Self-Reflection and Understanding The Foundation of Your Bad Habits
When we start talking about using psychedelics to break bad habits, several steps need to take place after you’ve taken the medicine. Certain psychedelics trigger an increase in neuroplasticity while raising levels of BDNF. By increasing BDNF and promoting neuroplasticity, psychedelics may be able to help your brain “loosen up.” This means that your mind may more readily let go of entrenched patterns of behavior. This, in turn, may allow you to explore your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions from a new perspective. Psychedelics also bring subconscious actions into the light, where they go from an unknown to a quantifiable factor in your habits.
Anecdotally, altered states of consciousness provide a unique opportunity to identify and understand the negative behaviors and the underlying causes contributing to the persistence of bad habits. By facilitating a deeper understanding of your actions and their consequences, psychedelics can foster self-awareness that might be difficult to achieve otherwise.
This newfound self-awareness may be one step towards recognizing the need for change and initiating the process of altering negative behavioral patterns. For example, perhaps you’re struggling with an addiction to cigarettes or pornography. It’s possible that the enhanced self-reflection brought on by the psychedelic state could allow you to look inward and discover the underlying cause of that particular habit.
Another potential benefit of psychedelic use is enhancing your motivation to make positive changes. The profound, often life-changing insights gained during psychedelic experiences may increase your motivation to change negative behaviors and bad habits. This boosted motivation can be a powerful driving force in pursuing personal growth and self-improvement. With a renewed sense of purpose and determination, you may find it easier to overcome the challenges associated with changing bad habits and stay committed to your goals.
Embracing the Change
Another important aspect of fully leveraging the psychedelic experience comes from being willing to accept the internal changes that can occur during a psychedelic journey. One of the most common catalysts of change is ego dissolution (the breakdown of your central self), or ego death. Ego death is the dissolution—or letting go—of your internal sense of who you are. Individuals who undergo ego death often experience feelings of oneness with the world, other people, and even the universe.
When this happens, it help you see beyond your normal self-identity and the entrenched behaviors associated with it. This egoless state can provide a unique opportunity to explore new ways of being and behaving. By breaking down the barriers of ego-centric thinking, you may find it easier to let go of rigid behavioral patterns and adopt a more flexible approach toward personal change and growth. For example, during this state, you may see yourself from an outside perspective, allowing you to look at your bad habits in a way that is removed from the attachment your subconscious has developed with them. In other words, you see that your habits are simply things you do. They are a choice, and not you, at your core. This mean that you see them for what they are and are then able to let them go.
When used intentionally, psychedelics facilitate deep insights into the underlying causes of negative behaviors. You can leverage these insights to develop targeted strategies for overcoming bad habits and promoting positive change. By illuminating the root causes of negative behaviors and providing a clearer understanding of how to address these issues, psychedelics can significantly enhance our ability to change bad habits.
Integrating the Psychedelic Experience
The third and most important step is “integration.” Integration is the process of mindfully and purposefully taking things you learned while using a psychedelic like psilocybin and making them part of your everyday experience.
You can do this in a variety of ways. You could start journaling, pick up a meditation routine, or even create a daily mantra or positive affirmations. By integrating these insightful experiences, you can dismantle significant barriers to personal transformation. Assimilating personal insights can cultivate a deeper sense of self-acceptance and self-compassion, which is essential for individuals aiming to transition away from bad habits and build new, healthier ways of living.
Conclusion
Psychedelics represent a fascinating frontier in the realm of psychology and behavioral change. Their capacity to facilitate emotional breakthroughs, enhance cognitive flexibility, and reduce fear has significant implications for individuals struggling to break bad habits. While further research is necessary to fully understand this potential, the findings to date are promising. By combining the insights gained from psychedelic experiences with therapeutic support, many individuals may find the path to lasting change more accessible than ever. As perceptions of these substances continue to evolve, we may be on the brink of a new era in addiction treatment and personal development.
