Power and Powerlessness

Power and Powerlessness ©2016 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

What a crazy time we are in. There has always been craziness, but we haven't previously had the global media pushing it in our faces to this extent before.

On one hand we have terrorists doing horrendous things around the world. Extremists spreading fear and disruption in the name of religion (which is directly opposite of what their religion actually teaches). On the other hand we have elected officials attempting to pass laws to restrict people's inalienable rights, also spreading fear and disruption in the name of religion, their interpretation of faith in opposition to what their savior really talked about. And we have officers sworn to serve and protect murdering and torturing, magnifying the fear and disruption in the world today.

"Empowerment", photograph by John S Turner

What's happening externally is also happening internally for many people. Issues are coming to the surface to be released. For some it's recognizing problems they hadn't seen before. Congratulations, you have an opportunity to expand beyond your limitations! For others, these are old issues they thought they'd dealt with before. If that's happening to you, know it's not that you've backslid, it's a whole new level to clear.

These issues may seem overwhelming. They seem powerful. They are dominating our lives, controlling our thoughts and behaviors. Wrestling with them is a losing battle. Admitting that we're powerless over them is scary - doesn't that mean they'll consume us? Actually, no. Admitting powerlessness is a way of reclaiming true power. You surrender the battle.

When you drop your attention on them, your attention returns to your Self. You can begin to heal.

At first the voices in your head scream the loudest, because that aspect of your personality is dying. Much like the headlines in the news, and the politicians whose antiquated beliefs are disintegrating. Admitting powerlessness over them means you stop feeding them with your attention. They get quieter and quieter and eventually go away.

I believe that, just as there's a Collective Consciousness, there's a Collective Unconscious. It's a cesspool of black energy fed by all the negativity in the world. Every negative thought you have contributes to this pool.

People struggling with addiction are susceptible to this energy. When they recover, the physical detox takes a relatively short time but the addict personality, the shadow side, can take them years to clear.

And there are people affected by other substances too commonplace to recognize. Sugar addiction is rampant, it causes people to be powerless over their eating, and how do you live without food?

People who grew up with, or live with, alcoholics or addicts, are susceptible to this energy as well. It may not be caused by a chemical imbalance within them, but they're affected by the behavior and the actions. Admitting you're powerless over others lets you drop your attention on them and restore your own sanity.

In the last week, I've had the opportunity to revisit core issues. There's financial abuse, something that kept me awake many nights a couple years ago, that I'm powerless over. I needs must let it go and know there's a greater Source that supplies all.

There's a family member with health issues, I can choose to be supportive even though I'm powerless over the results. Everyone creates their own reality, I can look at what I contribute to it and choose to be compassionate.

I'm powerless over people, places, and things. I'm powerless over finger-pointing, scapegoating, and rumors. All of these are 'bottom of the fish tank' in the ocean of life.

It's coming to the surface for everyone as we're collectively moving to the next level. We can live in a higher state of clarity (and serenity). Rather than engaging with the old stuff, we can let it break down and settle into the gravel.

We are powerless over everything outside of ourselves, and we're powerless over other's insanity that seeps into our space by association.

It's ironic because who we really are, as Essence, is Light. All we need do is focus on our inner Light and it dispels the darkness. Shadows disappear in the face of light.

Greater Light is coming into the world today, illuminating what needs to be cleared. It hurts the eyes of those used to sitting in the dark. It's uncomfortable to realize how much power we've given away. Especially to people who seem so powerful and turn out to be full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

True power comes from within. True power is quiet and strong. True power has no need to dominate or take from others. True power empowers - everyone.

Turn off the news, mute disturbing images in your timeline, ignore crazy making emails.

When you withdraw your attention from the noise and the craziness, you can tune into your inner light, your inner power. Old issues drop away. Miracles can happen.

Try this for a week and see what happens!

God Has No Personality and What Pain Has To Do With It.

God Has No Personality ©2015 Joan M Newcomb

I try to talk about spiritual subjects without using religious references.  I even try not to use the word spiritual. I've been talking a lot about Consciousness lately because, to me, it's a more accurate description of who we are, both individually and collectively.

I was raised in a religious family. We said prayers at every meal, at bedtime, and went to Church every Sunday. For my mother it was an internal experience, and she lived her faith. My father did his best to show our religion externally.

"God" by Moyan Brenn on Flickr

My own definition of God went through many incarnations, peeling away the layers to what Essence felt like.  My biggest stumbling block was the Christian 'God The Father' which, in my experience was not compassionate nor benevolent. My biggest breakthrough was calling it Universe. My prayers were conversations while driving.  I always began with 'hey, U'!

For years I'd also journal my conversations, writing my questions and then scribing what I perceived was the response.  The replies weren't verbal, but more impressions. It was frustrating because I'd list all my complaints and the answers would be very benign. I realized that my grievances were like standing in front of a tree with my face pressed into the bark, and God was showing me a forest, with many pathways.

At some point, the Universe itself became a feeling, an impression. When I shifted my attention, the world around me changed. Colors became brighter, everything came into sharp focus.

There's been several spiritual awakenings, when I'd be enveloped in Love. In Love with the Universe, with my life, with myself. I'd still have the same problems, but I knew all would be very, very well. No matter what drama was going on, I remain centered. The longest this lasted was for nine months.  It would be wonderful to tip over into it again permanently.

One time I was struggling, and resisting the concept of an external God. After all, I AM Spirit, I AM my Inner Being. The answer came to me that it doesn't matter how you interact with the Divine. You can have God the Father, God the Authority, God outside of yourself, God inside, many Gods, and no God/s at all. It's all go(o)d.

So now I dance with Consciousness. With the awareness of my Self as Consciousness, knowing this is all a creation of Consciousness.  And this morning, my journaling started to veer off into personality level narrative. Painful emotions arose.  I shifted my perspective, and felt Consciousness flow through my body. Pain dissipated.

This stayed with me as I walked my dog. What I noticed was an impassive appreciation for the world.  We created this reality to experience the opposite of who we really are. Emotions are part of that experience. Bodies are our vehicles to feeling this reality. Personality is what we create in order to be visible to others and distinguishable by others.

If it has emotions and a personality, it's a physical level projection.

Consciousness has no personality. Consciousness feels immense, and clear. The body delights in Consciousness, there's an absence of pain when fully embodied. And yet pain comes up in the process of embodiment. As we come into form, we feel more. When you shine more light into a place, it reveals emotions and physical sensations. I am now finding that pain disappears when fully Conscious.

What does pain have to do with it? Pain makes the body feel real. Pain is a physical reaction. We've used pain to anchor us here. Pain is a reminder to focus within. When your fully focused within, pain goes away. Or, your definition of pain shifts, and it doesn't feel painful, or bother you any more.  It's not denying, resisting, or ignoring it. It's bringing full awareness to it.

Becoming fully conscious requires anchoring into the body. You miss the point of being here by leaving the body or going outside it in order to be more spiritual. You're already Spirit, you don't need to be more so. You just need to be more here.

You can get there by focusing inward, by connecting to to 'anchor points' within form. You can anchor in the lower abdomen. You can anchor in your solar plexus. You can anchor deep into your heart. You can anchor in the center of your brain. You will find, as you bring your full attention into any or all of these places, that it's quite spacious inside you. These anchor points aren't fixed, they go on and on, deeper and deeper. You are still here, and also there.

Play with all of this for the next 7 days and see what happens!

You Are Loved, Lovable and Worthy of Love

You Are Loved, Lovable and Worthy of Love ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

I am sitting in a downtown Starbucks. It is not designed to hang out in. It has hard metal seats and tiny row tables. It's across from a city park, where city denizens live.

A woman comes in with a huge stroller and a tiny toddler.  Her daughter has a grey T-shirt with a big strawberry on it. She is a bright spark of light amongst beings who have accumulated many shades of gray.

I see a lot of diversity, but not a lot of happiness.  There's a lot of pain on the streets outside of Starbucks.

Street child in Kolkata with a mango!

Another woman with a stroller comes in.  She has an infant in a front pack, a two year old, wearing an identical gray T-shirt with strawberry and a four year old in a blue cotton dress. The two year old dances around the other toddler, delighted to be T-shirt twins.  The other toddler, clearly an only child, sidles up to her mom and raises her arms to be carried.

The little girls are bright sparks of light.  That is, their light is easily visible.  Yet every single person in Starbucks and on the street were bright, shining, infants and toddlers once. They were all loved, lovable and worthy of love.

Mother Theresa once said that she saw Jesus in every poor person's eyes.

There was a form of torture POWs were put in cages where they couldn't sit down but they couldn't stand up. They had to stay crouched for impossibly long periods of time.  When they were released, it was painful to stand.

This is a great analogy for staying in pain or poverty or other dysfunctional patterns.  After spending many years in darkness, moving to a healthy stance, being visible and in the light, is painful.

More and more light is coming into the world.  More and more darkness is being exposed.  It is coming to the surface to be cleared.

If you are going through dark times, if you are experience extreme discomfort, know that it is the greater part of You emerging.  The bright spark of light that you were, You still are.  Yet is is no longer a spark but a shining star, the brilliance equalling our own Sun.

Breathe and allow your Light to shine. Breathe and allow your heart to open. You are unique. You are special. You are loved, lovable, and worthy of love.

Everyone is.