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Hi! I'm Mike Slavin.

🌀🐇 #20: app for consciousness expansion, tool to reduce anxiety,

Published about 3 years ago • 4 min read

⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

Can't miss gems of the weird and wonderful

🔊Giants: A gorgeous light and sound art installation from Nonotak Studios in Brazil. See it here.

🎨Loving Vincent: The world's first animated feature-length film composed entirely of oil paintings for each of its 65,000 frames. Watch the trailer here.

🏄‍♀️Wavepaths: A virtual space with music designed to guide you to a state of calm from an organization committed to designing new experiential medicines. Experience here.

🍄Trip App: Make the most of your consciousness-expanding experiences with this app designed to help you capture breakthrough insights. Get it here.

🍱Komuso Shift: Reduce anxiety with this natural tool inspired by Japanese monks and designed to improve breathing. Learn more here.

🎇 Image of The Week

This is a photo of a lunar halo taken by Goran Strand: "When I took this photo it was -16°C and the air was filled with small ice crystals that made this halo possible. This is the regular 22° halo that is more common to seen around the Sun. For a lunar halo to be visible the moonlight needs to be quite strong to make the halo visible, so it's more common around the days of a full moon. Last night the moon was 90% lit so almost full."

🌊 ️Tidal Wave Choices

There are certain decisions we can make in life that lead to cascading possibilities. They can open up worlds that previously remained out of reach.

It's easy to imagine wild and heroic acts that lead to transformation.

But oftentimes impactful change can start quite simply.

A mundane choice that at face value seems to be of little consequence. Something that feels completely realistic and reasonable.

But in walking through that door, a domino effect begins that fundamentally alters your life.

New relationships. New skills. New narratives. New trajectories.

There is an email you can write.

There is a phone call you can make.

There is a question you can ask.

There is a habit you can start.

There is a truth you can speak.

All of these things can serve as Tidal Wave Choices.

They look small in the moment but in time set off tsunamis of change in your life.

A small momentary break from the gravitational pull of your everyday routine can reorganize what orbits into your world.

Take a moment to ask yourself...

"What is a Tidal Wave Choice I could make right now?"

I dare you to do it.

🌎 The Why of Life

Some beautiful words on love from Gerald G. May:

“There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake. It is the Human desire for Love. Every person in this Earth yearns to love, to be loved, to know love. Our true identity, our reason for being is to be found in this desire. Love is the “why” of life, why we are functioning at all. I am convinced it is the fundamental energy of the human spirit. the fuel on which we run, the wellspring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity, of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible. Love should come first, it should be the beginning of, and the reason for everything.”

🤓 Learn This Words

aftersome: from the dictionary of obscure sorrows "adj. astonished to think back on the bizarre sequence of accidents that brought you to where you are today—as if you’d spent years bouncing down a Plinko pegboard, passing through a million harmless decision points, any one of which might’ve changed everything—which makes your long and winding path feel fated from the start, yet so unlikely as to be virtually impossible."

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article

How to Suffer Successfully: Post-Traumatic Growth & Nietzschean Resilience

"In recent years, psychologists have become aware of the phenomenon known as ‘post-traumatic growth.’ This term was coined by the psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun, who interviewed many people who had suffered traumatic life events such as bereavement, serious illness (such as cancer), house fires, violence, and becoming refugees. They found that for many of these people, dealing with trauma was a powerful spur for personal development.

These people didn’t just learn how to cope with or adjust to their negative experiences; they actually gained some significant benefits from them. In Tedeschi and Calhoun’s terms, they experienced ‘positive life changes.’ They gained a new inner strength and discovered skills and abilities they never knew they possessed. They became more confident and appreciative of life, particularly of the ‘small things’ that they used to take for granted. They became more compassionate towards those who suffer and more comfortable with intimacy, so that they had deeper and more satisfying relationships. It was also common that they become more philosophical and spiritual in their outlook. In Tedeschi and Caohoun’s words, these peoples’ suffering led them to a deeper level of awareness."

[Keep Reading]

🎬 Endnote and Invitation

If you've made it this far, you are a true DTRH reader. Here's a brief invitation for you:

If you want expert guidance in pursuing your highest calling, whether that means finally launching your creative project or earning a meaningful income, we’re inviting a small group of dedicated individuals to partake in a one-of-a-kind transformational experience to express your unique gifts as you advance your personal mission. If this strikes a note of curiosity, reply to this email saying “tell me more” and we’ll send additional details. Limited spaces remain.

We hope you enjoyed this issue of Down The Rabbit Hole. Feel free to reply and tell us what you think.

Share this with a friend and brighten up their day. Simply click forward and send it their way. We'll love you for it too. :)

With Wonder,

Mike Slavin & The HighExistence Team

P.S. Did a friend forward you this email? Read previous issues and sign-up to receive future issues here: https://highexistence.com/rabbithole

Hi! I'm Mike Slavin.

I write Down The Rabbit Hole. This newsletter is your weekly window into wonder.

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