EP 116 | WHEN THE MEDICINE DOESN'T WORK

You’ve tried everything. Now what? What do you do when the medicine doesn’t work?

What happens when the big promise of being saved by plant medicine just doesn’t deliver? You did the diet. You detoxed. You prepared. You researched. You read all the books and the websites and learned everything you could.

Maybe you even have a coach or therapist or healer supporting you.

You’ve done all the “right” things… but you’re just not feeling it. You keep hearing about all these other people having cosmic healing experiences, but it’s not happening for you.

You don’t get visions. The spirit of the medicine isn’t talking to you. In fact, you don’t feel “Spirit” at all. And maybe you’re starting to feel hopeless. Because it’s working for everyone else. Maybe there is something wrong with you…

OR MAYBEEEEEE…

You have extremely unrealistic expectations, are putting loads of pressure on yourself to have life-changing transformation overnight, and a lot of what you read on the internet about psychedelics is trash?

Here are the most common reasons why it might feel like the medicine isn’t working:

Rigid expectations (*AHEM* PERFECTIONISM) is a fast track to disappointment and blaming yourself because you can never meet them. When you are only looking for specific outcomes, you are blind to all the encouraging shifts and lessons that are appearing to you.

This relationship you are undertaking with plant medicine is not going to look how you think. In fact, when you have a narrow view of what “healing” looks like, you are super likely to miss all the nuanced ways that the medicine is a positive force in your life.

Your definition needs updating. What metrics are you looking at to determine whether or not your own healing path is successful? How do you measure self-awareness? Softness? How do you quantify finding more compassion in your heart?

You can’t judge a mystical, spiritual life with Muggle measurements. You can’t fit magic into a progress bar. Transformation comes in unexpected, non-linear ways. That’s the nature of the mystery.

Stop comparing yourself to others. In your medicine work and in life. Comparison is the thief of joy. It steals your presence and participation in your own story. Do you want to be a supporting character in someone else’s movie, or are you the lead of your own heroic journey?

Be patient. This path isn’t going to solve things overnight. Trust the process. Be willing to humble yourself. To look for and learn to speak nuance. To notice the wins that happen every single day. Over time, drops of water can carve mountains and turn rock into the softest sand.

You are not ready. Often, we are asking for huge changes that we are not remotely ready to receive. Thankfully, Spirit doesn’t give us anything we are not fully capable of handling. Sometimes the drastic forest fire we are begging for isn’t what we need, so it comes more slowly or in a completely different way. I am so grateful for all the things I prayed for that I didn’t get because they weren’t meant for me.

Cultivate willingness to stay with the path of allowing. And know that if you are refusing to flow with the changes your heart is asking for, you will stay stuck inside a life that doesn’t feel aligned. You can’t keep being in the environments and behaviors that made your sick and expect to heal.

You have to be willing to let go of the spiritual blocks that are keeping you small. This process is UNCOMFORTABLE AF. Ego death happens over months and years, not just in one night. Surrender to this process fully. Believe in it fully. Let yourself be enraptured by the delight of your own wild unraveling. Prepare to descend. And then descend some more. Go all the way into the shadow. That’s where the jewels are.

Lighten up, babe. Can you stop taking everything so seriously? Or are you looking at yourself as a problem to be solved, and psychedelics as another modality in a long line of things you tried for a couple months. Let it be easy and soft and enjoy the ride. If you believe it can be easy and fun, it can be. You’re allowed to laugh at yourself when you’re healing ancestral trauma, y’all.

Why do some people seem to radically transform on with psychedelics, but not others?

I’ll be straight with you, this work isn’t for everyone. It’s a commitment to going into parts of yourself that can feel overwhelming, scary, or even impossible. It requires opening your mind to a new worldview. Maybe a new belief system. It may mean a lot of endings. Cleaning house and letting go so you can make room for what’s coming.

The simple answer is, people who prioritize getting support throughout their psychedelic and spiritual healing journey are much more likely to experience lasting transformation than those who don’t.

AND… Sometimes, for whatever reason, it’s not the right direction to go. Give yourself permission to stop, take breaks, and jump ship if you need to. It’s ok to walk away if that’s what your heart is telling you. You are the sovereign boss of you. You have the agency to know if you should or want to keep going.

On this week’s show, I’m going through all the myriad of ways the medicine doesn’t work and how to chill out, change your framework, and enjoy the unfolding so you can see that everything in your life is medicine.

Love,
Sinclair