When life becomes hectic, it’s difficult to appreciate the here and now. Work, bills, family, emails, messages – the list goes on, and – it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle.
Running from one thing to the next, we lose sight of the present moment.
And forgetting the power of now is a perfect recipe for stress, which can lead to all sorts of health issues.
So mindfulness is an essential factor. Not just for stress, but for all aspects of your life and health.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, mindfulness is defined as, “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.”
Clearly, mindfulness has a positive impact on our lives, and there are many ways to tap into that energy and be mindful.
With a little bit of guidance, cannabis can be a great tool to maintain and cultivate your sense of mindfulness.
If you do want to use cannabis in this way, here are some guiding principles to keep in mind.
Intention Shapes Experience
Intention is one of the biggest factors in getting the absolute most therapeutic value from cannabis. Getting crystal clear on why you’re using this plant to begin with.
Consider what you’re looking to get out of the plant before partaking. What kind of mind-body-spirit values do you want to focus on?
Are you looking to practice prayer? How about meditation or even humility? Or maybe you want to use cannabis to get closer to somebody in your life.
Setting your intention before dosing will help guide your high toward a meaningful experience.
Creating a Conscious Environment
Choosing the right environment is another critical aspect of mindful cannabis use, and it goes in hand with intention.
For example, when using cannabis with the intention of enhancing your sense of inner awareness and reflection – you might want to be in a quiet, peaceful place. Or maybe you want to lose yourself during a nature hike or while taking in the local Symphony.
The point is, be mindful about when and where you’re consuming and try to curate environments that match your intent.
Awareness and Responsible Use is Key
As with all gifts from the earth, respect and honor can make all the difference. When used irresponsibly, cannabis can be more harmful than helpful.
Anytime you consider consuming cannabis, there are three questions you can ask yourself to make sure you’re practicing responsible use:
#1) Why do I want to consume cannabis right now?
#2) Is this an ideal time and place to consume cannabis?
#3) Would it be better to wait until later?
And you want to practice the same sort of awareness with your dosage levels. Are you consuming more than your body actually needs? Or maybe you’re not consuming enough?
Therapeutic dosage ranges are different for each person so only you can decide what works for you. Don’t be afraid to play, experiment, and try new things – including 48-hour tolerance breaks and micro-dosing – often times less is more.
Cannabis is a Personal Journey
With cannabis, there is no one-size-fits-all. Everybody has different reactions and experiences with this plant, and it always takes a process of trial and error to find what works best for you.
With practice, people go on to develop incredibly complex cannabis regimens to enhance their quality of life – essentially turning this plant into their own medicine cabinet – medicine for mind, body, and spirit.
And although we’ve talked about intent, environment, responsible use – we haven’t touched upon this: actually tracking your cannabis use.
Between dosage level, strain variety, product, consumption method, time of day, intent, environment, and the actual outcome of the experience – recording all of those details is essential for discovering what works for you and what doesn’t.
It’s called strain tracking, and if you use something like Green Flower’s strain tracker, you can really crank up the mindfulness around your cannabis use in every possible way.
Cannabis Is an Ancient Tradition
If you love to use cannabis for mindfulness or spirituality, you’re not alone. For thousands of years, people have been using this sacred herb in very personal ways.
