You might’ve been taught in school that intelligence is the most important factor when it comes to business or life success, but let us break something to you — that’s not quite true.
In today’s modern world, information is everywhere. And when something is everywhere, its inherent value goes down, down, down. “If more information was the answer,” affirms writer and CBD Baby founder Derek Sivers, “then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.”
What really counts in modern times isn’t sheer intelligence, but creativity. Creativity is what enables a person to actually make sense of all the info out there without losing the forest for the trees; creativity is what allows a person to connect interrelated concepts in a fresh, new, unexpected way.
And if you need to tap into your creative side, you’ll find an ally in plant products. Everything from entry-level CBD usage to heroic psilocybin trips has been shown to boost creativity. Here are 5 ways you can become more creative and learn more about yourself.
- Try CBD
- Try a Cannabis Hybrid
- Wake & Bake
- Microdose with Shrooms
- Journal In the Third Person
1. Try CBD
CBD may not be very psychoactive, but it sure is a creativity-booster.
How does that work? It’s less about what CBD adds to one’s mind…and more about what CBD seems to take away. Those who use CBD consistently notice that distractions of virtually every sort start to fade: anxieties, fears, insecurities, et cetera.
Are you a chronic creative who can’t part with your phone long enough to put pen to paper? CBD could help you shut out these types of distractions, too, and focus on what really matters. Its ability to rewire the brain may reduce the reward systems associated with distracting behaviours.
Studies have shown CBD may reduce the addictiveness of everything from sugar to opioids to cocaine; according to this study, “CBD [may] be indirectly beneficial in drug addiction due to its beneficial effects in the treatment of common substance-use disorder comorbidities and complications.”
So if addiction and/or dependence to, well, anything is killing your productivity, the evidence hints that CBD might help.
CBD’s gentle inner workings may even help you put fears where they belong — that is, in the past. “CBD can enhance consolidation of extinction learning in humans suggesting that this cannabinoid may have potential as an adjunct to extinction-based therapies for anxiety disorders,” stated one fascinating study.
2. Try a Cannabis Hybrid
If you thought Indica’s and Sativa’s were good, then you’re sure to love cannabis hybrids.
Sure, most types of cannabis seem to be good for bringing out one’s creative side. But while Indica’s may heighten creativity while making you so tired that you can’t actually apply it, and while Sativa’s may make you so energized that you’re content to just keep on keeping one, only cannabis hybrids really present the best of both worlds. Hybrids allow you to have your creativity and use it, too.
And depending on what type of boost you’re looking for, different hybrids have different effects. Gorilla Glue #4 is known and loved for a cerebral high that’ll make generating new ideas a breeze; Krazy Glue’s 20% THC content facilitates euphoria and creative endeavors all at once.
You might even consider a hybrid with some CBD content. This cannabinoid, after all, has known “wake-promoting” effects that could make using your newfound creative side easy!
3. Wake & Bake
If you want to embrace your creative side, you should know one thing: it’s important to start the day off right.
Seriously. Many of the brightest polymaths and thinkers of old credited their success to their adherence to a favourite morning routine. This routine differed greatly from one person to the next, of course; for Ben Franklin it was “early to bed and early to rise,” while for others it entailed forgoing the alarm clock and sleeping in till noon. The only metric that actually matters for a morning routine is that it’s tailor-made for you.
And many people find that waking and baking works amazingly well for them. In case you’re unaware, “wake and bake” is slang for consuming cannabis (usually large amounts of cannabis, though microdosing may also qualify) almost immediately after waking up.
Giving your brain a fresh dose of cannabinoids first thing in the morning might be just the thing to get your creative juices flowing and start the day off right.
4. Microdose with Shrooms
Of all the creativity-boosting techniques and tactics tested here, this one is probably the most powerful. Microdosing with psilocybin can simply supercharge your brain’s neuronal hardwiring. Psilocybin ‘shrooms have been conclusively tied to higher creativity, improved neuroplasticity, faster neurogenesis, and more.
Expert Mycologist Paul Stamets is such a believer that he has a patent on one particular blend of psilocybes, niacin, and lion’s mane. According to him, this combo is great for “enhancing neurogenesis, resolving neuropathy, and improving neurological health and functioning.”
Microdosing could also make your problem-solving abilities skyrocket. We’ve personally witnessed this after just a few days of low-dose psilocybin. Little problems that you might’ve spent weeks or months pondering tend to just dissolve away — and these are problems that no amount of logical thought was getting you out of!
Take psilocybin, though, and seemingly out of nowhere the right solution appears. It’s almost trippy, though no actual tripping is required. Stamets credits several of his other inventions, including one to save the world’s honeybee population, to the enhanced problem-solving that comes with microdosing.
You might even find the right solution to yet-unsolved personal development hangups. Have you always been anxious? Microdosing might help you realize — and eliminate — the cause(s) of your latent anxiety. It might just help you realize that there’s nothing to be afraid of at all.
Going even deeper, psilocybin could help your reconceptualize what it means to have “problems” in the first place. What if your perceived problems were only, well, problematic if you failed to learn anything from them? And given microdosing and learning go hand in hand, we think you’ll find it makes dealing with life’s stressors considerably easier.
This effect is especially strong when you combine a solid microdosing plan with a solid journaling technique. More on this insightful combo up next.
5. Journal In the Third Person
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”
– Richard Phillips Feynman
OK, we’ll admit it: this fifth and final technique doesn’t have much to do with plant products. But what’s life without a little variety? Besides, you’re going to need something to actually do when enjoying the effects of said plant products!
And while journaling in the third person might sound trippy, we’d encourage you to try it. The mechanism through which it works is actually pretty simple. You know how it’s easy to objectively view the lives of others and identify what they could improve about themselves?
Well, journaling in the third person allows you to get a little bit closer to viewing yourself as an ‘other’. Journaling in the third person makes it harder for you to continue fooling yourself.
Plus we’d argue that it goes perfectly with the psychedelic experience, which often includes some degree of transcendence out of the physical body and into a more conscious collective. Journaling + tripping might be just the way to figure out what God / the universe / your higher self wants you to…as opposed to what your ego wants you to do. We know whose will we’d rather choose!