I read a fair amount of research and thought some people might be interested in recent studies that I've found helpful.  I plan to write an approximately 1,200 word (5 minutes to read) blog post pretty much every week, highlighting helpful material that has emerged in the previous couple of months.  I'll rotate through six topic areas ... Lifestyle, Positive Psychology, Relationships, Ageing, Psychedelics, and Meditation.  I also plan to write occasional posts where I go into more detail about particular related subject areas. 

Here, for example, are ... Psychedelics abstracts mostly published in the last few weeks.

McAlpine, R. G., G. Blackburne, et al. (2024). Development and psychometric validation of a novel scale for measuring ‘psychedelic preparedness’. Scientific Reports 14(1): 3280.   

I read a fair amount of research and thought some people might be interested in recent studies that I've found helpful.  I plan to write a brief approximately 1,200 word (5 minute read) newsletter/blog post pretty much every week, highlighting helpful material that has emerged in the previous couple of months.  I'll rotate through six topic areas ... Lifestyle, Positive Psychology, Relationships, Ageing, Psychedelics, and Meditation.  I also plan to write occasional posts where I go into more detail about particular related subject areas. 

“

Love makes labour light.  Love alone gives value to all things. 

” - St Teresa of Avila

“

If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.

” - Jim Barksdale, former Netscape CEO

Description ...

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."                                      Friedrich Nietzsche

"When I get to heaven, they will not ask me 'Why were you not Moses?'.  They will ask 'Why were you not Susya?  Why did you not become what only you could become?'"                    Susya, a Hasidic rabbi

I gave a talk today about Positive Psychology and suggested a couple of areas where there could be helpful synergies with psychedelics.  Here is the full downloadable talk and below are a few of the slides ... initially just below are the first three:

“

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little coarse and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

                        Trip-sitting for a dear friend: after

                               "No man was ever wise by chance."   Lucius Seneca

"You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself."   Miles Davis

“

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

” - Henry Ford

                         Trip-sitting for a dear friend: during

              "I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance."   Pablo Casals

"Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new."   U Le Guin

“ The most important thing is caring, so do it first, for the caring physician best inspires hope and trust. ” - Sir William Osler

                  Trip-sitting for a dear friend: before

               "Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if he once has heard stone growing in a cliff?"   Lao Tzu

I'm just off to the Netherlands with a dear friend.  They're planning to take psychedelic truffles and have asked me to 'trip-sit' for them.  Thinking about the different things I can do to support them, I came up with the somewhat 'clunky' acronym IDSPM. It stands for Information, Discussion, Safety, Practicalities & Measurement.  

“

Work works.

” - Arnold Schwartzenegger

     Psychedelics: a group retreat - the ceremony, integration & follow-up

                     "Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit."   Aristotle 

The previous posts in this sequence are 'Psychedelics: a group retreat - initial thoughts' and 'Psychedelics: a group retreat - meeting up, orientation & the ceremony'.