{"id":7918,"date":"2020-07-24T01:16:20","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T23:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mapsofthemind.com\/?p=7918"},"modified":"2020-12-11T11:02:03","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T10:02:03","slug":"talking-about-psychedelics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mapsofthemind.com\/2020\/07\/24\/talking-about-psychedelics\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking About Psychedelics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Psychedelics are not an integrated part of our culture in the West and as such they can be difficult to talk about. There is still social stigma attached to the topic, and even though they are increasingly gaining credibility and acceptance, they are still in many ways taboo.<\/p>\n

How easily and openly you can talk about psychedelics of course depends on who you are talking to. If you have a very open minded friend then perhaps it is no problem to speak with them about your interest or experience with psychedelics. However, if you come from a conservative background then it may be very difficult to speak about with family members and even bringing up the topic might start ringing alarm bells.<\/p>\n

Selective Sharing For Integration<\/h2>\n

When it comes to a successful integration of your experience, selective sharing is an important point. Just as you have certain friends that you might speak to about certain things like music or philosophy, in the same way you probably have friends that would be more open and receptive to the topic of psychedelics.<\/p>\n

Choose carefully who you will share your experience with and how much you will share. The experience can lose some of its magic if not held properly by the listener. A highly skeptical or even mocking response can really dampen what was a very personally meaningful experience and detract from it\u2019s power to catalyze positive change in your life. In some cases it may even cause you to doubt what you experienced and and be encouraged to brush it off as nothing more than a weird drug experience.<\/p>\n

Know Your Crowd<\/h2>\n

Selective sharing should also take into account which aspects of your experience you choose to talk about. If you had a spiritual experience and you have a friend who is very firm in their material mechanistic worldview, then it may not be worth speaking to them about the spiritual aspects of your experience or connecting with the divine. Most likely it will be written off and rationalised by someone who at the end of the day did not experience what you experienced. However, you may be able to speak to that same friend about some of the positive changes you have felt since the experience. You could talk about how you feel or think differently and can even reference some of the science which has shown the changes that happen in the brain. Referencing some of the scientific research that has been done may provide a perspective on the experience that your friend will more readily trust.<\/p>\n

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With this in mind it may not be that with some friends you can speak about psychedelics with and others not. It is more a case of choosing how you speak about psychedelics with each individual.<\/p>\n

Opening a Conversation<\/h2>\n

A good entry to a conversation about psychedelics is to ask a question. Rather than opening up with \u201cI had an amazing experience last weekend on LSD\u201c you could open up with:<\/p>\n