Boring Preachy Part

Humans have consumed mind-altering substances throughout history. Many produce an altered state of consciousness that is often termed the “psychedelic experience.” It can include heightened senses and emotions; awe or terror; the feeling of experiencing birth, death or repressed memories; or a sense of profound insight into the nature of existence.

Here are his 6 pointers on how to cultivate that patience and support in your own life.

Remember: Simple, doesn’t mean easy. Some of the simplest things to do are often the most difficult. The following are some simple things to do to keep you motivated and living the easy life.

Toxic relationships are those human interactions that make us feel constantly put down, worthless, never good enough, unheard and, in general, emotionally drained. Toxic relationships are also the ones where a physical abuse happens. While the latter are obvious and visible, the emotionally toxic ones are harder to be aware of and understand, and therefore they’re more difficult to end, avoid or change.

We appreciate how you aren’t intimidated by the strength of women. You don’t feel insecure about our education, careers, or choices. You recognize our accomplishments and respect them. But then again, you just respect us—not because we’re the “weaker sex” or “fragile,” but because you recognize us as equal human beings.

Many of us harden into patterns of life that keep the struggle going. We can’t seem to let go of the self-judgment because our brain believes it’s there to keep us in line. We numb out to the world through eating, drinking, over-use of social media, among so many other ways.

There is an infinite number of categories upon which we can compare ourselves and an almost infinite number of people to compare ourselves to. Once we begin down that road, we never find an end. The tendency to compare ourselves to others is as human as any other emotion. Certainly, I’m not alone in my experience. But it is a decision that only steals joy from our lives. And it is a habit with numerous shortcomings:

Opening our minds to a new thing or a new way of thinking is often frightening because by definition it's unfamiliar. Unfamiliarity rings the alarm bell "danger—potentially unsafe." But if you think about it, most of the things we fear don't come to pass. What's more, we're often unable to anticipate the good things that do occur as a result of our trying something new.

At Thirteen Thieves we genuinely believe that a simple act of kindness can truly change someone's outlook so definitively that it may be life-changing for them. It makes us feel great to help where we can, it is one of our business core values and a large portion of every sale goes to an organization that can facilitate those needs.

That man isn’t looking for an instruction manual, and the last thing he needs is advice from some outside authority on how to treat the woman he’s with. My god, every ounce of her being is telling him from moment to moment, loud and clear, what she feels. That man will spend the rest of his life getting to know her, learning to be more intimate, a better friend, a more nuanced lover, and removing his internal blocks to closeness.

Here’s the key: there is no special passion waiting for you to discover. Passion is something that is cultivated. It can be cultivated in many, many different fields. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to say, “I don’t know what my passion is.” What does make sense is to say, “I haven’t yet cultivated a passion, I should really focus down on a small number of things and start this process.”

The human desire to fulfill some special existential purpose has existed throughout history. There's a scene in Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's sci-fi cartoon, Rick and Morty that addresses this desire with what I'd call an uplifting cynicism. In it, Summer finds out that she was, an unwanted pregnancy. She breaks down and wonders if there's any real meaning to her life. Morty then tells her his equally unsettling experience of burying his own body from a different reality.

You can have the best-laid plans and still have them go wrong, get off track, or encounter obstacles. So since we can’t control the past and we can’t control the future, what can we control if we want to design our own life? Well, we can make a plan today, we can work our plan each day, we can modify our plan as necessary, and we can make the best of what shows up even when it’s not what we want.

People often ask us how we define ourselves as a “conscious company.” While no single answer fits or defines us as such, we’ve placed some guidelines that shape our opinion of what a conscious company is. Thirteen Thieves actively seeks to create a positive impact in the community we live in and the world around us in as many ways as possible through monthly cash donations and volunteering time in our local community. 

The truth is that happiness is not circumstantial. And this is excellent news. It means we don't have to wait for everything to be perfect, nor do we have to control anything outside of ourselves to feel a certain way. Becoming aware of this truth is a total game-changer because it means we can choose happiness at this moment. And something beautiful happens when we do this: When we feel happy first, our outward experience begins to shift in ways we’d only dreamed of.

A recent study also showed that psilocybin blocks off a part of the brain that is overactive in people with depression. According to Professor David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, the drug appears to stop patients dwelling on themselves and their own perceived inadequacies. “People with depression have overactive default mode networks and so ruminate on themselves, on their inadequacies, on their badness, that they are worthless, that they have failed – to the extent that is sometimes delusional. Again, psilocybin appears to block that activity and stops this obsessive rumination.”

Negative events loom large unless you consciously balance them out. "When you're faced with challenges, it's important to take stock of what's going well," Della Porta says. Thinking about the good in your life can help balance that bias, giving your brain the extra time it needs to register and remember a positive event.

You will never find your place in the world by being like everyone else. Your life was never meant to be lived like everyone else. Your PLACE will always be connected to an unmet need or an opportunity to do good to others. William Wilberforce found his place in seeing to it that slavery was eradicated in England. Nelson Mandela found his place in challenging the demeaning scourge of apartheid in South Africa.