Hi Reader,
Welcome to this edition of the Maps of the Mind newsletter.
🍄 How We Meet What Happens
The last couple of newsletters have been about setting.
The space. The person in the room.
There's another part that matters just as much.
How we meet what's happening.
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As my mum’s in palliative care, I’ve been seeing this up close.
She knows she’s moving toward the end of her life.
Toward that final transition.
And what’s struck me is the way she’s approaching it.
Not with panic. Or constant fear.
But with a kind of grounded acceptance.
She’s been reflecting on her life. And one thing she does naturally is count her blessings.
She looks at what she’s had. What she’s experienced. The people she’s loved.
She’ll sometimes mention things she might have done differently. Moments that didn’t go the way she’d hoped.
But she often comes back to something simple:
I did what I thought was best at the time.
And there’s a kind of peace in that.
She looks at the world, at how hard life can be for so many people… and genuinely feels she’s had a good life.
Same life. Different ways of holding it.
She could focus on what’s missing. On regret. On what could have been.
But she doesn’t.
And you can feel the difference that makes.
⸻
It’s made me reflect on how much our experience is shaped by how we meet it.
Not just what happens… but how we relate to what happens.
Watching her has reminded me of something I see in psychedelic work all the time.
Two people can move through something very similar… and have completely different experiences.
One meets it with fear:
This is too much.
Something’s wrong.
I need this to stop.
The other, even if it’s uncomfortable, relates to it differently:
Okay… this is here.
What is this showing me?
Can I stay with it, just a little longer?
Same moment.
Different orientation.
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That doesn’t mean forcing positivity.
Or pretending everything is fine when it isn’t.
It’s something quieter than that.
A willingness to work with what’s here.
Sometimes that looks like:
- “This isn’t what I wanted… but it’s what’s here.”
- “I don’t like this… but I can stay with it.”
- “This might be difficult… but it might also be meaningful.”
Small shifts.
But they change the whole experience.
⸻
You can shape the room. You can choose who’s with you.
But how you meet the moment…
that matters just as much.
⸻
A question for you:
Where in your life might a small shift in perspective change the experience?
Not by forcing it, but by meeting it differently.
What did this bring up for you? I hope you'll reply and tell me about it. I appreciate every response.
📚 Microdoses of Wisdom
“Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”
— William James
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
— Viktor Frankl
🎵Psychedelic Supplements
New one from Max Cooper
"mdma/heart medicine therapy & ceremony / wide open heart chakras / play in order ♡"
❤️ Love and mettā to you all,
John
John Robertson
Psychedelic Facilitator & Educator
Webdelics' Top 100 Psychedelic Thought Leaders and Content Creators 2025
Maps of the Mind
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