Test For Consciousness vs. Unconsciousness.

Test for Consciousness vs. Unconsciousness ©2016 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

You would think this would be a no-brainer, whether we're operating consciously or unconsciously but with such a surge of insanity in the world today, it seems time for a helpful reminder.

Here's a test for Consciousness vs. Unconsciousness:

The qualities of Consciousness are - lightness, clarity, amusement, open-heartedness, non-judgement or neutrality, honesty, non-resistance, no effort, acceptance, compassion and loving.  There's more, but you get the drift. Consciousness feels expansive and filled with possibility.

Ripple Effect on Water - by Avenue X at Cicero

The qualities of un-consciousness are - heaviness, negativity, resentful, judgmental, fearful, dishonest, avoidant, hateful, reactive. Unconsciousness feels restrictive and limited.

The thing is, it's not just extremists and fundamentalists that are behaving unconsciously. If you're judging them, reacting to them, and fearful they'll take over the country, then you've gone unconscious as well.

Unconsciousness is a weakened and powerless position. It just seems threatening and powerful because it's so loud. It's chaotic, but chaos has no structure or foundation. It collapses easily.

The irony is, we're powerless over unconsciousness. Powerless in that we'll lose our own power if we try to control it or stop it in others. Rather than obsessing about their unconsciousness, we can notice our own.

We're powerless when we're acting unconsciously, but we regain our power by choosing to operating *as* Consciousness. By shifting our thoughts, returning our focus to our own thoughts and actions.

Each of us is immensely powerful. Not in a dominating way, but internally, in an empowered way - vastly more powerful than bullying and controlling. When we reclaim our power from the outside, when we choose to come from a centered and higher Conscious position, we and infinitely powerful.

When we each do this, it creates a ripple effect into the world. We give permission to others to do the same, we strengthen the collective by contributing our own inner strength.

The Unconscious ones are not the majority. They just seem like it because media loves to cover drama. Humankind is becoming more mature. Just as it's useless to argue with a toddler in the midst of a temper tantrum (and useless to argue with them at a two-year-old's level), it's useless to fight with the unconscious.

Even though you can't give them a time out, you can give your own. Turn off Faux Noise. Take a break from Twitter. Start your day with quiet time or daily pages. Test yourself for Consciousness vs. Unconsciousness. Notice your own thinking throughout the day and redirect it whenever unconscious thoughts bubble up. Laugh at them but don't engage with them. Don't wrestle with your thoughts, dispatch them.

Doing this on a regular basis can shift you out of depression and give you a newfound hope for your own life (and humanity).
Try this for the next 7 days and see what happens!

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!

And Now For Something Completely Different

And Now For Something Completely Different ©2014 Joan M. Newcomb

Think of something you want in your life.  Is it a new (or renewed) relationship, a successful career, more money, less weight, better health?

How would You have to be different?

Go For It!

Look back on your life, have you ever had that thing that you want?  What did it feel like?  What changed when you didn't have it anymore?  Maybe you've never had it, it's always been just out of reach.

You keep saying, 'oh I just wish I had' more money, but reject suggestions on how to create it.  It's too hard, it would take too much effort, you'd "sell out to The Man".

"I wish I had a relationship" and yet everything about your life keeps people out rather than lets someone in.  Really sharing intimacy is scary.  Being alone is like living in a house with no mirrors.

You never lost that 'baby weight', or all women gain weight at menopause, or powerful men (or women) carry more weight.  Being thin feels vulnerable.  Being thin means unwanted attention.

Health patterns, body gets sick, body has pain, body feels discomfort.  It's always been that way, my dad had the same problem, it's genetic.  No matter how hard I try, I can't... (fill in the blank).

If you had what you wanted, what would you lose?  Maybe your partner wouldn't take care of you anymore?  Maybe you wouldn't attract someone in your life to take care of you?

Maybe people wouldn't like you anymore if you were (whatever it is)?  You'd lose your friends.

Rich people are unconscious.  Wealthy people just care about their money.  You can't be spiritual and prosperous.

I can want that thing, but I can't have it because...

Argue for your limitation, and they're yours (Richard Bach).  Just because something has always been that way, doesn't mean it can't be different.

In order to have what you want in your life, you have to change your core identification.  Start thinking of yourself as a thin person.  An abundant and generous person.  Someone in partnership.

What does success feel like?

A couple decades ago, Shirley Maclaine was on the Oprah Winfrey show.  Oprah made a comment about weight and Shirley looked at her and said, if you want to lose weight, you'll have to want everything to be different (or words to that effect).  After that, Oprah turned into a stick.  It was her first bout with weight loss, and it wasn't healthy.

Then Oprah moved into a phase of running marathons, her weight stabilized.  She was at a place of gaining power and strength, both in body and in her life.

Then Oprah radically put on weight again.  She shared about having thyroid problems.  She probably entered menopause.  What was also happening, she was developing a network station (beyond just her TV show).  Her weight ballooned as she expanded into this new aspect of power in her life.

Now she's had her network for a while, it looks like her weight is going back down.

Oprah's a wonderful example of changing her reality, and bringing up core issues we all struggle with.

Whatever is most elusive in your life, you are propelling away from you in your beliefs.  You may be comfortable in your discomfort.  Misery is familiar, joy is not.

At the end of an energy session, I tell people to 'notice what is different'.  If you go, well that didn't change anything, you've reset yourself back to the state you were in when you walked in the door.

Healthy people made different choices (about food, about lifestyle, about...).  People in relationship share their lives, make space for someone in their world.

If you've never had whatever it is you want, you may not know what it feels like.  Be willing to step into the unfamiliar.  Open yourself to being different.

You may be in a family system, or a constellation of friends, that support the way you are, but not something functional or healthy.  Be willing for the old to fall away.  Maybe you can be a shining example for others to follow!

What would it take for you to have what you want?  Are you willing to go to any length to be healthy?

Maybe people in your life actually want you to be happy, or to have what it is you desire.  Notice if you deflect other's suggestions.

You claim you want to be thinner, people only see you eating salads, but not the ice cream in the middle of the night.

You bemoan being poor but never follow through on those help wanted ads on Craigs List.  A little voice in your head sabotages your efforts.  Who needs enemies when your own thoughts are doing such a good job at holding you back?

You can be thin after menopause, you can be healthy and people still like you, you can have money and free time as well.

Changing your reality is as simple as shifting states.  Step to one side or another, and you've stepped into a parallel reality where that is possible.  Notice what is different.

Notice when the 'Automatic Negative Thoughts' come up, and ignore them.  Don't feed the ANTs with your attention.

Healthy food tastes better.  Good men (or women) aren't so hard to find.  There's a perfect job out there with a wonderful work environment.

Shift your focus and you'll see all the new possibilities.

Make one change in your routine, take a walk after dinner instead of watching tv.  Have fruit for dessert.

Imagine the world wanting your success.  Your attaining what you desire encourages others to have it as well.

Whatever transformation you want, Your expanded self already is there.  Step into that new reality.

If it's earning or working, be different with your time.  Catch yourself on your 'time wasters' and spend 15 minutes tackling something on your 'to do' list.

If it's money, be different with your spending.  Start tracking your numbers, save receipts, look at where you are leaking money.  Clarity can be a big relief.

If it's food, write down everything you eat.  Make different choices.  Stop drinking anything with calories.  Choose water or tea with lemon.

If it's relationship, notice whether (or where) you hang out with other people.  If all you date are alcoholics, stop hanging out in bars!  Meet people for coffee rather than drinks!

Is there room in your life for someone, or is half of your bed piled high with books?

Yes, you've heard this all before, but nothing changes if you change nothing.  Stop spinning your wheels.

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!" (Gloria Steinem)

Perhaps you have to get angry to get out of your rut!

Sometimes we claim we want something, and it's actually something else we really desire.  What would make you happy?

The Universe wants to give you what you're asking for.  Can you have it?

Truth, Toxic Patterns, and Train Wrecks

Truth, Toxic Patterns, and Train Wrecks ©2014 Joan M. Newcomb

Some say we can never go home again.  But we can always revisit old, familiar situations.  The challenge is to dip down into the pattern, and come back up again without getting entangled!

It helps to remember that they're just energy.  It's when we believe that they're real we get stuck in them. 

Here's what I'm remembering, from my most recent 'dip down':

A couple of decades ago I was involved with a cocaine addict.  I started going to Al-Anon, and a year later the addict quit using and went into recovery.  Then I discovered addiction showing up in my work place, and then my church at the time.  Sometimes I'd realize I was in a toxic situation by my reaction to it, the alcoholic or addict not becoming evident until later.

I learned that it wasn't the person who was addicted, but the energy patterns that I was responding to.  

One thing I learned was that often the addict seems fine, but people around them are bouncing off the walls and foaming at the mouth.  It's because the people around them are experiencing the painful situation unmedicated.

People who grow up in alcoholic households can become extremely controlling, because they're trying to make their environment safe (having grown up in out-of-control homes).  Or people who grow up in addictive households will act like alcoholics without actually being chemically dependent.  

It's different when you've come from an abusive background.  You can have a parent who is alcoholic and yet know that they love you.  Your parent (or partner) can be an addict, but they don't verbally or physically abuse you.  It still messes with your head, because their focus is going towards their drug of choice.  You're not receiving their full attention, or you feel crazy from their lies.

Abusers are a different story.  They make you feel like it's your fault they're abusing you  Alcoholics at least can hit bottom and recover and make amends.  Abusers hardly ever recover, they feel entitled to treat their partners and children the way they do.  

When an abuser leaves, they set up a pre-emptive strike, they make themselves the victim.

It's especially crazy-making when they go on to reinvent themselves as the most wonderful and loving person in the world - and that new world believes them.  The abuse continues by treating the previous family members with contempt, as second class citizens, the new partner unwittingly enables the abuser by believing their version of history.

It's different than when an alcoholic recovers and goes on to live a life of sobriety.  They can become the most wonderful and loving person in the world, but they acknowledge their past, have made amends.  (And, admittedly, there are alcoholics that haven't made amends, so their new life isn't emotionally or mentally clean and sober).

How the hell do you recover from all of that?

It takes a lot of light.

Distance helps.  Detachment helps. Recovery helps.  Therapy helps.  Spiritual practice helps.  Speaking your truth, standing in your own light.

I've been out of active alcoholic patterns for a lot of years.  I've been away from abusers (and narcissists, while we're at it), for years as well.  I've been focusing on my own path, on the leading edge of Consciousness, evolving, shining light.

Of course, as you grow, move forward, you uncover new layers of things.  When you're remodeling your spiritual house, you'll find stuff within the walls, even the structure, that require updating.

You create opportunities to clear, you step yourself into experiences to illuminate what needs to change.

I remember when I took a strong step away from the pattern of alcoholism, and this was after a decade of Al-Anon, I had an amazing Spiritual Awakening.  I felt in Love with God, in Love with my life, and in Love with myself (in that order).  Even though I still had the same challenges with being a single parent and keeping a roof over our heads, I was in this highly conscious state, able to come back to center.

This feeling recurred a few years later, when I identified a new issue, stepping away from a new addictive pattern. This time I was in Love with mySelf, in Love with my life, and in Love with God (in that order).  

So.  Something new is happening, I haven't fully identified it.  I could say that I'm moving to 4D, but in reality we are all already there.  

I think we've all shifted to a new level of Consciousness, we're all running a higher vibration, and what doesn't match that vibration in our bodies or our lives is disintegrating. 

An opportunity to live more in integrity with our values?

As we're at this higher vibration, we may dip down into older patterns, but it's not useful to wrestle with them.  Shine light on them.  Speak your Truth and step back.  Be in your own authority and seniority.  

Wave bye-bye to the chunks of patterns as they fall away.  Stand in your own Light (it feels better there, anyway).  

Domino Detox

Domino Detox ©2014 Joan M. Newcomb

When I was going through Clairvoyant training in my early 20's, I de-energized a level of family patterns.   I was aware of stepping outside of family dynamics.  It was as if one had removed a tile from a row of dominos.

Over the years, I've encountered deeper levels of patterns to unravel and remove.  Getting married, having kids, getting divorced, being single for some time, getting remarried, kids going to college, leaving home, parents aging and dying, all bring opportunities for continued clearing.

You or your parents getting married introduces you to a whole other family's dynamics as well, which can be very interesting.  Where do you fit within their patterns?  (Where do they fit you)?

Families have different roles.  If someone steps out of their place in the pattern and you're the new in-law, you can get put there (with your conscious or unconscious agreement).

It's most amusing when you're replacing their resident scapegoat or black sheep, or rescuer or saint.  Don't take it personally, it's just their projection.

Such patterns can be hard to detach from, if you're in the midst of them.  If you're intuitive or sensitive, you can feel a little nutty when they're inside your head or in your space.

How can you regain your sense of self at such times?  Take a sanity break.

Sanity breaks can look like - a quick trip to Starbucks, a nap, coffee with friends, a twelve step meeting, a run around the park, an afternoon at the library.  Anything that steps you outside the hologram or soundstage,  gives you a little breathing room.

Patterns can feel so real when you're in the midst of them.  They're in visible, yet tangible.

How do you go back into the environment yet maintain your sense of self?

View everything as if it's a movie (which is it).  Don't react (which is unconscious) but choose your actions.  Be amused.

Be at a higher vibration than your environment.  Imagine yourself in a bubble of gold energy.

Be non-resistant.  Imagine yourself transparent, or wearing an invisibility cloak; negative energy moves through you.

Focus on changing yourself, not others.  Simple energetic shifts can change the atmosphere and everyone in it.

These suggestions work at home *and* at the office (as people bring their family patterns to work with them).  Try any or all of these for a week and see what happens!