The Power of Forgiveness

The Power of Forgiveness ©2018 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

Someone told me recently that forgiveness is an act, not a feeling. You can declare forgiveness and deal with the emotions later. I've now heard it from two other sources since, which really makes it seem like a comment from the Universe.

You know, forgiveness isn't saying what they did was right, forgiveness isn't about them at all, it's about releasing you from continuing to be injured by them.

Jim Self of Mastering Alchemy says, “You can’t take your baggage with you” into the new Consciousness that’s emerging. Nothing keeps you weighed down like resentments. Nothing keeps you tethered to the past like reliving stories of past injuries done to you.

Forgiveness is releasing negative energy to be recycled into positive energy. When we let go through forgiveness, it can be incredibly uplifting.

I was reflecting on a couple people who infuriate me with their apparent ignorance of their transgressions against me. And yet when I look back on the circumstances, many years ago now, I can see that it was probably a case of miscommunication, of my not being clear enough, or persistent enough, in explaining my situation at the time.

At the risk of being Biblical, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

The Mister Rogers quote showed up on my Facebook timeline this morning as I was contemplating this blog post. “The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness,” Fred Rogers said. How profound. It renders evil completely powerless over you, and your mind.

I think of evil as the cesspool created by our collective negative thoughts. It’s actually a morphic field, to me sticky black energy, that seems to have a life of it’s own. I notice people struggling with addictions vulnerable to this energy. Recovery helps them step into the light.

So when you declare forgiveness, it releases you from that dark, painful place that we dwell in when we’re entangled with resentments. When we keep reliving the negative things people said or did to us, we give them tremendous power. Do you really want that? Do you want horrible people to hold power of you? Do you want broken, fallible, dysfunctional, people to keep you from your own happiness?

I think of Consciousness (the Universe, Divine, True Creative Essence, whatever term you choose) as  a great reservoir of love, light, and wisdom. Anything of value, anything that we think we may have lost, actually still exists energetically in Consciousness.

When you forgive, you create space to receive that energy back from Consciousness. You reclaim your power from them, and that black cesspool of unconsciousness.

At some point, in our Consciousness shift, our spiritual evolution, we’ll be in a state of perpetual forgiveness. Our energetic bodies will be at such a high frequency of light that negative energy won’t be able to exist. I notice when I do my Meetups, I end up being at such a space of non-resistance, negative energy passes right through.

If this seems impossibly difficult at the moment, rest assured that you don’t have to instantaneously forgive everyone on your resentment list. You can take baby steps. You can become willing. And, you may need to start with yourself!

Truth & Emotions

(c) 2010 Joan M. Newcomb

One of the things (if not the major thing) that makes this adventure on Playground Earth so fun & yet so challenging is - emotions!

Emotions are your body's communication to You, Essence.  Your body reacts much the same way it did when it was a baby, it cries to let you know it's hungry, tired or needs changing.  As an adult, there are more nuances to your emotions, but it usually drills down to some basic needs.

When You begin to play on a higher awareness level, it's tempting to ignore what your body is saying, because it may slow you down or distract you from your 'spiritual focus'.  Just like a baby, an ignored body just gets louder when ignored.  Listening to your body, responding to it's needs, actually furthers your progress as a cooperative body will take you where you want to go!

If you're an empath, you have an additional challenge because you can feel what others are feeling.  Since none of us as children receive validation for our psychic abilities, our first impression is that all the emotions charging through our space is ours.  I find that others' feelings are more overwhelming to me, and have no basis in what I'm experiencing at the moment.  If you're feeling someone else's intense feelings, send them love and healing energy.  They're not deliberately invading your space, they're just sharing their (albeit uncomfortable) experience with you!

Yes, you are Consciousness creating all of this, *and* You created your body/personality to experience this world through.  Yes, you created everyone else in your hologram, and the hologram is an illusion *and* in your body/personality, you're experiencing it as real.  Everyone else is "real" from your body/personality perspective.  It's only as you shift to the Unity vibration that you can feel the Truth of our connectedness.

As your navigating through this illusion, feelings are your indicator of distortion.  If something causes very intense emotion, there's a lie at work.  You can tell whether an emotion you're feeling is clear or murky.  If it's clear, you feel empowered, energized, awake.  If it's murky, you feel depressed, anguished or even a little crazy.  It's not about positive or negative emotions because they're all just communication.  They're the words your body uses to speak to you, or the music You use to express yourself.  Joy obviously comes from Consciousness, but very clear Anger is a spiritual transformer (it cuts through the lies and limitations).  Fear is always a body level response as your body isn't going to make it out of this lifetime alive!

Stepping into an intense emotion can be a useful navigational technique *if* you pass through to the other side.  It's like jumping waves at the ocean, if a really big one comes along, you can dive right through it.  Some people miss the second part of this technique and get stuck in the emotional level.  Wallowing in misery or foaming at the mouth with rage means you're fighting with the illusions and giving it more power rather than reclaiming power from it!

When you're on the playing field of Earth, you're in direct contact with other players.  When you get tackled it feels very real.  When you're high up in the stands, you can observe yourself and others and see the big picture of the whole game.  It's very exciting but you're not feeling the discomfort of being face down in the mud.  When you're in an airplane overhead, you can see the world and all the little tiny people as your creation.

It's not that other people aren't real, or just cardboard 'extras' in your movie.  Everyone is real at the playing field level, with fascinating storylines all intersecting and playing out simultaneously. You're an Infinite Being and are capable at creating that complexity.  It's not until you're up in the plane that it becomes the illusion that it is.

If you're stiving to be at 'airplane level' the entire time, you're missing the point of being here.  You already *are* airplane level.  You created body/personality and Planet Earth to play in for the sheer joy of feeling physical.  Your point of being here is to feel everything fully, to be fully embodied.  Feel the sun on your face and food in your mouth.  Relish in the pleasure of a bubble bath or sleeping in.  Love people, places and fluffy animals. 

This week, feel your way through life.  Notice what feels clear and what feels murky.  Navigate towards clarity, and see what happens!

Power

(c) 2009 Joan M. Newcomb

I'm in the midst of a tremendous shift of awareness. Which reminds me of a joke - what's the difference between a pun and a fart? A pun is a shift of wit...

What it feels like is a graceful transition into an expanded awareness. Unlike previous shifts which have been painful and dramatic bottoming out before becoming enveloped in Love.

Not that there hasn't been some dramas along the way... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Everything nowadays is the opposite of whatever it's been. Some of which we already know and understand. We no longer have to work 8-6, fifty weeks of the year, remain loyal to one company for a lifetime, stay married to our first husband for the sake of the kids and the mortgage on the house, continue going to Church because what would the neighbors (or our parents) think?

It's an energetic dance. People who've seemed powerful in the past, because they were so rich, so dominant and controlling, are revealed to be the least powerful of all. They've operated from the Power outside belief. The Truth is power's inside. Standing in your own power doesn't feel very powerful (in the old way of experiencing it). Empowerment often feels normal, relaxed, unhurried, centered.

I recently witnessed someone who feels very powerless in their own life manipulating an entire group to their personal will. Yet another interesting illusion of power. More on that later. Maybe.

In relaxing into my internal sense of power, I've received some fun "cookies" from the Universe (reassurance that my Expanded Self is truly driving the bus). Sunday I saw a Safeway advertising gas at $2.23 a gallon. I stopped by there yesterday to fill up, and the price was $2.37. Had I misread it? Did the price go up? I got $10 worth of gas, then did so much driving I was at empty when I returned home. This morning I went to another gas station and the sign said "$2.23" per gallon. I drove up to the pump, looked over and saw the gas station owner changing the sign to $2.37. I looked at the pump and the price still read $2.23. I looked at the owner and he said, 'Lucky for you I haven't changed the other side of the sign'.

Yesterday I had a nail in my tire, which kept me from attending the meeting where the group was manipulated. It was a gift from my Expanded Self to not engage with drama. More on that later. Maybe.

Today I went to Discount Tire and asked them how much to patch my tire? How much to put it back on my car? It was all free.

Okay, maybe these things don't seem all that miraculous to you. But I'm enjoying my cookies, anyway.

I've noticed it doesn't feel like power when it's genuine power (doesn't feel powerless either).

Crazy people/irritating situations are just indicators where you have given up power, or have power stored in this illusion we call Life. When you dance this particular energetic dance, it's all about reclaiming power. Taking your power back from these situations actually means withdrawing your energy from the illusion. When you do, everything falls apart at first (sometimes) and then everything falls into place (like I'm experiencing now).

When I was a kid, my mom read me stories about Brer Rabbit, who was always escaping Brer Fox and Brer Bear's tricks. One day Brer Fox and Brer Bear made a Tar Baby sitting on a bench. Brer Rabbit came along and said Howdy, then got offended when the Tar Baby said nothing back. He started to sock the Tar Baby and got stuck.

You can, if you like, react to crazy people, irritating situations. However, to me it's kind of like the Tar Baby, just gets you wrestling with them and giving them more power.

Brer Rabbit got free when he convinced Brer Bear and Brer Fox to throw him in the briar patch, by pleading with them *not* to. It turned out to be where he grew up, so he got away free.

I mean, if you want to wrestle with the Tar Baby and get thrown in a briar patch, that's one way to do it. I'm just saying, why wrestle at all?

Sometimes we can't help it. The Expanded part of you knows not to wrestle, but you're covered with tar anyway. You can be amused AND irritated - it shows you're regaining seniority.

Seniority is a tricky concept. It comes from the idea that You are senior in your own space, your own creation. You ARE your expanded Self. There is NO power outside of you, not in anyone or anything. You're the main character in your hologram. Seniority isn't authority (which implies power over others). Seniority is... resting within your own energy. With the knowledge that it's all your own space, everything is your own creation. But you don't have to get caught up in the drama of it. You can channel surf and decide where to put your attention.

What can I suggest for you to do this week? Keep reclaiming power. Keep breathing. Inhale a lot. Exhale some. Step back from the drama. See what happens when you stop trying. Do something different. Do the opposite of what you've always done. And watch what unfolds.

Email me and let me know what happens when you do!