PARTNERING WITH PLANT MEDICINE WEEK 7
Today is Saturday, May 7th. It is 1:32pm. I am at a coffee spot in Chandler, Arizona called Coffee Rush. The view in front of me is a man made lake. It feels like it’s about 90 degrees even in the shaded area I’m in. I’m still sweating my balls off. I’m thinking about what I want to write about as I’m writing this. A lot has happened over the last 7 weeks and I have been reflecting on it all. The last zoom call was on Tuesday and it was bitter sweet. We learned about how to integrate what we have learned over our time together. I think the best way to end this series is to cover everything this course has done for me.
There was something I never mentioned in the zoom calls until this week. I was originally set to go work up in Seward, Alaska for the summer. I had two jobs lined up. In four months of work as a server I most likely would have grossed around $50k. There were a couple things that were popping up that were making me think working up there would have not been the best thing for me mentally and physically. Then a friend of mine sends me the post by Ben for the first ever Partnering With Plant Medicine course. This last year I think I mentioned that I didn’t do much personal development stuff like I normally do. It was a year where I kinda slacked off even though a lot of good things still happened. I knew when my friend sent me this that it was something that I should do. Little did I know it would end up being the catalyst for me to make the changes I needed to make.
The number one thing Ben and his course has done for me was establish some discipline in my life. I am a creative who isn’t very organized for the most part. Details bore me. I like to do things on a whim. Is it the most effective way to do things? probably not. It is chaotic but I feel most comfortable in that space when others don’t. It benefits me when plan A, B, or C goes to shit. I feel like it is when I am my best. This course made me establish discipline in my diet, sleep routine, and daily routine. The changes made were not even that big really but they were so effective. That little bit of order allowed me to break some bad habits and make new healthy ones. If this discipline was the only thing I gained in this course I would say that it alone makes this course worth it.
My diet has continued to be pretty much the same since we ended the diet. My body just feels good. This time last year I was around 220lbs. When this course started I was 200lbs and now I am down to 186lbs. I have had a minimal amount of processed food. I definitely have ate more calories but not that much. I do not eat when I get home late from work. I make sure to eat my calories before 9pm usually. Next week I am adding in more workouts to my boxing and muay thai training. This course has helped me reshape my body by getting my diet in check. It was my missing piece. Working out has always been easy for me to do. I have been doing it most of my life. Food for me was always a struggle. I was a fat ass as a kid and some of those past food habits would show up in the present day. Process foods are also addictive. Let’s be honest. That shit tastes good as fuck! I think my relationship with food has changed since doing this course. I got to listen to my body tell me what feels good and what doesn’t. The problem with most of us is that we don’t know what feeling good really feels like. Remove alcohol, caffeine, and processed foods from your life for a month and you will find out in a short amount of time. The body adapts fast and once those cravings goes away you are good to go.
Sleeping was a problem before this course started. I was sleeping like complete dog shit. I could be on 5 hours of sleep and tired as hell. My head would hit the pillow and I would just lay there awake with my mind running through the most random thoughts. I also would get in these habits of watching Netflix in my bed. I don’t know about you but I only ever intend to watch an episode or so of a show. That isn’t how it goes down though. Each episode ends and my mind is like FUCK! What happens next? Ok 30 more minutes of the next episode only and I’ll go to bed. 5 episodes later I finally fall asleep. If it wasn’t that I would be scrolling non-stop on social media. This is not a good recipe for a good nights sleep. This also doesn’t count for the times caffeine or alcohol is taken in. Those two things also fucks with your sleep. When Ben explained ending the day I was like oh shit! That is what I need. It made sense. I was never actively ending my days. It was the opposite. I was extending them unconsciously. My end of the day routine is another thing that is still going strong and something that I will always keep doing.
My daily routines are a little bit different now. Social media use is still down. I am not back on everything yet. I will get back on instagram after I publish this blog post. So far I think I am doing better integrating the apps I do have. One thing that has been really nice about not being on social media is really being in the present. Lets say I was out doing some grounding. I probably would have post about it on instagram. Now the urge or feeling to post those things is gone. I would rather just enjoy the moment than think about posting it. I’m not saying I’ll never post things I’m doing. It just isn’t going to be like I used to I don’t think. I used to waste so much time on these apps too. It wasn’t only at night before bed. It would stop me from being productive at all. I think it was also a big reason my creativity had disappeared.
Creativity is probably the next biggest thing to discipline that changed with this course. Working with rose opened me up big time. Every time I would journey/meditate the creative juices would hit me. So far it has stayed with me too. It is definitely way easier to create right now that it was. I had a really hard time being creative for a while. It was just so hard to create things. It felt like work and it was so draining. These blogs have been nice for me. They have allowed me to use writing as my creative outlet. Video takes tech and I was obviously trying to limit tech in this course. All I need to write is a pen and paper. Writing is a skill and I have been working out that muscle. I have been getting good feedback from the small number of people who have read these posts. I have had a book idea outlined earlier this past year. The chapters are set. I sat on it for a while. I think this course was the thing that prepared me to start writing the book. On my altar I have 3 tarot cards I flipped and left because they resonated with me so much. The future card is the sphere of 8. It basically means that I would master a skill in isolation. Well I have been isolated and the skill I have been working is writing so I don’t know. Is that a coincidence?
In conclusion I would recommend this course to anyone who is looking for a change in their life mentally, physically, and spiritually. I have been apart of mastermind groups who do what is called deep work. It is effective but it is usually heavyily business focused. This course is more heavy on the spiritual side and connecting to energy that we all have lost due to the evolution of society. Our busy, technological lives stop us from getting back to the roots of our ancestors. This course was what I needed and didn’t know it was a thing. It is actually the first course Ben has hosted. I am grateful for Ben and my friend Whitney who sent me the post to this course. I am grateful to everyone else who joined this group. I have gained a new group of people who I can reach out to at any time. The weekly meetings may be over but we all know this isn’t the last time we will meet together. It also isn’t really the end of the plants/flowers we worked with. They are apart of us now and will be guiding us through the next part of our journeys.
The end…
