5 ways to feel as good as you did when you drank.

If I didn't love feeling buzzed, I wouldn't have loved alcohol the way I did. I didn't drink because I loved the way vodka tasted. I drank because I loved being "comfortably numb." Looser. Funnier. And sexier, too.

I always overshot the mark, though. Where buzzed turned into a stomach-turning, hangover-producing drunk. Strangely, that first sip of wine disabled my "off" switch and ramped up the "MORE" setting. It was like that first swallow set me under a spell that I was unable recognize, let alone break. Something really big and powerful took me over demanding ever more booze.

I crossed the comfortably buzzed zone so fast, I didn't even have time to wave at it.

Unfortunately (in retrospect fortunately), the consequences of drinking became increasingly painful, to the point that the pain of the consequences was greater than the pain of not drinking.

I still want to feel good. To have experiences where I'm loose and transported outside of my day-to-day.

But I am NOT willing to have consequences of hangovers, remorse and shame.

So here's where I've found those transcendent experiences that are clean:

1. Simply being in nature

I learned this amazing technique from Zen Buddhism that dissolves distinctions and labels. There's a koan that goes something along these lines:

A student asked the Buddha whether a dog has Buddha-nature, and the Buddha said, "mu." (Mu is Japanese for "nothing."

The Zen teacher instructed us to substitute the label "mu" for everything we experienced: The sound of a car passing by, I labeled "mu" in replacement for my usual internal narrative. The feeling of pressure where my seat meets the chair I'm sitting on - "mu" not "chair." The feel of the cool air on my nostrils as I inhale, I labeled "mu."

All sounds. All scents. All tastes. All "mu" all the time.

When I practice this when I'm outside, I notice the sparkles on the surface of the water as a glittering path to the sun. I'm aware of the delicious scent that's a mix of dust and pine warmed by the sun. I'm entranced by the shapes on the bottom of the swimming pool on a sunny day.

All without stories. Labels. Or judgment.

It is transcendent.

2. Sex.

When I'm lost in the moment and only being the experience, sex is an exquisite, transcendent connection.

There's no "me" to be conscious of. Thank God.

3. Making and listening to live music.

Music is my magic place. It viscerally feels like a channel of something Divine at a Higher Vibration than our normal lives.

4. Wild spiritual experiences

I've done some "out there" spiritual work since getting sober.

I've experienced a Kundalini awakening in which my body shook and moved without me intending or causing any of it. (Thank God I have learned to work with this force since this experience. I can now calm it down.)

I've trained to become a medium who channels beings from different realms. When I channeled, my entire being changed - the way I hold my body, speak, the things I know. It's a way trippy experience.

I'm skilled at tapping into my clairvoyance at will and trusting what I see and know.

My experiences are mine. I'm not advocating them for you. I am pointing out, however, that experiences that seem other-worldly are available without the use of any outside substances. Our consciousness is incredible!

5. Public speaking.

When I speak to groups, things come out of my mouth that I wasn't conscious of knowing before I said them. Woe to the person who asks me to repeat myself, because many times, I can no longer access that idea consciously.

It always takes me a few self-conscious sentences before I can access that flow space. So I memorize those few sentences so I can get it started.

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These experiences have several things in common:

They are ways that I shift my consciousness from the way I normally function in the world.

They dissolve the boundaries between me and others and the other side of the veil.

They allow my body to relax enough that my spirit can access what it knows from other realms.

And if all of this sounds way too woo-woo for you, there's always sex. 😂😂😂

If you identify with my story, congratulations! You probably have a drinking problem. Experiment with being AF for a week. Sign up for my FREE 7-Day Stop the Spiral Challenge.