I went hunting last week, and as always my imagination and consciousness began to expand as I sat 15 ft above the ground with nothing to do in the middle of nowhere. As I'm keeping my eye out for deer, something strange started to happen. My vision became almost halucinegenic as I couldn't exactly tell what I was looking at. I would think I would see a deer in the bushes, or a turkey behind the leaves and after a closer look in my binos I'd realize it wasn't what I thought. In this moment I had a cool awareness I wanted to share. We are connecting dots or pixels all of the time. I am viewing the projection and expression of the universe (which is created as a projection of myself but that's for another time) the same way we view pixels on a tv/phone screen. And my mind is processing the visual information it's receiving and arranging the dots/pixels into shapes and then labeling those shapes. So a deer is a projection of of light through pixels and my mind is connecting those pixels and then labeling it as a deer. How do I know that the pixels of the deer don't belong to the tree it's standing next too? Or the bush that's in front of it? My mind was connecting these dots into shapes and figures it recognizes from previous experiences and then labeling and identifying the shape/connection of pixels and then assigning a label 'deer' and then meaning to the label which in this case was excitement/opportunity/beauty/majesty etc. In life we do the same thing. We are connecting dots/pixels or streams of visual light and and then assigning a label to the arrangement of the dots that we're connecting and then assigning contextual meaning to the arrangement or connection of dots. How often in Life do we connect dots and assign dysfunctional, limiting or confining labels and meanings to the dots that WE'RE arranging and labeling. For instance, if you pull up your bank account balance on your phone/computer, the pixels are arranged, and through contrast (black pixels against white pixels) we see the numbers. The numbers are just numbers, but our mind in the connection and arrangement of pixels create meaning. For instance if you had $1,000 in you bank account. You see arrange the pixels in the shape of a number (which you're familiar with and recognize) and then assign a meaning like "oh I'm broke" or "OMG that's amazing I have $1,000" or "OMG I need to make more money" or "OMG I need to work harder" or "OMG I wonder what I could do with all that money" or "OMG I wonder how I could direct and expend that money to help it grow". All of this are reactions that you are choosing. The level of consciousness with which you assign the meaning depends on your programming and perspective. For instance if you believe you need $10,000 to feel safe, then you could unconsciously be interpreting the $1,000 to mean that you "don't have enough money and are therefore unsafe".

Let's talk confrontation and avoidance. Anyone brave enough to embark on a 'healing journey' or path of expansion, will have much of the following to confront (if your path includes Psychedelic Explorations these confrontations can be amplified in their intensity and presentation); 1. Emotions 2. Beliefs 3. Past Experiences/Memmories 4. Parts/Facets of Self 5. Wounds 6. Limitations 7. Vissions and dreams 8. Possibilities and potentials When we break down the word confrontation you have Con-Latin for 'With' and Front-'To Face'. We are being asked on our path to freedom and expansion to COME TO FACE WITH these aspects of self. What is the opposite of Confrontaion? Avoidance. What is avoidance (see image below)- the act or practice of withdrawing, keeping away from, preventing or refraining from something. Anyone playing the game of Life is constantly being confronted with themselves through the mirror that Life is holding up for us. Most people are running a frantic sympathetic-charged race to 'avoid' what is being reflected back to them. While that frantic race can still produce surfacel levels of successes (the job, the car, the house, the relationship, the bank account etc) this avoidance pattern never resolves what we are being asked to face (see the innumberable people with the material checklist crossed off who still are in states of deep constant suffering). If we accept the invitation this mirror offers us, and choose to go inward, into the wilderness within us, then encountering the list above is inevitable. Whether we choose to avoid what we find or confront it however, is a CONSCIOUS CHOICE. As it pertains to the Psychedelic Space, I know that I myself, along with a number of clients, friends and acquaintances have been confronted with aspects of themselves that they have chosen not to confront (or at least REALLY dive into). I've never seen a single case where this choice of avoidance leads to resolution. In fact I've often seen it lead to more chaos, turmoil and conflict. An example of this is when someone takes something thats presented to them, and instead of really peeling a part the various meanings and interpretations, they take it at 'face value' and simply leave a job, relationship or pursuit to chase something else, and feel that 'that's what they were asked to do'. Meanwhile the fallout from these decisions often lead to creating more of the very problem that was being asked to be resolved. But because the deeper meanings and interpretations were not expounded on, the avoidance pattern simply creates more of 'the thing'.

Checking in on your breathing isn’t just for when you meditate - bringing the awareness into your everyday moments like driving in your car. Having conversations with people, listening to presentations/talks, even when you’re on your phone or computer these are all excellent times to bring your attention back to your breath as it is the foundation of your experience. If you’re breathing short and shallow and or through the mouth, chances are your body is more activated than it would be if you slowed it down through your nose. Expert advice, notice if there’s a pattern when your breath gets shallow. What activities or times tend to shift your breathing patterns? Lmk in the comments how often you check in with your breath and what you notice throughout the day with it.