So you’re about to kick back and blaze up, huh? Awesome. But before you settle into yet another stoned session of Call of Duty Deathmatch, you might want to consider switching it up a bit…
Think about it. You know that character that shows up in every other comedy movie, the guy with no social skills because all he does is get high and sit in front of the TV? You don’t want to be that guy, do you? I didn’t think so.
So maybe today’s the day you do something fun and different. And for your consideration and inspiration, I offer this list of my favorite fun things to do stoned.
10 Fun Things to Do Stoned:
1. Listen to Music
Everybody knows that music really comes alive when you’re high. Especially if you turn out all the lights, close your eyes, put on your headphones or turn your stereo up really loud. It can really take you places. Just lay back and feel the vibrations flowing through you. Watch the colorful patterns dance behind your eyelids. Leave it all behind and let the music carry you away to other worlds.
Like the Beatles said: “Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.” Those guys were really on to something.
2. Dance
When you come back from the far reaches of inner space and remember, “Oh yeah, that’s right… I’m a human… here on earth… with a body.” You might want to get up and move around. Leave the music playing, and just start to bounce to it. Don’t worry if you don’t know how. Forget about what it looks like, and pay attention to how it feels. Let the music tell you what to do. Stop thinking and just move, go with the flow. Lose yourself in it. It’s fun, it’s a good workout, and it feels fantastic.
3. Go See a Show
If you live in or near any decent size city, odds are you can find live music playing any night of the week. Often for free, or just a cheap cover charge. As awesome as it is listening to your favorite albums at home, it’s nothing compared to having a live band rocking out right out in your face. Live music has an energy, an aliveness that you just can’t capture in a recording.
So get out there and dance your ass off, maybe meet some new friends. Expand your musical horizons. Check out local bands, new genres and styles. Go to a symphony or a musical if you’ve never been. It’s amazing. Especially when you’re stoned.
4. Sports
Another great way to get out and about and have fun when you’re high is to play sports. Especially high speed, low impact sports, like bike riding, roller blading, skateboarding, and (depending on where you live) skiing or snowboarding. It’s such a blast just to be outdoors in the sunshine, flying down hills with the wind in your face… it’s pure freedom!
5. Camping
Speaking of being outdoors… you have to get high, alone in Nature, at least once in your life. Pack up your car and head into the mountains, or the nearest national forest, anywhere you can get away from the noise and the crowds. Find a secluded campground, pitch your tent, roll a joint and go exploring. You’ll be amazed at the beauty of untouched wilderness, the diversity of living things, the deep, peaceful feeling that comes over you.
At night you can build a bonfire and just sit and smoke and look up at the sky. Far from the city lights, you can see the stars clearer and more numerous than you can possibly imagine. You can see the Milky Way pouring across the sky, dazzlingly bright, impossibly vast. You get a sense of your place in the universe — infinitesimally tiny, yet inseparably connected. You’re a part of all this grandeur. You belong. It helps you see your life, your problems, from a much “higher” perspective.
6. Reading
Maybe tonight is more of a stay at home night. I get it, that’s cool too. There’s still lots of fun things to do stoned at home.
One of my favorites is to read a good book. Being high helps you open your mind to new ideas, it stimulates your imagination. A great story can carry you away to new worlds, a different time and place, a faraway planet. Brilliant non-fiction can help you realize things about yourself and the world that you never knew before. It is no exaggeration to say that there are some books that have literally changed my life. And it’s safe to say I was probably at least a little high when I was reading them.
7. Writing
I love to write (obviously). I love it even more when I’m stoned. I know that every teenager who ever smoked weed probably thinks they are a brilliant poet, even though their notebooks are filled with boring, angsty, totally unoriginal scribblings.
But who cares? It’s fun! And you don’t ever have to show your writings to anybody. That’s not the point. It can be very therapeutic, and teach you a lot about yourself, just to put your thoughts on the page.
Besides, if you want to do something well, you first have to do it badly. And every bad teenage poet who keeps at it, who keeps reading and writing and honing their craft, will become a brilliant poet. Or novelist, or journalist, or playwright, or whatever. Who knows? If you work hard at it, you might one day make it really big — and end up writing cheeky blog posts for obscure cannabis websites like this one.
Hey, don’t be afraid to dream 😉
8. Cooking
Every stoner loves to eat. But the stoner who can cook? That, my friends, is a hero. Nay, a god!
Cooking is an art form every bit as intricate and involved as painting or composing music. The ability to take a pot of water and a bag of groceries and turn it into a hearty soup is nothing less than fucking magic. And like any art form, it can be really fun and rewarding. So next time you get get high, look up some recipes and head into the kitchen. Make you some art. Some edible, delicious, savory, art.
Just make sure you already have all your ingredients before you start smoking — because a trip to the grocery store when you’re high can take hours. And you’ll still, inevitably, end up forgetting something and have to go back.
9. Exercise
One thing that feels absolutely incredible when you’re high is to practice some gentle exercise, like yoga, or tai chi. Or just get on the floor and stretch.
Being high makes you so much more aware of your body, and your breathing. It can really help your form. Focus on taking long, deep breaths and slowly lean into each pose, deeper and deeper. You can feel your body releasing all this tension that you didn’t even know was there. When you’re done you’ll feel so much more relaxed and limber, you’ll wonder why you don’t do this more often.
10. Meditation
One of the best things to do stoned is… nothing. Talk about relaxing! Meditation is proven to be good for you in at least a dozen different ways. All the cool kids are doing it 😉 And when your high, it can be really easy and fun.
Just close your eyes and take deep breaths, and watch the stream of thoughts, memories, daydreams and fantasies, flowing through your mind’s eye. Don’t judge them as good or bad, right or wrong. Don’t label them at all. They aren’t “your thoughts,” they don’t define you. Don’t get caught up in them. Just relax and watch them drift by, like clouds overhead.
Now notice what’s underneath and between those thoughts. Just like clouds float through the sky, every thought, memory, dream and sensation floats through the silent field of your awareness.
That’s you. That’s what you are.
You aren’t your thoughts. You aren’t the chattering, anxious voice in your head. You are the silent field of consciousness, witnessing it all. Relax and feel yourself sinking deeper and deeper into that ocean of peaceful clarity.
You are home.