Hi Reader,
Welcome to this edition of the Maps of the Mind newsletter.
🍄 I’d been keeping busy
The other week I put on a playlist made for ketamine therapy.
I wasn’t on ketamine. I was in the library, doing some writing.
It started as background music. Slow, acoustic, mostly neoclassical.
But as I wrote, I noticed a side of me coming up. A slower, more contemplative side, with a little emotion in it.
It felt like a side of me that needed some space. Some attention. Some holding. And it was getting some for the first time in a little while.
It felt nourishing. Like a reminder: oh yes, it’s important that I feel these things, and slow down like this.
So over the next few days, I went back to it a few times.
One evening at home, on a low dose of cannabis, I put it on.
And the sadness came. Memories of Mum.
I’m still grieving, of course. I don’t need to feel it all day, every day. But for a week or so I was ill and filled the time with films. Since then I’ve been keeping busy, getting on with work.
So that side of me hasn’t had much room.
It hadn’t gone anywhere, though. It was waiting.
I think a lot of us fill the room without noticing.
Some of us have a podcast on while we scroll. Some of us watch one screen while listening to something else. I catch myself looking at my phone while I’m watching something.
There’s always a little something coming in. And whatever’s underneath never quite gets its turn.
It can turn into a loop. The more input we have, the less comfortable a quiet moment feels, so we reach for more.
Silence can work. It doesn’t bring emotion up as readily as music does though. Step into a yoga room with gentle music playing, and you often feel a little shift before you’ve even started the class.
Some music sits in between. It isn’t silence, and it isn’t nothing. It gives your brain a little something to hold, and still leaves plenty of space.
That’s a big part of what music does in a session, too. At the peak, it can fill everything. But at the start, and in the phases either side of the peak, it’s often more meditative. Someone lies down, closes their eyes, and the music gives the mind something to follow. Not enough to fill it. Just enough that it can loosen its grip, so what’s underneath has room to come up.
It’s often in that loosening that things start to move.
You don’t need a session for that to happen.
Next time you reach for a podcast, or a second screen, you might try music with no words instead, and see if it gives rise to anything.
There might be some boredom at first. A pull towards more stimulation, more input.
But when voices and narratives crowd out the mind, there’s less room to hear ourselves, or just be with ourselves.
Boredom, space and slowing down are where that happens. It’s where inspiration tends to come from. It’s where emotions get a place to be, so we can be with them, and so they can rise, move through, and release.
Sometimes what’s waiting is grief. Sometimes it’s an idea. Sometimes it’s just you.
Either way, it needs some room.
A reflection for you today:
👉 What do you reach for when there’s a gap in your day? What happens if you leave it unfilled for a while? And what might be waiting underneath?
What did this bring up for you? I hope you'll reply and tell me about it.
📚 Microdose of Wisdom
“In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention.”
— Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness
🎵Psychedelic Supplements
The K playlist I listened to, curated by ST Frequency.
Made for ketamine therapy, but it works sober too.
Instrumental classical
Humour is important too
❤️ 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
Forwarded this email by a friend and would like to read more?
Subscribe here
Enjoy my newsletter and want to show your appreciation?
Buy me a coffee :)
Talk with me
If you’ve got a session coming up and you’d like a hand working out what to bring into it, this is exactly what my one-off calls are for. I currently have some availability; you can book one here
