Freedom From Want

Freedom From Want ©2017 Joan M. Newcomb,

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, the start of a month's worth of expectations. That family and friends should be gathering, that there should be an abundance of food and gifts. That everyone is supposed to be warm and loving to each other.

Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell

My family of origin lived up to those expectations for the first fifteen years of my life, until the patterns started to break down. And we had pretty high expectations. My great-uncle Jim McCabe is in the iconic Norman Rockwell painting.

My early memories are of grand holiday meals, although we lived overseas most of those years so sometimes we had goose instead of turkey.

The family started shattering when I was sixteen, and I maybe initiated, contributed or reflected that shattering... I was hospitalized for depression in an adolescent ward of a mental hospital during the holidays that year.

The next year, I just remembered, I had Thanksgiving with my great-uncle's family in Connecticut (after visiting him in Vermont). I was in college and my parents were in Sweden. My father left my mother shortly afterwards; I really don't remember any Thanksgivings with them after that.

As an adult I tried gamely to create holiday meals like the ones I'd had in my early childhood. But the family I created broke apart when my kids were little. Since their father was a gourmet chef and I had never cooked a turkey, I wrote it into the parenting plan that they spent every "big meal" day with him. I had no idea that it set me up to be alone for all those holidays.

At some point my kids learned from their cousins that they got two Thanksgivings. The cousins would see both sets of parents on the same day. Since my culinary skills couldn't match their father's, I had our Thanksgiving meal the Sunday before, which both spared it the competition and meant they'd eaten my leftovers before they went to their dad's for the remaining part of the week.

Every Thanksgiving for years, I was always scrambling to be "adopted" somewhere to eat with other people. It was always a painful and lonely time.

When I remarried, our first Thanksgiving together, my mother in law was insulted because I had my husband and her work on the turkey. After that, we'd go out for Chinese food instead.

When you look at Thanksgiving from the perspective of Consciousness, you see the tangles of expectations and dysfunctional patterns that actually create separation and lack.

You can be with family and a lot of food, and if it's filled with assumptions and craziness, you will feel far removed from any sense of connection and abundance.

Thanksgiving isn't about the big meal. It isn't about the gathering of family and friends. It isn't even necessarily about gratitude. As Consciousness, it's about appreciation.

Appreciation is the neutral form gratitude, because it's coming from the creator sense rather than the recipient. As we exist as Consciousness and in body, we can experience both, but it's important to note the difference. Gratitude implies thankfulness for or from something outside of yourself. Appreciation acknowledges and enjoys the creation. Which can even be the creation of chaos and discord.

When you shift your perspective from your body/personality self, to you as Consciousness, you know you already have all that you desire.

As Consciousness there is no separation. You are always connected, even with loved ones who have passed. As Consciousness there is no lack, because Consciousness is the Source of all creation. As Consciousness there is no discord, because Consciousness is essentially love.

This year, my husband and I are at that mid point, where our parents are passed, and our adult children don't yet have offspring of their own. One son is in Spain; we won't see him until Easter. Another is on Vashon, with his Dad. We'll do our meal on Sunday (I now cook salmon instead).

I'm appreciative that I have good relationships with both my kids and my husband. I get to create new patterns rather than passing on historical ones.

This holiday season, when you feel yourself entangled in the insanity, take a moment to shift your perspective (this might require stepping out of the room). View it all from Consciousness, appreciate this playground of a planet, and notice how your reality transforms!

Birthing The New You

Birthing The New You ©2016 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

Last night was pretty phenomenally uncomfortable. I woke up feeling constricted with competition. It was such a surprise to me, because I don't operate on that level any more. My work is so new, the focus is different, that it doesn't compare to what anyone else is doing. It would be like a runner competing with a hang glider. Different sports, different areas.

I'm not certain whose reality I was experiencing, but I would dearly love them to know -

Playing in the realm of Consciousness, you realize there's plenty for everyone. There's space for everyone to succeed. There's enough time, money, love.

Newborn in Nepal - photo credit: Krish Dulal

This world may seem rigid and finite, an adventure in Density and Effort, but when you're playing as Consciousness, you realize that it's all malleable. Time expands (or contracts) depending on your focus. Money is infinitely available (and usually comes out of left field rather than from the direction you're expecting it). You are enveloped in Love. You ARE Love. There is always enough.

Even if you're not feeling it right now, your inner Self knows it.

What it feels like now, is that we're going through a collective Quickening. We're feeling our creation kick. Their foot may actually be stuck under our ribcage. It's when your pregnancy goes from just being morning sickness and weight gain, to the awareness that there's something alive growing within you. It's exciting and a little terrifying.

For some who have felt this evolution longer, it may be actual Transition. The most intense phase of labor, the most painful part as the baby is moving out through your cervix to slide down your birth canal.

In my two pregnancies, which were both at home and without drugs, when labor started I thought, 'I've changed my mind!' Whoops - too late. The baby is coming. Your body knows what to do. Breathe and relax and push when you're in Transition.

You are giving birth to your New Self. The Greater Aspect of You is coming into form. It is powerful, it is exciting, it is thrilling and, yeah, a bit scary.

You've been going through contractions as you hit your internal limitations, all the programming and patterns created to convince you that you're the opposite of who You truly are.

The world has been reflecting this, as people are having meltdowns, people are losing their shit, archaic beliefs are rising up, people are collectively crying out, no longer tolerating the intolerable.

When you don't resist what is breaking down, when you don't hold on to what is disintegrating within your fingers, you can enjoy this process so much more.

What's on the other side of this is glorious. It is a love more profound than you can imagine. It is a greater relationship (with your Self) than you could have thought possible. It is the life of your dreams.

You are birthing You, you are magnificent, and adorable. You are loved, loveable, and worthy of love. You are surrounded by support. Everyone who shows up is a midwife or a doula to your new experience.

Relax, breath, and see what happens!

Wealth & Poverty

(c)2010 Joan M. Newcomb

A while ago I read a travel blogpost responding to a comment criticizing the blogger.  The comment said you can do all this traveling because you're a rich American.  Think about the people in the countries where you're staying, that redcap at the airport, the busboy at that restaurant, that desk clerk at the hotel, aren't able to travel.

The blogger responded saying, to the effect, that he'd rather hold a vision where everyone is able to travel.  (And I've also read that this guy only makes $40,000 a year, which is pretty modest by US standards).

Someone posted on FB an article to "Make Affluence History", that the only way to end poverty is to end affluence.  It then listed a bunch of suggestions on how you could do that, including telling your boss to cap your salary, skimp on consumption, and make a low-tech bracelet from an old bicycle tire.

The problem is, the people who would follow those suggestions aren't affluent to begin with.  They've actually poverty conscious ideas.  You don't raise vibration by bringing another vibration down.

And, with the current economy, it's bizarre that an article like this would come out, when so many in the US are experiencing poverty (or maybe not bizarre, just reflecting the mass poverty consciousness that's being projected right now).

The energy of poverty is contraction.  It's held in tight, a constricted feeling.  Everything is seen through the lens of limitation.  When you're poor, it feels like being hunched down, in a squatting position, for a very long time.

Getting out of poverty can be painful.  Standing up after squatting for a while, hurts.

The energy of wealth is expansion.  It feels like freedom, like release.  Everything is seen through the eyes of possibility.  When you're truly wealthy (more on that in a moment), you feel generous and giving.  You feel like anything is possible.

Now, there's an aspect of being wealthy that's the opposite of the description above.  There's a level of being wealthy where you are disconnected from your feelings; you have all the 'right' material things and social status, so you must be happy.  There's distorted wealth, where you can't empathize or feel compassionate towards others.  The reason that person is homeless is because they're not working hard enough, or that person doesn't have health insurance because they're too lazy to get it.  Distorted wealth is unconscious.

Distorted poverty is, as well.  Distorted poverty wants everyone to be down at their level.  They judge and feel resentful of 'rich people'.  If someone they know gets a raise, or starts to do better, they assume that person is going to become a snob. 

Underearning is an aspect of distorted poverty.  Tolerating a low hourly wage or accepting a less-than-market level fee for one's services 'because of the economy', 'because people can't afford it', 'because I'm spiritual', is distorted thinking.

Being poor isn't noble. 

Now there are people without much money who are happy.  There are villages in India and Africa with few material resources, who, if measured by their openheartedness, their connection to family, their awareness of Spirit, are wealthy.

There are people with vast amounts of money who are miserable.  They're concerned with having enough in their account for the entire year, and more focused on their portfolio than the actual quality of their lives.

Not all rich people are unconscious.  Bill Gates is putting his Microsoft billions into smart ways of helping elimate diseases and improve infant mortality overseas.  Warren Buffett is encouraging other billionaires, by example, to give most of their fortune away.  Richard Branson is an example of endless fun and enthusiasm and continuous creativity.

Now, from the perspective of Source, there is no good or bad to being rich or poor.  It's all an example of our Spiritual creativity.  As Spirit, we created this planet of dichotomies to experience the opposite of who We are.  From Spirit's viewpoint, it's fun to roll about in effort, we get excited by the challenges of limitation.  Because our Essence knows it's all a game.  The more challenges you creates in your life, the more spiritually creative you are!  Essence doesn't take any of this very seriously because, hey, in the blink of an eye this storyline will end and poof! We'll create a whole new lifetime to act out in.

If you go back to the essential qualities of wealth and poverty, they are simply energy patterns.  Wealth is expansion and freedom, poverty is contraction and limitation.

How do you break out of a limiting pattern, so you can experience more expansion?  It starts by seeing a bigger picture of your life.  It takes stepping out of your comfort zone, because what is familiar isn't always functional.

The energy of abundance is appreciation.  Whenever you pay for something, you're expressing appreciation for it.  Whenever you receive payment for something, you're receiving appreciation for it.  Think about this the next time you pay your bills.  Don't you really appreciate the things you purchased with that credit card?  Isn't it great having a place to live, and electricity and water?  Wasn't that a really delicious meal at the restaurant?

Rising out of poverty patterns takes appreciation, too.  Wow, I am so capable that I created this really complex storyline so I can't afford Christmas presents this year.  It is going to sound *great* when I write my memoirs!  Wow, not having a job is *really* uncomfortable.  I get to let go of the illusion of being (such-and-such career person).  How fun to step out of the limitations of 8-5, 50 weeks a year, into a realm of new possibilities.

Appreciation is one step towards increasing your own experience of wealth.  I enjoy a feeling visualization as well.  Abraham-Hicks says that prosperity is all around us, like Niagara Falls, but most of us are standing around with teaspoons.  Think of the powerful flow of Niagara Falls, and the ionized air around it.  Imagine that energy flowing into the top of your head and throughout your aura.  Imagine your space filled with this energy.  Let it's high vibration disintergrate any limitations.

What this is doing is raising your vibration so you can receive more in your life.

In order to have more money (or anything) you have to expand your ability to Have it.

Sometimes a technique for increasing money is to start spending it.  There's a misunderstanding to that idea.  On one level, expressing appreciation with money is telling the Universe that you trust more is flowing in, but some people compulsively spend everything they have and nothing comes in, because acting compulsively comes from poverty consciousness.  They're spending from fear, not generosity.  Tithing is more in alignment, because giving a small portion of what's coming in towards things that support you spiritually and emotionally is expressing appreciation towards Source (it's like leaving the Universe a tip for services rendered)!

Now, what happens for some people is they increase their monetary inflow, and immediately their expenses increase.  Because, what flows in, must flow out, right? 

Instead of seeing Niagara Falls flowing in and then rushing right out again, imagine it flowing into a pool.  That way your money flow can 'pool' and you can siphon out whatever you need.

You can do this visualization remotely as well.  If there are relatives or communities you're concerned about, imagine Niagara Falls for them as well.

Play with these ideas this week.  Notice when you're feeling contracted or limited.  Allow yourself to breath in and expand.  Use the Niagara Falls (and pooling) visualization, whenever you feel like it.  Gift others with the visualization as well.

Try this for a week and see what happens!

Giving and Receiving

(c) 2010 Joan M. Newcomb

There's a worldwide, grassroots network called Freecycle whose mission is to keep usable items out of landfills.  It's really quite an amazing phenomenon. People give away items they don't need, and people ask for items they want.

When I first participated, I gave away some (fairly good) furniture, because someone had gifted me theirs.  It was quite exhilarating to see the looks on recipients' faces; they couldn't quite believe they could have a futon sofabed or a recliner just for doing me the favor of carting it away!

And it's equally wonderful to see people receive items they've asked for, be it school supplies for their kids or an item for their home.  All freely given, freely received, no strings attached.

The energy of giving makes you feel better, pulls your attention away from your own troubles and into the abundant flow of life.  In 12 step programs, newcomers are encouraged to take on a task, like making coffee for their group.  It gets them doing something that other's appreciate.  And gives them a feeling of accomplishment that they're probably not experiencing in the un-manageability of their life's storyline (that caused them to come to the 12 steps in the first place).

Giving actually strengthens your connection to Source and increases your ability to receive abundance.  It's the principle that tithing is based on.  If you give away 10%, you find your 90% expanding.  Even if you can't quite manage 10% of your income, you can give your time or your compassion.  Gifts of service count towards the Flow.

As with everything, balance is needed.  We all know burned-out givers, who volunteer for everything yet can't make ends meet.  They need to learn to moderate their giving with receiving.

Receiving is essential for prosperity.  You need to be able to allow the flow come to you as well as out of you.  Gracious receiving validates people who give to you.  Even if it's a compliment. If someone says something nice to you, accept it and thank them (even if your tendency is to minimize it).

Receiving well sends a message to your subconscious that it's an abundant and benevolent universe.  It also increases your connection to Source.

A couple simple steps to increase your participation in the Flow:
*Give $1 or $5 or $10 away to a worthy cause.  It can be anything.  Put it in one of those plexiglas boxes at the convenience store, stuff it in the tip jar at Starbucks.  Do this often enough and the energy builds and opportunities arise as well.
*Notice how the Universe is giving to you.  Receive compliments.  Receive sunny days (yes, the Universe did make the sun shine just for you)!  Appreciate your surroundings, notice synchronicities.  Breathe them in and notice your inner expansion.

Try these for a week and see what happens!  And email me the results!