Three months ago I had the opportunity to experience an eight-hour psychedelic healing session. It was one of the most memorable and transformative experiences of my life.
The session was so impactful and healing that I feel a responsibility to share about it so that others might benefit.
A note before I dive in…
Read MoreI want to quickly write about something I discovered in December 2018 that has become a big part of my life over the last three months.
I’ve been calling them “closed eye-journeys” or “inner healing journeys”. I started doing them after listening to Stanislov Grof describe the practice on Tim Ferriss’ podcast.
To give some history: Researches like Grof were studying the healing properties of various psychoactive substances in the 1950’s
Read MoreWondering what you're supposed to do with your life? Here's a process I came up with to figure it out in less than 5 minutes. Let's do this!
First a few assumptions:
Assumption 1: this process assumes fulfillment is what we're aiming for. Many people confuse achievement with fulfillment, but remember: fulfillment means achieving those things that are inherently meaningful to you, as opposed to chasing after things like money or fame that our culture tells us will 'bring us happiness'. Blind chasing of achievement is a dead end. Most successful people hit this dead end at some point in life and it's a shocker. Happiness is a journey, not a destination, and fulfillment and meaning are what bring joy to life.
Assumption 2: this process assumes that you want to live a life in integrity with your values. Not society's values, your values. Many people have never taken the time to see the difference.
And Assumption 3: this process assumes that relationships (and the experiences of being in them) comprise one of the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of being human.
Ok if you agree with me so far, here's how to figure out what to do with your life in a couple minutes:
Step 1. Define your values. These are the things you want more of in the world.
These can be qualities like connection, or fun, or things that interact with humans like robots, or oratory, or music. As long as they are things you value...
Read MoreThis past weekend I held a friend while she cried and shook for 5 hours. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
My friend and I were talking about feeling safe as children. How every child is helpless and therefore needs to feel protected in order to fully develop. How true development, exploration and learning can only happen inside a container of safety.
And then my friend realized that she had never felt safe, seen and cared for. Ever. In her entire life...
Read MoreI recently went to visit my brother in Vancouver and he taught me a powerful practice to increase happiness in only 3 minutes a day: A daily Gratitude Practice.
Here's how it works: Every day when you are with another person, ask them if they'd like to do Gratitude Practice with you. If they agree, one of you starts by listing ten things you are grateful for, followed by one challenge you are experiencing...
Read MoreAt some point in the last 3 weeks I realized that fear is an illusion. I used to think that Fear and Love were the only two forces in the universe. Then my friend Andy told me that fear is an illusion. I thought he meant that it wasn't real and so I was confused. I sat with that for a few weeks.
Then my friend Mandy told me the same thing again. She told me that anytime I am feeling fear I'm actually living IN an illusion that I've created. I'm living in an alternate reality that is distinct from actual reality...
Read MoreIf you could remove one word from your daily conversations and vastly improve your relationships and your life, would you do it?
Here's the trick: Stop saying "I feel like ... " and say "I feel ..." instead.
When we say "I feel like ... " we're not actually expressing our feelings. It's much more likely that we'll express a judgement or a demand. And in most communication, judgements and demands are ineffective - they create distance and destroy connection. Actual feelings on the other hand are effective because they create closeness, trust and intimacy...
Read MoreThe word recreation means "activity done for enjoyment when not working" but I prefer to think of recreation in another way by deconstructing the word itself: re-creation can be seen as activities that we use to re-create ourselves. Taken this way, recreation is when we stop the action, taking ourselves apart, throw out the things we no longer need or that are no longer serving us, and put ourselves back together again using only the parts we want to keep.
Without recreation, there's no opportunity for sub-performing thoughts, frameworks, strategies, or relationships to get off the bus, so they just hang-on and continue bringing us down. Recreation is like spring cleaning for our mind, body and soul. Without it, our minds-eye view
Read MoreYesterday I was jonesing hard for my fix. I hate feeling like that. Today I feel better and more myself. Tomorrow I think I’ll be back to normal. My name is Will Sacks, and I am a sugar addict. Admitting this to myself has helped me kick the habit. But it's taken 2 years.
Here’s the story of how I got here, and what I’ve learned along the way. A few years ago...
Read MoreI've written before about the four stages of competence and I absolutely love this heuristic. It's useful for any aspect of life where we want to improve and get better results. Which brings us to today's question:
How do you tell if you are incompetent at something?...
Read MoreIn 2006 I was living in my parents basement. I was newly single, dealing with constant debilitating back pain, unemployed and depressed. When I look back at the last 8 years, there are 5 books that changed everything and helped get me to where I am today. Here they are:
Read MoreI have a list of daily behaviors that I think are important to being healthy and having an awesome life. I've been tracking them with Kindara. Here is the list along with my performance for July:
Below is my Kindara chart for the month that shows my progress on each daily goal...
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