Jenny's Gems for February-Intuitive Illuminations from a Grounded Mystic

“When things are too heavy, don't try to pick them up.”

The previous month has been a rewarding and sometimes challenging  opportunity to
check in with your soul on a deeper level and make sure  that the people in our
circles share a similar vision and that their  vision is in alignment with our
deepest core values. That is, it is  fueled by love and focused on growing a
heart-centered collective. It is sometimes all too easy to fall into a pattern
of compromising our core  values in exchange for promises of greater connection,
recognition and  success. It is easy to grab at and reach for these external
definitions  when the deeper definitions of these things begin to elude us. 

You know what this path feels like, right? It’s the slip and slide… We
  start with big dreams and find ourselves, instead, just hanging on,  hoping
things will turn out for the best. We find ourselves just  managing to keep our
head above water instead of moving toward our more  soulful goals and ambitions.
This can put us in a holding pattern with  regards to manifesting our dreams and
desires. Merriam Webster  Dictionary defines a holding pattern as a state of
waiting or suspended  activity or progress. And while this may be okay with some
of us for a  limited amount of time, if you stay in a holding pattern too long,
you  lose vital life energy and eventually a sense of hopelessness creeps
  in. 

This feeling of being in a holding pattern happened to many in my immediate circles
 this past month. The energy of feeling trapped  with  little movement forward
definitely is uncomfortable and sparks  controversy if
you stay in it too long. Imagine a cork in a bottle with  pressure building up
underneath. Eventually the pressure is going to  build up exponentially causing
the cork to blow with a powerful force.  Well, this, in many ways, is what is
happening with our collective  energy.

We have seen this cycle play out in the last two months  or so, and it is definitely a time ripe with controversy in our  collective. As a result, people are acting in cavalier ways that don’t
  always offer the best outcome toward our collective goals. Or they are  blowing
up or slinking off… This energy isn’t easy for any of us to  maneuver. As such,
it is a time of endings and new beginnings, ushering  in re-organization of
businesses, endings of collectives and  relationships, and many new start-ups.
I’m sure you have seen this  energy building up, touching and affecting your own
life in some  unexpected ways.

It is partially fueled by some difficult astrological aspects that make people feel as though they want to break  out of their shell and feel liberated and/or vindicated right now. There is a
generalized feeling of collective frustration with Venus and  Jupiter retrograde
cycles which leaves people wanting to move forward  quickly with things. We are
currently being asked to tie up loose ends  from the past and make sure we are
moving forward on solid ground.  Although we may not be able to make real steps
forward until the week of March 2nd, know that we are all doing our best at making  choices, and sometimes, no matter how observant and aware we try to be we find ourselves doubling back and questioning our decisions and our alignment.

If this has recently happened to you, instead of  bemoaning  it, I invite you instead to notice the gift of where you find  yourself. Don’t stuff the feelings that accompany the invitation.  Instead invite them in and notice what they are teaching you about your  own needs. I guarantee this will
get you back on track with moving  forward toward your desires. 

I too had planned to tackle  these weighty issues myself this month and I had
started to write an  article all about sorting out and getting to the bottom of
these  difficult energies. Indeed, that is the article I started, and then 
something happened…right in the middle of this endeavor I got tired. And just
like that cork in the bottle, I started to put pressure on myself  to pull this
all together all at once and come up with an article that  covered all the fine
points of this issue.

My tendency, which  I’m sure many of us share, is  to make things complicated when we already feel mired in big decisions and choices. We feel that we must give them our proper due and so we imagine that, as they are difficult problems,  they must require difficult solutions. 

We do this almost  reflexively. This is because it was something many of
us were taught to  think and do. How many of you heard while growing up that you
had to  face up to things. Or that you were responsible for more than just you?
  How many of you heard that to make something happen you have to work  very
hard? How many of you heard that to solve a problem you have to  turn over every
stone? All of these ideas are probably circulating  around somewhere as part of
your core beliefs. These types of ideas are  indeed so prolific that, in many
cultural circles, we never challenge  them. They are, instead, just the given.
They often get thrown in with  other ideas about spirituality as though they
were gospel.

Why  it was just yesterday I sent a coaches offer to my junk mail because not 3 seconds into her video she endorsed this endless weighted metaphor,  saying something like, “To do anything you love
is very hard and we just have to accept that…” I found myself carrying the great weight of
her  assumptions with me in the first line of her message. And you know what?
When I hit my junk file, I sat that weight down. And this is where and  when my
awareness began to change.

I wonder how many of you who  are reading this are finding that, regardless of the outcome, you have  to do something else other than pick up and throw around that great  weight? I invite you to check in now… How many of you feel you must do  something other than what you’ve been
told to do? How many feel you must look for another type of truth of your own
immediate creation? How many feel you would like to come up with a more creative
definition for  what’s going on in your life? Well, if you are feeling this 
multi-faceted energy of restlessness, coupled with creativity, invention and
ambition, you are really onto something. Now, doesn’t it feel  lighter just to
address these questions differently? 

Those who  would encourage you to be responsible and pick up your burden are really asking you to pick up weighted energy. And this is likely something  that they are feeling. These
people, though well-meaning are often mired in the “what if scenario’s.” Here
are a few examples: “If I don’t think about these possibilities they are bound
to happen.” “It isn’t  responsible to ignore a possible outcome.” And… “To be a
team player we  have to share the collective burden.”  How does it feel to
know,  instead, that these energies and ideas never really belonged to
you?

I come from a family where these ideas were very entrenched in my
  earliest teachings and experiences, so these immediate responses are a  part of
my core make-up. Sometimes, they become my go—too’s, especially  when my energy
is depleted. Although I do recognize intellectually that  they are dysfunctional
and, in many cases, just plain inaccurate. Like  many of you, I too struggle at
times with these outmoded tapes. If you  find you are struggling with these
types of internalized messages, I  encourage you to go easy on yourself. Change
happens when we are willing to look in a different direction.

The other day, I found myself posting a very different kind of a quote on my Facebook
page. I wrote,  “When things are too heavy, don’t try to pick them up.” Now this
really  is an about face for me. Instead of endorsing my parent’s ideas and the
  culture’s ideas about our responsibility to the greater whole, i.e. to  see
what’s there and deal with it. Instead, this was basically saying, I see this
and I choose not to carry it. I almost erased it when I posted it. It didn’t
seem right, almost blasphemous, in a weird way, to  suggest it. But, I was
curious, so I let the post stay there. I did come back several times to stare at
it and ponder what it might mean.

What I’ve come up with takes me right  back to the well-meaning inaccurate  messages my parent’s and the culture gave me. In reality, when we  endorse this collective weightiness and heaviness that
I’m talking  about. We become too heavy to move ourselves…much less the energy
around our situations. We become depressed and overburdened. We eat too much
  and walk around with the weight of the world on our shoulders. We become secure
in the idea that we know the outcome of things. We end up  endorsing our own
limitations. We fight for things that aren’t good for  us anymore just because
we can predict the outcome. This over certainty  is too heavy a burden for any
of us to bear and that is because it  doesn’t allow us to change. Sure it’s
solid and undeniable. And it  proves we are there, but our ideas become
immovable things. And then we  outgrow them as we are beings meant to change,
and our ideas and  experiences and outgrown truths become intolerable to
us. 

This  is why, when you feel something is too heavy a load, it
is better to  move in another direction. First, if you need to, rest and allow
  yourself time to adjust to the new direction. Then, make sure you’ve  dealt
with any loose ends of the heavier place. Have the conversation,  change the
times, and make your new needs known. As you do, at the same  time, begin to
imagine what it will be like to feel lighter, move  easier, and more freely,
connect more smoothly. Really let yourself get  into this place.

Watch clips of downhill skiers, or take a bath  with bubbles and notice how the suds
sit full of air so easily on the  top of the water. Imagine yourself and your
new movements as airy and  light as those suds. Or imagine yourself as quick and
lithe as those  downhill skiers. This is the way to begin to wholly embody the
change on a spiritual and eventually, a physical level.

Lastly, I always tell my clients that moving through change is never as hard as we  imagine it
will be. Know that, when you embrace the opportunity to move  through to a
lighter more sustainable energy, you will have unseen  helpers that will guide
you in the new direction,  hidden hands that  will provide you with
meaningful gifts, and amazing  imaginative  insights that will help you
gain momentum toward your new vision. So,  learn to trust the new energy that is
trying to shift you from the place of too heavy in your life. Just don’t pick up
that rock!

February’s affirmation Gem is:  I easily move forward
with my new endeavors. I set down those things that no longer speak to me and
move in the direction  of my innately inspired alignment.  I am open to
exploring this new  feeling of lightness in myself and others. 

And February’s Gem  is sunstone. Sunstone is known as “The stone of joy.” It is
known for  bringing lightness and connection while opening up intuitive
energies.  This stone invites benevolent gods and goddesses to bring luck and
  fortune. It imparts empowerment and freedom from the effects of energy
  drainers. It evokes optimism and enthusiasm, encourages healing and  removes
depressive conditions. I am excited to carry this stone  throughout the month of
February with you. May our intention setting  take us to unseen places carried
on the winds of our most buoyant  ideas!  Blessings and happy envisioning
and intention setting to each of you!

Jenny’s work draws heavily from
the depth psychology  schools of C.G.
Jung and Joseph Campbell. By utilizing and
refining your unique intuition she hopes to help you achieve a more peaceful, and authentic response
to life, no matter where you find yourself on the  human
journey. Jenny brings her gifts of insight, vision, depth and a  non-judgmental presence to our work. She looks forward to helping you  help your intuitive Self shine! She may be reached at:   [email protected]  or at her website: www.innervoiceintuitive.com 
to  schedule tarot readings and Skype intuitive counseling

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