# look at me doing yoga
# look at me in an exotic jungle
# look at me looking sexy
We live in the me-me-me era. We take selfies. We engage in self-care. And, self-love has become the ultimate goal.
Before you rip into me, let me say…I get it. It’s necessary to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others with theirs. As an Executive Coach, I understand intimately the correlation between heightened self-awareness and positive impact on others.
But is there such a thing as going overboard?!
I’m noticing that the psychedelic community also falls prey to ubiquitous self-absorption, particularly with its focus on self-healing. Granted there is astonishing evidence of plant medicine’s therapeutic success, but still…
The extended psychedelic marketplace is now offering me salvation (bless that digital algorithm) with the likes of amulets, tinctures, micro-doses, sound baths, holotropic breathing, and chakra balancing. Again, I’m not dissing these in totality; they do have a role to play. I’m just pointing out that the attention to – and consumption of all of it – borders on “psychedelic narcissism.” That’s a phrase I borrowed from Adam Aronovich who has extensive ayahuasca ceremony experience. In other words, it feels hyper-individualistic.
I have found the plant medicine experience to be extra wonderful when I share it with others. We laugh, share, support, connect, and play together. And truly that inspires me to bring a similar energy to my loved ones and my coaching clients in everyday life.
Adam says it much better than I can: It is important to remember that healing is not linear and it can’t always be heavy, grueling, self-absorbed “work”…Having fun, indulging our curiosity and creativity and bonding with our friends and family are important too.
A friend I have journeyed with recently texted me: I have experienced the constant need for healing. I am done with the mental gymnastics of “am I healed enough yet?” My new intention in medicine work is just to live and love.
And who can argue with a goal of just living and loving?!
P.S. Don’t miss my 60-second video on the alternative I propose to self-love.
