If you were a child of the 1960’s – or if you’ve ever immersed yourself in the Free Love era through books and movies – you know it was a time of new perspectives and mind opening realizations, fueled in part by the increased number of people open to psychedelic experiences. These mind-expanding substances sparked awakenings, fresh perspectives, and heartfelt intentions to build a better world.
But despite these powerful insights and newfound passion for change, after the experience most people just defaulted back to their usual routines. The old joke goes that these would-be revolutionaries eventually fell back into line with society’s expectations. Get a job. Chase the money. Bow to ‘The Man’ – or worse, become ‘The Man’ (slang for the wealthy society and authorities in power).
I was thinking about that old joke while listening to uber-podcaster Joe Rogan a fews years ago. It was a fascinating conversation with Rick Doblin, PhD, a thought leader in the current psychedelic renaissance. In describing psychedelic trips and the importance of aligning your inner and outer worlds, Joe said this:
“I think that a real profound breakthrough psychedelic experience is like pressing “control-alt-delete” for your brain and when you reboot, you have a fresh desktop. It’s clean – but you have one folder on the desktop that says “my old bullshit.” And most people open that folder and just get comfortable with their old bullshit.
So after the experience… you sort of have to re-think how you view everything and you have this renewed perspective. You have a completely different view of the world but it’s confusing – you don’t have scaffolding to travel on and you don’t have a clear pathway; it’s really easy to slip into your own thing and start doing all the same dumb shit you were doing before.”
And, of course, psychedelics or not, this is the challenge faced by anyone doing deep Inner personal growth work – where you’re changing on the inside to reset your self-limiting patterns and beliefs, but then you move back into your “old” world where the same people and the same “bullshit” confronts you.
How do you align these two misaligned worlds?
The aligning of the two is what we call “integration.” And at first, when you begin to change – but your outer world and those in your personal orbit stay the same – it can be frustrating, unsettling and even painful.
And as Joe Rogan points out, you may be jolted into a new realm, but if you haven’t scoped out a new path, you could panic and easily fall back into your old “comfort zone.” Let me say – these comfort zones aren’t comfortable – they’re just familiar neural-pathways with neurochemicals that keep us addicted to anxiety, self-doubt, anger, and other distressing emotions.
And once we start lifting ourselves out of this emotional whirlpool with the intention of moving into another mental state, our ego pushes back like a screaming banshee. We have a phrase in my Emotional Liberation courses for this unpleasant situation – it’s called the Shaken Snow Globe. The Shaken Snow Globe was coined by a senior student who went through it but now reassures others that it’s a transitory stage in your emotional healing. And it is.
But, of course, how to get from here to there with the least pain and suffering?
My mission is to support people, making their emotional healing as efficient and effective as possible. We embrace a groundbreaking hybrid in self-healing with a unique combination of a consistent therapeutic group setting, Eastern wisdom teachings, Western science, and the (always optional) judicious use of cannabis and/or psilocybin microdosing.
Essentially, we do a version of what Joe was talking about – pressing “control alt delete” to reboot your brain. But rather than “shoving the old “bullshit” to the side,” we bring it up so it can be processed and released. This indeed offers new ways of thinking and living without obstruction (we call them “energy blocks” in my work). Then, yes, we can then build new scaffolding to travel on so that one has a clear pathway to exercise newfound behaviors.
Healing means that our relationships will inevitably change. Others in our orbit might be very uncomfortable with us during this time of growth – they’ll often pressure us, pushing us to go back to how we used to be. Can you say, “Shaken Snow Globe”?
In Emotional Liberation, we continue to embrace integration by focusing on self-awareness and witnessing our own journey, inside and out. If this speaks to you, I invite you to join me for my upcoming Emotional Liberation Masterclass. This 8 week course is designed to help you build the scaffolding you need to truly integrate lasting change with powerful tools, a supportive community, and a grounded approach to navigating growth with clarity. Click here to join the interest list and receive more information.
With love,
Becca
