“Sobriety Is Boring”
Really?
I’ve noticed this sentiment has been showing up on social media lately, and I’ll admit, I get it. I bumped up against it in those first couple of years and I’ve had many people tell me they’ve experienced exactly the same. It’s common to hit some pretty quick plateaus of the, “Ok, I’ve stopped. Now what?” variety.
But here’s what I keep coming back to: what’s boring, exactly? Life?
Yup, there’s a lot to cover here. Because, as we know, stopping the active addiction is just the beginning.
The Intention Behind This Journey
This episode and journey were born out of both of those things: the “sobriety is boring” feeling and the existential question of, “Now what?" I found that the practices that got me through early recovery are exactly the same ones that also took care of these two challenges. And which is why they’ve become non-negotiables in my present life.
Specifically, I’m talking about the shamanic journey. You, as well, can use the knowledge, information and healing power provided and apply it to what’s working and what’s not working in your life right now. As the practice grows, you grow with it. As you grow, it grows with you. Evolving, inspiring, empowering and definitely not boring.
If you’re ready to undertake this shamanic journey right now, wonderful, here’s the specific intention:
I am journeying to meet my guardian spirits, the ones that protected me in active addiction.
If you’re not in recovery, no worries, you can absolutely still do this journey. If you’ve walked through some kind of life-threatening situation, maybe you want to ask about that specifically. Or maybe not and you just want to meet your guardian spirits, in which case ask: How have you protected me in the past? What do you want from me now? How can we have a relationship going forward?
If you haven’t undertaken the shamanic journey yet and would like a step-by-step guide, here’s Your Guide to the Shamanic Journey. It’s part of the free membership to The Sober Shaman and comes with everything you need to get started.
As usual, I do my best to enter into the journey from a place of emptiness. And as usual, I had some preconceived notions and expectations about what I was going to find and who I was going to meet. But that’s part of the practice. I look at all those expectations and say: thank you for your opinions. You’ve just accurately identified exactly what I need to let go of. And then the drums start. I breathe…what fills the emptiness is wonder. Not knowing. Genuine heart-sourced curiosity.
What I Found: The Upper World and the Lower World
In my journey, I was immediately brought to a teacher I haven’t called upon or worked with for at least a couple of years. It always amazes me how in non-ordinary reality the experience of time is completely different. It was like no time at all had passed since my last visit and we picked up from right where we left off.
This upper world guardian, who’s name is Almethius, showed me how he is a guardian of what the Chinese call the Hun, or the eternal soul. His relationship is to guide and protect me during “soul level” situations, and which I was shown a few that occurred during that active addiction time of my life.
And then, I have to say this with a little humor, I went to the lower world. Where I found my guardians living out the scene from those paintings, you know the ones, found in really cheap hotels in the middle of nowhere where there’s a bunch of animals sitting around a card table playing poker. That’s my power animals, hanging out, smoking cigars, waiting for the Emergency Light to go off signaling I need help, again. All right, whose turn is it? You go save him this time.
In Chinese Medicine, this is at the level of the Po, which is the part of the soul that dissolves back into the Earth upon my passing. It deals with earthly problems, physical directions, and these three-demential-time-&-space situations. And I don’t just see a bunch of cats sitting around one table, no, there’s a whole Lowerworld casino floor. Everybody’s busy. Bells, buzzers, announcements. Dealing with all variety of knuckleheads like me up here in the middle world. A beautiful assortment of compassionate guardian spirits doing what they do best.
What became clear to me in this journey is that it takes a team. A team of helping and compassionate spirits to carry us through the thresholds of an entire life. Birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, career, parenthood, and into the wisdom of elderhood. All of it.
I saw between 12 and 15 specific incidents from my life where one simple change…of a steering wheel, of a step, of a word, and I would not be here. And I would have taken people with me.
That was extremely power-full and all I could handle on this one journey.
What This Transforms
What the guardian spirits showed me was this: that search for thrill, that sticking-my-finger-in-the-light-socket, that nightly tight rope walk, was the drive, the burning Fire, the infusion of spirit, that fueled the using in its attempt to fill The Void.
I was a stimulant kind of guy. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the bible, literally. It never got weird enough for me. And looking back, I recognize it. When I speak to people who cut, it’s the same thing: a way to slice through the flatness. Even if it’s pain, at least I feel something.
And that circles back to the original instigator for this journey: Sobriety is boring. The practice is the answer to that. A practice that delivers connection, spirit, wonder, not knowing what I’ll find, infusing that kind of excitement, and igniting that kind of curiosity. That is what is transformational.
This is what transforms the pain of boring into a practice of meaning.
This is what Opens the Eyes of the Heart and transforms the Phlegmed-over senses that are stuck, ruminating, with gaze turned inward, into the outward opening, senses-receiving abilities to recognize the profound beauty in the ordinary.
Normal rocks. This perspective delivers the notion that right here, right now, I am enough. Right here, right now, you are enough. That’s it. Beautiful.
In the recognition of that, we are given the responsibility to remember this, because now, we have something to protect, something to lose, and something to build upon.
He Who Heals Me Divinely: A 30-Year Mystery
One more thing from this journey, a 30-year mystery and a sticking-point in my belief system, resolved.
When I first met Almethius, about 30 years ago during my time in acupuncture school, I got the name and I’ll admit…I cringed. There was something about my perception of that name, writing it in my journals, even as the years went by and I developed real rapport and trust, that my guts twisted just a little.
Back then, I did some superficial investigation into exactly what the name could mean, but I came up empty, the feelings remained and I kind of just buried it.
So, since one of the most obvious changes lately is Ai, after this journey, I revisited the etymology. I plugged the name into ol’ Gemini, intentionally scrambled, breaking it into its roots so I wouldn’t just get one of those sycophantic answers. What came back was this:
Al from the ancient Greek verb meaning to cure, to heal. Theus from theos, divine, of the gods, sacred. Me, the first person singular pronoun. Myself.
Put together, the name Almethius means: he who heals me divinely. Or simply: my divine healer.
What?!?!
I’ve been carrying around a cringe about that name for 30 years. And now, after this journey, not only can I finally unwind my guts but, dag-nab-bitt that’s just too cool! And while the relationship was always there, the name was always right, I’m just now getting out of my own belief system’s way to receive it on yet another, deeper, level. One that provides even more insights into the origins and continued usage of the substances and behaviors that perpetuated my cycle of addiction. Amen.
Let me know if you’ve undertaken this journey, or if you want to. I’ll be doing live streams and shamanic journeying sessions toward the third or fourth week of June. Subscribe to the Substack so you’ll know when things are going down. Till next time, blessings.
