Finding Your True Self: How Psilocybin Aligns You with Your Authentic Values

Have you ever felt like you're living someone else's life? Going through the motions of what you're "supposed" to do, pursuing goals that society deems important, while a quiet voice inside whispers that this isn't really you? This disconnection from our authentic selves isn't a personal failing—it's often a response to systemic pressures: capitalism's demand for productivity over presence, cultural conditioning about who we should be, and trauma responses that taught us to hide our true nature for safety.

Recent research suggests that psilocybin therapy creates a unique opportunity for "values realignment," helping people rediscover their authentic selves in ways that persist long after the experience ends. This isn't about imposing new values—it's about clearing away accumulated debris so you can finally see what was there all along.

Understanding Values and Authenticity

Values are the core principles that guide how we want to live—not what we think we should value, but what genuinely resonates with our deepest sense of meaning. They might include connection with others, creative expression, environmental stewardship, compassion, justice, or spiritual growth. Authentic values feel intrinsically meaningful rather than externally imposed.

The problem is that many of us lose touch with authentic values through processes that begin early and compound throughout life. Childhood experiences teach us which parts of ourselves are acceptable. Cultural messaging tells us that success means wealth and status rather than whatever genuinely fulfills us. Trauma responses prioritize safety over authenticity. Economic systems demand we organize lives around work rather than meaning.

This “values drift”—the divergence between who we are and who we've become—manifests as a persistent sense that something is wrong, that life feels hollow despite checking society's boxes. Research consistently links values-behavior alignment with psychological wellbeing, while chronic misalignment correlates with depression, anxiety, and meaninglessness.

Why We Lose Touch with Our True Selves

The disconnection from authentic values is produced by interlocking systemic forces. Capitalism conflates human worth with economic productivity, leaving little space for the contemplation necessary for authentic self-discovery. Dominant culture transmits narrow definitions of success that become internalized as truth. For marginalized people, the pressure to assimilate and suppress authentic self-expression is often a literal survival strategy.

Trauma fundamentally shapes how we relate to values. Survival often requires suppressing authentic needs and developing a "false self" that can navigate dangerous environments. These protective adaptations can persist long after threats have passed, leaving people disconnected from genuine desires.

Social media accelerates disconnection by constantly exposing us to curated versions of others' lives. We absorb others' values as if they were our own, losing track of what we actually want versus what looks desirable in our feeds.

The Road Home: What is Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy?

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound found in certain mushrooms, used for millennia in Indigenous healing practices. In modern therapeutic contexts, it involves carefully measured doses administered with professional guidance—fundamentally different from recreational use.

Treatment unfolds in three phases: preparation sessions where you clarify intentions and build trust; dosing sessions where you receive psilocybin in a supportive environment with therapeutic presence throughout the 6-8 hour experience; and integration sessions where you process insights and translate them into concrete life changes.

Colorado's Natural Medicine Health Act created legal, regulated access through licensed facilitators—a significant departure from prohibition rooted in racial control rather than public health. However, we must acknowledge that psilocybin mushrooms have been sacred medicines in Indigenous cultures for thousands of years. The contemporary "psychedelic renaissance" has often appropriated these traditions without proper recognition or reciprocity to Indigenous communities whose knowledge made this research possible.

Proof Positive: The Research on Psilocybin and Values Transformation

A groundbreaking 2021 study by Timmermann and colleagues directly investigated how psilocybin affects metaphysical beliefs and core values. Participants showed significant shifts away from rigid materialist perspectives toward worldviews emphasizing interconnection and meaning. These changes persisted for at least six months and correlated with improved mental health outcomes.

The magnitude of belief change was associated with "unitive experiences"—moments of profound connection with others, nature, or existence itself. These experiences challenge individualistic worldviews, opening participants to values centered on compassion and collective wellbeing rather than competition.

Complementary research documents how psilocybin enhances emotional empathy, increasing capacity to actually feel others' emotional states. Studies on "psychedelic unselfing" show how temporarily reducing ego-centered thinking allows access to broader perspectives and self-transcendent values including environmental stewardship, prosocial behavior, and spiritual awareness.

Neurobiological research suggests psilocybin disrupts the brain's default mode network—circuitry responsible for self-referential thinking and habitual sense of self. This creates enhanced neuroplasticity where rigid patterns can loosen and new perspectives become accessible.

Perhaps most remarkably, in one foundational study, 58% of participants rated the psilocybin experience as among the five most personally meaningful experiences of their lives, with 64% indicating it increased their wellbeing or life satisfaction—ratings which persisted 14 months later.

A New Look: How Psilocybin Facilitates Values Realignment

Psilocybin temporarily disrupts rigid mental patterns, creating neurological flexibility that allows examining inherited beliefs from fresh perspectives. Sessions frequently surface suppressed emotions and unresolved experiences, removing obstacles to authentic living through direct emotional experience rather than intellectual analysis.

Unitive experiences—where boundaries between self and other temporarily dissolve—fundamentally challenge individualistic worldviews. When you directly experience interconnection, values centered on compassion and collective wellbeing become natural expressions of lived truth rather than moral obligations.

The preparation, supportive environment, and integration are essential. Values realignment isn't a passive gift delivered by psilocybin but an active process the medicine catalyzes that you complete through ongoing reflection and behavioral change.

What Treatment Looks Like

Preparation involves multiple sessions to build trust, explore life patterns, and clarify intentions. For values work, this might include examining where you feel inauthentic and articulating questions you want to explore.

During dosing sessions, you may experience profound shifts in perspective, emotional processing, insights about unconscious patterns, and moments of deep connection. Trained facilitators remain present offering supportive presence with minimal intervention—wisdom emerges from within.

Integration is where theoretical insights become embodied reality. You'll explore: What values emerged as genuinely important? How can I reorganize my life around authentic values? What relationships or patterns need to change? What support do I need to sustain alignment?

Most protocols involve 1-3 psilocybin sessions over 2-4 months including preparation and integration.

Living Your Values in the World

Reconnecting with authentic values is profound, but the challenge lies in organizing your actual life around what genuinely matters. Living authentically often means choosing paths that confuse those invested in who you used to be. Cultural and economic systems resist authentic living—choosing differently means swimming against powerful currents.

Start with small, concrete actions aligned with rediscovered values. These create momentum and demonstrate that living authentically is possible within existing constraints. Navigate systemic barriers strategically: How can I create spaces of authenticity within constraints while working toward greater alignment over time?

Seek community—others who share your values or support your journey. Community provides both practical support and existential affirmation that your values are valid and collective liberation is possible.

Embrace ongoing evolution. Reconnecting with authentic values isn't a one-time event but an ongoing process of checking in with yourself, recognizing drift, and making course corrections.

Safety Profile and Considerations

Research demonstrates favorable safety profiles in therapeutic settings. Common temporary side effects include nausea (36% of participants), headaches, anxiety, elevated blood pressure, and visual changes—typically resolving within hours. Most side effects disappear within one week.

However, values work can be psychologically challenging. Confronting gaps between how you've lived and what genuinely matters may trigger grief or existential anxiety. Approximately 20% report significant anxiety during sessions, underscoring why professional support is essential.

Psilocybin isn't appropriate for those with personal or family history of psychotic disorders, certain cardiovascular conditions, or specific medication interactions. Thorough screening is essential for safety.

The cost—often several thousand dollars—remains prohibitive for many, creating inequitable access. Additionally, living authentically can have real-world consequences, particularly for marginalized people, inviting social, economic, or physical consequences.

Next Steps

The research reveals something both intimate and revolutionary: reconnecting with our authentic selves isn't merely personal healing but resistance against systems requiring our disconnection to function. When you live according to genuine values rather than inherited scripts, you withdraw participation from dehumanizing systems and model alternative possibilities.

The evidence is compelling: psilocybin-assisted therapy facilitates significant, sustained shifts toward values emphasizing interconnection, compassion, environmental stewardship, and authenticity. For those feeling disconnected from their authentic selves, psilocybin therapy offers a catalyst for remembering who you actually are beneath accumulated conditioning.

This isn't magic, and it isn't easy. Integration requires courage and willingness to make difficult changes. Living authentically in systems designed to suppress authenticity demands resilience, community support, and strategic navigation of constraints.

Colorado's pioneering role means this opportunity exists now. The question is whether you're ready to discover what's been waiting beneath the surface, and whether you're prepared to courageously organize your life around what you find there.

Ready to explore psilocybin-assisted therapy for values realignment in Colorado? Our experienced practitioner provides safe, legal, evidence-based treatment in a supportive environment. Join our email list: Contact Kykeon Wellness

Citations

1. Timmermann, C., Kettner, H., Letheby, C., Roseman, L., Rosas, F. E., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2021). Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs. Scientific Reports, 11(1), Article 22166. 

2. Kähönen, J. (2023). Psychedelic unselfing: Self-transcendence and change of values in psychedelic experiences. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1104627. 

3. Bhatt, K. V., & Weissman, C. R. (2024). The effect of psilocybin on empathy and prosocial behavior. npj Mental Health Research, 3, Article 7. 

4. Griffiths, R., Richards, W., Johnson, M., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2008). Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6), 621–632. 

5. Gerber, K., Flores, I. G., Ruiz, A. C., Ali, I., Ginsberg, N. L., & Schenberg, E. E. (2021). Ethical concerns about psilocybin intellectual property. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 4(2), 573–577.