Breathing Room

Breathing Room ©2018 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

Someone I follow just sent out their newsletter apologizing for “dropping off the face of the earth”. To be honest, I hadn’t noticed. I knew they were moving from a tropical island to a place in Europe where they could ski year round. That alone takes time and energy.

They explained that they needed time to integrate the change, and that they’d dropped everything, even their regular writing, as it was happening. Brilliant.

We need time to reorient within, before looking at our next steps.

This period of time has been relentless with continual transformations. We barely have time to breath before the next adjustment is required of us.

What’s been going on for all of us collectively is huge. Our greater Consciousness is coming more into form. To our body, it feels an enormous expansion.

It may have shown up as really challenging situations that required you to release things, belief systems, and relationships you were very attached to. Anything restrictive may still be in the process of being removed. It may have been very painful. At the very least, it might be an identity shift.

What was going on energetically was an internal renovation. Our old system couldn’t accommodate the increased vibration.

It reminds me of when butterflies emerge from their cocoon. They need to let their wings dry before they fly.

You’ve just gone through this metamorphosis. You have no idea how this new energy body works. Take a moment to feel into it.

Last Wednesday, we aired our last show of Conscious Conversations With Joan and Janet. The contract with the station had come to an end and my current circumstances don't allow for regularly broadcasting a live show.

Now part of me wants to just jump into podcasting. To fill up that Wednesdays at 11am PT time slot.

Being a radio show host has been a part of my identity since 2009. It's something everyone understood when they asked me "what do you do".

What would it be like to not do that? To let there be that space. To see what emerges from the void.

And this blog - I've been consistently publishing it and my newsletter for years. What would it be like to skip a week? To go on hiatus?

I'm not sure that's what I'll do, but I am noticing the need to allow for something different. To not push forward as the mind, body-personality, wants to do. To navigate intuitively, as Consciousness, and let the next steps emerge.

I'm excited to see what happens!

What Is Dying In Your Life?

What Is Dying In Your Life? ©2016 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

This has been a long, hard year for many people. And we've had some significant deaths, as well. With the recent unexpected passings, I've joked that David Bowie and Prince are hosting one heck of a Sky Party.

And for those of us who are staying in our bodies, there have been other kinds of loss. If it hasn't been material, or in relationship, it's been within ourselves. Perhaps our world view has changed, or an aspect of our identity has gone. Perhaps we have lost hope, or inspiration.

Chinese Opera, by Nova

In the last couple of months some of these have been sudden and unexpected. We're in shock, as well as grief.

For months now, I have been aware of an impending death in my life, and am not clear what it is. I've been rebuilding since 2013 (the year I helped both parents die, and also my dog, lost my uncle, my house, and my business effectively shut down).

I've also been aware of being at a tipping point, a sense of about to dive in, all-or-nothing. Which doesn't entirely make sense to me, since I've always been resolutely committed to my work, which is my purpose and calling in life.

What this reminds me of, is when I did psychic readings and looked at people's futures. Sometimes their future self would be right there on the timeline, pointing out what was going to happen. At other times, the timeline would disappear into a fog.

I had two interpretations for this image. One was that the person wasn't meant to see what was coming up, they were supposed to stay in the present moment, otherwise they'd try to skip steps to achieve it. The other was that the future was still being written, it was still being designed.

I sense it is the latter for me. I am letting go of expectations and assumptions. Releasing effort, trying hard. It's been several years of a lot of action, of running around giving it away, trying to reach as many people as possible. It feels like things are changing, my focus is narrowing to those who can show up and have the information.  It feels like a return to creativity as well. I've had a couple books that have been waiting years to come out; perhaps 2017 is a time they will be birthed!

So what is dying for you? What is going away?

Collectively, I think we've moved to a new level of Consciousness, so anything of a denser vibration no longer exists in this new reality.

We can use this time to our advantage, to actively release that which we may perceive as dragging or holding us back. Perhaps you've been struggling with something for a long time. You can leave it in 2016, and let 2017 be a different Universe for you.

You don't have to know the solution, or the answer. You just have to step into the space where it exists.

You may find that you haven't lost anything at all (anything of significance is always stored in Consciousness) and instead gain a whole new world!

Values and Worth

Values and Worth ©2015 Joan Newcomb

What's most important in life for you?  Where do you focus 90% of your attention? What do you spend most of your money on? Do you feel satisfied with your life?

The answer to these questions may - or may *not* give you a clue about your core values.

For instance, your children may be of the utmost importance, so you work two jobs to support them, but you never get to see them, because you're working, so you don't feel satisfied with your life. 

Perhaps you spend most of your money on clothes, because you want to appear fashionable but you really you feel like the geeky kid you were in middle school.

These are examples where you aren't living your life in alignment with your values.  Your sense self worth is affected.

Sometimes what you *don't* spend money on also reflects your values.

When you know what your values are, it helps you make decisions.  You may value relationships. You may value communication.  But you make $300 an hour at Microsoft spending most of your day debugging software in a room by yourself.  Now you understand why you're rich, but not happy.

Perhaps your top values are honesty and integrity, and you're dating someone charming and handsome but who compulsively lies.  You now know whether or not to stay in the relationship.

Spiritual, emotional and material values don't always harmonize.  Your family may value hard worth and fiscal responsibility, but you value creativity and freedom.  Your Church may say they follow the values of Christ and yet aren't compassionate or nonjudgemental.

Don't allow others to determine your worth.  You are priceless.  You are a gift to this world.  You are Consciousness here to enhance the collective experience by being uniquely YOU.

Your core values are clues to your life purpose.  You're here to express yourself as Consciousness in physical form.  Your artistic abilities are your spiritual language.  If you write, if you sing, if you dance, if you act, if you paint, if you knit, if you cook, if you garden, it is the greater aspect of you communicating the essence of who you are.

To identify your top core values, take this questionnaire.

Hope this helps you navigate life in the direction of your choice! 

What to do When Your World Collapses

What to do when your world collapses ©2014 Joan M. Newcomb

Every one of us will have at least one experience that shatters their reality. Every one of us will have at least one experience that shatters their reality.

You or someone you love will lose their job, be in an accident, get divorced, uncover a horrible truth, be diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness...

It may happen in an instant, or erode over time.  Whatever occurs will feel like a door has shut behind you, your path has been irrevocably changed.

How do you move forward? How can you go on?  

You may feel numb with grief, you may feel vulnerable, like your skin has been removed.  It may be hard to be around people.  It may be difficult to eat.  You may want to sleep all day.  You may not be able to sleep at all.

Energetically, what has happened, is that all your pictures of what reality should look like have been erased.  Your identity has been altered. It is very disorienting.

Your perception of yourself as married, employed, healthy, safe, has suddenly shifted to the opposite.

Imagine a house undergoing a remodel.  Sometimes it was consciously chosen. other times things blowup and make it happen.  You have to reinvent yourself.  You have to rebuild your life.

Everyone recovers differently.  Everyone has a different time line.  You can't have too many expectations of yourself when things first happen.  Perhaps you're in crises mode, you have to just get through it.

Numbness can be a protection, it can help you keep things together in the first few days, weeks or months.  You get through it moment by moment, and then day by day.

Your self-talk can make it harder - or easier.  When my dog ate rat poison, the weekend I was moving, I told myself, "this isn't a crisis, it's an event."

When my mother got Alzheimer's and cancer and I decided it would be inhumane to put her through chemo, I'd find myself saying, "I can't do this, I can't keep going."  And then I'd say, "yes you can."

Who is doing the talking?

We are more than our identities, we are more than our storylines.  The part of us that is shattered, that is grieving loss, is our personality-self.  Within us there is an Essential Self that is bigger than any problem.

Breakdowns are opportunities for us to strengthen, deepen, grow and expand.  They allow our True Selves to emerge.

The sun will shine again.  Mourn the loss but don't cling to it.  You will get through this.  The pain will eventually subside.

Look for hidden blessings, and angels in disguise.  Even in the bleakest moments, they are there.  It may be in a sunny day.  It may be kindness from a stranger.  Notice how the Universe supports you.

Nothing true is ever lost.  Your loved ones still exist in non-physical form.  Who you are at your core never goes away.  You may feel disconnected as you are going through this experience, but -You will emerge stronger, wiser, and more compassionate.

Know you are loved.  Know you are wise.  Know you are strong.  Know you can get through this.  

Most importantly, Know it will get better.