Was having a chat yesterday with the wonderful guy I’m helping come off a thirty year heroin addiction, or rather have helped off it, as he’s been clean for five days now and counting, I’m delighted to say, about how everyone is addicted to something (alcohol, coffee, cocaine, tobacco, sugar, religion, stress and so on) and how, in fact, nature works, in terms of organising reality, specifically via addiction.
Addiction is essential to survival
Cells get addicted to holding a shape. People get addicted to patterns. The earth is addicted to the sun. The sun is addicted to the galaxy. And so on.
Were it not for the addictive tendency, everything would simply fall apart. The material universe would dissolve.
The trick is to balance the addictions adroitly enough to stay alive for the longest possible time in the healthiest possible state.
He, for instance, fortunately had enough of an addiction to being alive and enjoying the moment, to increase his focus and commitment to that, which necessarily meant decreasing the focus and commitment to heroin, to the point that it took over completely.
And that essentially was and is my role in the enterprise: to help him identify more strongly with the life addiction and then shepherd him respectfully, gently, yet insistently and compellingly in that direction, by use of a revolving combination of negotiation, hypnosis and acupuncture.
We don’t inhabit an either-or universe
So it wasn’t a question of addiction versus no addiction. That would be simply idealistic. All of life’s an addiction. It’s a matter of increasing the addiction to pursuits that will promote wellbeing and longevity.
And to compound the effect, to include as a main feature in the healthy addiction set, an addiction to wanting to contribute something of value to the world, by sharing, in whatever appropriate way shows itself, your unique essence, the innate beauty in your heart and soul, as this lends your endeavours in life a direction and sense of meaning.
So the place to begin, as I did with him, is rather than focus on giving things up, focus on taking up new, better things. As you become addicted to those – and it takes time, just like getting addicted to harmful things – there’s simply less room for the unhealthy addictions. There’s only so much addiction in general any one person can manage in other words, and if you take up the quota with healthy addictions, the unhealthy ones start falling away of themselves.
In this case, it took three weeks of almost daily sessions to build up to the point where the heroin fell away relatively easily. I was then able to attenuate the pernicious after-effects for him with acupuncture and this will be ongoing for the next fortnight or so.
Or take another example – the dance-floor scenario.
Partying is essential to wellbeing
Having a bit of a party on some kind of regular basis is good for your health in all ways: to let go of your everyday self, to abandon yourself to the dance, to mingle with a tingle and all the rest, helps reset your hard drive and adds years to your life.
However, the benign effect of this addiction is severely offset by indulging addictions to alcohol, cocaine and other ingested social stimulants. But rather than wave a banner or lead a crusade to stop self-abuse in the party zone, as well as helping individuals come off various things, I’ve done the Taoist thing and spent the last 30 years developing a way to deliver the requisite altered state in the party environment through hypnosis, using my voice in a shamanistic style with the beats to achieve the desired result, to provide a healthy addiction option. And the interesting thing is, people stay dancing longer with more smiles flashing round the venue before sliding off to the bar or the toilets.
From a business point of view, ironically, this poses a challenge, because for a venue to promote a party where they won’t be making as much money on alcohol, feels a bit like shooting themselves in the foot, but the night Hofer66 and I did last summer was so popular, the venues reckoned it would be worth their while anyway.
And the good news is…
As a fortunate result of which, through July and August, we’ll be doing our DANCEFLOOR MEDITATION night (formerly Dub Spirit but we got bored of the name) live at ATZARO, the plushest, swankiest and most romantically deluxe joint on the island, EVERY TUESDAY departing around 23.00. This prospect fills both Hofer66 and I with absolute delight, which we intend fully to transmit by way of service, in the most soulful and rhythmically adroit fashion at the events. So if you’re passing through Ibiza any time this summer from July 6th onwards, be sure to come and share a momentary natural altered state on the dancefloor – I venture it’ll be super-special. [See all events].
Otherwise and in any case, perhaps it’s a good day to examine your own addiction set and see which of the benign ones you fancy focusing and committing more to and which you feel to lessen.
Then all you have to do is actively choose the one you want. Don’t focus on giving up the other, for whatever you focus on has a habit of growing – that’s the mechanism of addiction. Focus on the positive and with only a modicum of cognition, willpower and good sense, the pull to the unhealthy addictions will automatically diminish of itself.
Happy addictions.
With love, Supercharged
Having a bit of a party on some kind of regular basis is good for your health in all ways: to let go of your everyday self, to abandon yourself to the dance, to mingle with a tingle and all the rest, helps reset your hard drive and adds years to your life.
