Agreed, love the vessel metaphor. Very graspable and clear. And makes a lot of sense how the compensatory type is both difficult to spot and more complex to work with. Really well written and insightful.
This feels like such an important corrective to the “just add psychedelics” narrative. I love the vessel metaphor —especially the distinction between true openness and compensatory rigidity. It names why more intensity isn’t just ineffective sometimes, but genuinely risky. I really appreciate how much care and patience is embedded here: structure as preparation, not failure; slowness as wisdom, not resistance. This reframes integration as the work, not the afterthought.
Thanks so much for your careful reading of this April. There’s so much that can happen in the journey for folks and so much more that gets cultivated and developed over time that has nothing to do with it!
Really appreciate this framing. It overlaps a lot with how I’ve been thinking about containment and capacity, though from more of a throughput / nervous-system angle. I wrote something recently on 5-MeO as a digestive catalyst rather than an intervention — about contact, pacing, and trainability — in case it’s of interest. https://open.substack.com/pub/pollems/p/experience-as-nourishment
Love this!! Yes, yes, yes to “Does this person need more structure in their sense of self, or more opening?” This is a valuable framework with any kind of therapeutic client navigating self with a new modality psychedelic or otherwise.
Agreed, love the vessel metaphor. Very graspable and clear. And makes a lot of sense how the compensatory type is both difficult to spot and more complex to work with. Really well written and insightful.
Thanks so much Harwood. Glad it feels useful and clear
This feels like such an important corrective to the “just add psychedelics” narrative. I love the vessel metaphor —especially the distinction between true openness and compensatory rigidity. It names why more intensity isn’t just ineffective sometimes, but genuinely risky. I really appreciate how much care and patience is embedded here: structure as preparation, not failure; slowness as wisdom, not resistance. This reframes integration as the work, not the afterthought.
Thanks so much for your careful reading of this April. There’s so much that can happen in the journey for folks and so much more that gets cultivated and developed over time that has nothing to do with it!
Really appreciate this framing. It overlaps a lot with how I’ve been thinking about containment and capacity, though from more of a throughput / nervous-system angle. I wrote something recently on 5-MeO as a digestive catalyst rather than an intervention — about contact, pacing, and trainability — in case it’s of interest. https://open.substack.com/pub/pollems/p/experience-as-nourishment
Love this!! Yes, yes, yes to “Does this person need more structure in their sense of self, or more opening?” This is a valuable framework with any kind of therapeutic client navigating self with a new modality psychedelic or otherwise.