681 thoughts on “The Abuse of Alcohol – The True Harm”

1. Lee you write
   “The anxiety of living in fear of ‘what next, what next?’ was not allowed as you grew older – the boy was told to be a man.”
   As a child I lived in the agony of what’s next, never able to settle living on nervous tension and raciness. As children we had to present to the world that home live was normal – nothing to see here folks, when actually home life was an abusive ordeal to get though as best that one could, which then had a huge impact on adult life, with mental health issues. There is no doubt in my mind that alcohol is a very dangerous drug that we have normalised.

2. It is accepted that when we dine, whether home or out, there often will be some form of alcohol. And what it does to the person who is consuming the alcohol also affects the people around them? 
Everything changes. Conversations, behaviours, emotions, food isn’t appreciated, and so it continues. The reason I write this as once upon a time, I used to drink and thought alcohol was society’s norm, when really it’s the opposite.

   Can we ever have a gathering where there is no stimulation of any kind and be in the company of others and truly meet them and just be in that company. Yes it is very possible and has been done. There’s nothing wrong with seeing each other for who we truly are.

3. Drinking alcohol is just one of many things that we, in our society have come to accept as normal whilst damage ensues from it. When will we be ready as a society or a community to take responsibility for this? Will we keep waiting for the alarming statistics of domestic violence, heart disease etc to sky rocket even more than they currently are? What numbers of deaths will finally catch our attention and make us notice? That is a lot of people dying to get our attention – and then what? Will we act together to seek a true change OR go back to watching TV, playing cards or golf…. ignoring statistics will not make a change.

   1. I agree Henrietta. There is another part to this too. The person affected also needs to be willing to see this too. Once they are accepting of their part too, AND take responsibility, then healing can truly begin for all.

   2. Henrietta you wrote this comment in 2020, well it seems that humanity is prepared to checkout deeper into a world of fantasy. Now companies are building virtual worlds, so that if we don’t like this life we can plug ourselves into another fantasy life. So currently it seems as though we as a race of human-beings are not ready to take responsibility for the mess we have made and need to clear up.

4. Lee, thank you for your heartfelt sharing – and what is all the more powerful is that you too have been there and done that, felt the depth of how this does not work, have got yourself out of it and have then been able to look back and see what has happened. From such an experience when we speak and when we share what we share comes from an understanding and not from a judgement. It is there for all to learn from should they want to have some understanding too. This is the beauty of us all sharing our experiences which in fact are globally experienced, but not globally voiced. One voice thus becomes the voice for many and allows us all to heal.

5. “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.’ – This should be newspaper headlines…except no one would believe it for when we are so deeply dependent and entrenched in a habit, we often do not want to admit this nor see it and so we are not willing to see the consequences and results of our choices.

6. Lee you write in such a practical, real and heartfelt way – a book from you would be wonderful. We do need to stop seeing alcohol as harmless or harmless fun, it’s quite a hefty drug that is not only harmful for the body but also disturbing to our behaviours and with toxic effects on relationships. I’ve always felt how strange it is that we don’t question things, even obvious things like alcohol use, we just embrace it as a norm, if we see others do it, including family, then it’s normal.

7. It is lovely to know that we have support, that we are not alone, ‘What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.’

8. Thank you Lee, this reminds me of an old saying that was around a long time ago and that is ‘I was lost in the bottom of a glass’.

9. One cell/person affects others around them. This is also true when a person chooses to live with Love, The Way of The Livingness, inspires others to choose to live with Love.

   1. Absolutely Mary, lets deepen the love and feel the joy!

10. That realization, the one that says, you have been part of this, you have been fed and feeding the poison of the society’s normal that you are so disgusted by – this, really should stop every one of us. Reflection offers us this opportunity. However, we all have free will and the reality is not quite so. There was an incident recently where a famous person was arrested for being physically violent to a complete stranger, and the person publicly apologized for their behaviour but when asked about the detail of the incident, their reply was ‘I don’t remember’. The media and the public, or what the media says is the public, responded with fury, saying how irresponsible they were – for blaming the ‘alcohol’, that it was not alcohol’s fault, and that the person did not look remorseful enough etc. See, how we conveniently dis-align ourselves and start developing another argument so that uncomfortable, inconvenient reflection does not have to look us in the eye.

11. I read on the BBC web site that a young woman had gone missing while heavily intoxicated with alcohol. Friends had watched her get out of a taxi that took her back to where she was living. But instead of going into her house she wandered off down the road and has not been seen since. The local community is out searching for her this shows to me that not only is alcohol harming to our bodies it is harming to the families and communities that are left to cope with the aftermath of the choice to self- abuse with alcohol.

    1. So true Mary, we turn a blind eye to the ramifications of so many things hopping it will all turn out okay, when in truth there is no amount of wayward behaviours that will ever be true to our essence.

    2. Alcohol can leave a wake of harm from those that are abusing it, ‘The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.’

12. Lee thank you for your honesty, and it is interesting to read how you witnessed the abusive nature that drinking alcohol produces but then how you went on to use alcohol as a way to numb what you were feeling.
    I know that we can get to a stage where we just give up and enjoin society because everyone else is using something to dull their awareness to get by in life. For many of us we do not want to feel what we cannot stop feeling which is the unease we live with constantly and seemingly the only way to stop feeling is to dull and numb ourselves rather than admit there is an unease in our bodies that we cannot deal with, why have we made it so difficult to admit this?

13. As I was growing up, I never quite understood the influence alcohol was having – it was not a violent outburst, but used by all of us as a means to cope with the way we were feeling… to lift the party, to drown our sorrows, or perhaps most insidiously to cope with our everyday stress and feeling of misery. The fact it was slightly under the radar by being so normal was perhaps the worst bit of all as it was all just so normal.

14. Not just the consumption of alcohol as such is abusive also how society considers it to be a normal, legal and at times even health supporting substance like in a glass of wine a day will do you good, kick your circulation or provide particular nutrients without taking into consideration the harming effects. It is a consciousness that is abusive, ie. the way we think and talk about it, the ideals and beliefs, the excuses and justifications… they are all abusive by nature because they are lies when not taking into account all facts.

    1. If we buy into the lie that alcohol is good for us then we are already aligned with the same energy that promotes alcohol as being safe in moderation. The excuses and justification to harm our body, raises the question, where is the love in this?

       1. We know it is a lie, we all know alcohol is a poison, and toxic to our bodies.

15. When we just sit and be honest with what goes on in our body and what we feel — we naturally know what to do.

16. ‘The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells.’ Spot on Lee, there is so much research about the facts of alcohol and how it is a poison it seems crazy how society champions it and abuses it to excess, when it is so harming and damaging to the body.

    1. And, when we look at this on a larger scale, if we are willing to see that humanity is, in fact, one huge body and each person is one cell, then if one person chooses to harm their body with alcohol or any substance, then in effect this is also harming the rest of humanity.

17. I was wondering about the wording ‘the abuse of alcohol’ as it can be read in different ways as in that we abuse alcohol or that alcohol abuses us or the abuse through the use of alcohol or the abuse that follows under the influence of alcohol as e.g. in violence, but all version leading to the one common nominator, it requires a person to choose abuse either on what may appear to be the receiving or the acting out end.

    1. Great point Alex, there are so many perspectives on what is the abuse of alcohol from the start all the way to the end result. And the positive from that is the awareness of this that then allows us to make a change should we be ready to do so.

18. It is a well-known fact that alcohol is a known poison yet we continue to drink it. Does this not indicate that whatever is going on in our lives is so severe that we need to ignore this fact and allow the body to be poisoned? This is worth pondering on.

19. I’ve always found it interesting that people are prepared to drink or smoke knowing that it is permanently damaging their health. It’s also interesting that alcohol is known to increase violence, and you’d think if you ever hurt someone after drinking that would shock you enough to never do it again – especially if it was someone you dearly loved. It just shows that there is much more going on than we tend to fully realise, and we’d rather hurt ourselves and others than deal with what is actually going on.

20. Once you shut down, there is not even a problem in choosing for ourselves the same thing that caused the shut down in the first place.

21. A corruption that runs deep within, and accepted by, so much of our society

22. I tried and failed to give up caffeine many times, but eventually did, and boy is my life better without it. Strangely enough with alcohol I just stopped. No real thoughts or planning. I had lived with someone who had previously been addicted to alcohol, and so could no longer drink it without fear of his binges recurring, and so with the purpose of supporting him, it was very easy not to drink. I have never missed it once, and will never go back.

    1. Yes we can get such strong impressions from seeing and feeling what is happening to those around us. I grew up witnessing alcohol abuse and the behaviours that ensued and found it difficult to accept how people I loved turned into people I did not know at all, behaving in ways that were so not like them. It stays engraved in your memory when you witness this as a young child, and certainly affected me to the point where later in life I tried alcohol a few times because of peer pressure but quickly learned that this was not what my body could handle and did not want to experience what I had seen others go through with alcohol use and abuse.

23. Absolutely when you are honest with yourself something very profound can shift….”What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.” So there is not trying, it unfolds and if you respond it continues to unfold to support you….beautiful…

24. What we need to understand is that with alcohol we distant ourselves to others as in fact we have already separated from ourselves in order to not feel how harsh and unloving the world is. Drinking alcohol is not a true solution to the dilemma we are in it is just a coping mechanism that is however very damaging in every aspect of our lives and the irony is that it contributes exactly to the kind of world we try to escape from.

25. It is so obvious the harm that drinking alcohol presents, first it is a poison that destroys our bodies, it destroys our relationships, it causes us to bring violence into our homes and to our children, and is a contributing factor to road accidents, and so much more. All these effects of alcohol are so obvious out there in the world, so what is it that stops us from stopping this abuse that is ruling our everyday lives.?

26. We cannot honestly deny that alcohol does not have a harmful effect on any one who consumes it let alone the effect of those around them. It is deeply disturbing that our current society sees that a young man transitioning into adulthood is initiate as such through the introduction of drinking alcohol, which is known by us all as a poison. How have we allowed this to be a right of passage so to speak, that abusing our bodies and begin is championed in such a way that if you don’t enjoin you are deemed weak and strange? This to me highlights that there is a deep-seated problem for us all to address, an unsettlement we are not willing to look at. We are clearly not content and fulfilled by being who we are as we need to escape and numb ourselves with a harmful poison which in all honesty does not make sense. Would we give alcohol to a newborn, if not why and why do any of us deserve any less?

27. If we do not speak up, then we feed the energy that is behind the consumption of alcohol and even if we are not listened to, the fact that we have called it out is enough and all that is needed in that moment.

28. It makes no sense that we train our body to consume this type of drink that makes us feel unwell and puke, to a point where we think that we are having a good time while harming the cells of our own body and others’. What is behind this thing must hate us humanity so much. Do we honestly want that?

    1. I agree Fumiyo, there is no sense in consuming alcohol. The more we express what we know is true, what we can feel is behind the consciousness of alcohol through how we live with no need to ever consume alcohol, the more we expose the degree of harm and abuse that we are allowing to penetrate our society and communities with this poison.

29. As a society many turn a blind eye to the harms of alcohol, it is used and abused in the public arena and also behind closed doors. When will society begin to see the truth that alcohol is in fact a poison and is contributing to much harmful behaviours such as domestic violence.

30. Hear! Hear! Lee Green, well captured! Is it because alcohol has been around for so long and we grow up with it in our families that it is accepted. As Lee has beautifully claimed “and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times.”
    There are families I know that are growing up with NO alcohol in the house or in their bodies. No alcohol is now my norm. This is the end of an ongoing cycle with me and ALL around me will benefit from my harmonious behaviour. As Lee has also said “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change”. This is true!

31. The violence and aggression associated with alcohol could be enough to stop this drink from being available at all, but because those parts are isolated and are not the general normality that most people experience, alcohol is regarded as acceptable in ‘small’ or ‘controlled’ doses – especially when it is for a social setting. But I can’t help but wonder if really this is about truth, and how much we as a society are willing to see the real reason why our young men and women turn to the drink in the first place…

32. And are we willing to let go of the comfort substances like alcohol or tobacco give us in face of the great harm we know them to cause? The harm is obvious and easy to point out, but hidden is the comforting benefit and the underlying hurt we don´t want or feel able to deal with. With every harming behaviour or habit we need to explore all the layers that lead up to it before we can really claim that we are free of the abuse.

33. Once is definitely too many times for any kind of violence in the home.

    1. That we are willing to abuse ourselves first in any way is disturbing, highlighting that we have forgone or resisted our knowing of who we are is worth much more than this as such the love we are designed to live.

    2. Absolutely Shami, imagine what abuse and violence are doing to us if it is repeated daily. The evidence of great harm is already here. When I look around, our world is full of violence, abuse, and corruption and because it has been going on for so long, many of us have learned to live with it and accept it. But this then doesn’t shift or heal our wayward ways, only truth and love will bring us back onto our true path to living in harmony.

34. It’s ironic how as children we can grow up in homes that are ravaged by the abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs and then we go on to use the same substances and do the same behaviours our parents did to us towards others. There is alot for us to consider on this topic including our generational behavioural patterns and what we consider normal because that is what we have experienced. The biggest question is how do we break these cycles collectively and bring back all of our homes to one of consistent decency, respect and love – for our society to be healthy and to grow and flourish these values are vital.

35. It is so normal in our society and accepted way of unwinding and unloading all our pent-up anger and frustrations, it is such an indictment on society and how we live when the unsafest place for children is in their own homes, and this is mainly due to alcohol and drugs.

36. “Even as I write this I can feel the questioning of that statement – it wasn’t every day, or every week – and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times.” This line touches me deeply, as it shows that deep down we know that even once is too much, and too many times.

37. Every single one of us will reach that ‘one day’ where we will surrender and call out that which is not working. We may think in our minds that that will never happen by what we are seeing today but listen to our body and we sense the truth of what is inevitable… the return for us all back to love.

38. A hangover is a clear message from the body that alcohol is harmful and the ‘drip, drip’ of ‘anything in moderation’ is no less harmful.

    1. A hangover is a clear message from our body that something poisoned it, so why do many continue to override these wise messages?

39. Alcohol consumption related consequences turns life into one of safety seeking. So, as far as this is achieved, alcohol is not seen for what it is. We make it about avoiding excess, not about drinking.

40. It seems alcohol has quite a hold on society. This is evident if you stop drinking by choice – it can be quite hard for others to accept. It’s fine if you’re pregnant or have declared yourself an alcoholic, but otherwise for many they question why? Surely one is ok? Or just one glass with dinner and friends? If we can see past the hazy goggles of alcohol then it is easier to see what a grip alcohol has.

41. What you expose here is that everything in moderation is a lie. If something does not work, and if it shows only every now and then or simply once, we know and we should not tolerate it anymore. But that is exactly our dilemma, that we have learned to tolerate instead of calling out the truth as it is.

42. The use of alcohol is widely accepted in society as normal but how can this be considered to be normal when the ‘side’ effects not only impact the drinker in many harmful ways but also those around them; in fact it affects all of society. Alcohol may be a poison and its effects very harmful but there is big business behind the production of this poison and those involved certainly do not want the consumption to decrease. But putting profit before people will eventually have a consequence.

43. “Forget and distance myself” That sounds all too familiar but interesting that we often look at alcohol as the more obvious distraction but have we considered so many others that are in today’s society considered the norm.

44. So true in that alcohol is a poison (just as cigarettes and coffee) to the body and affects not only the cells in our body but also affects all others around us. And its crazy how even though we can feel in our body what we are doing is poisoning ourselves because it is accepted as ‘normal’ we carry on and think if we stop doing this there must be something wrong with us because everyone else is doing it .. after all this is life right? I know that is what I felt growing up as a teenager and in my early 20’s I was desperate to love me more but because I did not have a true reflection of this around me I didn’t really know how to or would fall back in the same old pattern to fit in, feel more comfortable and to make others feel comfortable. The truth is there is absolutely nothing comfortable about poisoning our bodies.

45. The culture of alcohol is an insidious and abusive one, and sadly one that is considered normal. Yet it offers nothing but harm, and when we are willing to harm ourselves we then do not question the harm we impose on others. It is evident that we learn from each other, as we have learned to accept culture that is clearly abusive in so many ways, yet we continue with it. We even know that it is damaging in many lives, families and communities yet we continue, and instead seek ways to ‘manage’ it. So why don’t we learn from each other ways that inspire us to be more honest, free from emotions and more loving? At the end of the day, we need to look at why there is a need to abuse ourselves, why we think we need to escape, why we don’t live with true contentment and love, and that instead think alcohol is a greater solution. Whenever we open ourselves up to truth, we will always discover that there is truer way to be and live. For regardless of what we believe, how much we have been hurt, or how lost we may feel, our true way of being is always waiting for us to be reclaimed and lived, and when we open us to this possibility, the way will become clearer.

46. The greatest loss to our society is that self love is not nurtured in our lives, for if it was there would be no call for alcohol, drugs, coffee, sugar and the many other substances and distractions we have in our world today. All these things are considered normal, because there is no true respect and understanding of the magnificence of the body we live in.

    1. Totally agree Leigh – without a true marker to guide our way, what marker do we turn to? It seems that all we have turned to make things ‘better’ in our lives has left us with no real sense of who we are, as such our loveless and senseless behaviours continue to be abusive. Our bodies are the greatest markers on earth, of our true way of being here, and when we embrace this relationship we say, ‘no more’ to abuse and say ‘yes’ to love.

47. Hi Lee – the extent to which alcohol harms others and those who drink it is pretty evident. There are so many family law cases in which children are removed from families who put the addiction first. With this blog comes a deeper understanding of our responsibility with ourselves and others, and allows us to see the harm in choosing a substance that stops us being us.

48. I agree with “everything in moderation” doing a lot of damage, it’s kind of like a permission slip to a little bit of damage consistently, and it also discourages true self reflection where we can actually listen to the body and make a truly healthy choice in response to its signals.

49. “Even as I write this I can feel the questioning of that statement – it wasn’t every day, or every week – and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times.” So true this is where and how doubt comes in and as you say just once is enough for us to feel if something is true or not true, healing or harming.

    1. We feel like we can only say something when it is super extreme or happened a lot even though we should be able to address things first time they happen and cause harm.

50. Beautiful Lee — alcohol effects every cell.. it is more the negative destruct and behavior that seems to be the trigger to get into this drinking alcohol.. so the root cause is something else and from not dealing with the root cause we allow the drive that makes us seek that – a drive that is destructive to our wellbeing and body.

51. As a society we need to be honest and talk about the ills effects of alcohol on our bodies and future generations to come, we can no longer keep championing it and justifying these facts as the sooner we see it what is, the more awareness we can offer our young when it comes to ingesting such poison.

52. When I made the choice to stop drinking alcohol it was an interesting time. I work in hospitality and to say no in that environment when it is at the tip of your finger tips was truly quite remarkable. The fact that my body couldn’t handle it and I would end up wrapped around the toilet I also got to see how much damage it was causing all those drinking. How a session with friends would end up disastrous.

53. ‘…when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change…’ The miracle of constellation – I agree, I have found it to be this way also. When we commit to setting our sails in a direction congruent with the universe, the universe steps in with a gentle breeze to take us in the right direction.

54. Great sharing Lee, thank you. What you present brings a greater truth to the ‘moderation’ concept, which seems little more than a justification of an unnecessary habit – one we use to ‘sweeten’ life / take the edge off / reward ourselves with… dosing ourselves with a mind-altering toxin all the while. I used to use it too, and I’m sure glad I don’t have to any more.

55. It is time for responsibility now I say, how bad does the world and our health have to get before we start to accept how we have contributed to this mess by our lack of responsibility.

    1. It seems easier Lorraine to turn a blind eye than to be responsible, many want to stay stuck and not move forward it is too challenging to come out of their comfort.

56. Our dismissal and lack of consideration for the impact of alcohol is one of our greatest ignorances and deceits – we will wake up to the this and embrace responsibility one day.

57. Alcohol was banned in 1919 ‘to reduce crime, corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America’ but it did not last. Now we have Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon offering us the Ancient Wisdom. Not drinking alcohol is easy when you love the body that you enhouse and use it as a vessel for divinity.

58. Alcohol consumption contributes to health issues, which makes sense since it is a poison, it also contributes to aggression and violence, so why has it not been banned yet?

59. ‘…when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change…’ – This is great and reflect the fact that we always have a choice and we are always supported with that choice. Alcohol takes us out and it was one of the hardest things for me to renounce because there was a part of me that liked totally checking out.

60. Reading this I found myself remembering friends, family, myself under the influence of alcohol, and every memory had a cringe in it. How is it that we think it is acceptable to loose ourselves to then abuse ourselves and others? An even bigger question to ask, is why do we allow ourselves to be treated as we are by another who is under the influence? As this article shares, our self worth is not held in the true worth we hold, for if it was, we would not accept such behaviour.

61. Alcohol used to play a big part in my life. Now that I no longer drink, I can see how it used to control me and affect my relationships. Because it is such an accepted part of how we socialise and celebrate, we don’t open our eyes to the deep harm it causes.

62. Dear Lee, the following has been like a diamond glimmering from the reflection of the sun and is so deeply appreciated – ‘What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported’. Thank you.

63. We think that alcohol relaxes us and takes the edge off of life but in truth it takes us further and further away from ourself, from our inner truth, as nothing is really resolved and nothing really changes, it only becomes a medication we are addicted to with many many side effects.

64. Our bodies are so precious and yet we treat them like garbage cans and worse. Alcohol is just one of many substances that we throw into our bodies without any thought whatsoever of the damaging consequences. We don’t want to know because it will hinder what we think of as pleasure and our right to do what we want. Seen in this way drinking alcohol is very selfish and shows a lack of responsibility not just for oneself but for everyone.

65. Making a stand about alcohol in the way that you have done Lee is very precious, because it is not from a righteous judgement or condemnation of those who still choose it, but from a personal experience of seeing the effects of it for yourself, from feeling the devastation of it in your body and in seeing that same damage in those around you. This is the ultimate form of wisdom and is what makes your voice one to be heard.

66. Alcohol has very obvious detrimental effects on society, so I agree Lee and feel we all know the harm they do but as a whole turn a blind eye to it. But is it not true also that anything that numbs or dulls us from expressing the fullness of our true selves is equally as detrimental to society eg. sugar, overeating, overworking, overexercising, checking out with TV or surfing the net etc. These are so normal and accepted that eyebrows get raised when they are equated with alcohol or drug abuse, but they are no different in truth for the effect on us is the same – they create disconnection to our bodies so we can’t feel. In this we are not ourselves.

67. Thank you for your deep honesty Lee. It is quite simple, alcohol is a poison that has somehow over time become an accepted drink in spite of all the information about its effects on the body, the drinker and all those it may ripple on out to in various harmful ways. Alcohol and its insidious side effects have become an accepted normal which doesn’t make sense as we consider ourselves an intelligent species but too many people and our society are paying the very high price of this deeply ingrained normal in every moment.

68. Beautiful Lee. Your blog beautifully exposes the fact that alcohol is a harming substance in any quantity. If the world went a week without alcohol imagine how different that week would be! Alcohol is a major factor in most instances of child abuse (including sexual abuse) and violence. This alone should make us all seriously consider what ‘benefits’ alcohol really provides.

69. The very fact that alcohol is so accepted in our society is a clue to just how blind we have let ourselves become to the true, caring, loving being that each of us is. This is where we need to start the conversation to end alcohol abuse. Remind people of their essence and purpose.

70. It’s beautiful to feel all of humanity as one organism, a whole where each one of us is a cell within it. One cell cannot abuse itself in isolation of the others, We are all interconnected – even the so-called ‘space’ between each cell is alive and vivid with energy, communicating everything instantly to all others, without exception. This brings our responsibility to live in a way that does not pollute the whole in very sharp focus.

71. There is a false image about us being safe at home. Homes are sites where abuse run at its highest and where we learn how to cope with it. Alcohol often plays a key role in the entire abuse/coping with abuse/abuse cycle.

72. Alcohol not only effects the person who is drinking but it deeply hurts and effects others, family, friends and innocent bystanders too. We have to be responsible for our own actions, and when it comes to our own health and others well being are we not running away from responsibility by using alcohol as a form of escape?

73. A super powerful blog Lee exposing the true harm of alcohol and how the effects are felt far and wide, unfortunately this is happening on a constant basis in many homes within our society and tragically the figures are continually rising. I can feel the responsibility we all have to express the truth about alcohol and call out the abuse that is affecting many so many people worldwide.

74. These are powerful blogs Lee (and Jacqueline McFadden) and important ones for those of us seemingly untouched by such alcohol-fuelled violence. To know what goes on behind closed doors in the homes of many is devastating, and ought to be a national outcry against the accessibility and normalisation of alcohol. It’s damage worldwide is unfathomable in truth, and yet it is endorsed to the hilt via government taxes and given free reign for suppliers to advertise it as glamorous, cool, sophisticated or highly desirable, a mood-setter, ice-breaker or reward after a long, hard day’s work.

75. Thank you, Lee, for sharing so openly your own struggles with alcohol as it brings an honesty and a depth of understanding of its harm that is sorely needed.

76. I very much agreed with the ‘everything in moderation’ model of living. While on the outside everything seemed to be all ok, things really were not. I would eat and drink a little bit of everything and sometimes I would venture into the more or much more than a little bit. Now this would be the story of the average person and most would ask what is the harm in that? When we condone the use of a substance we are actually condoning the way that it is used on the whole. So even though we may have a small amount of alcohol, we are actually supporting and encouraging it’s use on it’s broader scale, including that of harmful levels. While we may not think this or acknowledge this, our behaviours actually tell a different story. Even ‘non’ harmful levels can be questioned however. It is now known that any level of intake of alcohol increases our risks of cancer. So what then is harmful? This is something that needs to be questioned by everyone in society at a very deep level for alcohol’s use is very deeply embedded and needed by many for many reasons. This will take time as every person themselves reach that point where they begin to question this for themselves as Lee has done in his life. What needs to be known is that a there is a life to be lived on the other side of alcohol, a life that can be deeply rewarding.

77. The abuse that occurs due to alcohol in our society is paraded across our tv screens, newspapers, online….all showcasing what can happen each and every day, murder, sexual assault, domestic violence and so much more, a lot of it occurs when alcohol is involved. It will be a grand day when we learn what alcohol truly does in the body and its affects.

78. There is always a way out is a powerful message this blog delivers. No matter where you end up, no matter the unloving choices we have made in the past and the pain, sadness and fear we have caused ourselves, there is always a different choice that can be made and once we decide to take one little baby step towards that change, so much support becomes available to take the next steps, and the next… Lee has described this beautifully; What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.

79. So well said Lee, there is a lot written and documented about the damage alcohol does to our organs. And more and more scientific research is coming out showing the implicit link with severe illness and disease. But my feeling is this doesn’t even touch on the moment to moment destruction alcohol does when it blocks and stops us connecting and expressing Love. Where there is naturally warmth, intimacy, openness and care, what we get in its place is disregard, apprehension, and fear. When you start to understand the world doesn’t actually need to be this way we can begin to understand the energetic effects alcohol has on us all, everyday.

80. How much alcohol means abuse of alcohol? Is it acceptable to say ‘use’ (without the ‘ab’) of alcohol and to say that within specific limits we are on the ‘reasonable’ side? Is it such a reasonable thing about alcohol? Could it be that any alcohol constitutes abuse (abuse to self and abuse to others)?

81. Very powerful piece Lee making no excuses for and exposing the harm and abuse that comes through our choice to drink alcohol. ‘The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells.’ – so well said Lee. All that we do has an effect on all that we share this world with, this is an inescapable truth of the responsibility we all hold. Until we are willing to be honest as to why we are choosing to consume a poisonous substance to escape or bring relief to the pain we feel, we then will continue to witness and experience the harm and abuse that is payed forward to not only our children, families and friends but all in this world as we are expecting them to accept loveless behaviours as a normal way of life, which it certainly is not. As it is our divine right to live the love we are, free from abuse.

82. “It wasn’t every day, or every week – and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times” – this really stopped me on my track. I can feel how this is exactly I have assimilated myself to various kinds of abuse in this way – mostly self-inflicted ones. And love would not choose that for itself.

83. Beautiful to come back to your blog Lee; what you have presented on the absolute harm alcohol causes is very powerful and a sad indictment on our society;
    “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent”.

84. The fundamental paradigm shift that will swing the world off its axis of substance abuse from alcohol to caffeine and more is consistently and beautifully presented by Universal Medicine… On offer to the world is such a different way of living that leads to such joy and fulfillment and understanding

85. “I was exhausted not only from the constant use of coffee, alcohol, drugs, food and nervous stimulation but by the fact that there seemed no way out.” Yes and this is what we need to work on as we all know alcohol is not a healthy choice, we have mostly all felt as a child how it wasn’t very nice when our parents drunk alcohol yet most of us choose to drink alcohol later in life. So something does not match and something does not make sense… It is about looking at why we are drinking and why we think it is the only way to deal with our hurts and as you said it is when we start to open up to the possibility of change being possible, the way to go is there. I found too that my thoughts often say it is not possible and it is the only way (which is not true) the way out of that is feeling your body of what is true.

86. It is so clear that drinking alcohol is not natural for our bodies; one just has to honestly look at why we drink and the obvious ill repercussions of it. It has an effect on everybody. Your personal story Lee really brings this fact home. I love What you say here about how we can support a change, “effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.” This is very true and applies to all of life.

87. I love the reflections and awarenesses you have come to around alcohol and as such exposed the harm and incremental destruction we have participated in at the expense of everyone. However as with everything in life, we can change… and can choose to no longer participate in that which harms us or others and as such reflect another way of being where we no longer are consumed or controlled by a poison that we have normalized at great cost to us all.

88. One day humanity will really take note that in disconnection from our bodies we are capable of a range of behaviours that we would never go to in connection and that even if the feeling of detaching from a body that only brings unsettlement into our lives, the way is to address why do we feel so unsettled, not to drink it away. The latter brings us nowhere.

89. Many on the bandwagon of the effect of cigarettes on how health and tax them to the max but I cannot wonder after reading your blog again Lee if statistically alcohol on many levels costs our community and the health care system so much more.

90. Lee your living example shows the viciousness of alcohol. You experienced as a child how your own day would ‘lurch from sunshine to violence through the use and continued abuse of alcohol’. But yet as you grew up, you ‘actually resorted to using the same drink as a teenager to ‘forget and distance’ yourself from all that had happened’. This just goes to show how treacherous and undermining alcohol can be and why we need to be more honest about its short term and long term ripple effect on us all.

91. There are a lot of false claims that Alcohol is accredited for, one of them is that without it people are unable to speak out as themselves and join a conversation! Some people are adamant about this! What does it mean if we don’t share thoughts and conversation with others without a poisonous substance being ingested? Is it we don’t really value the true person that we are or are we used to stepping out and allowing another energy to take over for us!

92. Alcohol has been the trigger to great harm in society and one of the greatest harms is that it is considered as harmless or even good for us in small amounts. But regardless of that many of us have a need for alcohol, whether to take the edge of a stressful day or to medicate how we feel about ourselves or the world we live in. But once we really begin to understand that what it is is a poison to our body perhaps then we will begin to reconsider that it is good for us.

93. Do you notice how all the things that most harm the body, our relationships, work, our families and our connection is not only accepted as ‘normal’ but loudly endorsed in society? Does this not clearly show what is at play in keeping us disconnected from who we are and what we’re here to do together? It’s like a really bad movie that you go is it really like that!

94. Most of us just think about the social aspects of alcohol, but this exposes the darker side – a world of pain for entire families that lives on the back of alcohol abuse. While the abuse itself is not the fundamental problem but a means by which the issues of the day or of life can come through, it is no less awful that this is legal, profit making industry, fully accepted and integrated into society.

95. “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells” Alcohol affects everyone in the vicinity and all cells in the body. It is a known poison, so why do we continue to justify its ‘normality’ in society. If it were a new drug it would be banned – so many side-effects. But they’re not really ‘side-effects’ at all….

96. To see the real harm that alcohol does you only need to visit the emergency department at your local hospital on a Friday and Saturday night. It is beyond horrific and it is definitely time for all of us to open our eyes and see what we are accepting as “normal”.

    1. How true, that is the sobering reality. We can always find something or someone to justify our ill behaviours, yet that does not hide the truth of them.

97. I see this time and time again Lee “I shut down completely and actually resorted to using the same drink as a teenager to ‘forget and distance’ myself from all that had happened.” we need honest conversations and true support.

98. “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells” Yes, alcohol affects our whole body when we use it, just as it affects not only us, but reaches out far beyond our body and affects others whom we share this world with. Nothing is isolated.

99. “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change:…” This has to be appreciated as a great truth and part of our way back to who we truly are. There is a call within us to live this truth and it begins with the acknowledgement that we do want to change. If we bring appreciation to this then we already are on the way out of the miasma of confusion about how to change, because it comes from the same place as that initial call. It is within us.

100. Alcohol is a poison, whether or not we want to admit it – we, most of us anyway, know the next day hang over and how much we can lose control of our senses. Yet it is commonly accepted as being a normal thing to have. The question is do we want to pollute our bodies or not?!

101. Drinking in moderation is nothing but a lie, trying to make it sound as though it was okay; if we replaced the word ‘alcohol’ with the word ‘poison’, would we really say that ingesting poison in moderation was fine?

102. Thank you for raising our awareness Lee, that alcohol is not just an extremely unhealthy drink on a physical level, but on a social level as well despite the fact that it is used to socialise. In truth it destroys relationships, the connection with yourself and others and it has a much much bigger impact on our children then we are ready to admit.

103. It never makes sense to me, when I see posts on social media titled ‘New scientific study confirms that 2 glass of red a day will help obesity’… or something along those lines. What scientists and what alcohol companies are employing their services for such studies? It’s like humanity wants to believe and kid themselves that ‘moderation’ is key, but I feel we all know deep down how destructive and harmful alcohol truly is but are ready to believe what ever an authority says on the subject to keep the habit or ‘winding down’ active.

104. It is so true that we all affect each other far more than we care to be aware of for we are not ready for that level of responsibility. And yes not only do we also affect future generations, but we are those future generations as this is what we will be coming back to.

105. I was blessed to have a home with minimal amounts of alcohol and abuse, but have witnessed many other family members and friends deal with what comes from alcohol abuse, and I can honestly say it hurts beyond! I have seen boys be crushed by their fathers intoxicated abuse or witnessing horrific family disputes. It affects all enormously. Thank you for exposing this as eloquently as you have Lee

106. “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells.” This line really stands out for me. Furthermore not only does it affect our cells but also others, family, friends, colleagues, wider community and the whole of humanity, as nothing can be hidden and what is done to one is done to all.

107. so true Lee, the drink affects not just us, but all those around us. Many have experienced what it is like at parties to be surrounded by inebriated guests, or at home when arguments get fuelled by drugs and alcohol into abuse and violence, just one more thing that adds to a world in which it is hard to trust and feel safe.

108. This is most definitely a conversation that needs to unfold, we cannot keep going as we are for much longer – as the statistics of domestic violence, alcoholism, liver and kidney disease and diabetes continue to spiral seemingly out of control, but in fact we each have the simple choice within ourselves – and this would change everything.

109. In the UK the National Health System is on its knees. Alcohol is the underlying cause of many health issues, accidents and violence that the NHS has to deal with. If the poison of alcohol consumption was recognised for all the deep harm it causes and was no longer used and abused by anyone the NHS would be in a much healthier condition.

110. Thank you for the reminder that what our cells reflect matters and has an impact on others.
     And also what we all deserve.

111. Drinking alcohol is so accepted and if you dare to question it, for instance that it is not normal for a teenager to start with drinking alcohol, you seem to be not from this world.

112. We have a tendency to try to separate experiences, I remember when I was young and we all went out drinking a lot, we had a couple of friends that were really ‘messy’ drunks, really crazy. We were always talking about how they couldn’t handle their drink and how they shouldn’t drink. We talked like this but never questioned that maybe they needed some support? We had this idea that we were different to them and there for didn’t need to change. What I feel so clearly now is how hypocritical my behaviour was, that if I could truly see that my friends were struggling and being adversely affected by alcohol, if I could see that they were struggling to stop even though they wanted to, even though they were embarrassed by what they would do, then why couldn’t I choose my love for them over a drink of poison? We love to label an ‘alcoholic’ as the one with the problem but what does society do to support those that are simply reflecting the true harm of this substance.
     Later I came to realise that although I may have held it together better than some when I was out on the booze, I had a massive problem with alcohol consumption, anyone that tries to trick themselves into thinking that alcohol is not bad for them, is lying to themselves, its like saying I only smoke one of two cigarettes a day, so what, that doesn’t mean its okay.

113. “We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with. Finished. This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.” I completely agree with you Lee. Alcohol is a toxic substance – to our bodies and our relationships. There are absolutely no beneficial effects, only harming ones. We’ve been sold a lie but than can only happen if we choose to believe it.

114. One day, it is true, then it may be well into the future, but society will look back in horror at the fact that there were alcohol stores on every corner, in our supermarkets, and that people thought it normal to be having just a few drinks every day. It will happen because we can only poison ourselves for so long.

115. Having lived with a recovering alcoholic for many years, I found it easy not to drink as he did not drink, and hence I learned if one person chooses not to drink, it is easier for others to also make that choice.

116. There is a common notion that alcohol can give the user a relaxed feeling. This in itself points to the fact that if we need to use a substance to change our state of being just to get through life then what quality are we really living in.

117. The true effect of alcohol needs to keep being exposed as you have done here Lee. In our society there is much that needs to be looked at and not too many that would go against the grain to voice what is really going on in the true damage alcohol does.

118. The harming effects of alcohol are so obvious, and it’s no secret that alcohol is a poison that harms our bodies. What disturbs me is despite almost everyone in the world knowing the damage caused people continue to proudly tell stories about how drunk they’ve been, or how wasted they got – it doesn’t make sense. Taking true care of yourself and others – now that is something to be proud of.

119. Your comment about how one cell affects another particularly impressed on me the responsibility that we all have in how we live. Are we reflecting that its OK to get drunk, take drugs, watch porn, constantly be exhausted, abuse each other? If so then we are equally responsible for what is seen as normal in the world and the mess we are in. Or we can choose to live in a way that expresses something grander.. our true selves as an inspiration to others.

120. We can change through choice, very often we need a powerful stop or sense of absolute hopelessness or desperation before moving to that place where we say, enough is enough. And when we reach this place we are able to see for the first time the support that was there all along.

121. ‘What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported’. This speaks volumes to me this morning, thank you Lee.

122. There is no doubt that alcohol is a blight on society contributing to domestic violence, and significant health issues, and yet as a society we continue to put our proverbial head in the sand and imagine “it is just a drink.”

123. Thank you Lee for sharing your experience with alcohol, I see the terrible effects it has on family members who would like to stop, but find it so difficult, there is some sort of misplaced mateship in sharing a drink with others. A sKull and cross bones need to be placed on every bottle of alcohol for the poison it really is to society.

124. Lee thank you for sharing so honestly about your experience with alcohol. It is what alcohol did to every person that is so shocking and that most of us are not wanting to accept what alcohol really is – it is a poison – even if the doctor say a glass of red wine is fine.

125. I have noticed that even after one drink slight aggression starts to creep in. Conversation can be gentle and pleasant and after alcohol is introduced it takes on an edge and people go into very subtle battles with each other. A loving connection and interaction is hard to maintain with alcohol.

126. It seems that as a society we have put it in the “can’t be true” basket and it keeps getting ignored. But for how long can we ignore the impact on society?

127. Wow I cannot imagine where I would be today if I had not made the choice to stop drinking alcohol. Most of society is turning a blind eye to the true harm of this substance. Alcohol is a known poison that affects not only our bodies but also many innocent people at the receiving end of substance abuse.

128. Lee thank you for sharing how harmful alcohol is. . It is interesting how many people cannot see it as a poison and the damage it does to ones body but also the harm it does to others when one is under the influence of alcohol. I know many families where alcohol has been the cause of harm.

129. Lee, I always knew alcohol was harming as could see the effects it had on those around me. When I did then drink I saw how it changed me and I would do things I would not have dreamt of otherwise. I would then feel exhausted the next day. Yet there was a pull to drink more, it was a social thing and something if you were not drinking you would constantly be asked why not. Alcohol is harming to the body full stop, yet it is often encouraged – this makes no sense but also shows where we have allowed society to get to.

130. Drinking a poison, however socially acceptable, affects not just your own cells but the cells of all around you – evidence is increasingly available about the true cost of alcohol use and abuse but it continues and in fact appears to be escalating as are the costs to society. Those caught in the cycle of abusing alcohol however irregularly or however ‘moderately’, who are choosing to separate from themselves and others, and not facing the consequences of their behaviour have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Those who have made the choice not to drink alcohol have a responsibility to not just reflect the benefits of this choice but also to speak up about the abuse that they inevitably see all around them, not in a judgmental way but simply presenting the facts about this poison and its wider impact. Thank you for the reminder that change starts with ourselves.

     1. We are becoming more and more aware of how alcohol, smoking and other addictive behaviours are harming others. No longer is it someone’s problem when we are choosing to have family and relationships.

131. I have often heard comments such as “it is not the alcohol, it is being responsible in using it”. I wonder how often that attitude comes from people unwilling to truly go to the depth of responsibility to acknowledge that any amount of alcohol acts like poison in the body? Or how many times it is thought by people who have shut down the sensitivity to how they act, even though society tolerates it? I agree Lee, even one instance of abuse is too much.

132. I too felt trapped on the merry-go-round of being a drinker and thought there was no way out but also knew at the time this was no true way to live. It took a while but through Universal medicine I can really see the truth about alcohol and the damage it causes. The trouble is so many of us can get away with drinking it without being violent and still hold down jobs and function to a certain standard in society but what is the quality in how we do all this?

133. Yes Lee, I agree – Alcohol is not good for the person. A person with alcohol in them is not good for the people they are with. This is the absolute truth. I can sense a change in the person with their first sip.

134. That ‘everything in moderation’ is killing us and is a complete illusion. Why would we poison ourselves in moderation? But beyond that, we need to ask ourselves the question – how are we living our lives that we accept poison (sugar/alcohol) in moderation?

135. “Even as I write this I can feel the questioning of that statement – it wasn’t every day, or every week – and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times.” This is a great observation Lee so why is it that we allow a recurrence and when it occurs why do we not remove ourselves from the situation completely? The answers will be many and varied, often with justification, however if we were to take a stand and show no tolerance life for everyone would be very different.

136. Re-reading this Lee this line stood out for me ‘The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells’. Very true and not only affecting the drinker’s cells but the cells of everybody who is in contact with the drinker as well.

137. The disconnection that occurs with the consumption of alcohol is very sad. Firstly there is a disconnection from the person with themselves and then with others and it only takes one drink for this to happen and to then feel that the person you’re with is no longer communicating with you from their essence and who they truly are.

138. ‘The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells’. Such a profound statement and one which expresses the deep damage that the impact of alcohol in the body has not only on the body of the drinker, but on the cells in other bodies around it – family, friends colleagues, bystanders. We are what we ingest and imbibe – and the responsibility deepens and widens when we realise that we impose this onto others.

139. True Brendan. How bad do the alcohol fueled behaviours need to get, how many generations need to grow up impacted by alcohol fueled violence or even parents who they felt change under the influence of drink? At what point are we prepared to get honest about the poison we champion as being ‘good for your heart’ and ‘harmless in moderation’? Eventually there will need to be a reckoning here.

140. We don’t like to look at the affect of our indulgences on those around us. If we did, we would be immediately called to consider a higher level of responsibility. Just as alcohol impacts the people around the drinker, so too does consuming coffee and sugar, porn, checking out on Facebook or with video games. . . The particular flavour of the impact on those around us may differ, but these indulgences we use to escape life never just affect those who choose to part take in them.

141. “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change.”
     This is a very powerful statement Lee and a gift for us all if we recognise it as such. As you have illustrated we all have a choice to find our way back if we choose and there is support from the universe to do this. A great sharing- thank you.

142. Thank you Lee, this is a powerful blog exposing the real damage of alcohol in our society and our own bodies, it is powerful to feel the responsibility in the reflection to others that there is another way to live and heal our hurts so there is no need to numb ourselves but treasure ourselves for the love we all are.

143. It is interesting in that word abuse, it sounds like having maybe one or two drinks would not be seen as abuse when really just one drink is abuse to the body as any amount of alcohol is a poison to the body. It is not the abuse of alcohol but the abuse to the body through drinking alcohol.

144. We can easily live in the repetition of life according to our patterns but what you share is so true Lee ‘when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change’. There is always a lesson, a blessing or a person that is ready to support us to initiate that change if we just keep our eyes and hearts open to them.

145. Over the last decade in particular there has been much education, many campaigns and advertisements to increase the awareness of the destructive social and physiological effects of smoking cigarettes and taking recreational drugs. But apart from the 0.05 ads I cannot remember much else for alcohol. Why is this so when statistically the destructive ripple effect of alcohol has a significantly higher and more widespread impact on the people of our society as evidenced by the social and domestic ripple effect of its abuse and number of hospital admissions related to alcohol as compared to recreational drugs definitely, and more than likely even smoking?

146. This is very very true Brendan, why are we not collectively waking up to the destructive ripple effect alcohol has on us all?

147. “’We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with. Finished. This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.”
     Yes we all do have a responsibility to name the scourge alcohol has on our society, a scourge that plays out in many and varied harmful forms. Let’s keep the truth about alcohol; and its insidious impact; to the forefront and as you say Lee, claimed deeply.

148. Is it not crazier that we take a poison to alter the feelings we have in the first place – why is it that we are not able to accept feel and change that which is not working – drowning out these moments does not support change rather just burns them deeply into the body.

149. Thank you Lee for sharing your experience with alcohol, it needs to be called by it’s true name and that is Poison. Not just to the person drinking it, but to families who suffer the effects of parents drinking, and then often take it on themselves, and whole of society is effected whether they drink or not.

     1. This is fundamental and something that we all need to grasp – it is not an isolated act to consume or drink excessively alcohol. The act of doing this has an impact on all around us, just like urinating in the pool so to speak, regardless of the fact that you may think you are not affecting anyone by this action – you are affecting each and every person in the water and everyone who comes into the water thereafter.

150. When I was a drinker, every now and then I would have a wave of understanding come over me, of what I was doing to myself and those around me, I would have a wave of clarity about how life would be or how I needed to change things so that I wasn’t looking for a drink to relax and deep down I knew and had talked about how numbing it was and how this would affect me and those around me. So when I heard Serge Benhayon present on the effects of alcohol, it made perfect sense because I had already come to know those things myself. Serge just gave me the push to consider that I was onto something. Now, life is richer than it has ever been because I am present in every moment of it.

151. It would be interesting to know how many people that had just found the teachings of Universal Medicine when this blog was written… have now stopped drinking because they can now feel what it does to them and others.

152. You get more reaction talking about alcohol being a poison than you do about God.

     1. Agreed Gyl, stopping drinking for me was an act of declaration of war in my friendship groups – interestingly I know very few of those people now…

153. What is it about people that cling to alcohol so much – what is it about us as a society that does not want to let go of this, or see in truth the absolute deep harm it does. What it is that causes us to feel so much hurt, that we are willing to champion, drink and even spend thousands of pounds on a poison to numb, abuse, harm – lets be really honest – to not feel the fact we miss ourselves and our innate divine and very normal connection to God.

154. A very true and powerful blog – it’s interesting how people say I don’t really drink or only drink in moderation, one drink or ten – same thing – no different.

155. Why is it that people avoid the simple truth that this is – alcohol is a poison, fact – you cannot change this.

156. The dependency factor alone belies the truth of the poison that many choose to ingest. Drinking to drown out our days right until the final curtain is a truly sad way to be.

157. I remember as a child wishing that my parents and extended family did not drink alcohol as I could see how they were simply not themselves when they drank it. They felt terrible. As children we can feel very acutely what alcohol does and then as we grow up we conveniently forget.

158. I love this line; ‘What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change.’ This is amazing, so often we look at the mess we get ourselves in, and it seems so big, like there is no way out. But how amazing that with just the intention to want to change, life actually supports you to do this.

159. It is amazing how many excuses we make around alcohol, and how we continue to not want to see or accept the true damage alcohol does to our physical body, relationships and family.

160. Society makes it quite acceptable to drink large quantities of alcohol and then complain when things get out of hand, and it becomes a drain on service resources. Is this really the kind of society we want our children to believe is normal.

161. It is crazy that as a society we have normalised drinking alcohol and copious amounts of it when it is a known poison and strongly contributes to domestic violence. What messages are children receiving if we don’t start to speak up about the true harm of alcohol?

162. Thank you Lee, unlike your experience mine was much more subtle but also insidious. I also grew up with daily alcohol consumption around me. It was all carefully controlled and a ritual – at the end of the day, sitting quietly and drinking bottle of beer or less. There was never any violence and I grew up thinking it to be quite ok and completely normal. I would described those around me as responsible, hard working with a great deal of integrity but I can now feel the medicating that was going on and how it cut off the connection between them and myself.

163. Alcohol kills more people than any other substance and in most places it is the only legal one. I wonder why this is acceptable but I do understand alcohol abuse as I was very much addicted to alcohol for a number of years and it took me about four years to stop once I decided to. I bet people that work in the A&E departments in the hospitals would love to see alcohol wiped off the face of the earth as well as all those who have to deal with all the other consequences and fallout from this particular drug.

164. Thank you for bringing responsibility back into the alcohol picture Lee. This is the last thing we think of before we touch the drink, drug or next ‘hit’. In that moment it is about us and about the numbing and stimulation factor that we need. Others are not even considered in that picture which highlights how deeply self-indulgent and ignorant we must be to ignore the real harm it is doing not only to ourselves but to everyone.

165. Powerful writing Lee. If we step back and look at how alcohol affects the behaviours we have for the days that follow consumption we can begin to see its destructive nature. I love how you bring in the cellular responses that are occurring, and as you explain the effect of our cellular responses on others around us is rather huge. If someone has been drinking they are not going to be as vibrant and energised as if they had not. That to me, from my experience of drinking alcohol, is an obvious fact. After drinking I would be less engaging, less willing to be among people and more withdrawn.

166. ‘What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change:’ I find this statement very deeply true. Just one small decision to make a change and little reflections and opportunities arise to support that change. Which really goes to show, life is about energy and the quality of it first.

167. I work in the AOD industry and see the results of this legal substance. The damage that it does to the body, their mental health ,their life and the family and people around them is enormous. This vicious cycle needs to be stopped. It is time that we stop and see that it isn’t a normal way to live. A great blog Lee outlining the true harm.

168. Thank you Lea for your article, and beautiful to read how your life has changed. I have family members that drink, and this, in the past has been a constant upset for me to see what harm they are doing to themselves. But gradually the light is dawning, and their consumption is becoming less and even some have stopped drinking all together.

169. I have seen with my own eyes how some people abuse themselves with alcohol and that when they do they often abuse others. It appears to me that alcohol is not just a poison for the body, but a poison for relationships.

170. Every day there are more statistics about the havoc that alcohol is wreaking in our society… But behind every statistic there will be a person’s life that is profoundly shattered… One half million children in Australia live in a environment with an at risk drinker parent… That is one half million children experiencing what we know is experienced when people drink and become “ not themselves” and how awful and fearful this is.

     1. Brilliant to state this cjames2012 – we are all responsible for these stats.

171. Burying and hiding your anxiety Lee is so traumatic and debilitating. The real and underlying effects of alcohol are so vast and widespread; a cancer and scourge on our society. The transformation you have made from childhood hurts, contraction and abusing your own body and to the gorgeous, beautiful, tender, divine man you are today is stunning. I am in awe of you Lee Green.

172. A real stop and consider blog here Lee – I watched my family use alcohol to escape and I followed exactly the same pattern. Its pretty horrific how I abused alcohol instead of taking responsibility. But I thought I was normal because everyone else was doing the same thing. As I started to let go of alcohol, if I did fall off the wagon and drink to relieve the tension I could feel in my body – I would pay for it for days after – which was a message to say ‘this is not loving’. I really suffered for days after – which is a big difference to when I used to drink all the time and would even drink on my lunch breaks at work and then go back to the office as if all was normal.

     A huge step up to now be sensitive to the effects of it.

173. A very powerful blog, felt and written with so much love, openness and understanding. This blog is offering healing on so many levels to all who read it – thank you Lee. Many are experiencing the effects of alcohol right this moment, children and adults. Many lives are still trying to shake off behaviours they are living because of the impact Alcohol has had during their years of growing up. Your comment Lee acknowledges this – ‘ my own household as a young boy would lurch from sunshine to violence through the use and continued abuse of alcohol’. Every moment of everyday offers new beginnings to us all in which we can stand up against the damaging effects of alcohol, drugs and other mind/body separating substances. Every moment we choose to live in our own fullness and be the love that we are affects all others around us. Having the awareness you now have Lee and the gift of this blog has already had a powerful impact on society and all those that read it.

174. I am working in a shop for natural products and meet a lot of pregnant women every day who come in and looking for something ‘more natural’. Now, while they are carry someone else in their body, they want to take spezial care for their body – what is lovely. But. I am asking me, them and you: why caring more for a unborn child then for my own body? Am I’m not the same worth? Am I’m not also constantly growing and re-building my body and so have to get the best nutrition and care to develop in the best way? Yes I am. And yes, we are.
     Alcohol is a poison. To name it differently and to do so as it could do any good is to avoid, deny and trample all over the responsibility we have for our own, our family, friends and the community we are living in. It is avoiding evolving.

     1. Sandra this is an amazing question.’Why caring more for a unborn child then for my own body? Am I not the same worth?’ Is it not amazing that when we have that responsibility inside of us we make the changes – yet when the baby is on the outside of us things often revert back to the way they were….

175. The use of alcohol provides absolutely no benefit to anybody anywhere, when you look at the damage alcohol causes on a physical and social level it would probably have to be the worst drug on the market.

176. I could not agree more Lee, and I love your analogy of it affecting all cells and people. Alcohol is classified as a class 1 carcinogen – ie highly inducive of cancer and flows in our blood stream when consumed – meaning it has the capability to affect all of the cells our blood flows past. It affects some of them physically and functionally that we can measure. The same is for people – we can measure those who are affected by someone getting drunk and becoming abusive, or crashing their car. It can be seen more ‘subtely’ in the arguments that ensue in relationships after a few wines. When we will say that enough is enough, and that something that causes damage so obviously has no place in our society?

177. I was more addicted to foods and other behaviours instead of alcohol so I really appreciate your sharing about alcohol Lee and the transformational journey that you have made. A substance that if allowed manipulates and control lives – now whoever invented this stuff?

178. ‘Everything in Moderation’ … How much poison do we allow ‘in moderation’?
     Would I like a moderate bit of violence, a moderate bit of abuse, or a moderate kind of rape?
     No. Alcohol is regarded as damaging to the body and mind – as violence, abuse and rape are – but we do not want to allow ‘moderation’ of these things!
     I want Harmony. I want Integrity. I want Honor. To me, nothing from alcohol or any other drug is compatible with the latter.

     1. Well said Sandra – ‘Everything in Moderation’ when it comes to poisoning the body?? Sounds comical if it wasn’t so deadly accurate about our society right now. So many people are directly or indirectly affected by alcohol everyday – responsibility is low but the burden on us all is higher than ever.

     2. The idea of drinking in moderation does not even allow to consider the truth of alcohol: it is an instrument of (self-)abuse. The fact that this phrase still convince many that drinking is ok makes clear how normalised abusing ourselves is.

        1. Normal abuse – there is only now the extremes that signify or trigger that word abuse in us as a society. Drunken behaviour would be considered – par for the course, just something we do now as a society, fine to get tipsy and a bit jolly. This is purely one element and one that does not tell the full and whole story of the abuse that is rampant throughout your world.

179. This is completely spot on, I agree with everything you have said. Alcohol has such a ginormous effect on our society, friends, family, and especially kids. It’s seeped into every part of life, and it’s rare a social occasion exists without it. Yet we all know it is the initiator of ill-health, disease, organs failing and violence. I would love for us to wake up as a whole world and end the use of this poison for good.

     1. That would be a grand step for society Meg, to let go of alcohol being an accepted evil in our societies and instead banish it. Whole of society will benefit as the cost that are involved in the health and violence issues related to the use of alcohol are immense and a burden to all of us.

        1. I would truly love to see that day when we all by choice stop using things that poison and hurt our health, such as alcohol. Absolutely everyone and everything would benefit, including our relationships, our health, how we feel about ourselves… need I go on?

180. Well said Lee Green. Abuse is not acceptable ever, be it toward another or ones own body. A little bit does not make it less, it is still abuse. Alcohol is a poison period, and no amount of poison fed to the body is OK.

181. Thanks For sharing Lee. I can’t believe alcohol is such an accepted substance and is bought and consumed by some many that just think it is a natural way of life. The thought of having alcohol in my body brings horror. It is a purely abusive substance that poisons our body, end of story. I know that people use it to not deal with issues in life and numb them out of their awareness. What is even more damaging that this effect brings to people, it slowly and subtly separates people and creates divides in relationships, a coldness that is void of any love or fiery expression. If there was no alcohol, we would have to deal with our anger immediately as we would feel the effect that such emotions have on other people. We could be far more together and healthy as a society without it.

182. Great points, Lee. Scientific papers, medical journals and the press constantly publish articles on the dangers of and damaged caused by the poison alcohol. What is crazy is that so called intelligent people, including doctors, lawyers, counselors and teachers, those who often see the repercussions of alcohol-abuse on a regular basis, will still champion their glass of wine or beer. Many will agree that alcohol is toxic and detrimental to society, but that it is okay for them to drink it. There are none so blind as those who chose not to see – the truth is blaring out in neon lights. Change will only occur when we choose to be honest and refuse to perpetuate the lie that affects every cell in society.

     1. Exactly Carmin – work like crazy through school, get to University and then start to drink – and this is encouraged as a way of ‘letting off steam’. Intelligence dousing itself in drinks: this evolves no one, in the sense that no-one learns.

     2. Alcohol is a way of medicating ourselves out of pain that comes with a sophisticated air and embedded in the idea of pleasure. If it is a pleasure has to be good for us, isn’t it? In truth, the pleasure drinkers get is to stop feeling the hurt they carry.

183. Well said Lee. It is high time that we get honest about why we need to consume alcohol and the effects that this has on ourselves and our society. It is a poisonous substance that only causes harm, to those who consume it and all those around them. In my experience and what I have seen there are no benefits in consuming alcohol, only abuse.

     1. Agreed Carola society is poisoning itself because we as a collective don’t want to look at what is truly happening, what we have all allowed to happen. It certainly is time now for us to all take that responsibility.

184. Alcohol is just so ingrained in the fabric of our society and even though the statistics are everywhere and the physical evidence of what happens as a result of too much alcohol, the lure of celebration, checking out, numbing ourselves stupid on alcohol is still appealing for many many people today. There is a responsibly many are still yet to take on board, a sad but true reality.

185. Lee what a great insight you gave us with your wise words. This following sentences says it all for me: “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells – the human society is made up of many people and they reflect constantly back and forth to each other – if one is reflecting anxiety and anger then this causes disharmony in those cells/people around it.” It is ridiculous that we as a human beings are not aware about this fact in every second of our lives – therefore one question we have to ponder on is: Why is it so?

186. Years ago there was this series of TV government public service commercials and the one of the elephant walking around a normal house with people doing normal things and all the time everyone does not see or accept the fact that there is an elephant living in their house. Is was showing what happens when ignore big things like drugs and alcohol abuse. You are correct Lee, it is time to stop living with the elephants we do not wish to see and deal with them.

187. “We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with. Finished. This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.” So true Lee, I wish your words could be front page news every day until as a society we start to get it.

188. I absolutely agree with you Lee that the consumption of alcohol needs to stop. We have to move away from believing that it’s normal to consume a toxin.

189. Very powerful article, Lee !
     One point I like to add to the picture is that all arguments that intend ‘to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ only look at the possible extreme outcomes of drinking alcohol to then measure how much is okay without producing the extremes and hence are considered acceptable, but they don´t even take into account the reasons of why the need for drinking alcohol emerges in the first place. Could it be that it is the unwillingness, denial or helplessness of not wanting or feeling capable to deal with the causes and hence simply accepts the use of alcohol as ‘normal’, justifies it, and only looks for solutions to avoid the extremes?

     1. Avoiding the extremes is the key – if we can show that we are not affected by the extreme behaviours then – all is okay – right?

190. Working in a university at present I am in fact a nominee for the liquor licence – quite a responsibility – and yet what I observe is that for all the accolades and prestige lauded over this educational institution there is a thin veneer, alcohol is still a currency used by students and academic teaching staff alike to not feel the body that they all inhabit. There is a matter of fact-ness – a given that students are allowed to trash themselves as part of their rite of passage through this experience. It baffles me that the most amazing minds will still willfully destroy their own selves by drinking alcohol in the name of good times.

     1. Absurdity at it´s sophisticated intellectual best – the alleged free-thinking mind simply not caring about the body but wanting to do what it likes because it can, avoiding responsibility of the actual reasons that make it think what it thinks to avoid feeling what there is to be felt and honestly to be looked at and acted upon.

191. Thank you Lee for sharing this blog with such honesty, you can speak with such authority on the harms of alcohol due to what you witnessed as a child. Sadly all of us have stories of experiencing alcohol abuse whether it is with ourselves, family members or friends. The true harm of alcohol is not addressed enough in our society and by you starting the conversation we empower others to also stand up and speak out about the abuse of alcohol and how we can bring more awareness and change to the real harms of alcohol crippling communities everywhere.

192. Hi Lee I love how you have taken this to a much bigger picture when talking about us as cells reflecting back to each other. If we all deeply appreciated ourselves as this fact, then we would take much more care with how we treat our bodies, knowing that what we do to ourselves, we do to others. Yes I can feel everyone is connected; we call it influence; but is it possible that if we are cells reflecting back, then we are just mirroring and learning from each other in ways that can grow or stunt us.

     1. Precisely hvmordern, we are constantly reflected too and when we feel what is going on it maybe incongruent with what we know to be true. How many of us have an established, strong bedrock like foundation that allows us to hold steady in the face of all that is not true – few I would say at this time – so we need to make choices that initially can highlight and support us to start to feel what is true for us or not. The work is this process of true or not true. Simple really yet there is a commitment to the body needed to start this off, we do not need to be perfect just committed – and as we have been inspired by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine someone just reading this blog and these comments has an amazing reflection to start the ball rolling.

        1. Yes I agree Lee – it is not about perfection, but about a constant commitment and observation. We can only know what is not true if we honour what is true. It starts with discerning and constantly reading everything from our bodies.

193. ‘Everything in moderation’ is a poison in itself as it does not allow us to feel what is really going on. It holds us in a no man’s land where we make us believe we are ok but in fact we are not at all.
     In moderation or not, organic or conventional, legally brewed or in clandestine, wine, beer or hard liquor, alcohol is and remains a poison. It numbs us, it makes us sick, it makes the body work really hard to cleanse itself from it, it makes us moody, it makes us unpredictable, it makes us violent, it makes us argue, it makes us careless, it makes us do many things we wouldn’t do, it simply makes us not being ourselves, it alters our state of being. It is as simple as that no matter how much and clever we argue.

     1. Brilliantly expressed Esther Andras.

194. For the majority alcohol is connected to social events. Why then do we require alcohol when connecting with people? Have you ever noticed that when you don’t drink people try and get you to drink and some feel uncomfortable around you. Have you ever been a designated driver and noticed how boring it is watching everyone get drunk – it’s not fun. So is it possible that we are uncomfortable connecting to people in fear of what might be reflected back to us? So we (not all) invest in alcohol to hide this truth and we’ll defend it hence not accepting what it does to our body and what it does to us all as a community.

195. What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change. Thank you Lee for presenting this. This brings true inspiration for me. No matter how rock bottom one can become if you truly want to change, the support is there waiting for you and slowly as you start to piece your life back together, greater opportunities present themselves.

196. Thank you Lee for sharing, I agree. I feel deeply the harm and desperation it brings to not only those doing the drinking but to families, communities – the whole world is affected in some way by this poison.

197. “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.” I whole heartedly agree Lee. Its so ridiculous to even consider that by ‘moderating’ alcohol it in anyway changes the poison it contains

198. Alcohol is certainly harming at many levels. One has only to visit my street for a day and a night to hear, feel and see the harmful effects of alcohol. From my house we have to call the police at least a few times every week out of concern for the safety of someone. We can hear the screaming out of threats of physical violence against another, including death threats; the anger and hatred in the voices; the tension, disrespect and violence between the sexes; the sadness, frustration and lashing-out of the children… On top of that, the angry or fearful barking of dogs almost around the clock because they are picking up and expressing what they feel in the humans, and the broken glass and rubbish strewn along the footpath and roads. Alcohol is the principal fuel that keeps all this going.

     1. Dianne, in the supermarket where I work I have often observed young people who have just become old enough to buy alcohol, and they are so excited. For them it is fun and liberating to buy it for themselves. But when I read you comment, I find myself asking – what are they really excited for? Is this what they want? Do we as a society really educate our children in the actual consequences of alcohol on one’s family, professional, and personal life? Or is it the case that those who are in charge of the education systems are too comfortable with alcohol in their lives to start pointing out what needs to change?

        1. What we learn at school doesn’t change what our children learn from watching what their parents do at home. When their parents drink alcohol in front of them they learn to like everything about it that their parents like about it.
           Kids have observed their parents drinking for years, got another bottle out of the fridge for them, as they get older they have tried it, with or without their parents permission and they have all been waiting for the day to pass into adulthood. Not when you can vote but when you can drink .

        2. Adults set a terrible example and make alcohol desirable by youth, about that you’re absolutely right Shami and Nicholas. And yes, drinking alcohol is perceived as more important than voting. I also find the ‘legal age’ thing pretty bizarre: you can smoke cigarettes when you’re 16, have sex when you’re 17, and drink alcohol and vote when you’re 18! So at what age are youth considered to actually be an adult? It looks like all 4 of these choices are adult choices and are fraught with risk. They all require education and support of young people, and sensible role modelling by adults but that’s pretty thin on the ground.

     2. I agree Dianne, as I lived for over twenty years in a street which was en route to the pubs and clubs, and there were so many incidents of people coming past drunk in all hours of the morning and on occasions the paramedics had to be called.

     3. ‘Alcohol is the principal fuel that keeps all this going.’ So true Dianne and yet no one calls it out as this – for it is conveniently controlling all elements of life. It underpins how people are socially with each other and also supports violence, tension, abuse, arguments and physical aggression. It has a duality, is two faced and cares not that you see this…it only has one purpose and that is to poison all life in whichever way it can.

199. Great blog Lee, Many forms of physical abuse are related to alcohol abuse, and so the cycle goes on, until we see the cycle and then break it.

200. “Even as I write this I can feel the questioning of that statement – it wasn’t every day, or every week – and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times.” This statement was an eye opener for me Lee…I thought that alcohol hadn’t had that much of an impact in our home – after all once a week on a saturday isn’t that much! But after reading this I can feel that what happened on those saturdays hurt, and it wasnt only that day because there was also the angst leading up to the weekend and knowing what was coming which created a constant state of anxiety I have just realised. Thank you for exposing the insidious nature of alcohol and our beliefs around it Lee.

201. I love what you have written about the cells affecting all cells, it is so very true!

202. Thank you Lee for sharing honestly your experience of abuse, and then your own abuse of yourself and others through your unresolved hurt and pain. It is great to know you have come through this painful period of your life and are an example to many others who read this and know you. With thanks.

203. Brilliant Lee. Your words illustrate to me how its high time we re-calibrated our understanding of the harm alcohol does. Looking back to my childhood, my parents were not violent in any sense, yet when they drank I felt uneasy around them and our connection and the feeling in our home was completely changed. As I read my stories like yours I am starting to consider the true harm alcohol has had on the whole human race. It feels massive.

     1. Brilliant point Joseph – the after effects of alcohol linger on, and seemingly safe spaces are no longer that – safe. As you say ‘…our home was completely changed.’ Getting to feel this for myself I also have to take responsibility for I did not choose to say no to all that I felt, more rolled over and gave in to the energy at play. So glad now I am making decisions that love me deeply.

204. A great blog Lee, I remember when I decided to give up drinking that my friends would keep on insisting that I should have a drink, and later would say, they wished they could be like me and not need to drink, my reply was its always a choice.

     1. Fantastic Sally the best example for others is to hold firm with our choice and live what we choose, that way they get to feel that there is a difference and one that supports them to make a different choice.

205. Alcohol separates people from each other, it creates a coldness, and a false sense of life. There is nothing true about ‘having a good time’ when we drink alcohol or drinking for relief it is pure evil. I say that it would be far better to deal with our issues and deal with why we need to drink in the first place instead of allowing this horrible abusive substance to enter our lives. Not only does the person who drinks have to suffer the consequences, so does everyone around them. When you choose to drink alcohol you are choosing to separate yourself from people and to indulge in your own unresolved issues. It would be far more responsible to accept that there is something wrong and that alcohol is not curing the problems, it is only numbing the pain so you can escape for one more day. Our choices and the truth can’t be changed, nothing will go away until we deal with it.

206. Thank you Lee – I was drawn to read this today and it has shown me such wisdom in the damage of alcohol – As you say ‘The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells.’ Thats huge and takes it to the next level for me.

207. Lee, I feel your deep love for humanity in this powerful statement of truth we as a society are not yet willing to look at but as you say;’We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with. Finished. This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.’

208. Resorting to coffee, sugar, alcohol and drugs in reaction to what society is presenting to us makes you feel that there is no way out – although there is, if you choose to connect to your inner heart, instead of looking for stimulants from the outside to numb the feeling of misery and grief caused by the disconnected way humanity is living life. Alcohol is a major drug that is generally accepted in our society, but if we truly look what it brings to us we should immediately put a stop to it and ban it from our lives. Thank you for posting this blog Lee Green, the truth has to be told.

209. We allow Alcohol, we allow prostitution, we allow bullying, we allow wars, we allow competition, we allow us to be in anger, frustration, self-abuse… Do I allow myself to feel the hurt? Do I allow myself to tell people how I feel about it? In honesty?

210. The real evil in my experience of alcohol is the view of a ‘few glasses is ok in moderation’ because in truth this is simply hiding the fact that there is a problem, even an addiction that looks to be OK and ‘under control’. In my experience this is far from the fact.

     1. I agree Joshua, the saying ‘everything in moderation’ itself allows for subtle levels of abuse, levels which allow a certain level of harm but not one which impacts us too much. Crazy really!

     2. It is exactly that – the evil is in the moderation lie that we all subscribe to – keeping us in our perceived comfort.

     3. Spot on – it’s easy to hide a problem or an addiction with ‘a little is ok’ or ‘everything in moderation’. These lines are the perfect excuse and justification for a choice we know is not right.

        1. It creates a grey blurry line between what is true and what is not true as if there is a neutral between truth and lies when there simply is not

        2. Absolutely – it’s a ‘convenient truth’, or a truth we have made up to suit ourselves.

211. Totally agree Lee alcohol abuse is not what we want for our current or future generations time for us to wake up and see its effects.

212. Thank you Lee… Use as you say every cell is affected, and society is simply a multitude of cells… The percentage of alcohol fuelled violence related injuries that makes up how accident and emergency intake in hospitals nightly, the domestic violence, the addiction, the way people change, the institutionalisation of this awful poison that has permeated our society for aeons… Because humanity has lost its way for a very very long time. But now it is not a continual statement of “my name is xxx and I am an alcoholic”, it is now possible to truly find ourselves so that the endless cycle of addiction and numbing is truly and permanently stopped.

213. It is truly beautiful that as you said that when you are ready for change that life constellates opportunities for that to develop as we are forever supported. So when we are ready to see abuse in whatever form we are shown how to say no and walk away… and alcohol is definitely something worth seeing for what it is and walking away from.

214. Wow Lee, feel it to the bone what you said. Alcohol is clearly a poison that poisons the one drinking it, but also for the others who have to deal with the consequences of the poison and who are so hurt that they resort to the same poison that poisoned them in the first place.

215. Thank you Lee, this is such a power-full blog to read. This quote I have chosen is so beautifully expressed I had to share it again – “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.” – Such a great reminder for us all.

216. It is sad to realise how as a society we have allowed something that is so damaging to become normal and not only that we champion it that it is good for us in moderation not wanting to take responsibility of the damage we are creating on our future generations. Thank you Lee for posing such powerful questions.

     1. So true Francisco – the ‘moderation’ myth has a lot to answer for. How can any amount of a substance processed as a poison by the body ever be ‘good for us’? Time to wake up to ‘less extremely harmful’ not being in same as actually contributing to health and vitality. Time to take another look at where the ‘its good for you’ myth sprang up – who was it funded by, what vested interest was there…corruption runs thick, even at the expence of health. People before profits, time to myth bust as we had to with tobacco which was once encouraged as being ‘good for us’ even though all along the body said otherwise, just as it does with alcohol.

        1. Instead of the ‘moderation’ myth we could use the words …..the ‘justification’ myth.

        2. True Vicky.

217. What makes alcohol so dangerous is that its accepted and encouraged by society. When you take into consideration the harm it causes, such as violence domestic or otherwise, death and injury on our roads as a result of alcohol affected drivers and the overall harm alcohol does to the body, its probably the most destructive drug on the market. Thanks Lee for exposing the damage alcohol is responsible for

218. Impressive Lee, unimposingly so! I love the picture of the cells that have an impact on all the other cells that belong to the same body. And Alcohol IS a cell killer. Do we consider that we are all cells of one body of love?

219. Thank you Lee for sharing so honestly and wisely about the damage that alcohol causes in so many different ways. For any child, or anyone for that matter, to live in anxiety and fear when alcohol is consumed in their environment, is not on. As you say: “We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with”. I am totally with you on this.

220. This line stood out for me: “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.” I have noticed this too, at times in my life I felt like I really wanted to change my way of living but had not an idea of how I should start. Every time I noticed there would be an answer appearing if I had claimed that I wanted to change and stood firm with the feeling. I find this really beautiful and confirming that we can change our ways.

     1. Yes, I recognize that. It is just a matter of saying Yes to the change and then it is like with sailing, you have the wind on your back and you receive all the support to move forward.

     2. Agreed Lieke, the power of us committing to change opens up the doors that we get to choose to walk through or not. Standing firm and going with the true feeling changes everything.

221. Beautiful blog Lee. The harm that is done by alcohol is as you said so much vaster than we want to see. I appreciate your sharing as I feel this is very important.

222. I think until we have the conversation as a society about why we need alcohol we won’t be honest about its effects on the body…or does it start the other way round…be honest about its’ effect on the body and then ask why we would do that. When you add up all the related illnesses both chronic and acute it has got to be up the top of the list as the most costly lifestyle choice drain on the health budget.

     1. So true Lucy – so costly in so many ways. And also really true that we do need to look at the whys of drinking…for me it included; fitting in, numbing emotional pain, exhaustion and the need for a sugar hit, and a dose of self destruction to bury my light to avoid the jealousy I copped through having no real issues, and beign so full of lovliness. So many reasons at different times…at one stage I drank to keep up with and ‘prove’ my so called equality with men!! Madness. An honest look at the possible real reasons for each of us is a great start point (rather than all those lies we tell ourselves, like, ‘we enjoy the taste’!).

223. Well said on everything Lee. We need to act on it. I remember drinking alcohol a few years ago, trying to forget and mostly suppressing all the intensity that I was feeling in my life, alcohol was my device to keep on going – to survive life. To have ‘a way out’ a moment to stop myself from feeling more that was going on around and within me. Until I came acros a modality that teaches me to look at why I was using certain things; one of the example for me in this case was alcohol. I started to realise how far this was actually taking myself by using alcohol. I actually realized that those ‘feelings’ and my sensitivity to energy ( in and around me), was actually not wrong.. but a good thing that I was feeling them. I decided to feel more, and decided to stop drinking alcohol. On this age (I was almost turning 18) this was a big decision, but an oh so good one. I now feel more sensitive , but this sensitivity is not a weakness but actually one of my strong qualities in my life. I decided to honor it, instead of pushing it away. By doing this so I actually accepted more of myself.. a true , sweet woman.

     1. This modality has been all made available by Serge Benhayon, founder of Universal Medicine, and it is the most gorgeous to be involved with this business , community and all the healing modality that truly support everyone to truly evolve in life and to make different changes in life. My life has incredible changed, and so will I forever learn.

224. Awesome blog! Alcohol is a known poison and one hangover is one too many. We have made alcohol so accepted and normal that we seem to have forgotten the actual effect it can have on our bodies, our life and the whole of humanity. True, we students of Universal Medicine don’t want this for our future generations, so we are the ones to give a true reflection. A reflection where we say no to drinking alcohol.

225. Alcohol is an abusive substance, abusive to the body and horrible to see how it makes people behave. I have benefited so much by choosing to not drink alcohol and will stand firm in my decision for the rest of time.

     1. Harryjwhite, If every young adult realised this and also chose not to drink alcohol things would start to change. We need people like you sharing this message and showing other young adults that there is another way!

     2. Oh how I wish I had taken this loving stance as a younger adult – all power to you harryjwhite – enjoy the fruits of your true rebelilion!!

        1. thanks Kate 😀

     3. Go Harry! This is fabulous to hear and feel. It is so hard to go against the trend which is very much about young people needing alcohol to have a good time. I have a teenage son who is also choosing not to have alcohol -the peer pressure on him to drink is immense. Thank you for sharing.

     4. Beautifully claimed Harrison what a true example of a deeply loving man you are.

     5. I stand with you on this Harryjwhite – I stand by my decision of letting go of alcohol forever.

     6. You are a real inspiration harryjwhite for simply not holding back and claiming that truth in your body.

     7. Great choice Harry, I chose the other path for many years and I can now say from my lived experience that there is nothing glamorous in the choice to use alcohol, We can offer a powerful reflection to others by choosing not to drink alcohol and choosing a way that shows true responsibility.

226. Thank you Lee. This is a powerful exposure of the contagious harm that is caused by alcohol. I was someone who thought alcohol in moderation was ok but when I take an honest look I know I always felt unwell and rather lost after drinking alcohol and needed to recover – recover from what? Recover from losing myself. My life is so much more enjoyable without alcohol in my body.

227. I recently had the fortune to revisit a few courses dedicated to the service and sale of alcohol for a new work contract I have taken. It is fascinating and absolutely terrifying that the effects of alcohol now so well documented as statistics and reports from medical experts and everyday people, are not ignored but barely given heed.
     One presenter on questioning why we she did not want to ‘visit’ the negatives responded that it’s philosophical?
     What does that mean that the violence is a par for the course, just part of alcohol use, consequences we can live with?
     Further proof that society is seeking relief over truth at every opportunity.

     1. Eye opening article and comment Lee. So true that, “This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.”
        Time to de-blinker, get a bit real and check out what’s really going on.
        Alcohol is processed in the body as a poison, and a neuro toxin.
        It follows then in plain and simple logic that a ‘little bit of poison’ is beneficial to health’, or ‘poison in moderation’ just doesn’t and cannot ever make any sense to health or well-being.
        The Cancer Council now rightly states that the only level of safe alcohol, is zero.

        1. On the mark Kate…
           And the health organisations all around the world are starting to say 0 is the safe level for alcohol.

        2. Amazing how a bit of biased industry funded falsified results can sway even this total logic to ‘a glass of red wine is ‘good’ for you’! Utterly Corrupt – and high time it is stated as it is – zero is the only safe leve of alcohol, just as zero is the only safe level of poison.

        3. It shows how easily we have all been manipulated (and I know I was for many many years) into thinking that somehow alcohol is OK for us. We all know it is a poison because how it feels when you drink and/or drink too much. I have had many hangovers in my time and know it felt poisonous the next day!

        4. So true Sarah, and amazing to see how the vested interests – the alcohol industry – pay scientists to produce results that try and make us doubt what our body so clearly says – well before the morning after the body already says yuk. For example our peripheral vision is HALVED after just ONE unit of alcohol, and reflex speed doubled!

        5. Agreed safe alcohol equals zero alcohol.

     2. That shows that society is not ready to go to the truth of where they are. As everything is known, and we are all well educated and intelligent people, what is it that makes us to ignore the truth of the facts that are there and we are all aware off?

     3. It is amazing that such a destructive substance is still packaged up prettily and promoted as a normal part of life. Everywhere you look there is the antithesis of alcohol use – an advert showing glamorous people having a marvellous time with drinks all round and then in the news a photo of a beaten up, or worse, dead woman, most often the result of an alcohol related blow up.

        1. I agree Jo. I wonder collectively what costs society more now days – the implications of smoking cigarettes or alcohol? I say this because we now have pictures on cigarette packets showing the effect of smoking on our bodies, so for the sake of consistency why don’t beer, wine and spirits bottles have pictures of a liver with alcohol induced cirrhosis on it? What a massive reality check this would be.

     4. “One presenter on questioning why we she did not want to ‘visit’ the negatives responded that it’s philosophical?” mmm…. or could it be, that she did not want to take responsibility for her part in condoning abuse.

        1. Great point Gyl and something I had not considered. We condone it through our acceptance, yet we all deeply know and can feel the harm that plays out from using it.

228. A powerful blog that would be worth sharing on all social media and mainstream blog sites. It stirs up something deep inside that knows and has always known the rot and destruction that alcohol causes. It is absolutely absurd that we live in a way that ultimately denies the truth of this.

229. Hear hear Lee. Well said. Just a drop of poison does not go unnoticed. Poison is poison and not fit for human consumption – full stop!

     1. I agree Giselle, there is no in-between here. Poison is poison and alcohol is a proven scientific poison, so the question that needs to be asked is, why would anyone knowingly put poison into their bodies?

        1. Agreed Tim what are we choosing to avoid when we make this the go to choice?

     2. Very true Giselle, would we say to our loved ones that it is okay to use some cocaïne or any sort of drugs on the weekends, as long as we do it in moderation? Poison is poison and alcohol is Just that.

        1. Akin perhaps to saying ‘white lies are OK, everybody tells a little white lie here and there’, question is, what is the need to? When the truth of what our body shares with us stands clear and steady, to choose to turn our back to this simply does not make sense.

        2. Chatting the biggest ruse of all is ‘everything in moderation’. It is a ‘go to allow all’ whether it harms us or not.

     3. Nevertheless many are easy with twisting and tweaking that truth to comfort their needs, that hide behind the most ridiculous lies presented as good reasons, statistics, relativization, excuses, belittlements and whatever works for them to not face the truth of why they like and need to consume alcohol – a dishonesty most need to face when also looking at our comfort foods or emotional eating and other habits.

        1. Great point Alex, thank you. Honesty is not just for here and not there, it is across the board and has me facing those areas I have failed to leave it out of.

        2. Spot on Alex, its amazing the lengths we will go to to protect our way of living even when that way is so blatantly harmful for not only the ones that consume the drug, alcohol, food etc, but affects us all.

     4. Your comment really deeply makes me consider the arrogance we live in as human beings, thinking we can get away with whatever we want – you are so correct – one drop of poison does not go unnoticed.

230. What a powerful claiming about alcohol and its effects. It is unbelievable when you think about alcohol is a poison how the whole world is putting two blind eyes to that.

     1. The whole world is blinded by the alcohol that we choose.

     2. Totally – it really is unbelievable just how many people are prepared to lie and not tell the truth about alcohol and how poisonous it is to our bodies. The proof is there overtime we drink, but it’s something almost nobody wants to see.

231. Thankyou for your deep honesty Lee. I have personally seen the effects alcohol abuse has on families throughout my life. Although I was never physically abused or threatened, I was affected by the fact that the prevalence of alcohol around me when I was young prevented me from having a deeper relationship with those that I loved deepl . And as a young boy who did not understand why, this feeling of isolation was difficult to deal with. When I was older I did not use alcohol heavily, vowing never to be owned by its clutches. But of course, for many years, I drank in moderation, thinking that was acceptable. However, for some years leading up to my involvement with Universal Medicine, I used to have the realisation that even by drinking in moderation I was contributing to a culture that was not supportive in any way of society to see the truth of what is brings. Only I never acted in full on these realisations. When I first heard Serge Benhayon speak on alcohol, it was mere confirmation of what I knew was true, and so it was actually easy for me to take to next step to ensuring that alcohol no longer paid any part in my life. It is a truly destructive drug, and I am forever thankful that I met someone who showed me that what I knew was true could actually be lived in full.

232. It is indeed crazy how we still allow alcohol to affect our lives, and with this allowing abuse under the influence of this substance continue. The effect is much larger than we are allowing ourselves to see.

233. Kapow, and absolutely on the mark Lee Green. I agree entirely – no-one deserves to be harmed by this substance, both current and future generations. The abuse of alcohol in my family (which has been quite extensive if you go back a bit…) has stopped with me – this current generation.
     If one is truly willing to see, there is no ‘safe amount’. It is a toxic poison which leaches us of everything that is true and joyful in life.

234. We do indeed know the harm substance abuse causes; thank you Lee for courageously sharing your story.
     The analogy of the cell and the ripple effect is simple but oh so very powerful.
     Beautifully expressed Lee.

235. I never understood how so many people can put something in their mouth, which is actually poison, feeling most of the time drained or sick the next morning& stating afterwards, they would never drink again….and 2 days later they are having wine at the dinner table. I never liked the effect of alcohol in other people, I was and am still quite shocked from an innocent point of view, when I see how people tend to change in their whole personality.

236. That really hit me hard, and took away my own comfort and naive stance on the true damage alcohol does. It asks for more responsibility. Thankyou Lee.

237. Great analogy Lee, and so easy to get a visual on this to understand the issue and effects of alcohol with your statement: “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells”.. and then how you relate this (cell) to humanity – that we are contained within one giant cell that cannot not be affected by the acts of another (cell) , in other words ALL cells are affected by virtue of their operation with each other for necessary multiplied growth. Alcohol consumption then becomes a question of responsibility for the individual and so the collective whole. If so, then this would mean there can be never be, as per the advertising slogans that say, “drink [alcohol] with responsibility”. Because if we had responsibility, then surely we wouldn’t drink?

238. Powerfully claimed Lee. I stand with you. Self abuse in all its forms and guises is not acceptable nor an honourable way to live, and must come to an end for all.

239. So true Kristy. Whilst caught in the pattern it is very difficult to see another way. Yet the space and insight that comes when we start to break free from that is very confirming of the destruction we have allowed ourselves to be held in…and also confirming that there is another way.

240. Great blog on how It really is.

241. A great article a true reflection on how it really is.

242. Thank you Lee. Working in health care I see the effect of alcohol on people’s lives every day and it is bad. Sooner or later we as a society have to ask ourselves why are we continuing to endorse alcohol use.

     1. I agree Elizabeth – it is time we ask ourselves “why are we continuing to endorse alcohol use?”. What are we actually achieving by continuing to use and abuse a substance which is known to cause such harm to the body? Why are we living in a way that allows such self-abusive and destructive behaviour? We deserve more and we deserve to love, take care and honour our bodies.

243. I really can see how I used alcohol to not feel anything and escape all that was really going on. Understanding now that it is a poison, and being honest with that and why I drank really does make me see the harm in it. Of course it is a comfort that society supports, no judgement at all. But I know from my own choices and experiences that I am a better version of myself without it.

244. Brendan, I agree alcohol is a poison, no matter what stories people bring up about it. The fact it is a poison and it cannot be covered up. The impact one glass does on oneself and others is what needs to be understood.

245. It is so refreshing to read about someone who has really taken responsibility and seen the larger picture and has got on with the changes in their lives that they are able to make. All to often there is a willingness to complain and blame life circumstances. This blog in infused with true self empowerment and is a joy to read, despite the very serious and harrowing subject.

246. Thank you Lee. It really is extraordinary driving around one’s local town and seeing liquor shops, hotels, pubs, licensed restaurants, all selling something that destroys societies, is responsible for the largest percentage of violence and injuries seen in the accident and emergency clinics and hospitals, causing such havoc and destruction, and yet it’s still legal. It beggars belief, and must change, but it must be a consciousness change, otherwise it will just be another prohibition like in America which will just bring more corruption.

     1. I agree Chris – the change has to come from people consciously saying no to alcohol not just something enforced by the government. The other day I observed the amount of pubs boarded up and thought ok so what is happening here – people are going out less to the traditional English pubs but are drinking more at home. So what was once a thing a man did with his friends to ‘unwind’ after work, now both parents are drinking at home and the children get to see the direct effects more. So seemingly behind closed doors things are ok but they are not especially with the rise in domestic abuse, no doubt in some aspects fueled by alcohol and an unease and unhappiness with life.

247. Lee, brilliant article. What you presented about the cells and how if one human is out of sorts then this affects the others is a great point of call that not many people would want to acknowledge. It’s not until we recognise something as abuse in ourselves that it begins to change for us and everything begins to seemingly offer support- Like you have shared (which was also a great part to read).

248. The word normal really only means that lots and lots of people are doing it. Thus, the word normal itself does not mean that something is okay or acceptable or even desirable; I wonder whether it has become just about synonymous with being the lowest common denominator.

249. Hear hear Lee, I agree. You wouldn’t give a baby alcohol, so why would we want any adult to consume it? So many gems in what you write here, for me particularly the sweet reminder that, when we realise we want to change aspects of our life, we are presented with opportunities for that change to happen. How beautiful is that.

250. As long as we allow ourselves to check out in any way (through alcohol, food, work, porn, holidays, …) we will not stop the harm being done to every single person on this planet. If I connect to the Love that is within me, the love that is within us all, the temptations are seen in their true light.

251. Thanks Lee for exposing the harm of alcohol< It's probably the worst drug of all because it is socialy accepted.

252. Lee may your story inspire others who feel the numbing and the damage, to also stop drinking alcohol. My family suffered similarly, so that I resolved ‘the buck stops here’ and I would never get into alcohol. I’m very grateful to myself for making that choice, and grateful to Serge Benhayon for helping me to drop my judgment of people who drink alcohol and haven’t yet woken up to the harm.

253. Lee I could feel your strength whilst reading your blog, and felt the encouragement of strength for others that you offered. I totally agree with what you write about alcohol, it needs to be stopped and has me dumbfounded as to why alcohol is legal and that as a race we accept it as normal.

254. Lovely analogy near the end thank you Lee. The ripple effect is something we seldom see.

255. It is amazing how we turn a blind eye to the fact that alcohol which is so prevalent in everyday life is actually a poison. How can we really justify that, but most people do. Lee, you made a choice to turn your life around which you have shared with us. All of us have a choice to do this but instead the use of alcohol is justified in the media, by the government and by people individually. It does not make sense!

256. On further pondering… I grew up with alcohol in ‘moderation’ all around me, daily in fact, and never even considered there was ‘harm’ to me, or those around… but it most certainly contributed to an experience that was well-less than loving, as I now know it. There was no real depth or warmth to those relationships, and my experience of family life was quite functional and practical. Thanks Lee, for your insights and honesty… it has opened me up to feel more of what was actually there and the fact I accepted it all as normal.

257. Great blog Lee, very insightful and true. You make a comment that ‘when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change…’ – this is so important and applies to any predicament we find ourselves in, in life. Once the choice is made to change, and this comes from a true commitment to whatever it takes, then yes support is often turns up within a short time – the key is to have sought to heal, rather than look for relief. It always requires some deeper ‘soul searching’ as we usually put it, with it some deeper honesty, as you described in your blog, and from there, the ability to make and a commitment to, different choices. Well done… not an easy legacy to pull yourself out of, yet clearly you have.

258. The alcohol debate is alive and well here in NZ with pressure being put on government to ‘do something’ about the pandemic of alcohol abuse. I was just reading a thread of comments on facebook on this topic and was astounded how some comments were defending the use of alcohol. Two of the common arguments were 1) life would be boring without alcohol, and 2) alcohol in moderation is perfectly healthy. Anyone who has lived both sides of this knows that both these arguments are incorrect. I feel more can be done to show society that life without alcohol is so much fuller, fulfilling, loving and normal than the disharmonious, undermining, and rather expensive lifestyle given by alcohol. Great article Lee, we just need more people reading it.

259. I really felt the harm within that little statement ‘Everything in moderation’ especially when referring to acceptable use of alcohol.

     1. Yes Karen, I agree ‘ everything in moderation ‘ does not make alcohol acceptable.

260. Thank you Lee for this powerful blog. We are all connected and what harms one harms all so then why do we ‘tolerate’ everything in moderation?
     Why have we not had enough of the violence and destruction and hurt that drinking alcohol so often brings?
     If alcohol was named a drug which it is …would we approach it differently?
     And…. if today on our planet alcohol was introduced for the first time…would it be legalised? My feeling is no.
     I feel that alcohol has become normalised and children grow up watching it being used as a numbing and disconnecting tool and this is what they assume is necessary to deal with their lives and be apart of society. Parents don’t question it because they too are using it to medicate. It is a vicious cycle and one that must be challenged for the health of our future.

261. Powerful stuff Lee, I feel it’s amazing how we normalise substances such as alcohol when the effects and damage it has upon us is so profound. I too feel it is time for this abuse to stop, as by not calling it out we are in fact supporting and accepting that alcohol is ok when in truth the harm it causes us as a society runs very deep indeed.

262. Thank you Lee for bringing to light that we are all connected and constantly affecting each other, regardless of if we like to admit it or not. The line you write “if one is reflecting anxiety and anger then this causes disharmony in those cells/people around it” is a great reminder of the responsibility we each have as part of the one humanity.

263. Thank you Lee. It seems so perverse to me that for anyone under 16 ‘ish adults are very forthright in how they must not drink any alcohol as it’s very bad for you. Then in just two years, suddenly, it’s ok, not so bad anymore, in fact it’s often encouraged and fun is made about having a big night out, jokes about ‘the hang over’. If that isn’t one big mixed message, I’m not sure what is. Maybe, it becomes ‘acceptable’ when it’s legal, as it allows society to stay comfortable in its own denial.

264. How many of us, I wonder have these stories of abuse from alcohol in our lives?
     I have been surrounded by alcohol for most of my life and was drinking pints of cider and black at 14. Working in hospitality for over 11 years my abuse increased and when it stopped being enough of a numbing tool I introduced drugs.
     I felt powerless to stop as I continued this way well into my 40’s until I too discovered an Esoteric Healing Practitioner and went to a presentation by Serge Benhayon.
     As I see it, alcohol is a poison and depending on how we use it, it can have devastating effects not only on our physical bodies but on our emotional and mental states as well as holding the potential to destroy lives through being a dominant force in relationships when we allow it to.
     Thanks for sharing Lee, great article.

265. That’s awesomely said Lee and I love how this blog was inspired by another. I am constantly realising how much there is to say and talk about by reading other peoples blogs… it’s like we all have so much to say, so many experiences and so much life to share.

     1. So true Ariel, there is a well of wisdom and lived experience inside each of us to share, and it is beautiful when we are inspired by another’s writing to also share our own experience which not only offers a healing for oneself but to everyone.

266. What we as a society have allowed is the tolerance of harm, that doesn’t hit the extremes. As long as we can feel better than… or as long as there is someone in a worse situation, we allow ourselves to stay in the comfort of the middle ground. But how lost we are, if we do so!

267. It’s true Lee, the effects and outcomes of alcohol abuse are obvious, but it’s the ‘drinking in moderation’ that really keeps a large amount of people trapped in their own cycle of abusing their bodies. One drink changes you, and I know that when I mention this to people, they have no choice but to agree, as it is simply the truth.

268. Thank you Lee for telling how it is. Is time for people to no longer deny the impact and true harm alcohol has on the entire community. It is an illusion to think that the effects of alcohol are localized – we are all harmed by alcohol in some way.

     1. Yes Andrew well said, it is pure illusion to thing we are not all impacted by the use as well as the so-called mis-use of alcohol. As a poison to the body and a mind-altering drug, any alcohol affects us, and therefore everyone around. Ask any non-drinker what it is like to be around someone drinking, any amount, and the answer is usually quite insightful. Few if any say they enjoy it… which to me speaks volumes.

269. It is the acceptability and the belief that ‘everything in moderation’ is ok, that keeps us all drinking and not listening to the signs that our body shows us. Poison is poison whether we have a large or small dose. Why would we want to poison ourselves? Worst of all is when we drink alcohol because we do not want to be ourselves.

     1. I agree Fiona. But the sad reality is that this is the case. That we are living so far from our natural way of being, our natural selves that we rely heavily on alcohol to numb the fact. And because the masses do it, we have a normal, and socially accepted behaviour that is even championed to be healthy in moderation.

270. The ‘everything in moderation’ line, and particularly in relation to alcohol, needs to be strongly challenged. Harm and abuse is harm and abuse, period. Generally, something is either good for us, or not good for us; it cannot switch from one to another. I often respond when I hear the statement’alcohol in moderation is ok’ ( or even ‘good for you’), with, “well why don’t we say Ice (the drug) in moderation is ok?”. And if alcohol is not good for (and illegal) for a 14 year old, what magical changes to a person’s physiology at 18 years of age suddenly make it ok?!

271. Dear Lee,
     I so agree with you. The acceptance of alcohol that is so present today and for many, many years is definitely not OK. I too know the harm that alcohol does. Just this year I found myself beginning to dread Christmas again. To be honest I don’t remember many Christmas’s that I have enjoyed. This year I sat with my feeling and felt into why I so do not enjoy Christmas. One of the things that presented is that over the month of December people begin to get together, have parties and celebrate the ending of another year and the coming of Christmas. This for me has meant in the past, weeks of exhaustion, because of the late nights and also weeks of being affected by friends and family drinking alcohol. There was absolutely no true love in this way of celebration and alcohol and the consumption of it makes doubly sure that love cannot be present. The true harm in our society is the belief that alcohol is a very accepted way to celebrate. Yes it truly is time for this to change.

272. How differently would society look at alcohol if it was simply named and/or referred to as a drug? Would we be so willing to go down and get “a hit” at the bottle shop knowing full well it would change our behaviour and create anxiety and fear in those around us? Would we then also look more honestly at what we are using alcohol for, or to avoid?

     1. I agree Melinda, let’s not pretend any more. Alcohol is a harmful drug and there is no safe limit. Even one drink is an abuse to everyone around and the body’s amazing ability to recover.

        1. I completely agree with you Bernard.

     2. Beautiful Melinda, ‘a hit’ of alcohol. Call it as it is!

273. I read this expecting to comment on the effects of alcohol but what I have felt most in your words Lee, is how we each matter. That everything that we do affects each other, like cells in a body, so beautifully put. And that there is a magic, an order and a rhythm to the universe which holds us all and all we need do is make a true choice and the love is there. Everything is in perfect constellation always; we just sometimes forget to see.

274. It is shocking how accepted alcohol is in our times and how normal it has become to see people walking around with beer cans during daytime. As a youth I just could not figure out the benefit of getting drunk every weekend – the less you remembered the more status you had. This felt so wrong for me and I stayed away from it. Later I drank very little at a party or holiday every now and then, but even that felt not right. I always felt like not being myself afterwards. Then came the time where a good glass of wine was a special treat – or a special little number – for me. Thanks to the inspiration from Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I allowed myself to feel again why I had said no to alcohol in my youth and have cut it out completely from my diet. Having time with friends when no alcohol is around is so much more connected and enriching.

275. Hear Hear Lee, very powerful words. I grew up in a family with alcohol abuse and the damage is deep and wide. Society wants to hang on to the (scientifically provable) lie that alcohol in moderation does not harm or is even good for you and ignoring the effects that are right there to see for all. Ask any child how they feel about people drinking alcohol and the truth will be unavoidable in no time.

     1. Too true Carolien, I also grew up with almost daily alcohol use around me but in very socially accepted ways… moderation most definitely. Today those family members are technically alcoholic, although still only drink in ‘moderation’. I see the enormous harm to them in particular, and looking back, can feel a sense of fog, or barrier to any depth, warmth or real connection as I know it today, in those relationships.

276. At what point do we have to get to before we all come to the same conclusion? – alcohol is poison to the body. The solution of getting people to religiously abstain from drinking alcohol has never worked at addressing what is really going on. Why on earth would we partake in this ongoing ritual of abuse?

277. “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells” – love it. We tend to think our personal choices are only personal, and do not realise the affects that impact the others.

     1. So true Fumiyo, we can’t ever think that what we do does not effect another

     2. Agreed Fumiyo, and so our arrogance is exposed

278. For many many years alcohol was my normal. For 8 years now I have not drunk and it is now my normal. Socialising with alcohol now feels odd and peculiar. It is all very dependant on what you want to be normal and what makes you feel comfortable. The ‘not drinking’ though has had major benefits – like waking up everyday feeling clear.

     1. Vanessa – your line “like waking up everyday feeling clear” made me remember how many foggy mornings there used to be from waking up after drinking. And tossing a coin with my husband who was going to be on kid duty and who got to sleep in. 10 years no alcohol and every morning is full of purpose and focus.

     2. The normal that we should be promoting is this Vanessahawthorne – clean and clear.

279. I totally agree Lee that really the statistics on injuries, accidents, violence and illness caused by alcohol alone should be enough to make us start questioning its widespread use and acceptance. But even if that did not make us stop, simply seeing the hurt and confused look on our children’s faces when we drink alcohol as the person they thought they knew, turns into someone else, or spending one party as the only sober person watching others drink, should be enough to make us stop and consider what damage is really being done here by our tolerance of alcohol in society.

     1. Beautifully said Andrew for how bad does something need to drop to before we acknowledge how low and unacceptable the standard has actually got to.

280. People are now listening more to the reports that tell how alcohol can ruin lives.
     I have noticed more people are turning down the offer of an alcoholic drink, and sticking to water, or a juice.

281. It really is totally bizarre that the socially accepted poison aka alcohol that has wreaked so much havoc on humanity has been allowed by us – society – to be the norm, when it fact its effect is so far from normal it’s not funny. The police and judicial system are testimony to its mind altering effects that cause many people to abuse and harm others when under its influence. With a high proportion of people in jail being there from crimes committed when out of control on alcohol. It’s great to hear your story lee and many more to open the conversation up and make people aware that it is a choice.

282. This is a lovely expose on the harm of alcohol. I used alcohol abusively, towards myself mostly, it helped me cope and I would drink excessively to ensure I didn’t have to feel a lot of hurts from my childhood. I was unaware at the time, the impact that then had on others around me, I was quite oblivious, but it did impact considerably. Alcohol can do that, it helps to keep you as self centred as can be. Not a way I want to or now choose to live my life today. Thank goodness!

283. Lee, thank you for this open and honest account. You beautifully expose the cycle of alcohol abuse, and of abuse full stop — that we abuse ourselves and others because we have been abused, they were abused previously and so on. This cycle can stop, not with any blame being thrown, but with loving self-awareness. With a willingness to say ‘no’, I am so much more than this miserable existence I have chosen until now, and ‘no’ this way of being in the world is not normal. As a society we often bury our heads in the sand as to what is really going on — and worse still we normalise unpleasant behaviour, we normalise various ‘levels’ of abuse as acceptable, just the way things are. In that we perpetuate the cycle.
     As you share Lee through your own story, when we do stop and say enough, whatever it is we need to come out of the dark hole we now choose to see, comes our way. This has been my experience as well. It is beautiful that you shared this, because it is probably this fear of not being supported that prevents many of us of not stopping the cycle — being afraid of what we’ll see, afraid of falling down a cliff and having nothing to hold us. But as you say — when we do say yes to love, love meets us back and it is amazing how support in whatever way we need it, does to hold us very lovingly along the way.

284. “We can’t wait for life to bring us change – we have to initiate it ourselves.” Such a power-full comment, Richard, to Lee’s power-full blog. And by initiating change ourselves we are quietly taking responsibility for that change…pretty awesome.

285. Lee I could relate to what you wrote here after reading Jaqueline McFadden’s blog,
     “As I read the blog I could feel my own agony of living in a familiar feeling – my own household as a young boy would lurch from sunshine to violence through the use and continued abuse of alcohol.” From Sunshine to violence is a great way to describe how quickly alcohol can change the whole family. In my family it was not physical violence but the harshness of the words and the tone of conversation would become angry and agitated. As a child this can be very confusing not being able to understand why there was a sudden change in someone’s behaviour.

286. Thank you Lee for your honest sharing. The insidious effects of alcohol are spread far and wide through all levels of society, thanks to the false belief that everything in moderation is OK.

287. Thank you Lee for openly sharing your story about using alcohol as a distraction or a way to num yourself. My feeling is if more people like you start to be so open about their experience with alcohol others can be inspired and start to questioning what they do to themselves and to others.

288. You make some great points here Lee, because alcohol is so readily available and the common belief is that one glass a night is good for you or it helps your heart, it then becomes easier to use that one glass as a way to take off the edge of our day.
     It wasn’t that long ago that smoking was seen as cool and advertised as such but these days the advertising is very different and graphic – I can see this is what will happen with the drinking of alcohol eventually.

289. I love the “rawness” that you express in this blog Lee. Getting to a this point is brilliant, instead of continuing to numb out with drugs and alcohol, you felt the devastation in you and then you were able start the path of a true loving way of living.

290. Lee, your article gives me the chills as I am reminded about how imprisoned I used to be in the game of alcohol. I cannot begin to express the freedom it is to live my life without alcohol. Funny thing is that I used to drink alcohol to feel relaxed and to enjoin the mainstream, to make me feel ‘normal’ – fact is that I have never felt more normal than I do now, completely alcohol free. I enjoy the feeling of meeting the world as ME – plain and simple.

     1. I can so relate Eva, as I also drunk alcohol in order to fit in and appear ‘normal’. What a crazy upside down world it is. Now I cannot and do not ever want to alter my state of being. Why would I when just being me is such a joy without ever having to put up with a hangover!

291. Well stated Lee.It is time we all stand up and say enough is enough and begin to let it be known that living without even being mildly intoxicated is in fact the true norm.

     1. So true Kathleen, as a community and in the best interest of our society we really need to all stop and openly and honestly discuss and expose what is normal and what is actually abnormal, and even more damning, what is abuse and what is not abuse in todays world.

292. Thank you, Lee. I can feel the clarity and steadiness in your statements because you yourself have been there and know first hand the real damage that alcohol unleashes.

293. The moment we HONESTLY ask why we like to drink alcohol we start to shake off the mental intoxication of alcohol being normal, acceptable or okay in moderation. It is a choice and we should be aware of what and why we choose to drink alcohol. The next choice then might to not drink anymore.

294. As you say Lee,‘…the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’
 belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.’

     The concept of ‘moderation’ is a trap because we think that just a little bit is okay, but is a little bit of poison really okay?

295. Thank you Lee for this awesome blog. As a teenager I was exposed to alcohol and wanted to try it because it was available and it seemed like an adult thing to do. I felt so sick, so I stopped trying for many years and then tried again when I was 18. I did this to fit in with my friends but I couldn’t stomach more than 1 drink a night and thought I was being careful in not making myself too sick. I knew it wasn’t good for me, but I was hoping to increase my alcohol tolerance so I could be seen drinking with friends. It didn’t take long for my body to show me signs that alcohol is toxic because I would develop a rash in my palms the very next day. The second time this happened it confirmed to me that my body simply couldn’t cope with this poison. I asked myself is it worth putting my body through this just to please my friends? I decided NO it is definitely not. I would tell people who tried to offer me alcohol that I am allergic to it and I choose not to drink. Some responded with awkwardness, feeling sorry that I was missing out and some would even continue to offer it to me again. Alcohol should be clearly marked on every bottle ‘Warning this is Poison’.

296. The question has to be asked when there is so much proof of how harmful alcohol is why is it still so accepted as being a part of every day life? I agree with you Lee this is not something we want for our future generations.

297. Such an honest account of the effects of alcohol, thank you Lee. I grew up in a household without alcohol, but with much anger, which had very much the same devastating effects. I went on to marry into a family in which it was totally normal to drink heavily on a regular basis. I was witness to, and affected by, the physical, emotional and psychological abuse which went hand in hand with the drinking. My children then became the next generation to grow up in this debilitating atmosphere. It amazes me in this day and age, with us as a society being so aware of the deleterious effects that alcohol has in so many areas of our lives, that it is so widely not only acceptable, but pushed as being “normal”. How can something so insidious, so ruinous of people’s lives be accepted as normal?

298. I grew up in a family where alcohol was rarely used but when I reached my teens I couldn’t wait to sneak into pubs etc to drink. Over the years I used alcohol to prove I was joining in socially and to ‘have a good time’. It was hard to say goodbye to it and I still miss it at times but I know the difference in me when I drink and I gladly now choose not to harm me and the greater society through alcohol use. I am constantly struck by how stead fast our society is in turning a blind eye to the problems that alcohol creates. Yes, there is a few media headlines when something ugly happens involving alcohol – but then it all goes quiet again. I take some comfort in knowing that there are people out there (including Universal Medicine students) who are taking responsibility and speaking out against alcohol use and I know this is how change occurs, albeit more slowly than I would like!

299. Thanks Lee for your candid blog, the gap in awareness or the lack of wanting to be aware of the damage alcohol is doing to our families and communities is devastating .What allows such an act to be socially acceptable? When the violence, injuries and fatalities are only the tip of the iceberg of what the effects of alcohol are having on all people.

300. Alcohol is evil, there is no other word that describes it so well. When I gave up drinking I also realized that it tasted revolting. I had never liked the taste of it, no matter how hard I tried to disguise the fact. Energetically it just allowed me to be reckless and loose, rather than what I was actually looking for, which was to be honest with others and live my truth.

301. Lee I can really reasonate with your experience as I too lived with the “what next” feeling with the abuse of alcohol in my family as a child. It took years to actually acknowledge the constant fear I lived in and the harm it had done even though I did not repeat the pattern of alcohol abuse as an adult. Thank you for again highlighting the impact of alcohol in our lives and you choice to address your own abuse of it.

302. “The continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable” really sums it up. There are number of studies that show alcohol is harmful to our bodies but in order to find them, we really have to look for them. It is not only alcohol, sugar is another really harmful thing to us, yet we do not hear about it in the news much. Do we have to wait for a “whistle blower” to come out as it was in the tobacco industry?

303. These days one can’t shut me up when I start talking about the effects of alcohol on the body. Some would say that I am too explicit and boring about it but as Lee says ‘this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times’. Alcohol was so normal when I grew up that I didn’t realise that it was happening. I realise it now. I realise that when the bottle of red wine was brought on the table along with a jug of water, every day twice a day my Dad would have a glass or two with his meal when he came back from work and he would not talk to us. And it hurts remembering this now. He was shutting himself out from the world, our world, his children’s world. This may be why I never drank alcohol in my life despite the criticism and the ridicule I was suffering from others. Thank you Lee for your healing blog.

304. “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.”
     So so true. I love that you name this effect as corruption – for that it is. For a classified Poison to be championed under the guise of ‘a good time’ or any of the many other widely broadcast lines we use to excuse the imbibing of said poison is something that when plainly stated – makes no sense and is corrupting in action. I for one am so glad to have left alcohol far behind – and boy oh boy do a feel a million percent better for it – both in the immediate effects and aftereffects – and also in the quality of my life and relationships. Great blog Lee. A conversation that needs to be had for all.

305. Thank you Lee for so eloquently and simply expressing what I too have been feeling about alcohol for some time now. I have had a poor relationship with alcohol also, having used it as a means to check out and numb myself. It is time for us all to really feel into the insidiousness of the ‘everything in moderation’ notion that is a common tagline of today and start to recognise and admit to the true harm this and other socially acceptable and legal drugs are doing to our connectivity as a community.

306. I do agree, we do know that alcohol harms us and everybody around us. I too used alcohol to cope with life and not having to feel what is going on in the world. What actually happens when we use alcohol is, we magnify and contribute to exactly the same misery we want to escape and deep down we know but we often do not know how to get out of this vicious circle. Meeting Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine courses helped me to break through this circle. And I can tell you drinking alcohol is a terribly compromising way of coping with life and it is absolutely worthwhile to make the choice to an alcohol free state of body and thus mind.

307. Wise words, Lee. I really appreciated what you said ” what I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change”. This could apply to any change someone would want to make. Alcohol causes so much damage in our society. Blogs like yours really help support people by pointing out the pitfalls and dangers of drinking.

308. Thanks Jane for sharing your comments about how alcohol not only affects the person drinking but has a far wider impact on others and it is often those others that suffer most as they are aware of what is going on as opposed to the person getting drunk.

309. Pingback: Alcohol is Not Normal « The Truth about Serge Benhayon

310. I can remember when I used to drink how awful I felt the following morning, yet I would try to convince myself it was worth it rather than take responsibility for what I knew I had done to my body. It is amazing to think how I would completely ignore my body screaming out through the sore head, upset stomach and nausea, what I had done. A few months after I stopped drinking, I decided to have a small glass of wine with my meal when I was out with a large group of people. After only one sip, I could feel how it had somehow altered me – I no longer felt fully connected to everyone and felt if I continued to drink it would change how I communicated with everyone and spoil my evening. That was 6 years ago and I have never since then had a moment when I wanted to drink alcohol. Having a loving relationship with my body and true communication with others is far more important to me.

     1. Absolutely Jane. Hangovers are our bodies way of saying I so did not like what you have just done to me. What’s sad though is that we override this lesson time and time again and go back to drinking alcohol again and again. I know I had hundreds upon hundreds of hangovers over my alcohol drinking career before I woke up to myself that I didn’t actually need to drink to enjoy life. Its totally awesome when you wake up to this fact.

        1. Yes Suse, I totally agree. It is part of that going round and round in circles until we finally accept that our bodies do have a voice and wisdom within worth listening to.

311. Great blog and it opens up the reality of what is going on when we use alcohol. I ‘loved’ alcohol but the first time I had it, I hated it. I did it because all the adults around me did it and it was what you needed to do to be accepted. I remember dressing up at the age of 15yrs with a set of house keys, pretending they were car keys, and buying alcohol for my friends and I for the night. Crazy when I look back at it – 15yrs! Over many years partaking in alcohol, serving it to my customers and selecting wines lists; being taken to champagne houses and distilleries… It all began to show its true colours and what changed is that I started to see it for what it really is, a poison that alters the state of our being. Then I started to attend Universal Medicine workshops and courses and realised Self-Love was looking after my one and only body and nurturing it. Over time I cut back and not having so much to finally stopping it – now 7 years on and not touching alcohol, I would never go back to it. It is one of the best things I have ever done in my life for me. I feel AMAZING without that need for it.

     1. It is that altered state of being that Natalie mentioned that sticks out for me, I stopped drinking as I reasoned why would I want to drink to become someone I am not. Alcohol and good judgement also did not work well together, which was another reason I gave it up. By not drinking I am now able to see how much alcohol was a filler for a way of living that was unsatisfactory, and how much better it is to address what it is that requires filling.

        1. Yes Stephen as you say it was a filler and once I stopped drinking alcohol I got to realise and see that underneath all that I was covering up was deep hurts and sadness that I didn’t know how to deal with. With the support of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine through workshops and courses I got to feel what I was trying to run away from and heal my hurts and sadness. The need for alcohol completely left because I wasn’t trying to numb myself anymore.

     2. It’s great to read your comment Natalie. How many teenagers hate the taste and how it makes their bodies feel, but because it is the norm and is accepted as the “thing” to do, go on to drink and drink excessively when they are adults…

312. “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.”
     This is what is madness….we all actually know the harm alcohol, amongst other substances, does to us. Full stop. Yet somewhere along the line we distort this knowledge and the full impact of the harm is lost. Why do we do this when it hurts so many? Are we not fooling ourselves?

313. Yes everything does have a knock on effect and I am truly appreciative of choosing not to drink alcohol anymore despite growing up with it being a very ‘normal’ thing to do. I feel very free of a real weight I used to feel when it was part of my life.

314. “The drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells” this is true on many levels – our individual physical anatomical body and all the people around us. Unfortunately the very way alcohol works numbing the body, often means that we cannot see, feel or remember the harm we have caused others whilst consuming this poisonous pleasure. It is only with the clarity of a clear body and head that you are able to see what truly goes on in these situations. Most importantly you and everyone else benefit from this clarity too.

315. Thanks for this Lee. Alcohol is very harming yet it is seen as sociable! When I was a teenager I used to get drunk a lot and this carried on into my 20’s. I would feel battered after and my body a mess but I wouldn’t stop because to me that was how life was! That was what you do! No one around me would question alcohol and the effects of it but would just be getting drunk. I could see none of us were happy in life but didn’t know how to change it. So for something that is seen as sociable is in fact really incidious. I haven’t drunk now for nearly 8 years and I am sooooo glad I stopped. It is a poison. I can now feel the how lovely I really am and it is good to feel and live in a way that appreciates this instead of trying to crush or destroy it.

316. I loved the simplicity of bringing that ripple effect down to single cells. It’s true that if one acts differently to the rest, the others around it notice and are affected. A great reminder to take responsibility for how our state of being affects the other cells around us…

317. A powerful story Jane that exposes how damaging alcohol can be.

318. Hi Lee, I can see the harm drinking alcohol has caused not only whilst growing up but also with my adult years. Especially with those close around me, I observed them to be drinking to hide how miserable they felt and to get through the day. It seems to me that alcohol can be used to smooth over many of our problems, without having to really address and support the issues.

319. I love your last paragraph showing how the alcohol affects the cells and how we all reflect back and forth to each other. I can feel my power now saying in no to alcohol, gently and firmly, to give a different reflection for whoever I’m with to see.

320. I completely agree Brendan,’it is a substance that ought to be completely eradicated from society.’ It only brings harm to society so there is no place for it.

321. Lee I can relate to your blog big time although I was never violent or directly involved in the violent side of alcohol but knew many people that were. I was very much reliant on alcohol for many years and it was for me a total cop out. I spent every moment possible in the pub as that is where I felt the most comfortable and safe. Now days it’s a place that I would feel most uncomfortable and not very safe. In fact it has been years now that i have been in a pub. If a substance causes so much trouble, heart ache, illness and disease marriage break ups, car crashes the list goes on and on why is it still so acceptable in so many societies?

     1. Exactly Kev. Anyone who has ever consumed alcohol can feel how it changes their behaviour. Would it not be better to look at the reasons why people drank alcohol and address them?

        1. A great question Catherine. And not only do the people who are consuming the alcohol feel the effects it has on their behaviour, body and attitude, but so does everyone around them.

     2. This is so true Jane, it does not make sense when evidently there is a track record of alcohol abuse, damage and harm within our society. Why is it that at large we are pretending that it is okay and normal when the truth is – it is not normal.

     3. This is awesome Kev the true cost of using a substance that alters us is the effect on each and every relationship – how is it acceptable?

322. Lee, great blog thank you. Your point about abuse and alcohol is so important, it’s not how often that abuse happens but if it does, even once, it’s still a problem and abuse. And as you note it’s so easy to dismiss if it’s only every now and then. That’s something we all buy into when we say a little of something or moderation is ok, it’s not, a poison is a poison and it affects the person drinking it and everyone around.

     1. So true Monica, ‘ That’s something we all buy into when we say a little of something or moderation is ok, it’s not, a poison is a poison’.

     2. Well said Monica, a poison is a poison and it does not matter how often you choose it, the fact is it is damaging to our bodies and it is only until we commit to ourselves to bring the care and love that we deserve that can see it for what it is and say no it.

323. Yes Lee this is what we want to call out now so the abuse can stop for all current generations and the ones to come. How clearly you have described what is actually going on in the body when alcohol is consumed – which is a known poison – and the fact it affects every cell in one’s body, but since we are all connected, affecting all those around them.

324. Thank you Lee for a very powerful article. As a yound adult, I could never understand what pleasure people would find in drinking wine as for me the taste was so horrible and the feeling of my body after drinking a little bit of it so awful. I never drank wine ever again once I had those first experiences. As I have said before, alcohol is a poison always has been and always will be.

     1. Maryline it’s true, alcohol is a poison and it is amazing to see how much we have to override our bodies in order to consume it. What lies we tell ourselves in the process, that this stuff actually is okay to drink and that we have also gone on to create entire industries to produce it!

325. Great to tell this story Lee. I too drank daily “in moderation” meaning actually way over moderation, for around 40 years, doing huge damage to my health and equally importantly to my family. It now amazes me how I could put a proven known poison in my body every day for 40 years, when every day my body was telling me in no uncertain terms that it was harming it. The lies we tell ourselves to support harming behaviours!

     1. Yes big lies indeed Doug, I too lied to myself for years about alcohol and when I stopped drinking, felt a million times better for it. What is interesting to witness though is the pressure from other people to start again and they keep spewing out the lies like “a little bit wont harm you”, “I am afraid that you’re missing out” (?!) etc. It is a clear indication that our collective self worth is extremely damaged, to the extent that when one person says “enough no more poison” we are pressured into consuming it again. I for one will never, ever regret giving up alcohol, it has caused untold damage in my life and to heal and relinquish my need for it is one the best things I have ever done.

326. Great to re-read your article Lee, what you have written is very powerful and very true, I agree that ‘the corruption to keep alcohol acceptable’ and ‘everything in moderation’ is not ‘something we want for our future generations’.

327. “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change.” Wise words Lee. As I evolve I am seeing how this applies to any changes I want to make in my life.

328. I have also noticed these same changes in different family members as a result of an increased awareness of the health risks of alcohol and their decision to stop drinking. There is a difference in energy and a real sparkle to them, and those around them seem brighter and more at ease. It seems that even after a short period there is a marked difference within someone and knowing that one will be standing up to jibes and perhaps comments from friends is something I certainly appreciate.

329. I was with some acquaintances recently who were drinking and they were quite imposing with a few comments of ‘a little drink won’t hurt you’ and ‘there’s only a bit of alcohol in the dessert’. I have had similar situations before and I calmly stood my ground, and said how I look after myself much more these days. And although they didn’t drink much, they changed quite considerably. The woman had hot flushes and the man became more vociferous. Luckily, I was able to leave early and go to bed; I didn’t want to run away but it didn’t feel very self loving to stay in that energy.

     1. Excellent choice gillrandall…”I didn’t want to run away but it didn’t feel very loving to stay in that energy.” I felt the same way as a teenager in night clubs…I could never understand what people saw in them. The simply felt awful. It’s interesting as a non drinker to watch those that choose to drink … it is almost as if they are not game enough to be who they are unless they take on a ‘prop’ but then they are in fact not themselves at all. Strange games we play indeed!

330. Great article, Lee. Thank you for your sharing and your honesty. I, too, drank and was angry and abusive. It is so true when you say, “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate, to come together so that the changes you want to live are supported.”

331. I have worked in many jobs where I served Alcohol and was around people that were alcohol infused. Occasionally I was one of those that went out and drank but usually I was the one working and serving it. But I would always have one or two at the end of the night.
     I got to a point where I started to question the whole drinking alcohol game and as a result started to really reduce what I was drinking. I can clearly remember towards the end it was being around all these drunk people at work that made me see how ridiculous this was. That I never wanted to be like that and really didn’t want to be around people like that either. Alcohol is seriously damaging to society and it is slowly changing where by people are starting to question it but there is still a part where the saying ‘everything in moderation’ is at play and I would have to say that no it still has an impact on the person and everyone around them.

332. Hi Lee, I love the way you describe that the changes we want to make are supported, by simply making the choice to change.

333. I attended a wedding last weekend. I have not been around alcohol now for many many years as I choose not to go near it…but last weekend I was surrounded by it. I noticed that the whole wedding was focused on alcohol. The speeches were about alcohol related stories, the jokes were about alcohol, the toasts were celebrated with alcohol and the hangovers were laughed about in the morning. I could feel the huge consciousness of alcohol all around me consuming everyone. It was a reminder for me of how ‘normal’ it is to drink alcohol and the fact that it is not even questioned. I came away from the wedding feeling hungover. Even though I did not drink a drop or alcohol I felt affected by it. The energy of it is so strong and alters our natural way of being.

334. I relate to the drinking and harm. I have not socialised via alcohol for 8 years now and recently was at a birthday lunch and was confused to see alcohol present in abundance as it was a significant age the person was turning. It felt odd and weird that people were drinking, and YET this would have been so normal for me only 8 years ago I would have been enjoying the party. Now it felt like it bought in an unnecessary element to the afternoon. I have a child who is growing up with no alcohol being used around her, so her normal will be that. it will be interesting to see how she develops and what she chooses. When I grew up there was no alcohol in the house but when there was an event there was alcohol so it was very much my normal to drink. I think it’s awesome that there are now children growing up with no association with socialising and alcohol what a great start, it doesn’t mean that they won’t drink it just means they have a foundation most of us didn’t have.

335. Last night at a dinner, the number of people consuming vast quantities of alcohol, drinking it like it was water, and seeing the effects it has later was quite shocking to me.

     When will people actually learn what they are doing to their bodies, and the effect it could have on their family and other family members?

     1. I would state that it does have an effect on their bodies and their family members – no one is willing to see.

336. Thank you Lee for being so honest about your drinking, which is an all too common story. I have grown up with family members being dependent on alcohol and for us it was normal, an accepted part of life. It is only now that I can see it for what it is, a poison as you have stated, which effects all of the family members and can have devastating effects.

337. I love how the magnitude of the problem that drinking causes was expressed in this, great post Lee!

338. I love this beautifully honest blog which lays bare the hideousness of the effects of alcohol on the body and society.

339. Well, if you think about alcohol being ethanol – it really does expose the damage it does.
     We have glorified alcohol by using it for celebration or escape – and not seeing it for what it truly is – a psychoactive drug.
     Lee – its great to expose the harm of alcohol – rather than how most of society sees it.

     1. The irony as you express it is so true Ariana. We use alcohol to celebrate – and poison ourselves in the process… so to question the celebration as self abuse is very valid. What kind of celebration is it when we make ourselves ill?

     2. We conveniently name change things to fit the way we want others to perceive it – purchase it, use it and abuse it. It matters not that the poison is still that which ever way we brand it or sell it.

     3. Agreed Ariana self abuse is not a true celebration at all.

340. This is a very powerful blog that so clearly states how poisonous alcohol is to the person imbibing it and the effects it has on every cell in their body, along with the repercussions both in the family setting and the wider community. I hate to think of how many people never reach their potential, how much in wages are lost and the countless millions of dollars that have to be spent attempting to deal with the physical, psychological and social damage that is caused by alcohol. It really is time for humanity to open their eyes and see alcohol for what it truly is.

     1. Judith this is awesome to read and feel. What is the total amount that humanity has suffered because of this one substance? There are no words for the levels of devastation that has been wreaked across the planet.

341. Thanks Lee for an amazing, clear blog on alcohol. What finally stopped me drinking alcohol was that I could feel that even one sip would change me and distance me from others. I could feel I was no longer being me with them and that was not fun. So in a society where drinking is seen as the norm, we have people everywhere not being their true selves with each other.

     1. janetorvaney you have completely nailed it when you say ‘I could feel that even one sip would change me and distance me from others.’

342. Lee this is a great blog to get the conversation going that Alcohol and other drugs are harming, killing and destroying our society. Once I made the choice to stop alcohol which took a bit of time to get there – making that final decision was super freeing and deeply self loving. I now know the difference of living with out those altering stimulants in my life and would never go back. The most amazing thing is the relationships that I have are so much more loving and harmonious because I am steady being me.

     1. Great point Natalie, its really good to look back and appreciate that. I too remember after my choice to stop alcohol and how I had setup my entire life to be based around it. From having a good night out, to the way I would have a meal (more about the wine than the food) to where I would meet friends.

     2. So true Natalie, we start to feel and see more and more of others and ourselves because we let people in – not holding others at an arms length away. Alcohol seemingly makes you more open but I realise for me this was a false – it was the only way that we as people knew how to relate – but this was not a true relating, feeling this hurts as we are all so much more loving. We just need to drop the guard.

343. Hi Lee. I can relate to your feeling on alcohol. I to have had those next day headaches, and feeling like death. It has taken me a long time to get away from it, but you feel great when you no longer have those if only I had done it years ago.

     1. Absolutely Mike our health is paramount and you feel a million dollars when you choose to take care of your body.

344. Absolutely Lee, I could not agree more, it is time to be honest about the effects of alcohol and how far reaching the harm from this poison is.

     1. The base point is that honesty for each and every one of us – we are killing ourselves with poison and it is time we asked why?

345. I’m hugely thankful, looking back, on my body’s lifelong inability to deal with excessive alcohol consumption.
     The hangovers were just too awful and debilitating for me to pursue serious drinking, and being someone who detests illness, I felt the price just wasn’t worth paying.
     This allowed me to observe friends, who, unencumbered by my sort of metabolism,
     would drink like fish, and then metamorphose into monsters worthy of Hammer’s house of Horror. Their shocking, or just plain embarrassing antics afterwards were the best advertisement possible in favour of Temperance.

     1. Gosh Jonathan I used to be one of those ‘Hammer’s house of Horror’ monsters, terrorising society under the guise of fun and hi jinx, being drunk is an accepted way of being unless you ‘take it too far’.

346. Thank you Lee for your honest sharing and the power behind your last paragraph. We are all connected and therefore deeply damaged by all those who continue to abuse alcohol in any way. I was part of this culture for many years, despite having an alcohol-free childhood and feel that I can still collude with what society sees as the norm – by not speaking up when presented with an opportunity to express a different viewpoint. If I want society to change then I have a responsibility to speak up. Thank you for your clarity which is inspirational.

     1. Helen beautifully said ‘If I want society to change then I have a responsibility to speak up.’

347. Thanks Lee for another very honest blog. I have also felt that support around me once I have truly committed to changing something. It’s never easy but things do seem to align to help. I also agree that alcohol should be called out for the substance that breaks down our bodies and society that it is. The medical and social facts speak for themselves.

     1. There has to be a turning point – much like the tobacco industry alcohol is a powerful ‘owner’ of lives and the breakdowns will need to be catastrophic to get people to really stop and consider the choices we are all making.

348. I remember not being aware that my drinking habits were ill affecting people around me, and I had such disregard within me that I didn’t consider that I was harming myself. I reduced my alcohol intake when I was pregnant – but didn’t stop fully because I thought a few drinks were ok. I had a well woman check today and the nurse said, “Do you never have a drink?’ And I confidently and categorically said, ‘Never’.

     1. I love being able to claim that too Gill. It is so empowering feeling the foundation of love that we build on every day.

349. Thank you Lee – you reminded me that I too sat down and cried in despair at the amount of alcohol and cigars I was consuming and I wanted to get out of it – the poison was all consuming and affected everyone and everything around me. I stopped for short periods but kept on kidding myself that one more wouldn’t matter and always got drawn back to the bottle – until a heart attack made sure that I had to stop. And now I ask myself with all the clarity that I can enjoy and feel – why did I ever let myself get in to that position? Let’s lead by example and others will follow.

     1. Thank you Lee and Michael for your honesty and openness in sharing the despair that alcohol brings, under the guise of having a ‘good time’.

     2. Well said Michael it does consume you not the other way round as we desperately convince ourselves. Only one more leads to more heartache, pain and repercussions. Many occasions arguments and fights with partners and families were caused by that ‘one more’ mentality – alcohol destroys everything in its wake.

350. Lee, this is a profound and deeply touching blog – thank you. It is so true as you say in the beginning that even once is too much, and yet we convince ourselves that a few drinks is acceptable.

351. Thank you Lee, for calling a spade and spade….alcohol is a poison, for the body and society. I also grow up in a house were alcohol took priority, it caused separation, pain and a lack of trust between myself and my parents. As soon as I was old enough, I went to what I knew and I bought some alcohol, under age of course, and I drank it and I felt the escape that I had been craving, but it was only ever short term and I always needed more. No one would consider me an alcoholic in the traditional sense but if we all are honest if there is a craving, a need, it is an addiction to get us through what we have decided is the struggle of life.

     It can be veiled as celebration or a Friday night relax but it is nothing more than numbing behaviour that takes people further away from themselves and the possibility of healing anything that can be healed. I have said on many occasions in the past and I hear people say regularly now that they ‘need a drink’ without questioning that need and where it is coming from. As a society a very disruptive and poisonous substance is present that breaks down relationships and makes bodies ill and not function, this is alcohol and more honesty around it’s use it vital to break its hold.

     I have not drunk alcohol for years, it feels amazing to have a clarity and well being in my body, I have never experienced this while drinking and to know that I am not beholden to something is ultimately empowering and freeing. Thank you Lee

     1. Not drinking alcohol is a freedom exquisite to experience.

        1. How beautifully articulated and oh so true.

        2. Bravo for claiming this matildaclark – it is absolutely an exquisite freedom.

     2. Powerful to read this Samantha – the craving is to constantly drown out the fact that we are more, the way we are hurts and cannot stand to feel anymore.

     3. Once we have stepped on to that slippery slope of escaping with alcohol it opens the door to all the other numbing activities.

352. This is true Ariana, it is crazy that alcohol ‘devastates lives, and yet it is socially acceptable’, it really doesn’t make sense.

353. Drinking alcohol and smoking are just two forms of legal slow calculated suicide. I had smoked and drank alcohol for years and was the lemming heading for the cliff. When I found the reasons within myself what was causing my dash to the the cliff…I stopped running. I put this done exclusively to Universal Medicine and the inspiring presentations by Serge Benhayon.

     1. Absolutely sjmatsonuk – calculated suicide.

354. “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.”
     This is so true Lee, rarely if ever do we hear the whole truth on or about anything, because so many people think they benefit from the lies and mistruths. But who is truly benefitting? As your article and that of Jacqueline’s clearly exposes – nobody!

355. I can relate to this Lee having been brought up in a home where my dad brewed his own beer and later he and my mum made wine, which I stole to drink as a young teenager to “fit in”. I later worked in and managed a pub, so saw more of the violence and aggression associated with drinking alcohol and taking drugs. But it was all accepted as normal. Even after an incident everyone would talk about how bad it was, but then carry on regardless, myself included. Thanks to Universal Medicine and the inspiring presentations by Serge Benhayon I have chosen to stop drinking alcohol.

     1. Natalie you have described exactly how I started drinking at the age of 12 – stealing the home-brew and drinking it with my friends whilst playing snooker in the garage after school. What you have identified is true, the armchair observers of the world – drink in hand watching and slowly numbing.

356. I agree with all comments on Alcohol, I have seen through out my career, the harm is has done to people and the destroyed lives.

     1. Mike I too have seen many people destroy their lives through the use of alcohols. Marriages broken, jobs lost, children taken away, it’s very sad how alcohol destroys homes.

     2. People are harmed Mike this is so true and it is a destructive element in society.

357. Ariana I was pondering this today – remember when cigarettes were advertised so freely and with absolutely no care for the consumer – the same thing is happening with alcohol. It is significant the amount of advertising alcohol companies undertake. The same occurs with soft drink and food companies pushing sugar – it is a constant drive for sales and revenue – the corruption is so deep we can barely see our way out. And yet it is the health conditions and effects on the consumers that are so prevalent in all corners of the globe that are staggering and not going away any time soon.

     1. This is so true Lee and it feels like a constant push to make a ‘buck’. I too only recently was pondering on tobacco whilst seeing the counter for cigarettes at the supermarket. These products now contain huge health warnings, it is known and proven that smoking cigarettes contributes toward ill health yet companies still produce these products.

358. Yes Gill – why don’t they show that and allow a choice to be made with all of the facts.

359. I am really appreciating that I have chosen to no longer partake of alcohol. My life feels very different to when I did consume it and I am grateful for the presentations by Serge Benhayon which inspired me and reminded me of what I innately knew.

     1. Myself too Michelle and I am appreciating the ripple effect that not drinking is having on those around me.

     2. That’s amazing Michelle; there is indeed much to be appreciated!

     3. So with you on this mmryan37, celebrating the amazing choices made to truly support the body, life and relationships.

360. I love your words, The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent. This feels true.

361. Thank you Lee for exposing the true harm and abuse in society of alcohol which is something that comes up in the news and press most days as does the acceptance of alcohol and its justification. It is time for us to see it for what it really is.
     You put it with such simplicity and depth.

362. Hi Lee, this blog reveals truth about alcohol, the emotional damage as well as the physical. When the health providers decide enough is enough and the cost (which is spiralling upwards) of dealing with illness and disease caused by excessive consumption becomes too great (not that far away I would say), then the impetus to change the thinking of society will follow. We do have to choose to change but what is around us as we grow up has a direct impact, as you have shown, on what we may choose when we become adults.

     1. Very true Judy, I understand the World Health Organisation are looking to change their advice on levels of alcohol but the alcohol industry (in the same way the Tabacco and sugar industry) are fighting hard to keep peoples perception that drinking in moderation is safe. It will only be a matter of time before the facts are known – then its a choice we each have.

        Even though we know the dangers of smoking we can still choose to smoke but are doing so without the illusion its good for you (as was once thought!). The problem is many people are unaware of the dangers of alcohol.

        1. David this is spot on – the alcohol industry is a huge beast that is seemingly hungry for money and sustaining a way of life that demands more alcohol.

        2. Lee the very fact we have industries that kill us yet that are so prevalent shows we choose not what we know support us but instead what we know hurts us. Why we choose this and allow the “beasts” to grow and make billions from us is something for us to really look at.

     2. judykyoung the sad fact is that the health professionals drink as well and this in itself ensures that the blindness on this societal damage continues.

363. It sounds so absurd that society is celebrating with a substance, a poison that is destroying us all!

     1. Well put Alexandre absolutely absurd.

     2. Exactly Alexandre!

     3. This is brilliant and a situation that is set up early on in life. From a time in childhood when most celebrations are marked with cake and sweet things we can see a pattern emerging. Alcohol, for lots of people, is just another source of sugar consumed as a pick me up at the end of the day, to get through the evening and to provide some relief from the strains of life. There is a groundswell of questioning about the validity (and sanity) of this approach and that maybe this is just exacerbating the reasons we turn to alcohol at all. When I stopped drinking alcohol my body celebrated and for a while I slept quite a lot, no longer pushing through tiredness. Of course not going out drinking meant early nights were on offer! But it was like a smokescreen falling away (alcohol and it’s effects) so that I could start to feel and be in relationship with myself and life.

     4. Whoa! Ariana your short and to the point comment really made me sit up on reading it. Celebrating with poison – ouch! On looking back I am so glad there is no need for alcohol in my life now, it certainly felt like poison when there was a hangover the day after and for several days after my body felt so washed out and lethargic.

364. I grew up in a family where alcohol was not allowed and was considered a poison. This was beautiful as none of the community we socialised with drank alcohol. I remember those days full of lots of love, fun and laughter. But when I turned 15 at school things changed, friends would talk about alcohol and some already stated drinking it as it was available in their homes. I never liked the smell or taste at that point and avoided it for as long as I could. But when I was being excluded from groups and started to feel left out, I forced myself to drink a little, however never really enjoyed it. When I reflect back as an adult I drank when I felt down, tired, stressed and just to switch off from the world. But as soon as I came to understand alcohol was a poison through the presentations of Serge Benhayon, I really understood the harm it causes and it was easy for me to stop. I reconnected to my childhood and appreciated not growing up with alcohol and thanking my parents for this.

365. ‘What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change.’ The simplicity of this brought tears to my eyes…all we have to do is be truly willing. Thank you, Lee.

     1. Very true Matilda.

     2. Today, your comment brought tears to my eyes too – if the willingness is there, the support is there.
        So simple, so true.

366. You have really pulled back the curtain to reveal the insidiousness of the way that not just alcohol, but all abuse of ourselves remains a continuous cycle for so many and how it is carried forth for generations. Bravo, Lee.

367. Wow Lee, a very strong blog I agree with you whole heartily.
     I think the change will come in time but it may get worse before it gets better. The consciousness of alcohol is deeply ingrained in cultures throughout the world. It won’t be until the strain on health systems, due to alcohol related diseases and substance abuse makes them collapse that we see a real change. It has started though as alcohol is definitely becoming more unacceptable than it once was.

     1. That’s true Kevin. I remember, in the sixties on television chat shows for example
        it was considered quite normal for guests to join the presenter, on-screen, in a glass of
        what looked like scotch. Change is happening slowly.

368. Great Blog Lee, as a society it feels like we only want to see the ‘good side’ of alcohol and not the ‘ugly’ side – so we phrase it differently – we call it being sociable when we drink and we celebrate with alcohol, ‘we share a pint’, but if we stopped and really saw the real harm and heartache that alcohol causes, would we continue to see it as a normal way to behave?

     1. Good point Susan, why do we have this blindness to the truth about alcohol? I had it for 40 years myself, so it is truly hard to understand how I could ignore the harm it was doing to myself, when my body was telling me every single day in many different ways. It is as if our awareness contracts when we make choices that harm ourselves.

        1. I have had this blindness too, it is very easy to over-ride the harm of a substance if it is giving you a relief from feeling sad, or over-whelmed, or at a loss to what your purpose is. The worse thing is that as I kept using alcohol, it just kept building up, I found over time that the alcohol would layer the misery on, each time feeling more and more of the mess it was being used to hide and escape from.

     2. Well said Susan; many people try and look past the obvious effects alcohol is having on their body, and keep drinking with the excuse of – it’s ‘social activity’, or a way of ‘celebrating’.

     3. How many harmful, disrespectful things do we do because they come under a banner of ‘nice, normal, social or being part of the community’? Staying up socialising until silly o’clock to then have to fuel ourselves through the next day with coffee; nursing the after effects of last night’s alcohol with medication or caffeine whilst hypothetically holding our breath until it is time for the next drink; accepting a relationship with work that is founded on anxiousness, stress and overwhelm. There are many others, pertinent to us all. Thank you, Lee, for so clearly exposing one. The opportunity that presents is gorgeous.

     4. Well said Susan we are very blinkered when it comes to seeing the true effects of alcohol. We like to say things like “well everything in moderation” so we dampen down the reality of it and shield our selves from the fact that even the most moderate drinker is choosing to poison themselves. I have been one of those a people too and am now so thank full that I woke up to the truth and decided to stop all together. The turning point was someone presenting very clearly not only the physical effects but the energetic effects too. In understanding the energetic effects it helped to explain why people go out of control so easily and helped enormously cutting the habit.

     5. Great point Susan, it’s in the subtle changes that you identified that we comply.

369. Thank you for this great reminder of our collective responsibility!

370. Your article Lee, needs to be printed on the front page of newspapers world wide. This is true news.
     You state “The anxiety of living in fear of ‘what next, what next?”. I too knew this as a child, and from that awful state I chose to shut off from the world.

371. Very true Gill. I agree that it would be great education for humanity to see exactly what happens to our bodies when we consume alcohol.

372. Absolutely Gill. A much needed reality check.

373. So true Gill it spreads and spreads holding us in this pattern that we seem to be stuck in.

374. Amazing article showing how alcohol is harming mankind. Thank you for sharing.

     1. Agreed Ben – it is horrible how a proven poison has been normalised and made socially acceptable.

        1. What a clear indicator for how far we have strayed when the consumption of a proven poison is not only accepted but encouraged. People who do not drink alcohol are still considered to be unusual, weird even…now that is mad!

     2. So simple and so true Ben – harming humanity it is.

375. Great Blog Lee thank you for your reflections on the true harming and misery of alcohol in the world. Very powerful.

376. I remember many years ago when I first gave up alcohol, the sadness I would feel when
     my friends drank around me. Before they had the first drink I would feel close to them and connected to them and enjoy their beautiful company. When they started drinking I could feel them slipping away. Their eyes would glaze over and I would lose that feeling of connection with them. They simply were not themselves.

     1. Hi Rebecca, I too experienced this the moment I gave up alcohol, the moment my friends had a drink they would change, their eyes glazed over, and they were no longer focused on being with me and it was very sad and hard to be around. I also realised when I stopped drinking alcohol that in the UK alcohol is a part of every social activity, and for it not to be there is almost taboo. It is used to celebrate, commiserate, but not only that – the hangover is celebrated too, crazy.

        1. Hi Rebecca and Laura, I agree with your comments – it feels so uncomfortable when people change
           this way and disconnect from being focussed and in connection with me after alcohol takes over.
           Yikes! I probably did this too, when I used drink alcohol.

        2. Laura, what you have written is so true, it is almost like people feel completely lost without their toxic friend. It is like we (as a society) have become so reliant on alcohol that we are frightened if we go out without it we won’t have anything to talk about or that an occasion without booze is strange or peculiar. How topsy turvy our world has become.

     2. So true Rebecca. It felt as if my friends changed around me, there was a feeling of discomfort and they seemed to disappear as I didn’t fit in with their social life anymore! Now I see, several year later, as I am more comfortable with me, that it was a reflection of how I was feeling, not sure of myself in these situations at that time, but more importantly, a recognition that I was choosing not to be part of that social scene anymore.. Now, as I respect friends choices, they accept me for who I am, a friend and someone who doesn’t drink alcohol but loves to share social time with them.

     3. Hello Rebecca, I can really relate to your description of being in the company of people who drink, say at a dinner party. At the start of the dinner they are who they are and you can connect with them and communicate with them but after a few glasses you lose them as they go into a world of their own and no real communication is then possible. Alcohol is a poison even “in moderation”, always has been and always will be.

377. Alcohol is celebrated in our society and we choose to ignore the countless lives that have been ruined by its deeply damaging effects. This is such an important article as it exposes the real harm of alcohol that has become such a ‘normalised’ part of everyday life.

     1. That is very true Anne Marie, we have normalised a poison and placed it at the centre of our social traditions and economy without truly realising the damage it does.

        1. Agreed Rowena and therein lies the problem. There is so much invested in us consuming alcohol, not just the financial implications for all the distilleries, breweries and drink companies but also our social investment as a means to relate to each other; and people’s personal investments because of the needs alcohol fulfills on a regular basis. It’s embedded from all angles and has such a potent hold across the board.

        2. Absolutely Rosanna, I was pondering this just this morning; how all of the actions we undertake are from the already damaged space we choose to be in. If we drink then we are effectively building relationships on that level, how we choose to continue to relate is always founded on this – it is then easy to shift 20 degrees to the right or left and engage in further abusive actions because there is only a blurred foundation to stand on. Sexual abuse, drug abuse, violence, assault, rape, arguing, silent treatment with others, shunning …the list is endless and all represent true evil in that there is a constant calling back to those levels of behaviour when we choose to use, as our social glue, alcohol. Relating with each other with a substance that cannot support true love and truth in any way shape and form is/has devastated our world.

     2. Excellent point Anne Marie- how many hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives have been adversely affected by alcohol. Staggering to contemplate on that.

        1. That is so true Lee, we pull the wool over our eyes so we don’t see the damage, because we don’t know how to relate without our “social glue” as you say. The fall out is huge, damaging and expensive and one we have to deal with everyday. At some point the truth will be recognised but it is likely to go the same route as tobacco, where the awareness of its ill effects will be acknowledged, but the economic reliance on the product still remains and so will its availability.

        2. Its huge to consider that we build relationships using alcohol. We see the results of that all around. The town centre violence at weekends when people ‘having a good time’ get out of control, the domestic violence – 2 women a week in the UK die as a result of this – as you say Lee the list is endless.

378. A really great article Lee exposing the harms of alcohol. I particularly like ‘ The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’
     belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.’

     1. It is amazing how we can ignore the harm and danger that is very obvious in society, and very obvious in our bodies after drinking alcohol. I managed to ignore the huge harm I did to my body when drinking alcohol, when I was in my teens and twenties, I continued to drink alcohol even after ending up in hospital, prison, and in bed with strangers. And yet these hangovers and harmful behaviours were actually celebrated. The moment I truly saw how damaging alcohol is, I never drank again, without any difficulty or ever looking back.

        1. Thank you for sharing Laura, it is very true we can no longer as a society ignore the harm that alcohol brings to society.

        2. Laura you raise a great point here, the consequences are always …too funny, not too serious, lucky…and the bumbling around at the end of the night with people we truly don’t know in order to get some semblance of intimacy with another is the icing really. No respect is really what it comes down to, no respect for ourselves for the danger and crazy situations that we put ourselves into when using alcohol.

379. Thank you Lee. Awesome!

380. Its absolutely true Lee that we experience “loss in our society” from the use and abuse of alcohol. When you mix a substance that is toxic to the body with a large quantity of sugar, can it really have anything other than a negative effect on how we are able to function and contribute to society.

     1. Absolutely Stephen a loss indeed – the toxicity is ignored in order to not feel what is really going on.

        1. Hi Lee, your comment really struck me in that I haven’t drunk alcohol for over 8 years now (and that feels amazing I feel so much clearer and healthier) but what I realised was how I have still ignored a lot of what is going on in our society! I am slowly starting to see this more and more especially in the Youth Work role I am in. We really need to start making a lot more clearer choices and changes so we can help support others that currently find this really hard to do.

     2. Alcohol feels like a fog that is damply blanking out the natural sparkle we carry. The simple choice not to drink alcohol and to be willing to explore the reasons we do in the first place, allows that sparkle to burn through the fog and set another standard for how life can be.

        1. Yes Matilda, “be willing to explore the reasons we do in the first place” is a crucial key in finding the solution to this dilemma.
           The “Alcoholics Anonymous” method, while laudable in delivering many from this scourge, is really little more than a spiritual straitjacket which prevents the adherent from drinking, but buries the underlying reasons for doing so even deeper, while cementing the notion that one is an alcoholic for life.
           A true examination that “allows that sparkle to burn through the fog” is, as you have so clearly stated, the real way forward, where the future becomes the now.

        2. Matilda and Andy – that is the way I stopped such a imbedded behaviour and socially accepted drug. There would have been no other way of stopping in my eyes for myself. When I was drinking I had no idea what I was avoiding let alone the fact that I had an issue in the first place. Through a great understand from attending Serge Benhayon’s workshops and courses, I clearly got see what it was that I was avoiding. It makes complete sense. After that initial drawn out process that possibly Alcohol was a numbing tool and taking the courage to look deeper, then and only then was I ready to stop drinking. I am eternally grateful as I have never had so much clarity and joy as I do now in my life.

        3. ‘Alcohol feels like a fog that is damply blanking out the natural sparkle we carry’ – that is a perfect way of describing it Matilda.

     3. When you put it like that Steven, it sounds like a recipe for a bomb rather than a relaxing social drink!

381. Amina – so true, I can’t tell you how many times I would get drunk with friends and it be okay to be unruly, loud, aggressive and demanding at restaurants, bars or clubs. With no consideration for the people around us or those we came in contact with. Now I absolutely can feel that if you have one drink – half a drink it matters not for the poison has altered you and therefore alters the state of your relationship with others and the world you live in. Fact. This is where we all need to connect with the responsibility we all deeply know yet refuse to acknowledge – yet.

382. Lee your insight on this topic is remarkable. Your expression in relation to its impact on us all gives us much to think about as we are all affected by the choices of ourselves and others. Thank you Lee.

     1. Thank you Sally – we have a responsibility – one I see far more clearly today then I did growing up from boy to man. Clouded and under the same illusion that this was how lives were lived – struggling to stay afloat in the myriad of problems caused by an inability to express and also a need to be heard. By choosing a drink to suppress and stimulate there was a limited resolve, yet over time the truth and reality is never far away. We affect our choices, we absolutely do and thus we then also affect the choices of others.

383. Thank you Lee for your beautiful blog. I just realized how ever since I was a teenager, I had to excuse myself to others for my choice to NOT drink alcohol. I did not like the effect it had on me and could clearly feel it was not good for me at all. I did drink an occasional glass of wine with dinner as an adult, never for me, but for the people I was with. What a relief it was to finally decide never ever to drink alcohol again.

     1. Katinka that’s amazing.

        1. Katinka, deciding to stop drinking alcohol was a relief for me too despite spending years supposedly enjoying it. In truth, I was abusing myself with it and badly so – it felt so good when I decided never to poison my body with it again.

384. Great blog, Lee, with many important points that the different comments have picked up. Thank you for sharing with such honesty your own personal experiences.

     1. Thank you Jonathan it is lovely to share.

385. Well said Gill. I, too, was crazy saying a little poison in moderation was OK. All from a lack of self-worth and wanting recognition and acceptance by joining in.

     1. Jonathan this is great – self worth – drinking to pep us up, make us a little more flamboyant, out there and able to relate…how crazy that I had to use a poison to think that I could relate more.

386. Well said Amina!

387. Lee, I love how you present the analogy of us all as cells in a one body. This does seem to be how interconnected we are, in a family and in the world. It is a great illustration of how important our contribution is! I also want to add that even when the alcohol doesn’t lead to outward aggression or abuse, I have felt it to still be a very real harm to the person and those around them. I have felt so much sadness and unexpressed anger in the ‘regular’ drinkers I know and in their family members.

     1. Jo great point to consider – the unexpressed realities that we try to drown away. Our lives would look so different if we just expressed from who we are and not need to use a lubricant to distort everything.

388. Well said Lee – great that you came back to yourself – your cells are now inspiring other cells, how great is that?!

     1. Thanks Rachael – very cool.

389. Thank you Lee, I can feel how deeply you have felt the insidious and far reaching effects of alcohol in yours and therefore our lives. The more we expose what it is we use mind altering substances to protect us from (our own deep, deep hurts and lack of self worth), the closer we will come to beginning the truthful conversations that reveal our tenderness and vulnerability which can then be celebrated, instead of cursed in our society. I can feel the sadness of watching loved ones drink to become more social and connect with others, only make a mess of relationships in the process. A true tragedy when we understand how important relationships are in our lives, in fact the most important aspect of our lives ~ beginning with ourselves.

     1. So true Bernadette – everything is about relationships and yet we need to add a substance to make our interaction ‘more’. It makes no sense when our essence and nature is to connect with people and have so much fun and joy with each other – anything false is surplus.

390. Thank you Lee. I was brought up in a family that alcohol was not drunk to excess, but there was often one shot of something every evening after work. And alcohol was always present whenever there were evening social gatherings. The only conscious negative memory I have about the impact of alcohol in my childhood is that at times my father who was always immensely caring towards my mum, would make an uncharacteristic response, gesture or tone that although insignificant to everyone else present, was deeply hurtful to my mother. I did not like the discord and seeing both of my parents hurting during those moments and have thought that was the extent of the impact on me. But now reading your article I feel teary and a deep sadness and I realise I too was affected far more than that.

     1. The subtle interplays of energetic disharmony affect us all deeply Golnaz – amazing to feel and appreciate how much we all feel.

391. A great blog Lee, thank you for sharing. I have many friends who are just beginning their use of alcohol (legally, as they are turning 18, however most had already begun years ago). I feel that it would be so supportive if they were to read your article to get a sense for the true impact that alcohol has, and to learn that the drink they claim to enjoy is “not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells”, both in regards to the cells of each person but also affecting individuals as a part of the body of humanity.

     1. I agree – I wish I had read this blog when I was 14 let alone 18!!!

        1. True James!

     2. Jessica, this article should be available in schools, it would make such a difference. I remember when I was 14yrs old, I knew friends who would sneak in alcohol after school and thought it was the coolest thing to do, not realising the impact of the poison. As years went on I noticed some of them became addicted to it and dropped out of school. But what I noticed too was, they felt a moment of excitement when they drank, but it seemed like, as time went by they where using it to hide how they truly felt and numb out from daily life. I could never understand why their parents never noticed or did anything about it.

        1. It is really sad how it is seen as “cool” to drink and get wasted. I fell for this belief for many years whilst at school which continued after I left. I put myself in some crazy and dodgy situations all in the name of trying to fit in. I realise now I don’t need approval to feel I belong, I just need to be true to me.

     3. Thanks Jessica – I started in my early teens and like James says below it would have been a better science lesson for me to learn the impact on everybody rather than continuing to ‘think’ that it only harms me when I was 14. Much needed for everyone to consider.

392. So very true Lee, alcohol does not just affect the person who chooses to consume it, but by law of communication and interaction everyone that then approaches them will feel the effects in their body, which then carries forward to the next person and so forth… As you have perfectly expressed – ‘the human society is made up of many people and they reflect constantly back and forth to each other – if one is reflecting anxiety and anger then this causes disharmony in those cells/people around it’.

     1. Well said Susie the law of communication – on every level we communicate with everyone and everything – a fact we continue to unfortunately ignore and override.

     2. Perfectly and succinctly explained. The effects of alcohol reach far, far beyond the person who is drinking.

393. Beautiful Lee, your sharing and insights on alcohol are very accurate. I too was brought up experiencing sporadic alcohol fuelled outrages, it has taken a long time to truly clear the effects. And we need to now be saying on a global level, that alcohol is not a socially acceptable substance anymore. Just like we are recognising the true effects of smoking, so too do we need to start voicing the truth about alcohol and how it truly affects our health and wellbeing. I began to step back and observe my need for alcohol because someone posed the question – what am I choosing to not feel by consuming it? I am very grateful for this wise and compassionate question that helped me see what I was smothering up by drinking it.

     1. And what a great question it is Rowena – what am I choosing to not feel by consuming it?

394. Thank you Lee for another great and insightful blog. Growing up in Ireland, drinking in excess was just part of the culture, and even though I always felt it was a very self-destructive habit, I followed suit and learned the hard way as you did.

     1. What’s cool Janet is that we can appreciate the fact that we have made loving choices.

395. What we lose as a society from the acceptance of alcohol in our daily living is a true, deep and loving connection with ourselves and those we meet and mix with.

     One of the most common things I heard about alcohol and adopted myself was that drinking helped to loosen me up, make me more outgoing and sociable. It was a way of bringing everyone together, to socialise, to celebrate, to have fun. I remember one time my two closest girlfriends who I socialised and partied with regularly went on a diet where they had to stop drinking alcohol to help lose weight. I decided to stop the alcohol too. We still went out as usual. It became a fascinating experiment because I realised I didn’t need the alcohol to socialise, celebrate and have fun. I had such a great time without the hangover but interestingly everyone who we met thought the only reason I could be fun and sociable was because I was drunk.

     We are in a very, very deep illusion about alcohol and it’s so called benefits. The focus on the violence that comes from excessive use only fuels the illusion and makes it easier for those who do not experience the alcohol related violence they see reported on their TV screens to keep the illusion of “everything in moderation” and the automatic assumption alcohol is a normal part of socialising alive and well.

     I love how Angela Perin talks about connecting the dots as she deepens her awareness of the short and long term damage consumption of this poison has had. This is happening for me too – we have definitely been “had”, many times over!!

     1. Thank you Suzanne, a deep deep illusion indeed, and one that allows the comfort of the masses, that do not end up in violent situations, to hold strong the fact that everything in moderation is A OK.

396. Thank you Lee for turning your comment into a blog. Everything you have written needs to be said and often. “The everything in moderation” maxim or “a little of what you fancy does you good” seem to give license to us being totally irresponsible and careless in our behaviours. And I have also heard people say that they don’t drink alcohol but they do have a vintage wine now and again or a real ale , as if this status somehow cancels out the alcohol. This is a vast subject and one that touches all our lives. Great that you have opened this up for comment.

     1. Elaine isn’t it amazing that we use tiny lies in an attempt to distance ourselves from the truth. I recall as a young boy (very young five or six) being given little sips of Stones Ginger Wine by our next door neighbour, as she toasted bread for us on the open fire. It was a ‘special treat’ little did we know as children what that set us up for.

397. Thank you for writing about how easy it is for each generation to perpetuate the illusory ‘normal’ from consistent exposure to the social pressure and physical effects of alcohol from a young age. We quickly come to accept our experience of alcohol as ‘the way it is’ and carry those beliefs and expectations forward into adulthood to have them play out.

     1. Great point Cathy it is the ‘consistent exposure’ that pushes at everyone to conform from a young age.

398. A very honest article showing how alcohol is not acceptable but how it actually destroys not only the person who drinks, but those around them. Why does it take us years of misery to finally say no to that which we know is destroying us? It is so true what you say that “when you claim you want to change you are presented with opportunities”. Thank you for sharing your story and it is inspiring how it changed for you.

     1. Thank you Vicky it doesn’t have to take years does it? – we can choose right now.

399. Thank you Lee – deeply, as it takes a courageous person to speak up about alcohol and its harming effects. Often alcohol is seen as harming if we develop a liver disease or a commonly associated illness but as you say every day people are being affected behind closed doors by alcohol – men, women and children. Alcohol is often involved in most domestic violence incidents. We are ignorant as a human race in ignoring things with the everything in moderation mentality. This can be applied to so many areas and as I write I feel what your article is calling for is absolute truth.

     1. Domestic violence and alcohol sadly walk hand in hand – isn’t it obvious then that if we remove the alcohol element we may start to undo the damage of domestic violence.

400. Thank you Lee, this brought tears to my eyes…”What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change..” It just sums up how it is never to late to change.

     1. Every moment Samantha, is an opportunity to change.

401. Thank you for sharing so honestly your relationship with alcohol. Isn’t it extraordinary how we observe the detrimental effects as children but still choose to use it when we become adults. It is like a giving up and enjoining, we don’t see any other way because it is so much a part of our culture. The inference is that if you want to belong you have to drink. I’ve noticed when watching most films that alcohol is used on many occasions, to celebrate, to socialise, to commiserate, every time people meet alcohol is involved and we are constantly taking in that message subliminally! I hear young people bragging about how much alcohol they’ve used as if it is a badge of honour, how bizarre that it is seen as acceptable and even championed when we know scientifically that it is a poison that destroys health. It is usually only when our body ‘the marker of truth’ clearly shows us the detrimental effects of alcohol and how poisonous it is that we make a conscious choice to stop. Sadly because alcohol is so addictive many override that truth and continue to destroy their health and the lives of all around them. I love your analogy of ‘the harm to not only one cell but all cells’. If someone is drinking regularly then their primary relationship is with alcohol and they are therefore unable to have a truly intimate relationship with another. It destroys not only their life but that of their family too. I totally agree it is high time that we called time on alcohol. We don’t want it in our culture now or ever, if we choose to stop it gives permission for others to stop too and that breaks the patterns of many generations. A sobering and shocking statistic from a Physiotherapist working in rehabilitation with severe spinal/neck injuries – 70% of all admissions are as a direct or indirect result of alcohol abuse.

     1. Fiona this is so powerful ‘If someone is drinking regularly then their primary relationship is with alcohol and they are therefore unable to have a truly intimate relationship with another.’ and so true.

402. Thank you Lee this is a very profound presentation of the effects of alcohol. The following line really hit home with me “to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.”

     1. Thank you David it hurts us all.

403. Thank you Lee for such an open and honest article.I too remember feeling unsafe as a child when the adults around me were drinking to have a so called ‘good time’ and then seeing how they changed with alcohol in their systems, and then how they were the next day with hangovers – like Jekyll and Hyde – and I myself did the same for many years, despite knowing just how toxic alcohol was for my body until I finally admitted to myself just how awful I felt after drinking alcohol. Couldn’t agree more, it’s time to say enough, no more.

     1. Jekyll and Hyde – is exactly what it is – we are not ourselves and can’t pretend that we are – the changes are significant and volatile. I remember vividly realising on occasions how the room just used to change from ‘normal’ to out of control not over time but in seconds. Thanks Sandra. The toxicity is not just in the body but how we interact with everyone around us at that time, that can damage further relationships and friendships on so many levels.

404. Thank you for being so beautifully honest about your own experiences with alcohol and so revelatory about its affect on society. It is a grand illusion that is bought into when someone claims that they ‘aren’t hurting anyone’ or ‘it’s my life and I’ll do what I want’ when they choose to drink.

     1. Great call Naren, that phrase ‘it’s my life and I’ll do what I want’ was worn in my day so very proudly – how mistaken I was. And yet it is this attitude that is fostered the world over, with the marketing and constant selling of things like alcohol, driving that we can get away with that way of thinking.

405. Thank you Lee for bringing attention to alcohol and its harm in society as a whole and its acceptability as normal in moderation and the abuse from it.
     It is time to call this out fully and allow it to be seen for the poison in society it really is.
     The constant protection and support of alcohol as good for you as a daily tonic and pick me up really does need to be exposed as it is a way of hiding the abuse and dependency on it around us all.

     I could never drink alcohol as it made me sick, ill and tasted like poison. But I allowed myself to feel there was something wrong with me as it was part of society and life everywhere – and therefore Ok, when in fact, I always knew it was not and just overrode what I felt.
     Sometimes I would have some just to be polite and keep others happy, even though I had the ill effects and also saw the effects with others having too much.
     However there was also the fact that just being around alcohol, I would have the hangover feeling in my body as if i had drunk it also, and this I felt since being a child.
     It would be great for future generations to know the truth and acknowledge the harm, violence and deep sadness caused by Alcohol and not to have it as acceptable and normal in society .

     1. Tricia amazing point, the normalisation of the abuse across community and society means that when there are those that don’t want to partake or choose an alcohol free way there is something wrong with you.
        And yet ‘normal’ surely wouldn’t use a poison to dull and destroy it’s body, punch and fight other bodies, yell and scream, sexually assault, rape and murder – would it? The fact that any of these behaviours are normalised and accepted , listened to and watched on TV whilst imbibing the same source of the ill – beer, wine etc says a lot about where we are at as a race of beings.
        We do need to wake up out of the comfort we have made for ourselves and start to come back to the true normal.

406. Thank you Lee. A further expansion on the deep harm that alcohol causes to humanity. I have abused alcohol and used it as a tool to vent my hurts and anger and then used drunkenness as an excuse so as to not take responsibility for my behaviour. So horrible.
     I love how you describe this – “What I discovered was that when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change: effectively you seed forth how you want to be and start to live that without perfection and things start to constellate” I remember getting to the point of feeling that the way I was living my life was a huge dis-service to myself and consciously calling it out. Not long afterwards, Universal Medicine came into my life. These first small steps of claiming that how we are living is not working are huge turning points for real change if we so choose.

     1. Agreed AnneMarie and well said – we are all choosing to hide our hurts and pain through continued masking with alcohol or any substance. Whats interesting is noting how much we all have to let go of – it is challenging as you would know – but so is staying in the misery.

407. Thankyou Lee and to everyone who has commented, for highlighting the destructive effects of alcohol on family.

     1. Destructive it is on family, work colleagues and productivity, society at large…

408. Wow, Lee you have shared so clearly how alcohol is a poison to everyone whether drinking it or not. The line that stood out with shining lights was “it wasn’t every day, or every week – and this is how we can allow and not claim that even once is too much, and too many times”. When I read Jacqueline Mcfadden’s blog and this one I could not relate to the uncertainty as a child around alcohol and did not witness aggression. However this blog brought up how I did feel being around alcohol as an accepted drink at almost every meal time and it being available to us as children from age 3/4 with our meals (watered down)?

     Yesterday I was discussing with my daughter how I could not remember actually making a decision to drink as a teenager or why?, it just ‘naturally’ happened and now I can see why, because it was already an accepted part of my life for my self and family – it’s what you do and no big deal in moderation.. The program that alcohol is ok was already running. I can feel this is the case with many areas of our lives and that we don’t stop to consider what is really going on and where the choice is coming from. We simply accept that behaviour as Ok and do not consider our responsibility to others. Powerful Blog – thank you.

     1. What an amazing revelation, ‘it just ‘naturally’ happened’ I totally get this. The fabric of our families and societies have to a great extent been shaped by alcohol – gatherings, at dinner, meeting friends, it all happens with the social lubricant. Interesting that then as we grow up we are told no, we are too young and yet we are being affected all the while. Then when you turn 18 you are deemed responsible enough to drink a poison and decide that it’s okay to do so whenever…Crazy and deeply sad.

409. Hi Lee this is a powerful statement, “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’
     belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.”

     Society does not want to admit the harm because they would have to look at why they drink, why they want to put poison into their bodies and start to question what alcohol really does.

     I like the way you have brought it down to cell level, it highlights the responsibility we have not only to ourselves but to others when we choose to put alcohol into our bodies.

     1. Spot on Alison ‘Society does not want to admit the harm because they would have to look at why they drink…’. This is the crux isn’t it – why do we drink? Getting underneath the layers of falseness and being honest enough about how it really is. It does take time, loving commitment to self and true support like the support provided by Universal Medicine and esoteric practitioners.

410. This is a great article Lee, simple with depth. An inspiring read, thank you

     1. Thank you Jacky your appreciation is felt.

411. Yes thank you Lee for calling this abuse out with such clarity. Poisoning our bodies with this substance and continuing to fuel the belief that consuming alcohol in moderation is acceptable is quite unacceptable. The Truth is that it harms one and all. We do indeed have a responsibility to say “No – this is not the way”

     1. It’s really clear when every time we turn on the news and alcohol related violence is an item and yet in the same instant we can drink socially ? I can see clearly now how ridiculous this is.

412. I agree Lee, alcohol is so damaging, mostly due to the fact that it’s a socially accepted poison. Alcohol has side effects: reduced speech, sight, brain capacity and function. It causes vomiting and headaches. It increases likelihood of violence or abuse, as well as leaving people too incapacitated to defend themselves. And yet it is drank in large quantities the world over and is championed for its health benefits. The ripple effects of this drink are so widespread and at times catastrophic that, like you said, something needs to be done.

     1. As you say the ripple affects are far reaching – no one is untouched.

413. A powerful blog Lee and one that raises such a huge issue that surrounds us. We cannot continue to ignore the damage that is happening before our very eyes, in our homes and around us. I caught a train recently at 6am on a Saturday morning and to get to the station I passed a street where there are a few nightclubs that had only just closed. It made me wonder of the cost that late drinking and drug taking had on society, not only the medical cost, there is the cost of policing the behaviour that results from drinking but also, and most obviously the cost to the well-being of the person choosing this way to be. I saw many staggering people, a couple having an angry shouting exchange, a couple of men ready to fight and wondered what the next day or 2 would feel like for them in their bodies and how they would then be with other people they met because they possibly felt so unwell due to drinking excessively.
     Are we ready to come to the point that we can no longer champion alcohol abuse as something that is rare or ‘good to do for a laugh’? If we look closely we see that it really is not funny at all. In fact the damage from the statistics show a very revealing picture and this is just the surface without all the children and families that get caught in the abusive behaviour that can ensue from excess alcohol consumption.
     This is definitely an area ready for open discussion in society.

     1. Beverley you highlight an important point here – the fact that we tend to use words like ‘fun’ to describe alcohol abuse to make it less obvious and apparent to all that it is anything but that. I used to use the same lie – as did my peers – essentially saying everything was more fun with a drink than without. When we really get up close to the problem more and more of us will stop and realise how much fun it is to live without that harm in our bodies and our communities.

     2. Very well said Beverley; totally agree. Recently I had an experience which confirms exactly what you are saying – a friend of mine was telling me how she doesn’t actually enjoy the taste of alcohol, and very much dislikes the feeling of drinking/being drunk. So I asked her why she still does it, and she told me that everyone else does it, and it ‘just makes parties more fun’… It makes me confused that even though alcohol does huge amounts of damage to our body, and so severely affects the way we treat others when we are ‘drunk’, it is still seen as a ‘fun’ activity.

414. The destructive effect of alcohol on individuals, families and society is so obvious. It is alarming that although everyone knows this that alcohol has taken such an accepted part in everyday life.

     1. So true Mary – it is alarming and yet put up with every single day.

415. Thank you for an honest and great blog. A reminder of how insidious alcohol is, and how it affects everyone.

     1. Yes affects everyone! Thank you Rebecca.

416. Thank You Lee Green for making this headlines again. The world needs to wake up and see and feel your words.
     Your title stopped me as I read The Abuse of Alcohol – The True Harm.
     In the indian culture I grew up, men drank beer and lager followed by something ‘strong’ called spirits like whisky and brandy. The older men went on spirits but the younger men stayed on beer and lager until they could not speak or walk. Women in the back room cooking and gossiping and this is what a social gathering was and nothing ever changed. This was the norm and alcohol was Acceptable. I hated being around all of it and would spend most of my time hiding in my bedroom trying to work out why I was put into this family and this life.
     So whilst I did not drink alcohol I was a direct recipient of the harm from a very young age. Deep heartfelt Appreciation to you Lee for bringing this article to the world.

     1. Bina this is awesome to express – absolutely knowing that you were the recipient of the harm that alcohol brings. It’s not just harmful to the drinker – but all of those in connection to that person.

417. Thank you Lee. I agree that ‘We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with. Finished. This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.’ I became very ill from drinking alcohol, ending up in hospital for 10 days with pancreatitis, gastro-enteritis and fluid on my lung – alcohol is a poison to the body.

     1. Wow Rebecca how much more proof does the world need!

418. Thank you Lee for this honest article. It does seem ridiculous to me now, that my family and I all had alcohol as a major part of our lives. It was championed if we could get cheap vodka or rum from the American base or as many have done, go to France and fill the car up. It would never have occurred to me to not have alcohol at a wedding or a funeral; in fact it was the star feature at every occasion. I can now see how far gone I was and what I was willing to do to my body, by giving it a poison – which I knew deep down, it did not want. I agree Kate, we have normalised alcohol and we bring our kids up without the slightest notion that this could be bad for us and our families long term well-being.

     1. Well said Julie, normalising alcohol use is the evil here, knowingly ignoring the effects it has on everyone.

419. Thanks Lee for this reminder. It’s always seemed strange to me that alcohol is legal, and its consumption is treated as a normal part of everyday life. I can see that I, and those around me, have used it to medicate our way through the day. In the past I’ve used it as a crutch to help with the pain and hurts I may be feeling, instead of seeking some true support about why I was feeling hurt. Yet it’s not complicated to see the terrible effects it has had and the social impact through the problems the police have as a result of its abuse, or what the NHS has to try and deal with as a consequence. As you say, its time to stop this.

     1. Yes great point Simon – legal – the fact that we make something legal or not without truly feeling what we are actually saying yes to. As you point out the ramifications are far greater than one body being affected – isolated harm – but many bodies pulled into deal with this rising issue.

     2. Thank you Simon for your comment. I just stopped when you said ‘medicate’. I only just realised that is exactly why me and my husband used to drink alcohol. It was our daily medicine to take the edge of a stressy day and during our time off, we gave ourself permission to drink excess alcohol as the consequences could go un-noticed. In other words we did not have to work the next day so it was alright.
        Today I know that the sugar in alcohol was much needed for me, as I was utterly exhausted.

        1. Taking the edge off is why many of us choose to drink alcohol and numb out all of our daily choices.

420. Well said Lee, I love reading your blogs and your insights. Thank you.

     1. Thank you James I love writing them.

421. Thank you for your blog Lee. Your words that “when you claim that you want to change, you are presented with opportunities that start to support that change…” ring so true.

     1. Thank you Jacqueline – when we connect with the love we naturally are we cannot but see and feel the truth.

422. Great blog Lee! Every night on the news there is another incident reported where someone has been mortally wounded or disabled for life as a result of alcoholic violence.

     I love your statement,’The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and “everything in moderation” belies the fact that we all know the harm and dangers that these substances represent’. It is amazing what compromising lies we all have told and, at some level, continue to tell ourselves about certain substances, behaviours and ways of life. Only the other day someone said to me ‘everything in moderation’ and the self-satisfied flavour of the repetition of this compromised ‘saying’ further cementing the falsity for all around, struck me afresh – I knew so well how I have repeated such things and used them as my ‘guide’ – used such sayings to justify my behaviour and comfort myself about my own ill choices . . . then carry on as if nothing has happened.
     We do imagine that if I only do ‘it’ (whatever that may be) ‘a little’ and nothing obviously dire has resulted, then it is okay to do it . . . but as you say, ‘the drink you drink is not only affecting one cell, it affects all cells’. Nothing we do is in isolation from our whole body or others around us. It is certainly time for us to look at what it is that is compelling us to say ‘yes’ to something that we know, and our body loudly knows, is against our very life.

     1. It just occurred to me as I read your quote “everything in moderation”, Lyndy, how it always implies a hidden knowing that there are certain substances, foods, and drinks that do not support and nurture our bodies and actaully cause damage by the way they affect us and others, but we ignore it. We use that statement as an excuse to “have a little bit”. Would we say that about green leafy vegetables?

     2. Lyndy such a powerful statement and amazing honesty – ‘Only the other day someone said to me ‘everything in moderation’ and the self-satisfied flavour of the repetition of this compromised ‘saying’ further cementing the falsity for all around, struck me afresh – I knew so well how I have repeated such things and used them as my ‘guide’ – used such sayings to justify my behaviour and comfort myself about my own ill choices . . . then carry on as if nothing has happened.’
        It is the constant proliferation of the false way that supports the false way – the notion that we accept harming ourselves makes no sense – and yet because we moderately harm it feels better? I am struck now by the enormous lie we are told and our parents and their parents knew no better. It points so clearly to the fact that we all just stopped feeling and appreciating the awesomeness we are. If we knew that without doubt we would not touch another drink ever.

423. “The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’
     belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.”
     So well said Lee. It’s so so odd that we consider ‘poison in moderation’, or ‘poison to celebrate’ or ‘a mind altering poison’ to be an ‘acceptable’ part of so-called modern family life, or life at all. When we stop and look at it without the desperation of need for its numbing, life pain relieving effects, its plain to see it just doesn’t add up. Imagine role modeling to a child that those brown bottles with scull and cross bones, those are poison for our body and you must not touch, but we adults will imbibe this poison regularly, you will watch us change before you, and we’ll lie to ourselves that because some of the poison also has a tiny bit of grape juice in – that its even ‘good’ for us to have the poison..rather than seek out the grape without the poison. Sounds CRAZY and yet that’s just how it is, we’ve made the nonsensical frequent enough to be ‘normalised’ and this is how we show our kids to grow up, to the point that families choosing to model self care to their kids, with no alcohol in the household are considered weird, or at least unusual. Where are we at if it rocks the boat of self made and society sold lies so much that to show a life without regular, or any poison being slurped, sipped or gulped – that that can be ‘not normal’. Thanks Lee for your great honest article.

     1. Wow Kate – love the detail you went into to expose that!

     2. Kate this is awesome – we do that don’t we – role model a way we want our kids to be – yet on the weekend get smashed with friends at the BBQ. Amazing that we don’t connect the dots and see how farcical it really is. ‘Where are we at if it rocks the boat of self made and society sold lies so much that to show a life without regular, or any poison being slurped, sipped or gulped – that that can be ‘not normal’. Says it all so perfectly.

     3. ‘Poison in moderation’ is a stop moment for the whole of humanity – it makes no sense that we will knowingly poison ourselves, day after day after day.

424. A great blog. Alcohol is poison and is something none of us can endure drinking for too long. It is harmful substance and I am totally with what you said in the sense that it is time – ‘This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.’ A very powerful finish.

     1. Thank you Rhiannon it can’ be any clearer than how you have stated – Alcohol is a poison.

     2. Rhiannon I completely agree alcohol is a poison and it’s definitely not what we want for our future generation. Alcohol needs to go completely.

425. Thank you Lee for making such a clear statement, ‘We all have a responsibility to claim deeply that alcohol, the abuse of alcohol and the many health issues and violent episodes it provides us as reflections is done with. Finished. This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.’

     1. Carmel thank you for your appreciation – one day longer is too long it needs to change right this second.

426. Lee, Thank you for your very honest, raw and very personal account of your experience with alcohol which highlights the impact, harm and devastation this poison has, not only on the individual choosing to drink at the time, but everyone who subsequently has a relationship with the person drinking. I grew up in a family where alcohol was a common accessory to most meal times, and a main feature of family gatherings / social events etc. Because it was only occassionally used to excess, and never involved obvious physical violence, I had never considered (both as a child / young teenager when I was not drinking myself, and then later as an adult when I did start drinking) that there was any harm in this in the way I had personally experienced alcohol. Sure I knew it affected others in some instances, and I was aware that it wasn’t that great health wise in excess (but considered that everyone was doing it and in moderation it must be o.k.), but I had never, ever truly or deeply considered the emotional and non-physical affect this had on myself and / or others.. Yes, I was a little more aware of the short term (as in the day after), but never, ever the long term effects over months, years, decades and generations – such as those you, and many others have shared. In other words, I had not previously considered connecting the dots… the behaviour of many in daily life and the connection to alcohol apart from the times people were not actually drinking, or drunk. I stopped drinking alcohol about 4 years ago, and during that time, have only just begun to deepen my awareness of the true harm this substance has, and is having on society as a whole (regardless and independently of how much is consumed, and/or how often and whether or not physical violence is involved). I so agree.. It is time we all take responsbility and address the deep harm of the abuse of alcohol and 100% support when you say “This is not something that we want for our future generations – starting now.”

     1. Angela thank you for sharing this – the kicker is that everyone is doing it – the reflection is that it is ‘okay because everyone is doing it’. This is very sad for it betrays the fact that we are not actually feeling – just copying the next person. Not feeling how harmful this is, ignoring everything our bodies tell us so clearly. One drink or twenty it matters not – the choice is not about the drink but the choice not to truly honour the body we live in.

427. Alcohol is a poison in our bodies. I used to use it to have a good time. In fact I remember thinking life would be so boring without it. From living with an abusive alcoholic for a number of years and developing an abusive relationship with alcohol myself, I got to see exactly how alcohol is used as a buffer to avoid truly feeling. I went through a phase of thinking it is ok in moderation before making the choice to stop drinking completely. Even when I drank in moderation I could feel how I was avoiding my own feelings and sensitivity. My sensitivity allows me to feel and release the hurts I still carry from my past and I know treasure this very much.

     1. Abby this is so true – and buffer is a great term – for initially it does that it ‘helps’ right? But helps how? The truth is there is no help that comes from the drink it is a distortion of you, the person you are and always have been and we as a race have mastered a way of masking ourselves and in fact layering up troubles, problems and woes, exacerbated by the use of alcohol that brings further troubles and woes.
        As you write knowing your sensitivity – we are all sensitive and amazing and awesome – so why choose something that takes that away?

     2. You and I both Abby, life would be boring without it. How twisted is it that this belief is embedded so deeply within society that we feel it ‘a boring life’ without it.

428. ‘The loss we all experience as a society under the continued corruption to keep alcohol acceptable and ‘everything in moderation’ belies the fact that we all know the harm and danger that these substances represent.’ Awesome revelation. I re-read this statement several times to appreciate the enormity in what is being said. It highlights clearly a pattern in our behaviour of ‘turning a blind eye’ which allows so much to continue regardless of the harm it causes. Thank you Lee.

     1. Awesome Michael – how often do we look around, see with our eyes and yet do not truly feel – the fact is alcohol abuse is out of control. It matters not that there are some espousing moderation, one drink is more than enough to poison the body it goes into and then has an affect on all others whom that body comes in contact with. This I believe is a simple biological fact on a cellular level. Why is that we have not chosen to expand this out and see that society as a whole is affected by the different cells/people that choose substances and consequently behaviours? When someone is diagnosed with cancer the affects are far reaching – not just the immediate family but the many people connected with the ill person. As a society we need to stop choosing to get on with our own individual lives and collectively make a change – it is so needed.

     2. Thanks for this reminder Michael about ‘turning a blind eye’.
        It reminds me of something I recently read that we condone the action by our inaction and this is the crime and speaking our truth is the first step to bringing about any change. This profound article from Lee and all the comments is a big first step.

     3. Very true, Michael. The fact that alcohol is legal and considered ‘social’ makes turning a blind eye acceptable for most people. ​
        Of course, turning a blind eye is never acceptable.
        As a bus driver I see first hand the damaging effects alcohol has on people.
        Because alcohol is a scientific proven poison and this fact is known by the medical world and the authorities, you have to wonder why there is a reluctance to make people more aware.

429. Like you Lee, the alcohol abuse I lived with as a child “wasn’t every day” although it was every week-end and deeply impacted me, in a nervous anxiety filled way. From the outside, we looked like a “fine upstanding family” with a father who had a job and was a good provider. I think also because alcohol was/is so acceptable, I wasn’t confident in calling it for what it was. This eventually led to “making excuses” for the ones who were taken over by alcohol. I too wanted to protect the image of being a “good” family. Even this deceit and maintaining the lie becomes part of the damage to the psyche of the alcohol fuelled family.

     1. Yes Gayle isn’t it amazing that the whole of society lives with this nervous anxiety – a constant fuel, one we don’t like to live with and so another fuel is chosen. Alcohol for a brief moment dulls down those feelings. Have we become adept at ‘looking’ the part and not letting anyone else see what is truly going on? Absolutely and it is the maintaining of this constant lie across the board that fosters the repeating cycle.

430. Great article Lee. Your honest reflections on the misery alcohol brings in our community are very valuable.

     1. Chris absolutely – it is misery and yet so well crafted is the tie in with celebration, we conveniently forget the harm that it brings – the ‘never again’ syndrome that we live with day in and day out.

     2. So true cjames2012. Regular open discussions and honest reflections of what is creating and feeding the misery in our communities not only from alcohol but the increasing abuse from drugs and all forms of aggression and rage, to domestic, health and economic issues are just a start. We all need to open our eyes to what is happening around us and openly discuss all of the issues that are eroding our sense of connection with each other and society in general.

Comments are closed.