, CH
Author: Total Success Now -
The Mega Success Mystery Solved
don@heavenonearthsystem.com
www.heavenonearthsystem.com

Spring is here

Spring is here! It is such a joyous time for me.
Last year, I had Duke make some comments on this blog and then pretty much left it alone. (If you are new, Duke is my white dove, The Duke of Dove.)
I had been very busy working on The Book of Dovey for part of the year. Now that it's published, I find myself fiddling with another book idea.
Meanwhile life is still full and fun and it just gets more and more interesting. Hope to meet some interesting people, have a little fun, spread a little joy. Laughing is right up there with Loving and Learning in learning to expand our souls.
Enjoy!
Stanley

The beautiful blue orb

Today's a good day. Another one! I feel fine. Nothing aches. Of course, I haven't been able to fly around as much lately so I haven't crashed into anything.

I have to chuckle when I think of how wild feeling I get when I fly from the living room to the kitchen around the dining area and down the hall back to the living room. I get a little carried away and bang into the ceiling or wall. So I usually have a nick or two in my feathers. I love the feeling, love love love it.

But it's back to work for me. I've got a nice box in my cage filled with soft foam and cloth. I made it better myself, with paper clips and twist ties and bits of stuff I find on my rounds. And then this week there appeared, like magic, in my nest a most beautiful blue orb. It is my duty to sit on this orb, to warm and protect it, so I don't fly as much as ususal.

I am steadfast in my job. This blue marbled orb will be cherished and protected by me. I am forced off of the nest twice a day so I do get to eat and stretch some. But I love the orb, love love love it. I will care for it with great devotion.

It is so good to have a goal. Without a goal, how do you know where you're going? What direction will you take?

I'm going back to the nest to sit on my lovely, lovely orb.

I'm a Lucky Dove

It's good to greet the morning. Each morning, I like to bow and coo to my food dish, my water dish, and the bird in the mirror. Then I jump from my cage to the window sill where I spend a lot of time greeting the thermometer. It's great exercise, bowing and cooing. And each coo means the name of a soul I love. Each time I speak the name of a soul I love, it is because I want God to bless them. So it's a prayer, too. Now I have a great attitude and I'm ready to start the day!!
I really am a lucky dove. I have my own large cage and the door is always open so I can hop onto my wide windowsill and watch those birds in the cold water birdbath. I much prefer my baths in the kitchen window in a nice soup bowl.
I have a big perch attached to the ceiling. Well, it really has five big blade perches. I jump from one to another. It's my favorite place to get high. I'm an only bird. I have two dogs who got well-behaved once they figured out who was in charge. Life is really good.
Of course, I could moan a little about how I don't have a boyfriend, I never get to fly free outside, and it's noisy sometimes when I try to sleep. But why would I have an attitude like that? I can't figure out why looking at the stuff that makes you unhappy is a good thing. Can't do nothing about it, no sense getting worked up over nothing. Look at all the good stuff in my life!
It's all we can change, you know. Our own attitude.
Unhappy with your mate? Well, your not going to change him. You've tried, haven't you? Try changing your attitude. Does he drop his socks in the living room and leave them? Have you screamed and yelled and scolded and still no result? Why not just pick them up yourself? Be glad he has feet. It's easier to change your attitude than waste all that anger energy. (Oh, and OF COURSE he should pick up his socks. That's rude. But you need to pick your battles and this hardly seems worth it.)
Just remember, life is not about what happens to us. It's about how we handle it.

Dove Soup

I love to meditate in a lovely, warm bath.

Some days you have to be good to yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, who will?

Why, no one, of course! And then what would they do if you weren't here?

So if you're taking care of your kids, if you're doing without shoes so they can have ipods, what you teach them is to go without shoes themselves.

So give your kids a break! Take care of yourself!