some things i have been thinking of, just posting before i forget them,
firstly, in regards to training psi and how to make it awesome, my first thought about that was - find the right people. try testing telepathy on your own, doesnt work well.
a telepathy game with a friend who can finish your sandwiches sentences is more likely to have results than with a total stranger. but more than being "on the same page" or having similar interests so you have similar thought patterns, the right people seem to just click regardless of difference, the syncs and weird stuff just seems to happen with those people. im not sure how that could apply to training but i do think it is something that would/does have an effect on psi experiences. the small group at f4 seems pretty good to me.
im thinking communication is at least a way to extract the weirdness from the group. for example i recently started communicating again with a friend, and some really weird psyncs started becoming apparent, such as they had already happened, but by while talking about stuff i noticed that they had occurred.
next, this whole tree finding business, i dont want to waste your time. it is not a bad exercise but its very specifically about one part of ghost finding training, on its own or in itself the exercise might help you become more mindful. as an idea - using the moon as part of that exercise would be nice, but i havent tried that so had to go with the torch method. find the tree and the doorway at night on the full moon, find both every night until there is no moon, no torches allowed. sounds cool but a bit over dramatic and over shamanic.
im not giving up my torch due to snakes and spiders, moon training sounds good but yeah i am keeping a torch with me. but that is sort of the point, the retreat, when the ghost finds you. (and drains your torch of power)
so i was thinking, even if mr j learns to identify all sounds, to walk silently in the dark, how to place scent markers or even plays around with the untested ideas of echolocation and heart rate control, it will not lead to psi anomalies. just be useful skills under the conditions of knowing the location of a anomaly and physically going there.
so i was thinking, venice, poveglia. im not sure i can claim syncs on this, but mr j travelling to poveglia has looped through my mind a few times. such as the wiki page mentioning ghost adventures tv show, i thought that is not a good reference to make in serious psi discussion (even though i watch that show), fast forward to x watching the current episode of that show, the castaneda hotel, still thinking that is not a good enough sync or reference, then the word "pueblo" appeared on the screen.
so i am just saying, all of that.
x.
ps.
g, have started on the audiobook, the martian is great, i needed a book to listen to while doing some spring gardening, excited to hear the rest of the story.