Don't Give Up The Ship

Don't Give Up The Ship ©2016 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

When weather permits, I take daily walks for inspiration and to regain my connection as Consciousness. There's a house on my route that has a flag hanging off it that says, "Don't Give Up The Ship."

I think about it's message. Don't give up. Don't jump ship. Don't give up the ship.

The ship, to me, is the body you have manifested in which to experience physical reality. We hit times that seem insurmountable, so incredibly painful that we can't go on.

Yet if we do hang on, these times will pass. Life will get better.

Even if we can't imagine how, or can't know when.

As Consciousness, life is something to enjoy. We create being here for the fun of it, for the joy of it. To savor the sun on our face, the taste of chocolate, we love this world.

As Consciousness we are always aware of the bigger picture. We know this lifetime passes in the blink of an eye. We know we are always connected.

Those time that we hit a 'point of no return' in the physical, what is really happening is a dream is dying, an expectation of what it is supposed to be like, an aspect of our personality, our identity that we are attached to. Those things are dying, those limitations are breaking open and something bigger is coming in.

When I was sixteen, I was hospitalized for depression. I was there for three months and they released me with a bottle of antidepressants. I took the bus to my old high school and got a 'dear Joan' letter. I went to the McDonald's next door and downed them all.

I was in so much pain I couldn't think of anything else to do.

I was in a coma for three days. While I don't remember having an out of body experience, I woke up exhilarated. (My mother thought it was from taking all those antidepressants).

So many things have unfolded in the years since then. So much love and many life experiences that wouldn't have happened if I'd jumped ship.

Don't give up the ship to depression or despair. The part of you that can't see beyond the present circumstances is not the one who should be captaining the vessel. Let yourself as Consciousness do the steering.

It is as simple as shifting awareness to above the cloud cover.

However, it may take help to get there. These are tough times and you don't need to get through it by yourself. Don't be alone with your thinking. Be out among people who care and understand. Binge watch comedies.

For myself, on my daily walks I step through doors to parallel universes. I shift my reality to one where things are unfolding in my favor. To where everyone lives happily ever after.

When we navigate as Consciousness, we realize this is a benevolent Universe.

If we all try this, we can create massive change in our lives. Play with this and watch your collective reality transform!

Dissolving Depression

Dissolving Depression ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

For many people, February is a tough month.  In the northern hemisphere, Winter is dragging on, and the lack of warmth and sunshine has been taking it's toll.  The holidays are over, although Valentine's Day is coming up, which brings up relationship issues.  And many of us are mourning losses.  People seem to pass during the holidays, the "veil" is thinner, we feel and miss our deceased loved ones more.

Depression is a soggy, wet, blanket, blocking our body/personality's awareness and receptivity to Us as Consciousness.  When you are under it, you feel powerless.  People, places, things have more control over your reality than you do.

I struggled with depression from the time I was twelve until I was thirty-five. When I left my first marriage, I was suicidally depressed. As a single parent, I made decisions which resulted in 'staying small' and living in poverty, so I wouldn't tip over the edge.

During those years I tried a number of solutions.  I saw therapists,  I was given antidepressants, I went to support groups, and as an adult I medicated myself with St. John's Wort and Kava Kava.

What created the ultimate turnaround was noticing my thoughts.  I realized that I spent most of my day imaging myself talking to people about how terrible life was.  I started noticing when I was doing it (whenever I was driving, when I'd fall asleep at night) and I would figuratively grab my ears and redirect my thoughts.   I'd reframe it to all the good things that were happening, or set intentions for good things to happen!

It was challenging to do at first, but within two weeks I lifted out of that depression, that I hadn't known I was in, that had been going on for years.

Now, if you are deeply, darkly depressed, don't try to do this on your own.  Reach out, get help.  Depression affects (and is affected by) brain chemistry.  Although positive thinking rewires your brain, creates new neuropathways, you may need medical help to get to the point of treating yourself.

All of this is ground level stuff, body/personality issues.  It's the body/personality that feels depressed.  Consciousness is light.  Consciousness is always joyous.  YOU are Consciousness, therefore your Essential Self is always happy.

Your body/personality is how You experience life here on playground Earth.  When you're too bogged down in the mud, you feel disconnected to the Essence of who you really are.

Body/personalities are happier when You are in the driver's seat.  Meditation helps you clear, anchor and center, but if you're depressed or in emotional pain, it's impossible to sit still and focus.  I found walking and reciting affirmations helpful when I struggling.

Shift your perspective from being the body/personality, where things are happening to you, to being Consciousness, the Creator of your reality.

Notice I said 'creator' not 'controller'.  Controlling your reality implies an outside focus, trying to manipulate, change, or even keep your external reality the same.

We create our reality from within.  Our thoughts create our reality (you can think of them as projections, but I also find them energetic building blocks), but the impulses emanates from within.

Besides consciously changing your thoughts, here's a simple exercise for dissolving depression:
Part 1 is to imagine a Gold Sun above your head, bring it's sunlight into your body and surround yourself in a bubble of gold.  Part 2 is to imagine that same gold energy emanating from within you to outside you. Surround yourself with gold that generates from within.

You can visualize it as the color gold, or feel it as warm sunshine, or imagine it as solar energy to generate your system.

You can play with this in different ways.  You can imagine a gold grid dissolving depression patterns.   You can imagine this gold energy blessing your path.

Try this for the next 7 days and see what happens!

Reasons versus Excuses

©2014 Joan M Newcomb

A while ago I learned that sometimes abusive behavior comes out of depression.  That is, the person who rages at you might actually be depressed (so much for thinking that depression is *repressed* anger).

That's great.  I mean, it's great to understand the reason, but it's not an excuse.  Understanding the reason for a behavior gives you the opportunity to remedy it.  Take steps to address it but it doesn't let you off the hook for having done it.

Reasons give you clarity, so you can take action.  Excuses are what you make to stay stuck.

Say you had a crappy history, that's great fertilizer for growth.  Understanding about dysfunctional patterns allows you to become conscious of behaviors so you can change them.  You're no longer a child, you may just feel like one when you get triggered.  Help is available, both visible and unseen.

You can't change the past, you can't change others, and you can change yourself, your actions and your viewpoint.

Your inner child really wants You, the wise Essence of who you really are, to drive the car.  If you're triggered, ground yourself in present time reality by talking (kindly and gently) to your child self, let them be in the safety seat behind You.

You can succeed in going where You want to go, in spite of your history, in spite of others out there still playing out old patterns.

Each one of us that stands in the present moment, breaking the pattern by choosing differently, creates healing for everyone.

Changing yourself creates change everywhere.

[When searching for an illustration for today, I found this instead, perhaps more fitting?]