Learn: Ayahuasca, trauma, resistance and fear 

Read: 3 mins

Greetings from PDC,

I have to be real with you. 

Last week I mentioned cutting caffeine, but I didn’t say WHY. 

Well, I was getting ready for my first Ayahuasca ceremony (cutting all caffeine, meat, sugar, processed foods, etc. for 2 weeks). 

This newsletter is all about me testing stuff and reporting back learnings you can use yourself. 

And last week I was busy testing (in the jungle). 

🍵 Ayahuasca Ceremony 

There are few experiences in life where after experiencing them, we are a different person. This was one for me. But it was NOT easy.

This one night in the jungle was the most intense, profound, and beautiful experience I’ve ever had. In that order. 

I had SO many learnings and takeaways. Afterward, I spent days recapping and writing out my experience and what I learned.

Read about the whole experience here.

🧠 WTF is Trauma?

There are a few words when I hear them, my brain wants to immediately dismiss. 

Words such as, “trauma”, “healing”, “mastermind”, “coaching”, etc. But it turns out, at least some of these words are worth understanding.

Specifically trauma. A few months ago I realized I was looking at it all wrong. So I got curious. 

I found a short video clip from the Tim Ferriss podcast that was a huge aha moment for me. 

I also gather examples and simple definitions to help my monkey brain understand this “feelings” stuff. 

I included the video clip and all the simple definitions in this blog post titled, WTF is Trauma?

🤔 Resistance and Fear  

In his brilliant book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield distills the concept of “resistance” which blocks us from our most creative and fulfilling work. 

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”

I love how ultimately it comes down to our relationship with fear. He notes:

“The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.” 

Or as the 🐐 Nelson Mandela said, “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

My hope is that you choose to have an amazing week!

Salud,

Mitchell