“Don’t worry, be happy”?
In my case, it was surprisingly easy...I was tripping with friends, folks who had tripped both more often and more recently than I; instead of minimizing my dose, as I’d done before, I took two hits instead of my usual one-half. As it was coming on, I got “tense and nervous...can’t relax”, and one of my friends asked me what I needed.
“I need to know that if I let go, if I just go with it, I won’t “go away” - I won’t lose myself, I’ll still be me”.
“That’s easy,” I was told: “you can’t lose anything that’s really *you*, so you’ll still “be there” even if you let go”.
I immediately felt much better, and I did a little stretching to overcome the tension I’d accumulated...and then I just rolled with it. Let go and let it take me, ‘secure’ in the idea that -whatever I experienced, I wouldn’t ‘turn into’ someone or something else...and it just flowed from there. It was one of the best trips I’ve ever had. Since then I’ve tripped dozens of times at least, and I’ve gotten lost in my head, lost in time, lost in space, but always been me - and able to come back and still be me.
But that doesn’t really address your question...umm, [zen-mode] how must a rock act to preserve its rock? It only need to be what it is [/zen]
If you *are* that spark of awareness, simply *being* it is enough...in slightly more detail, don’t do anything you wouldn’t do, and you’ll be fine...and remember you’re on a trip: if your brother turns into a giant preying mantis, it’s your mind playing games - watch the show, but don’t get caught o in the game: don’t kill your brother in an effort to save the world from the bug invasion! If it gets disturbing, remember it’s your brother, and look at something else - stretching is *always* a great way to shift your focus - pet your cat, rub your face with your hands, beat on your chest, put on some music, go for a walk, lie down or stand up: almost anything you do will be *YOU* doing it. Let yourself resettle, and let the trip continue. It’s YOUR trip, and if it get weird, change your angle, change your focus, change your breathing. Be you.
I’ve found myself laughing uncontrollably; I’ve found myself gasping on black sand, on a black beach, under a black sky; I’ve found myself swimming around inside the body of a lover; I’ve found myself lost in the smile of a friend; I’ve found myself reviewing aspects of my life I’d never considered before, and carving a new me out of the old me; I’ve seen the world around me turn suddenly into a beautiful & elaborate wood-veneer-inlaid scene; I’ve marveled at the sound of a concert emanating from a beer can on tthe ground and not from the speakers; I’ve watched a toilet march around the walls of a bathroom... (I eventually caught it, luckily); I’ve found myself responding naturally and effectively to circumstances around me as they changed (in one case, a friend who broke his leg)...and it was all very easy and natural. Letting go includes letting go of worrying about what you have to do to be yourself.
After all that typing, though, it just seems like a lot of bullshit...don’t “act”. BE.
