The Power of Hangover

Often an undervalued part of the drinking journey, the hangover can actually be conductive to inner peace.

Four years ago I was going through a troubled time. I’d entirely lost my sense of self, worth and love. And my mum gave me a book — The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. One night, inspired by this book, I experienced incredible presence— a timeless trancelike state. It was and still is the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had.

Recently I rummaged through my boxes in my dad’s attic, and reopened that book, because I feel like I’ve lost a lot of what I learnt and took on from it, and my mind drives me crazy, far too much of the time.

Reading the book for the second time, I’m struggling to follow the advice, and retain my attention in the present moment.

Perhaps it’s because I don’t believe that such a state of being is actually within my reach, or know why I’d want to get there. I’ve been lacking inspiration, until today. My ‘reset day’ after two nights in a row involving several litres of alcohol, and a considerable amount of dancing. And 2 x hangovers.

Hangover

Alcohol is sublime. It brings out the best in us, often accompanied by aspects of ourselves that we don’t want to witness, that were hidden deep down before alcohol set them loose. I love alcohol for being the catalyst that stirs up shit like that, because I think all shit should be stirred up, all the time. Or to put it more tastefully, emotions and worries can be dangerous when they simmer away and destroy you from the inside, they ought to be released, dealt with, accepted, or forgotten. Alcohol facilitates this process admirably.

But that’s being drunk. What I feel today, is the beauty of that post-alcohol state — often referred to as a hangover.

My mind is sluggish, my body aches. I go about things without really thinking, I take my time. I physically can’t do much and my mind doesn’t want to think much. Numb, in a sense. But I feel light, carefree. I’m not worrying about my working week ahead, nor am I dwelling on times past. I just be, and do. My crazy chaotic mind: neatly simplified, and rather than fighting it and trying to complicate it again, I’m enjoying it.

And it is exactly this — this connection with what is at the present moment — that The Power of Now teaches as the way to true presence or “consciousness”. And I felt it most acutely today, hungover.

The book also talks about how we use (actually I think it says “abuse”) alcohol to get “glimpses” of our true conscious selves, without realising that being “conscious” is always available to us. I guess I previously interpreted alcohol abuse as meaning drunkenness, not the after effects of. But I’d argue that being hungover can be just as powerful.

Do you sense an addiction brewing? Maybe I’m going to become an alcoholic just so I can enjoy my carefree hangovers. I’m not. I don’t want to have to depend on alcohol to be able to clear my mind and be present. But I have been reading this book for a week, and struggling to understand it as I once did, because I couldn’t imagine how it feels to be so present. Today I got a little bit closer. So I think the glimpses — whether via alcohol, sex, extreme sports, whatever — are necessary inspiration for me at least, until I make it to pure consciousness unaided.