Yeah, Pandora is right, it's a tricky one cuz you'll end up self suggesting via preflight anxiety, you've got to relax and not worry, it'll be great (seriously) and you've got to go into it with that attitude, SWIM has had some success with "influencing" his journey by going into the trip with an intention in mind...I've even read reports that simply smiling whilst going in creates a happy trip...
Set and setting is important, and pre pre-flight anxiety can prevent you from enjoying yourself.... but even then spice isn't known for going wrong... one of SWIMs most pleasant combinations ever was a dab of MD, a hit of acid 30 mins later and 5mg diazapam 30 mins after that... obviously this isn't a strong trippy combo or anything like spice, but I'm interested in how it worked so well, basically, the MD put SWIM in a good mood which makes a good set and setting (never do lsd in a bad mood), the acid enchanced colors and made thoughts creative, but the MD blocked "mind f*", and then having the diazapam completely removed all anxiety which made the trip very easy, great mood, no worries, even bad trips can be OK if you can learn to enjoy it... swim has even found that just having valium on hand (not even taking them) cures pre flight anxiety because I know just having them there means that if the trip goes wrong, I've effectively got a stop switch that I can hit at any time. Very useful drug, but you've got to watch it cuz it's really addictive... for me it's just a cure for PFA, but it's also great if you're coming down after a night out...
I may get flamed for even mentioning valium, but honestly, it's really useful if you don't abuse it... it was just an example of how powerful suggestion and pre-flight anxiety can be, cuz if you remove that then SWIM always has a good time. It's like that phrase, "the only thing you have to fear is fear itself".
Lastly, there are loads of different ways to try spice and the experiences are all worth trying, silence, darkness, inside, outside, eyes open, eyes closed, music (which often influences the "theme" of the visuals, listening to aphex twin is a frantic lsd like theme, where as boards of canada is a natural feeling dreamy like thing, SWIM has had odd experiences with words in music every time, they are just too jarring, not unpleasant, but it's like when you hear 2 tracks playing at the same time).. all of these variations create radically different experiences, but SWIM has found that any influences from the "real" world will ground the trip, SWIM can actually talk to people whilst in hyperspace, but the more you do it the more it brings you back to reality... eyes open, the world is completely augmented, including new entities all around me, eyes closed, SWIM visits a completely new reality.
I suspect ear plugs and blindfold would shoot you into a completely different world all together... but you have a choice of how "grounded" you want to be by how much real world influence is present... SWIM thinks.
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