The Emotional Levels Behind Why You Drink
Hey everyone. Welcome back to another one of these ten minute Mondays. And today we are getting into something deeper than habit loops and dopamine, mindful drinking tactics. Today we are talking about the emotional engine underneath drinking. And it's really the reason that you drink the way you do and the reason you feel the way you do afterwards.
Speaker 1:And the framework for today's episode comes from a book that completely changed how I understood human behavior. It's called power versus force by doctor David Hawkins. If you haven't read it, don't worry. I'm gonna make it simple, practical, and grounded here. No abstract philosophy, just real human emotion and how it shapes your relationship with alcohol.
Speaker 1:Here's the core idea. You drink in a certain emotional level, and you land in a certain emotional level afterwards. And those two states shape your entire drinking experience. And this is going to explain so much, especially the guilt, shame, regret, anxiety, and those why did I do that again kind of moments. So let's break down the emotional levels from Hawkins' map of consciousness and connect them directly to drinking in real practical ways.
Speaker 1:So first, David Doctor. Hawkins, he was a psychiatrist and a consciousness researcher who mapped human emotional states and the behaviors tied to them. His big breakthrough was called the map of consciousness. It's a scale of emotional levels running from the most contracted states, like shame and fear, all the way to the states like love and peace. So here's the simplified scale.
Speaker 1:First, you have the lower levels. Those are contracted survival based. The lowest, shame. That gets a 20. Then you have guilt at 30, apathy at 50, grief at 75, fear at 100, desire 125, anger 150, and then pride at 175.
Speaker 1:The next level we have are the middle levels where growth begins. So you have courage at 200, neutrality at two fifty, willingness, three ten, acceptance, three fifty, reason, 400. And then finally, we have our higher levels. These are our expansive states. First, have love at 500, joy at four fifty, and peace is 600 plus.
Speaker 1:But before we go deeper, let me explain the numbers because they're actually really useful. Hawkins didn't number these levels just to judge people. He did it so that we could see our emotional power, the difference between contractive, reactive states, and grounded and empowered states. So think of the numbers like an emotional altitude. And here's the part that matters, and I'll say it clearly.
Speaker 1:Below 200, drinking is driven by emotion. Above 200, drinking becomes a conscious choice. And you can actually estimate where you are even without any of this scoring. Just ask yourself two things. Number one is, am I trying to escape something right now or am I okay as I am?
Speaker 1:Escaping is gonna be below 200. Grounded or open is gonna be above that. Now number two is, is this impulse coming from tension, or is it coming from clarity? Tension is gonna be below 200. Clarity is gonna be above 200.
Speaker 1:So that's all you really need. Now let's walk through the levels and connect them to real drinking behaviors. So the first one is shame at 20. Shame says something like, something's wrong with me. I'm broken.
Speaker 1:I can't trust myself. And people drink from shame to escape themselves, not for pleasure. And then, of course, afterwards, shame hits even harder. And Hawkins calls this emotional collapse. Alcohol numbs it briefly, but then it drops even lower.
Speaker 1:Next, we have guilt at 30. Guilt sounds something like, I messed up today. I disappointed somebody. And then after drinking, it piles on with guilt. It says, I said I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:I broke my own rules. And this creates heaviness out of proportion to the alcohol. Now we have apathy. This could also be numbness. This is that checked out drinking.
Speaker 1:Apathy says, you know, what's the point? I'm exhausted. Drinking here isn't about pleasure either. It's about escape. And afterwards, apathy becomes stagnation.
Speaker 1:Next, we have grief. This also could be loss. Loss of self, hope, direction, connection, meaning. And drinking from grief is drinking to fill a hole, and afterwards, that hole often feels deeper. Then we have fear.
Speaker 1:Fear can also be anxiety, and fear says, I'm overwhelmed. My brain won't stop. There's so much pressure. So, drinking becomes a pressure release. But afterwards, anxiety spikes, the cortisol rebounds, the 3AM wake up.
Speaker 1:It's not about right or wrong. It's an emotional dynamic. Next, we have desire. This could also be craving and chasing. In Hawkins model, desire isn't normal wanting something.
Speaker 1:It's craving, grasping, reaching outside yourself to feel okay. And this one is a classic. One more drink. I wanna keep this feeling going. I don't wanna end the night.
Speaker 1:And desire never feels complete. So afterward, desire collapses into guilt and disappointment, and you think, I didn't need that last drink, and that is a loop. Next, have anger. This also could be in the category of frustration. And anger shows up as irritation, resentment, pressure.
Speaker 1:I can't take another thing today. And drinking often softens this tension, but afterwards, anger flips into guilt or shame. Then we have pride. This also could be identity drinking. You know, pride says, I'm fine.
Speaker 1:I can handle it. This is who I am. But pride is fragile. And after drinking, pride also collapses into disappointment because the identity didn't hold up. But now we move into courage.
Speaker 1:Courage could also be honesty. And this is a huge turning point. Courage says, maybe I can look at this honestly. Maybe I can understand what's happening with me. And drinking becomes more conscious instead of reactive.
Speaker 1:And then afterwards, you feel curious and you're not so ashamed. You know, what was going on with me last night? And this is where real change begins. Then we have neutrality. This can also be balanced.
Speaker 1:So neutrality says, I'm okay either way. And drinking becomes a simple option and not an emotional reaction. Then we have willingness, which can be openness. Willingness says, I want to feel better. I am open to healthier patterns.
Speaker 1:And drinking tends to be light and more intentional. And then we have acceptance, which could also be ownership. And acceptance says, my choices matter. My well-being matters. And afterward, you feel more grounded and you feel less regretful.
Speaker 1:And then you have the higher levels, love, joy, and peace. Now, you won't live here all the time, but anytime you touch gratitude, compassion, purpose, alcohol naturally becomes less appealing. It simply sits in this lower emotional altitude. And this is rising from force into power. Okay.
Speaker 1:So here's the real lesson in all of this. Your drinking isn't random. It isn't a flaw. It isn't a lack of discipline. It's a mirror of your emotional state and a reflection of where you land afterwards.
Speaker 1:So you drink differently from shame. You drink differently from anxiety. You drink differently from desire or anger or pride. And you feel differently afterwards, depending on the emotional altitude you fall into. And when you start to see drinking that way, not as a personal failure, but as emotional information, everything starts to change.
Speaker 1:You stop beating yourself up. You stop saying I blew it, and you start asking a better question. What emotional level was I operating from today? And that question breaks the shame cycle. It gives you your power back.
Speaker 1:Because once you understand the emotional layer underneath your drinking, you can start to shift your emotion instead of fighting the behavior. And that's the whole point of power versus force. Change doesn't come from forcing yourself to do better. It comes from lifting your internal state one level at a time. And when you rise, your drinking rises with you.
Speaker 1:You choose differently because you feel differently. So this week, just notice. Notice where you're drinking from. Notice where you land after. And not to judge yourself, but to understand yourself.
Speaker 1:Because once you understand yourself, you start to rise. And drinking becomes something that you navigate from power and not from force. Alright. Thanks for hanging out with me this week. If you got anything from this episode, please rate and review on whatever podcast platform you're listening to.
Speaker 1:Just a note, I read every single one of those. Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to do that. I appreciate it so much. I hope you have a beautiful week, and cheers to your mindful drinking journey.
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