Creating for Ourselves, Creating for the Journey
We can challenge the uninvestigated belief we have in our own thoughts. We can expand and relax our literal interpretation of our journeys.
Welcome to this Week's Edition of Red Things on Tuesday.
Content for the Journey
I write a lot of content to be read and enjoyed by other people. It's fun, and I enjoy putting it out there.
But sometimes, especially after a journey, I need to just write for myself. And it has a totally different energy to it. My mind can wander even more orthogonally than usual. I can make random connections. I can be more emotional than I feel like I can be with my public writing. I can whine and moan and express all my needs and vulnerabilities.
The integration journaling process is sometimes even more cathartic than the journey itself. It allows me to unpack some of the thoughts that have come to me in the session. It allows me to consider them in less literal ways.
We can challenge the uninvestigated belief we have in our own thoughts.
We can expand and relax our literal interpretation of our journeys.
It's so interesting that we practice meditation, we study wisdom traditions that instruct us to remain unattached and skeptical of our thoughts, but as soon as we imbibe a substance, it all must be true! Gospel! We must have finally gotten to the bottom of it all.
But there is no bottom, you know that. We all learned that early on.
It has made me very weary of confident proclamations about 'what the medicine told me.' Anything the medicine tells us is filtered through our nervous system, our upbringing, culture, worldview, and experience. Even when there is wisdom, it's interpreted through our lenses. We're like the denizens of Halloweentown trying to understand Christmas. (This is a favorite around the house right now)
I find that when I let myself write, so much more comes spilling out. The revelatory download, which seemed so atomic at the time, opens itself for deeper introspection. My subtle biases show themselves, and various emotions come dancing through. Oh! There's some more grief, right on time. So much fear, spiraling with an equal amount of hope. The literal reveals itself to be a dream, full of whispered symbols and mysterious intimations. It's even more true and so much more relevant.
For those of you who didn't get the Halloween town reference...
If all you knew was Halloween, how would Christmas make any sense? This is all of us
Sometimes, the best medicine is gratitude.
I've grateful we've got each other. - Tony Moss is amazing
Art in the Psychedelic Rennaisance with Martin Bridge - Free Community Meeting
Thursday, November 14th at 8pm - Link
In this talk we will explore the potential of the arts to aid our growing psychedelic community through advocacy, aiding the journey and integration work.
Martin is an Animist, Artist, Educator, Permaculture Designer and Mycophile who lives, creates and grows in the hills of Western Mass. To see his work visit www.thebridgebrothers.com
Come study with me!
Psychedelic Integration Awareness Mapping.
Monday, November 18th at 8:00pm Eastern Time.
Awareness Mapping is a tool I share with my coaching trainees. It is an excellent way to take inventory of a situation.
If we want to become more present, we first need to recognize that most of the time we are bringing our past into the present. We aren’t seeing things as they are in each moment, nor can we respond as our best selves. We’re at the mercy of an unconscious and choiceless process that creates suffering for ourselves and others distracts us from what is important and sabotages our chances of creating the life that we want.
The practice of awareness mapping brings our attention right into the now, showing us how to make space for all aspects of our experience so we can truly start where we are.
Awareness mapping shows us quite clearly how the world appears different when we’re in a more centered space. When we practice this regularly in a formal way so that we have a better chance of doing it when we are activated.
We offer this to our clients to show them how to move out of ‘neurosis’, as Singer calls it, and into our truer self.
Since people are generally seeking psychedelic support because of variations of this neurosis, this complementary practice makes a lot of sense. It gives people a chance to develop something lasting that will serve their preparation and integration long after their work with you.
There are two ways to take this class
By joining the Golden Road, which includes weekly meditations and coaching. Click here to join.
By just registering for this class on it's own. Click here to register.
Small Group Work with Daniel - The Golden Road
We've started a group offering called The Golden Road. (Which coincidentally was named after a Grateful Dead song) It's a chance to receive teaching, mentoring on your personal or professional practice, and group coaching with Daniel. There are also group meditations and monthly special guests. You can join at any time. Learn More Here