Abre los ojos · Albert Miraflor

Abre los ojos

A closer look at your relationship with weed, without promising forever

A personal story with a workbook to explore the place weed has in your life and prepare a break if you choose to try one. Read it through, return to a passage or stay with one question.

Read six excerpts from the expanded English manuscript below. The digital edition brings reading, audio and notes together.

Read the current sample See formats and editions

ILLUSTRATION · DAMIÁN MÓDENAPaperback in Spanish

A relationship that changes

Look at the place it has today.

Weed was there among the travel, work, friends and dinners still to make. For a long time, the fact that life kept working seemed a sufficient answer.

You may enjoy smoking and still want to change some part of it. You can start with that question without deciding now what you will do forever.

The September revision

What is in the expanded text.

The book took shape through breaks and returns to smoking, reading and things Albert tried. The story leaves room for pleasure, doubts and the difficulty of change.

01 · A life with weed and projects
Walks, travel, friends, work and family; also the breaks and returns to smoking.

02 · Recognising the loop
The phrases that leave the decision until tomorrow, and a reference point for noticing when they return.

03 · Preparing Day 0
Thinking about the first part of the day, leaving something ready and knowing whom to turn to if it gets difficult.

04 · Looking after what comes next
Cravings, the night and a way to keep looking if you have smoked.

05 · Seven optional prompts
Try one, follow the order or read without writing anything. They do not require seven days without weed.

01 · Prologue

Before we start

For years I used joints to punctuate the day. One to get going. Another when I finished something. One before a walk. Another after an argument. One to celebrate, and another to give an afternoon with no particular plot the feeling that it had one.

I worked, took care of people, cooked and did what needed doing. That helped me leave the question about weed for another day.

There were many breaks: days, months, sometimes a year or a little longer. I also went back to smoking; when I did, I could return to my old pace almost immediately.

02 · Chapter 3 · Creativity had a lighter

The work that already seemed finished

There were whole websites, canvases and brainstorming boards in the apps I used every day. Loose sheets too, covered in pencil diagrams: arrows, layers, paths, one idea linked to the next. It could all be elaborate, almost perfect. There was no shortage of work.

When I looked again, I'd find something else to refine. A screen, a connection, an explanation that still needed context. I could see the whole thing; for someone else to understand it, I had to walk them through every turn. And the project still wasn't ready to take off.

There was always a little more to do. That little more could fill weeks and leave room for another, even more complete version.

03 · Chapter 4 · The last day, again

The last day, again

I'd decided I was stopping tomorrow. So that night called for a proper send-off: getting spectacularly stoned.

I even told myself it made sense. Smoke so much I'd be sick of it. By the next day I wouldn't want to know. The goodbye could do some of the work for me.

The next day was the last day again.

I wanted to stop. At the same time, knowing I'd do it tomorrow helped me smoke that night. Both things fit inside the same promise without either canceling the other out.

Not every return to smoking began the same way. I'd taken plenty of breaks, some long ones. When I started again, I could be right back at full pace. I'd try to keep it to nights, and a few days later I'd already be smoking in the morning, to begin the day with more “light.”

Once I started, I really started.

Keep reading the sample3 excerpts and a closing note

04 · Chapter 6 · The nickname stayed

The nickname stayed

While you're trying things on your own, other people may still see the person you've always been. Imagine a meal with people who've known you for years.

You've managed to find a Sunday that works, which is an achievement in itself. Someone has to leave early, someone else arrived late, and for a while conversations cross over the plates. The salad bowl comes around.

One of the old crowd looks at you.

“Pass it to Herbs. He knows his greens.”

You laugh. The line is old, but the way he says it brings back the friend from those days too. Maybe you haven't smoked for months. Maybe you're smoking less, or trying to figure things out. You don't know whether to explain now, with someone looking for the olive oil and someone else looking for their glasses to see a photo on a phone. You don't want to turn lunch into a press conference either.

You let it go. The meal carries on. It was a silly remark, yet something stays with you: you've changed quite a few things in your life since then. The joke hasn't needed to find out.

05 · Chapter 9 · A break isn't a new identity

Getting ready: day 0

Day 0 is the time you spend preparing to begin. It can fit into an ordinary afternoon.

Choose when you'll start and when you'll look at how it's going. It may help to remember what you want to find out: “I want to know what my nights are like without smoking” already says quite a lot.

Then look at that first stretch of time at home: what will be within reach, what you'll need to do, and what usually feels difficult.

The first night can carry too many expectations. You want not to smoke, to sleep well, feel calm and wake up convinced you've done the right thing. It helps to ask less of it.

You can have dinner ready and connect it to something that already happens: “When I close the laptop, I'll heat it up.” If the plan requires an extraordinarily organized version of you, it could probably be smaller.

There are also the papers, lighter and weed you've left in the usual place.

There's no single right way to put them aside. Some people find it useful to have them out of sight; others need them out of reach. Keeping a joint “just in case” can reassure one person and leave another negotiating all night. If you already know what tends to happen in your case, that experience counts.

If company would help, speak to someone beforehand: “I'd like to start a break tomorrow. Could I call you after dinner if I'm finding it hard?” Better to agree on it than rely on them being available just then. If you already know you need professional support to start, arranging it is part of day 0 too.

It could look like this: “I'll start tomorrow after dinner. I'll put the tray away beforehand, choose a movie, and I've arranged to call my sister if the evening drags. The day after tomorrow I'll look back at how the first night went.” The person, plan and date will be your own. You can write it down or simply get things ready.

And remember the chapter about goodbyes: preparing for tomorrow doesn't need a huge smoking session tonight. It's enough for tomorrow to arrive and for something you planned to be there.

06 · Reference pages

A week, if you'd like to try

These are seven suggestions for getting to know a familiar part of your day and deciding whether you'd like to prepare a break; they aren't seven compulsory days without weed. You can choose one or follow the order. A few words in your notebook may be enough if you want to remember what happened. You can also come back without having written anything. If keeping notes has you monitoring yourself all day, stop or ask for help finding a way to use them that serves you.

Day 1 · Choose a time

Getting home, morning coffee, when things finally go quiet. Pick a time when you usually smoke. Just remember where you were and what had happened. Remembering after the joint works too.

07 · Continue with the book

Continue at your own pace.

You have read six excerpts from the expanded English revision of Abre los ojos. The seven prompts at the end are optional. Before choosing a paperback or ePack, check the edition and language offered with each format.

Abre los ojosEnglish sample · September 8, 2026 revision

See formats and editions →
Download this sample as a PDF · English

Self-guided educational material. It is not diagnosis, treatment or urgent care.

«Smoking today doesn't change what you did on Tuesday.»

Chapter 11 · September revision

Read at your own pace

Follow the story, return to a chapter or stay with one question from the workbook.

Prepare for one part of the day

If you decide to try a break, start with what will be within reach, what you will do and whom you can count on.

Choose the support you need

The book offers one person’s experience and educational resources. The help page includes other options, including healthcare.

Albert Miraflor

A book written through breaks and questions.

Albert Miraflor writes from a long relationship with weed, with breaks lasting months and sometimes more than a year. The book brings together what he tried, read and came to understand during those attempts.

Meet Albert →

Cover illustration for Abre los ojos. The seven prompts are optional.

ALO7 · DIGITAL EDITION · AVAILABLE

Read. Listen. Make notes. And, if it helps, write to me.

The revised book is now available in English, Spanish and Catalan.

ALO7 includes the expanded September 8 text in the web reader, PDF and EPUB. The seven prompts at the end are optional.

Includes the full audiobook of this revision in English, Spanish and Catalan, with the audiobooks of earlier editions still available. The free audio sample includes the prologue and chapter 1 in Spanish.

Your copy can open today
Secure payment, a private link and the whole pack in one reader.

Buy the digital edition · €6.90

If it isn’t for you, we’ll refund you in full.
You can request it within 14 days of purchase, even if you have opened or downloaded the content. How to request a refund.

I have the book · Open my copy

Digital access after purchase. You can gift the copy and ask for help if the link doesn’t open. For a crisis or clinical need, use independent healthcare or professional support.

You don’t need to create an account to read or listen. The digital edition opens from a private link; progress, notes and the map stay on this device.

It includes a seven-field map that stays on your device and a brief written thread with Albert for 30 days after the first opening. Each reply from Albert may take up to three working days. It isn’t chat, emergency help, therapy or open-ended support.

You can gift it. The ePack costs €6.90, one payment, with no credit or discount toward ALO21. If you later choose the 21 + 9 day accompaniment, it costs €49 and starts in full on Day 0. Earlier ALO7 purchases that included a €21 credit retain that right.

Paper edition

Abre los ojos in Spanish paperback.

Read the Spanish paperback at your own pace, with illustrations by Damián Módena. The seven prompts are optional.

Matte paperback in Spanish · ISBN 979-10-980057-4-9

We are preparing a directly sold paper pack with a notebook and stickers. It is not available to buy here yet; shipping terms will be published before it opens.

Paper pack · in preparation

ePack · digital edition

Your copy, here on ALO.

Read, listen and keep your notes at your own pace. The ePack includes the web reader and downloadable files.

Explore the ePack · EUR 21

ALO21

If you decide to try a break.

You can read Abre los ojos on its own and use its seven prompts when they help. If you want support during a 21-day break from weed, ALO21 offers something concrete by email each day and nine more days to reflect on what happened. It includes the digital ePack; you do not need to finish the book or complete the seven prompts first.

You can choose the book without going on to ALO21, or start ALO21 without reading the book. There is no required sequence.

Understand the 21-day break →

When a book isn’t enough

If there are serious symptoms, a crisis, immediate risk, problematic use of several substances or a clinical need, a book and an educational program are not enough. Use the emergency or healthcare services available in your country.

See support resources →