Phil Stille, Clearwater, FL (2026)

01/23/2026

If you take a break from w**d and it results in you feeling off, disconnected, lacking drive or other withdrawals, it can be easy to have this internal feeling that we have been bad. Or that we have wasted a certain amount of time.

These feelings are usually stimulated by the experience of withdrawal effects.

For what it’s worth, these sorts of effects from taking a break from cannabis make complete sense when you take a look at how cannabis interacts with our entire body.

Our endocannabinoid system has been working with it for a while, so the disruption in what it’s taking in creates varying forms of temporary imbalance. But that makes sense. The same idea happens for someone who drinks coffee for a couple decades and then just does a hard stop.

The body and mind are going to react and adjust to accommodate the shift.

And if you do have that sense of feeling like you’ve wasted time with it, here’s what matters: how you consistently frame things, whether consciously or unconsciously. If you consistently are concerned about time or wasting it, you likely will.

But if you begin to change how you think about time and how you relate to it, the subconscious mind adjusts and then you see the benefits of it.

If you feel that however long you were using cannabis was a waste of time or a mistake, allow me to offer a reframe that takes away the negative framing of time there:

“Man, I sure used w**d for a super long time. And I know that I feel some negative with it right now. But I am making the changes to address that. And in reality, I can see how due to my history it makes sense that I used it for so long. To be fair, it’s been very helpful in those ways. And now that I am here, the contrast of my history serves me. It’s what led me to this change I am making.”

This process of practicing presence with how you frame your experience and the perspectives and emotions that arise is rewiring the mind and nervous system in real time. When practiced consistently, as time goes on, the benefits stack.

01/20/2026

When anxiety shows up with cannabis, it’s not the plant causing it. The plant is illuminating something deeper that’s yet to be explored or let go of. It’s easy to feel like anxiety needs to be fixed or run from, but it’s actually something to embrace, experience, process, and allow.

That said, if you find yourself in the middle of an anxious experience and need to calm your nervous system down, breathwork expert Christopher August shared a technique that works well in these moments:

Extended Exhale Breathing:
∙ 4-count inhale through the nose (slow and steady)
∙ 8-count exhale through the mouth (like blowing through a straw)
∙ 10-15 cycles
This slows everything down and calms the system.

This breathing exercise can be practiced in these moments and even other challenging moments where the nervous system is activated. If done consistently when those moments occur, it contributes to the processing and allowing of the anxiety rather than resisting it.

Rare exceptions aside, the plant is just bringing to the surface deeper dissonance or repressed emotions. When you meet that with awareness and tools like this, the experience becomes an opportunity for growth and nervous system regulation.

01/20/2026

This research was motivated by a pattern I’ve noticed over the years in my work with clients and through messages and comments.

Many people genuinely like the benefits of cannabis, yet also feel it contributes to laziness, lack of focus, or low motivation. Underneath that conflict is almost always guilt around using the plant.

Most of that guilt is a byproduct of Harry Anslinger and a small group of others who spun up a negative narrative around cannabis nearly a century ago. At the time, political interests and other industries saw the plant as infringing on their profits, which led to propaganda like Re**er Madness.

Watching it today is laughable, but it marked the beginning of decades of research that was always intended to find harm.
Historically, researchers have not been able to receive federal funding to study cannabis unless they were specifically looking to prove negative effects.

What I’ve found is that spending time learning from individuals, scientists, and researchers who seek to understand the plant rather than vilify it contributes greatly to dissolving this deeper layer of guilt. Some of the people doing sound work in this space include Dr. Riley Kirk, Dr. Peter Grinspoon, and Dr. Benjamin Caplan.

Listening to one podcast or reading a single well-reasoned article won’t immediately change things like low motivation, low energy, or low drive. But if you’re working toward a more intentional relationship with the plant, this kind of research helps significantly. I’ve been recommending Riley Kirk’s book Re**er Wellness to many people for this reason.

The research referenced in this video shows that daily cannabis users who are genuinely thriving share a common thread: intentional use for self-development. They use cannabis alongside exercise, meditation, journaling, creative work. Not to escape or numb out, but to facilitate introspection, creativity, and self-exploration. They take breaks when needed. They stay sharp.

The key distinction:
Are you using cannabis mostly to connect, or to disconnect?
If you’re using daily and feeling shame or guilt about it, that question usually matters more than how much you’re consuming.

01/18/2026

Been thinking about taking a break from w**d for a while but haven’t quite been able to make it happen yet?

For anyone who’s wanting to let go of it (or at least see what life looks like without it for a bit), there’s a common underlying pattern.

Most people who struggle to take a break haven’t addressed the underlying emotional dissonance that made them reach for cannabis in the first place.

For most people, that first experience with cannabis feels appealing because there’s an undercurrent of emotional dissonance. This could be disagreements with parents or partners, loneliness, concern about the future. Usually it’s not seen in the moment. It’s more of a simple “that sounds good” and then “damn, that feels good” once you’re using.

These deeper relief-seeking parts of your subconscious continue to push you toward more indulgence.

The only thing is, the longer this dissonance gets suppressed by cannabis, the more your endocannabinoid system loses its ability to naturally regulate stress. Which leads to feeling like you’re in a foggy, stagnant cannabis cycle. Low motivation, trouble focusing, procrastination, lack of fulfillment, or just feeling like there’s this hazy filter over life.

Years later, you want to take a break, but something keeps pulling you back. The same pattern shows up with sugar, scrolling, and even caffeine. Different outlets, same underlying dissonance.

In most cases, the shifts desired come from addressing what’s underneath, not from solely trying to control the behavior itself.

01/15/2026

Feeling that w**d might be holding you back is a sign it’s possibly a form of self-sabotage or an unconscious coping mechanism. That doesn’t mean the w**d is bad.

The best thing we can do is pattern interrupt when we’re going to it unconsciously, when it is a form of self-sabotage. That’s usually when there’s some level of discontent under the surface going on, related to work, relationships, fulfillment, or life in general.

If this resonates with you, and you would like to forge an intentional relationship with cannabis, you can begin by noticing any time you’re using it to disconnect, and work to pattern interrupt in that moment. Then shift your attention, intention, or move your body. Take a walk. Engage with someone uplifting. Do something you love. Change your mental and physical state, then see if you still want to indulge.

If you end up indulging anyway, you would still be creating a new pattern with how you engage with it. Continue with doing this when you go to cannabis, and you will begin to notice a difference in the effects you get from it as well as any habitual or impulsive patterns you may have.

There are differences in how the plant affects us based on mood and environment. This is because cannabis interacts with the endocannabinoid system, a system in the body that’s deeply involved in mood, stress regulation, and emotional processing.

As with other psychoactive substances, this effect is shaped by “set and setting,” or the mindset and environment you’re in when you use it.

At the end of the day, it’s not about fixing a w**d habit. It’s about changing your relationship to the w**d.

01/13/2026

Rewiring your mind is also rewriting your story.
Your subconscious is a byproduct of the words, thoughts, and beliefs presented to you throughout your childhood and early adulthood. That was the story your subconscious mind inherited.

There’s massive benefit in becoming conscious of what thoughts are in your head and installing new ones. Even when you feel resistance when trying to focus on positively framed thoughts or reactions, that’s just old conditioning.

We’re creating new neurological pathways until they become stronger than the preceding.

When you look at it simply, this is just brain training. But it’s not a linear gym where Monday is back and biceps. This is a non-linear gym. The work happens in real time as patterns emerge throughout your day. An ongoing process of framing and reframing thoughts and reactions.

Even somatic and central nervous system practices contribute to installing new software into the hardware of your subconscious.

Consistently becoming aware of your thoughts and intentionally reframing them creates real, measurable changes in the brain and nervous system. Research on neuroplasticity shows that interrupting automatic patterns and choosing new responses strengthens alternative neural pathways over time, making them more accessible.

This leads to reduced emotional reactivity, improved stress regulation, clearer thinking, and greater cognitive flexibility. As these new patterns stabilize, people often experience increased focus, motivation, and a stronger sense of agency, not because life becomes easier, but because their internal response system becomes more adaptive.

With continued practice, this form of brain training gradually shifts your baseline from reactive to responsive, creating compounding benefits in clarity, resilience, and emotional steadiness.

The more you do this, the more you see the benefit. 🙏🏼

01/10/2026

If you smoke w**d consistently and the bulk of the time you’re using it is when you’re stressed, there are some long-term effects worth looking into.

Doing this consistently over time reduces your endocannabinoid system’s natural ability to regulate stress. What starts as relief eventually contributes to more brain fog, anxiety, and emotional imbalance.

This isn’t a PSA to stop using the plant. It’s about shifting how and when you interact with it.

Here’s what helps: use your triggers as your teachers. Whatever irritates you, makes you sad, makes you feel down about yourself, or creates any element of stress, use that moment as a signal. Interrupt the pattern. Change the framing. Change the meaning of the experience in the moment.

If you consistently work to show up for yourself in these moments with intention, you will be beginning to regulate your nervous system on the go. It becomes a portable practice. Over time, the triggers dissolve. So does the compulsion.

If this resonates and you’re ready to shift your relationship with cannabis and build these skills, I put together a resource to help you start and set your foundation. Message me the word ‘Clear’ and I’ll send it over to you.

01/09/2026

If you like w**d but want more control over how much or when you use it, here’s a shift that can help.

Before you reach for cannabis, pause and take three breaths. Check in with yourself. Are you trying to disconnect from something? Soothe emotional distress? Even if it’s mild discomfort, notice it.

Then shift your intention. Take a walk, call someone for an uplifting conversation, journal, do yoga, or just sit and watch the birds. Let your nervous system calm and regulate.
Once you’re in a better state, you’ll often find you don’t want to use anymore. But if you do, at least you’ve shifted the state you’re bringing to it.

Stick with this process, and this simple practice becomes rewiring. Compulsion, like any automatic pattern, lives in deeply embedded neural networks and pathways.

Every time you catch the pattern and choose differently, you’re building new pathways. Over time, the compulsion dissolves. Not because you’re forcing yourself to quit, but because you’re actively wiring an intentional relationship with the plant.

01/08/2026

Cannabis does not mix well with unconscious shame.

Most people carry unconscious shame without realizing it. You can see it in their work, their relationships, how they feel when they are alone, and how quickly they reach for distraction like their phone.

Cannabis is a psychedelic plant. It has a way of bringing what is underneath to the surface. If there is unresolved shame beneath the surface, it often shows up as anxiety, fog, lethargy, or emotional reactivity. The form it takes can vary from person to person.

We now know through science that thoughts and emotions directly affect the physical body. That relationship is foundational, and it is something far more people should be paying attention to.

Carl Jung put it simply:
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

I’ve been doing this work for a while. Cannabis used to create anxiety for me. I felt lazy, stressed, and easily triggered by small things.

When I committed to going inward, regulating my nervous system, reshaping my subconscious inner narrative, and intentionally releasing shame as it surfaced, those effects gradually fell away.

Now I feel consistently clear headed, grounded, motivated, and fulfilled. The stress is minimal. The fog is gone.

And cannabis stayed.

01/07/2026

If you want to quit w**d but haven’t had success yet, your best path forward might be to stop focusing on quitting it.

This isn’t an attempt to convince you not to take time away from it or to quit altogether. It’s simply an alternative idea worth considering.

The core issue is this: there is often unconscious pressure from your past layered on top of your conscious reasons for wanting to quit. That pressure actually makes the process harder, not easier.

My suggestion, if you’re open to it, applies whether you want to quit entirely, take a break, or build an intentional relationship with cannabis that’s free of fog and stagnation.

Address the source of the unconscious pressure first.

When that pressure begins to lift, two things tend to happen. Either the urge to quit becomes much clearer and easier to act on, or the compulsive pull toward the plant naturally weakens. In many cases, both.

This isn’t a woo-woo idea. It’s nuanced, and everyone’s situation is different. But one thing is consistent across the board: we all carry repressed emotions and subconscious resistance from earlier stages of life until we make the effort, as Carl Jung put it, to make the unconscious conscious.

There are many ways to begin addressing the root of subconscious resistance or self-sabotage. Two practical starting points are:

First, seek out a more current, well-researched understanding of cannabis, if you haven’t already. Be mindful not just of what you research, but where it’s coming from. Much of the unconscious resistance people carry around cannabis is a byproduct of decades of conditioned narratives shaped by political interests and pharmaceutical influence, not neutral science.

Second, begin working with the body, not just the mind. Somatic practices and nervous system regulation are foundational. When the nervous system feels safer and more regulated, the need for compulsive relief mechanisms often softens on its own.

From there, everything becomes more workable.

01/06/2026

If you’re working on creating a new life for yourself, there’s one place you’re almost guaranteed to meet unconscious resistance.

It shows up when you share your vision with people who aren’t ready to receive it.

If someone isn’t truly happy in their own life, they’ll often have unconscious resistance to your happiness. Whether it shows up as open discouragement or a quiet shrug, that resistance can affect your subconscious belief in what you’re building.

In the early stages of rewiring your mind, this matters. Not because they’re right, but because your subconscious registers their doubt.

So if you catch yourself about to share your vision with someone who likely won’t receive it well, interrupt the pattern. Turn inward. Speak to yourself about it instead.

If that feels awkward, do it until it doesn’t. There’s far more value in reinforcing your vision with your own unconscious mind than presenting it to someone who’s going to have resistance toward it.

01/05/2026

Whenever I’ve quit w**d in the past, self-sabotage would show up somewhere else. I’ve seen this same pattern play out for many people who try to forcefully let go of the plant.

One of the most common replacements is excess screen time, especially first thing in the morning and late at night. Around 85% of people are on their phones within the first 15 minutes of waking up. Most don’t recognize it as self-sabotage, but it often is.

The thing is, self-sabotage isn’t something to fear or run from. It’s something to understand and address.

We address it by working at the root level. That means reshaping how the mind is conditioned and learning to regulate the nervous system, rather than just removing one behavior and hoping everything else falls into place.

“Rewiring the mind” can sound vague or even a little woo-woo, but that does not mean its not true-true. :-)

If you want a clearer breakdown of what it actually means in practical terms, I explain it more in a recent pinned post on FB.

Wherever you are with cannabis, with scrolling, or with your current levels of clarity and motivation, my best advice is this: don’t try to fight or fix self-sabotage directly.

Instead, start making small, intentional shifts that support and address these deeper aspects of you that are asking for attention. That’s where lasting change actually begins.

Phil Stille

01/23/2026

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