Before embarking on a psychedelic experience, defining your values and intentions is crucial. The psychedelic state is an amplified state of consciousness that can provide unique insights into oneself and one’s values. However, to fully benefit from these insights, preparatory self-reflection is essential.
That’s why at FLO Coaching, we often use the Bull’s Eye values exercise as a framework for pre-session coaching. The Bull’s Eye is a powerful tool for clarifying your personal values across the key domains of work, relationships, personal growth, and leisure. Defining values in these areas will provide an intention and North Star to navigate any insights that emerge during your psychedelic session.
Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the exercise begins with an open reflection on what is most important to you in these four domains. The instructions emphasize tuning into your heart’s deepest desires for how you want to live, relate, and grow. This reflection primes you to get in touch with your core values. Next, you plot your current alignment with these values on the Bull’s Eye dartboard. This visual representation highlights the gaps between your ideal and current state. Finally, you identify obstacles and commit to action steps to live more aligned with your clarified values.
Part 1: The Bull’s Eye Reflection
The first step of the Bull’s Eye exercise is to reflect on your values in four key domains: work/education, relationships, personal growth, and leisure. Consider the following prompts:
Work/Education: How do you want to be towards colleagues, employees, and customers? How do you show up to work as a person?
For example: “I want to be seen as a thoughtful, supportive leader who empowers my team members to develop their skills.”
Relationships: What kind of relationships do you want to build? How do you want to be in these relationships?
For example: “I aspire to be a loving, attentive partner who actively nurtures intimacy through open communication.”
Personal Growth: How do you want to develop as a human being? What matters to you spiritually? How do you want to care for your health?
For example: “I aim to keep growing into my most authentic, expressive self through creativity, community service, and spiritual practices like yoga and meditation.”
Leisure: How do you want to relax, have fun, and follow your passions?
For example: “I want to make time for activities that stimulate me intellectually such as reading, writing, taking courses, and engaging with art.”
Take time with this reflection until you have touched on your core values in each domain. Write them down for clarity.
Next, plot where you currently stand relative to these values by making an X on each quadrant of the Bull’s Eye. Put your X near the bull’s eye if you feel aligned in that area of life, or further away if you have lost connection with your value.
By visually representing your current alignment across the four domains, you can see which areas you want to focus on.
Part 2: Identifying Obstacles
Now consider: what is getting in the way of you living by your clarified values? How much are these obstacles holding you back?
For example, you may value being an attentive partner, but identify the obstacle of frequently being preoccupied and disengaged. Or you may value sustaining a consistent meditation practice for personal growth, but identify lack of motivation and procrastination as obstacles.
Name the obstacles, then rate how much they prevent you from living aligned with your values, from 1 (not at all) to 7 (completely). This highlights the gaps to focus on closing.
Part 3: Valued Action Plan
The final step is to commit to action steps – small steps you can take regularly – to move your X closer to the Bull’s Eye in each domain. Consider realistic actions aligned with your values that you can integrate into your daily or weekly routine.
For example:
- Relationships: Have a focused check-in conversation with my partner every evening
- Personal Growth: Meditate for 10 minutes within 1 hour of waking up each day
- Leisure: Schedule one new recreational activity per week that stimulates my creativity
By clarifying your values and committing to ongoing actions, you build self-awareness and motivation to align your life with what matters most deeply. This foundation prepares you for a powerful psychedelic experience centred around your unique values.
In the next section, we will explore how to take these values of clarity into your psychedelic session intention setting.
Setting Intentions with Value Clarity
Having clarified your values through the Bull’s Eye exercise, you now have an anchor point to set meaningful intentions for your psychedelic session.
Intentions help direct focus but should connect to your broader life values and aspirations. Otherwise, it’s easy to get lost in abstract thoughts or ruminations during an expanded state of consciousness. Your values are like roots that ground the tree of your trip.
Some tips for setting values-aligned intentions:
- Re-read your Bull’s Eye responses before your session to prime yourself back into your values mindset. Recall what core domains you want to focus growth in.
- Consider one or two specific questions to explore related to obstacles you identified via Bull’s Eye. For example: “How can I motivate myself to meditate consistently?” “How do I stay present when connecting with my partner?”
- Use concise intention statements that call back to your values words. For example: “I intend to gain insights into how to build deeper intimacy in my relationships.” “I intend to find creative inspiration that connects with my purpose.”
- Share your intention statements out loud with your guides and remind yourself of them as you transition into your psychedelic space. Revisiting them if you feel untethered during your journey.
By anchoring yourself in your values when setting intentions, you direct the psychedelic experience to expand your self-knowledge in service of your highest aspirations. Rather than just having a “trip”, you turn insight into embodied growth.
After your session, revisiting your Bull’s Eye to integrate insights is recommended. Coaching can support you in bridging between your vision and your new knowledge. Ultimately, values exploration is a lifelong process of clarifying how to live a purposeful, fulfilling life.
We hope this primer has illuminated how foundational values work can guide and anchor your psychedelic journey. The Bull’s Eye reflection is a simple but profound centring practice. When complemented by mindful, values-aligned intention setting, it provides the perfect launch pad for liftoff into your inner depths.
