natural highs

List them here

when you realise a new pair of loafers has finally been broken in

the moment a stubborn headache lifts

talking heads, quiet smith (darraghmac)
Posted: 21 September 2011 at 12:02:31
- jaysus that shite was as good as a ride

Blue sky, fluffy clouds, no urgent demands on your time

Watching the sea

O yeh watching the sea

psilocybin

Lying in bed listening to soft rain outside

revenge

"Open your window and take a deep sigh
Think about letting the rest of the world go fly a kite
Taking it easy, is easy as pie
And holding your hand is such a natural high"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4FsU1QSCpU

I've never been a runner so I've never experienced the "runner's high," but I get the equivalent from hiking. If I go hiking with someone, I spend the second half of the hike talking their ear off about how wonderful hiking is and what a great trail this is and how great I feel.

standing up too quickly

Exercise is where my mind goes, prob like other people here. I’ve been a runner most of my life and get a strong sense of satisfaction from it. Not really a high. Have gotten into playing ice hockey over the past 5 years and that gives me a rush afterwards that feels closer to “high.”

I also like soft rain outside. I like resting my cheek on the window. It might be more a happy place than a natural high.

Finishing a task
Forgiveness
Smiles
Intimacy
Great expanses, fresh water, natural smells and sounds, mist, wind, summer rain, hail, starry nights, silence
Someone doing something for you / being delicate
Meeting someone new, arriving somewhere new
Jumping, dancing
Spending money, receiving money
Setting on a task

Disappearing into a landscape.
Settling into meditation.
Feeling a car get heavier beneath you as fill it with petrol (not in a petrolhead way).

When I go swimming at the ponds at Hampstead Heath afterwards I feel this exhausted calmness that nothing else can compete with - therapy, weed, yoga.

Funnily enough the effect isn't as intense when I go swimming in the sea, even though salt water is supposed to be very good for you.

I think it may be a contrast thing, I must just be a lot more stressed in Londom than I am on holiday.

Looking out the window of an airplane and watching a place of personal importance get closer and closer as the plane approaches and descends

Exercise for definite. I use a rowing machine a lot and the enjoyable pain of my bones after a good session on it is nice, plus the rush of well-being and the way it fades into a general calmness for a lot of the day.

Others. Floating in the sea. A sunny Saturday morning with no specific plans. The noise of the wind through trees. The sound of foxes having sex at 5am.

I was expecting to read “When your glass is empty and you see someone else getting up to get their round in.”

Elemis aching muscle soak in winter, I don’t know what they put in it with the menthol but it works

I've never been a runner so I've never experienced the "runner's high," but I get the equivalent from hiking.

otm, hiking is the best.

On a less labor-intensive front, seeing our cat doing just about anything — sleeping sprawled out hilariously on his back, munching at his food bowl, taking lil sips from his water bowl — is an instant happy zing. And when he elects to hop up and curl up next to me, omg.

listening to yr team hit a home run on the radio

the next hour or so after a sauna/cold plunge sesh

When skiing feels like you're flying.

Pressing your palms into your closed eyes while breathing gently.

the incredibly rare feeling, as you get older, of having zero bodily needs

If nobody else wants to say orgasms, I will. Orgasms.

Also: suddenly realizing a nagging injury has stopped hurting.

Being barefoot in soft grass

Noodling on acoustic guitar with no agenda and just going where the notes lead me

yay i love this thread.

i've made a new friend at the gym. he had a full hip replacement a few years ago. his recovery went well, everything as advertised, and he's determined to spend more time outside, specifically skiing and hiking. he had a friend of his staying with him a few weekends ago. they wanted to go on a hike, so they contacted me. i'm no hiking expert or anything, but i'm from here and i've been on a fair amount of trails. i told them about a little forested valley trail, a hikers only trail that doesn't approach an alpine lake or a peak so it tends to be less busy. i like less busy, what can i say, though i like passing friendly people more than i used to. anyway, we meet for coffee and introductions and then drive up to the trailhead. i let them set the pace, my friend's friend in front of me and then my friend leading the way. about a half-mile in, my friend's friend turns to me with the brightest expression on his face and says "this is just beautiful, thank you, thank you for bringing us here." "you're so very welcome." big smile.

i've found that with both hiking and running - outside on a trail - i experience two phases of 'natural high'. the first comes after my body warms up. i've negotiated a pace and set a working rhythm. the beauty around me swims into me. my face brightens. my heart rate picks up. i exclaim. my pace might quicken. then drop back if i'm straining. from there, often times i find myself drifting back to the work in front of me. or other thoughts. my mind sort of compulsively picking at knots. working out possibilities for later in the day, later in the week. that sort of thing. and then after a certain point i reach the second high, which is a longer, more drawn-out, opioid-like feeling. my brain kind of goes on ice. it feels like it's gently resting on a pillow. my body enters this zone of mild tiredness that can still spark into fast-paced elated celebrations, especially early on, though as the run/hike proceeds, the becalmed tiredness becomes more prevalent. my pace alternates between gentle and steady and faster / more active (if i'm going downhill). the feeling of being alive reaches a climax in this second phase. everything is good.

When skiing feels like you're flying.

― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Tuesday, July 22, 2025 3:50 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh man. some people, they catch this feeling, they chase it for the rest of their lives. i've found that both mountain biking and trail running give me a similar sensation. i've opted for trail running just because it's a lot less $ for the gear and my ass gets sore on those seats tbqh. 'flying' happens mostly when you're running downhill but pumping uphill offers its own version of it too. i just gotta relate this because it was so fun. it's the kind of thing you recount to people who either glaze over if they don't do the same thing - or if they do, they just smile at you and interject things like "awesome," "oh man," "perfect," etc. i ran a trail yesterday in capitol reef national park. it's basically on a steady slant of slickrock that takes you higher and higher on the side of a canyon. how the trail wanders along this incredibly dynamic topography is perfectly suited for 'flying' especially going downhill. so many sweet spots. so much fun. the kind of thing you dream about. racing along. flying!

realised (after seeing a psychiatrist for the first time) this year that I hadn't actually felt happy for years, maybe even a decade or more. like maybe on a couple of occasions, but that's it. since taking zoloft I get to feel happy on average once or twice a day, mostly when lying in the garden listening to the birds or hanging out with my dog, my wife and kids can also sometimes induce happiness to be fair. today I am ill and having to work and it's not going to happen unfortunately

in terms of activities that mimic the physical feeling of being high w/o being a drug -- yoga does crazy things to the body

xp i'm sorry you're sick. maybe you can lie in the garden later!

i have to say something about weights. that's a drugs-without-drugs kind of deal too. but it's different than cardio. i don't know how to describe it. somehow it's more about your body at the cellular level. giving all of the cells in your body, in your bones, stimulus and food to grow - the plant equivalent of light and water. sometimes after the first few heavy sets i feel a big emotional release and i'm crying. maybe there's something sad that i'm feeling which gives it extra strength but mostly it's about relief.

I'm not any kind of real musician, but playing music is another route for me. Especially with other people, although that happens rarely these days (something I'm perennially intending to remedy). But even just on my own, working out the chords to some song I like, it's deeply satisfying. As with hiking, any amount of time spent playing music always feel well invested.

the coda of "Stand!"
that one moment in "Roygbiv"
the ding in Susanne Sundfør's "Fade Away"

My only natural highs are playing music, particularly brass band music which is just extremely high energy and physical and involves lots of people (in the band and audience), there's no musical experience that I've found like it. And certain experiences in From software video games. Maybe the occasional transcendent food experience. Otherwise everything is pretty flat or rises to the level of 'satisfying', which is pretty good too.

The moment in listening to a long and repetitive song when a switch flips in your brain and you stop wondering when it's going to end and start wanting it to go on forever.

the next hour or so after a sauna/cold plunge sesh

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, July 22, 2025 9:49 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

cannot possibly be understated how great this is

last year our minor league baseball team, the arkansas travelers, won the league championship at home with some fantastic clutch play in the 8th and 9th innings. to be present for that, in that packed stadium, was one of the wildest natural highs i've ever experienced. caught me off guard how much it affected me!

the fp button

yes playing music

yes to realising you have no bodily complaints

the moment immediately after the perfect connection with a ball, before anyone else but you knows its going where its going

anything with a physical/coordinative component or aspect where you are in the state of flow above the action i guess

the right energy in conversation

Clean sheets

Walking the dog

cat purring

Cat stretching
Cat in your arms
Cat lying in funny way
Cat chasing
Cat hiding
Cat talking
Cat

Clean sheets

The best is when you make the bed earlier in the day and forget you have clean sheets and then get in bed and it's a surprise.

getting into your own bed after being out of town for a few days

Following a never-before-seen path, trail or road
The first cool breeze announcing autumn
The first warm wind announcing spring
Catching the first or last rays of sunlight on a walk

Watching deer in the field behind my apartment, especially when they have young ones with them (the other week there was a fawn young enough that it was still nursing)
Walking down to the lake near me in fall or early winter and sticking my hands in the cold water
Walking out on a frozen lake and hearing the ice squeak and pop (not crack)
Watching the two eagles that live in the nearby woods circle over the field behind my apartment

One I have recently, guess this is forties lol, is watching plants grow. Have a small balcony but been really working hard to grow stuff this summer and the daily work with noticeable improvements is so nice it feels almost clichéd to say that.

love these last few posts. my partner is the plant tender in our house but i'm slowly catching on. they're a delight to live with. cliched maybe but undeniable.

fuck sake

walking the dog in the woods before work has had an absolutely transformative effect on my days recently

― tuah dé danann (darraghmac), 24 July 2025 22:02 (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

copied and pasted from the rolling obituary thread ffs

_mourning routine_ ahaha

ime just being around dogs invokes a natural high but i know they're not for everyone

agree about the walks, tho, used to stay indoors a lot more but having a dog to walk in enrichening in many ways

in is enrichening

ime just being around dogs invokes a natural high but i know they're not for everyone

Went to the barbershop on Monday and the guy ahead of me had brought in a six-month-old golden retriever that his wife was holding onto. When I was able to pet it without it jumping up on me, and even get it to sit politely in front of me, she looked at me like I was some kind of wizard.

Boats
Being on a boat
Driving a boat
When the boat passes in another boats wake and you get to ride their waves
Getting sprayed while on the boat
jumping off the boat to go swimming
I love boats

https://i.gifer.com/70IL.gif

I consider coffee and weed both to be natural. 2 or 3 cups of coffee in the morning and 1 or 2 bong hits a day, but not every day. Building up a tolerance is counterproductive. Quiting booze has done wonders. Since I quit booze a couple years ago, I've become so much less irritable and have a much more level sense of well being. I also want to exercise way more.
Embarrassing as it is, I finally discovered the joy of setting short and long-term goals, and then wanting to work toward them. Seeing progress is very rewarding.

That's why a lot of folks really get into things like running, doing races and challenging themselves to better their time for a certain distance by x minutes and when they hit the mark it's pretty addictive.

i still struggle with goal-setting and basically let my 'healthy' addictions structure my life lol. interesting to think of achieving goals as possibly addictive in its own right.

I consider coffee and weed both to be natural.

idgi

p obviously absolutely the opposite of the intent and meaning of the phrase and the thread imo

when an animal or a kid likes you

that delicious thrill of power that comes from THRAED POLICING a GOOD AND POSITIVE THREAD THAT IS FULL OF GOOD FEELINGS

cosign all the cat posts itt and all the animal posts to a lesser degree

when someone you like looks at you happily

or hungrily, that is also v v good

yebbut just absolutely posting stuff not the thread topic is also a thing that may inhibit the joy of the thread

i stand by it

thread policing

who will police the policers and how high are they, and what percentage of this high is attributable to natural sources

back on topic, if i may police myself: i fixed my guy's headphones and taped a big beautiful bouncy fake flower to them to remind him to treat them as delicately as he would a flower (because they are cheap as shit and will break again) and whenever i catch sight of him bopping around the house with that flower growing out of his head it gives me a little hit of happy chemicals

nice

going downhill on a golf cart

Driving home from lunch today — a roast beef sandwich au jus, with some of the best fries I've ever had, which meal qualifies for this thread on its own, frankly — I saw a bald eagle sitting on top of a telephone pole staring down at some cows. Those birds are fucking huge.

Also, earlier, a deer young enough that it was still spotted crossed the road in front of my car.

A good day.

I second the swimming shout above — went to swim in a quarry today, I love being in the water in general but I especially like floating on my back with my eyes closed.

Swimming, floating, boating, all A+.

i think i've only been in a golf cart once, in an airport when i was helping a person who couldn't walk very well reach their flight on time and a worker gave us a lift. it was fun! i got to practice my queenly wave as we tootled past all the schlepping plebs. no hills, though, alas.

i got a new(ish) bike recently(ish) but it only has coaster brakes, so no sailing downhill for me unless i want to flip over the handlebars and pop my skull like a grape on the pavement

reaching down from your bike to hand a snack to a doofy-looking raccoon is another great natural high btw

I replaced a bunch of parts on my outdoor grill yesterday. Used tools in a manly fashion. Overcame a couple of obstacles that initially looked impossible. Felt so great afterwards.

Not entirely at all times natural highs, but had a weekend away with two very old pals, a trio of us who have started hanging out more in London since one of the fellas moved here again after a few years away. We decided to do a weekend away cos we all have such a laugh and go to nice restaurants in London, so we are in Barcelona.

Just that great feeling of "these are great people, we should have been hanging out more for years" and already planning the next trip. Life can kinda move you away from old friends but the door is never closed I guess.

Tho we did meet another old friend who lives here now seems to be a Nazi, so it's swings and roundabouts I guess

and now*

reports indicate that punching a nazi is both a victimless crime & a reliable source of natural endorphins

but yeah, reconnecting with old friends, finding that you still get on, a weekend in Barcelona! all glorious, kudos LG

It really is the best! Also I guess a nice thing about old friends is so many decisions are just so easy, even like what music to put on as we all met via djing and clubs, every conversation has the bedrock of so much shared experience. Twenty minutes will pass talking about Ron Trent or whatever, lol.

that's great, my mom has started doing annual trips with her old high school friends and it's always such a great time for her. definitely remember feeling that high a long time ago coming home from a friend's bachelor party.

when i'm biking down a street that i've only previously driven down, that is a pretty cool sort of "high" feeling (combination of endorphins and slowed down perception?)

just booked a weekend in malaga with the same two secondary school friends that i travel with for a similar weekend every year, otm otm otm

unexpected praise

a thorough streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch

music that makes you get goosebumps

I know music is supposed to release dopamine, but I swear I also get an adrenaline rush sometimes, especially if I'm stretching to a old favorite.

Was also thinking about the whole idea of "getting high." Since I quit trying to control when and how I get feelings of elation, I find that they come seemingly out of nowhere at times. If I had to guess, I would say it's happens when I feel good physically, I'm on top of all my responsibilities, and am resting from just spending time doing something fun. It's like a stress free peace of mind afterglow.

For me seeking an intense high on demand turned out to be escapism. My laziness and irresponsible nature would then seek out that escape to cope. Maybe other people can compartmentalize it, and be well adjusted otherwise.

my day-to-day world and life seems richer and more mysterious since i started meditating, which makes me feel kinda high more often and at seemingly random times. even during the day to day grind of work, though if there is one thing that dampens any natural highs i experience it's having to go to my shit job.

Pressing your palms into your closed eyes while breathing gently.

― peace, man, Tuesday, July 22, 2025 11:06 AM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I experienced a minor subconjunctival hemorrhage this weekend, which may be attributable to rubbing your eye too hard. That's the price you gotta pay to take a walk on the wild side, I guess.

holy shit dude r u ok?

Yeah! It was very small (similar to this one and cleared up in about a day, but it scared my wife quite a bit.

I'm not actually sure if it was due to eye-rubbing, or maybe a hefty sneezing fit I had on Friday.

do you have COVID symptoms? nimbus strain apparently is affecting eyes with aggressive conjunctivitis and blepharitis

I haven't had any other symptoms, but that's good to know.

slow runs on trails in the morning, just enjoying the grass, the birds and the sunlight.
how light hits dry grass in the morning and the evening in the last half of the year.

xposts I had blepharitis as a result of my first COVID bout back in '22, which produced a chalazion that persisted annoyingly for a few months.

But that's not a natural high! So to make up for mentioning it here, I'll shout out winning a big pot at poker with a middling hand — exhilarating in a way that winning with a strong hand can't match. Sticking in there with that high two pair that you think might have a shot, maybe even scaring off some better hands. One of those in a given night and I don't even care if I go home down a little. (Well, I don't care much.)

Jet lag

a good dental flossing sesh

Designing album covers with my wife. (Two new releases on my label coming in November!)