Ep 197 - Achieving Unity in a Changing World Through OPEN Discussions - One World in a New World - Apocalyptic Chats

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Namaste and in La Ketch and welcome to this episode of One
World in a New world. I'm your host, Zen Benefiel, and
by all means, please do like subscribe and share.
It will help you. It will help us and you will see
some magnificent differences in your life by sharing these
apocalyptic chats. This week's guest is Shakira

(00:24):
Johnson. She is a fellow octopi, which
means we're both members of the Octopus movement, which is a
collection of non linear thinkers seeking solutions for
the challenges we face today. She's also the founder and CI
and chief impact officer of Maple and Monroe, a think and do
tank. She's written a book called Over

(00:46):
the Veil. She's on the board of the Design
Thinking Certification program at Rutgers University, so she's
highly accomplished. And she also works with a OMGT
party, which is a collection of opportunities for young girls to

(01:09):
find support and encouragement in developing their own lives.
Shakira, great to have you here.This is going to be a explore
the thoughtless sphere. Embark on a life changing
journey of self discovery. Embrace harmony with self, with
others, with first one world in a new world.
Zen Benefiel skillfully ignites conversations, guiding guests to

(01:34):
reveal personal journeys and perspectives.
Listeners are inspired to seek knowledge and find wisdom in
their own lives. Join this transformative journey
as we navigate the depth of human experience.
I'm so honored to be here. Thank you for having me on your
platforms and this is wonderful.Thank you.
No, you're welcome and I just blew my opening so not to worry.

(01:58):
You nailed it. The well, I did, but thank you
very much. There was another process that I
had in mind that I forgot because I was so deeply involved
with you at the moment, which isreally what life is about,
right? How deeply we can be involved
with others in conversation and,and open and be vulnerable and,
and have these kind of in depth,often scary kind of

(02:21):
conversations because we don't talk about things like this in
our normal lives, right? The this bereftness that we have
of inner and outer lives and thediscussion of what goes on
inside that can affect the outside because we start with
our own choices, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and construct

(02:43):
our lives around that. But we don't often share what
those truly are with others. And if they're on the fringe,
out of the norm, out of the linear, right, it's often in
defiance of that which truly is.And that's the connection that
we have with each other. So thank you for coming on and

(03:03):
being willing to explore and jump into this rabbit hole with
me. I live in the rabbit hole in
many ways so it's OK. Very good.
I kind of think we all do. We just don't recognize it and
or share it, right. This concept we were talking a
little bit earlier about, you know, the, the concept of being
cosmic consciousness condensed into form, just unaware of that.

(03:28):
Well, we're all that, you know, the we have a ancient historical
reference to that in the Vedas. We're all divine threads,
Incarnate, connected to Source, capable of God consciousness.
That means we can all learn how to play together well, right?
So how did you first learn when you were growing up, what the

(03:52):
there was a greater aspect of life than just the physical
world and the socialization and things of that nature?
How did you find that interconnection and what was it
like? Thank you for asking.
I mean, like many others, it's like I was always different as a
child. I was different from the

(04:13):
beginning. You know, I always I I felt as a
child as though I had deep knowing and understanding of
things and also that I was in the world, but not of the world

(04:34):
in many ways as a child, but still being a child, not fully
having an understanding of what my well.
We hear those words a lot right in the world, but not of that,
especially in religious circles.And is it really understood?
You. That's a childlike perspective,
right? Where you just know you're

(04:55):
connected, that you don't have to think about it.
Right. And just the things that I would
think about and where my mind would be as a child, the other
things that I heard other young people talking about, I was not.
So as a child even I didn't really watch a lot of TV or
those type of things. So I did a lot of just deep

(05:16):
thinking. I remember as a child thinking
very deeply about, you know, what happens when you die and
all those things. And not even from a place of
scaredness, but just a place of.Wonder.
Wonder and those things right sothat just really grew but really
when I was in college I would say my extraordinary abilities

(05:45):
kind of came online more you know they just to the point that
I literally asked for them to beturned off because I was just
like. I can relate to that happened to
me in college when I got blown open.
I, I went into light beyond, came back and, and then all of a
sudden all these different worlds were available beings

(06:06):
and, and voices and I was like, guys, you know, I, I could hear
them, right? I could see them sometimes, but
this, the seeing of them was so distracting that it was like,
guys, I, I can't do this right. Leave me alone.
I, I, I, it's good enough just to hear you.
Yeah, it it was, it was an experience and definitely once

(06:29):
those you know, extrasensory abilities really come online,
you can it can be quite off putting because you will no
longer be normal like whatever the normal is.
This is the epitome of diversity, right?
Yeah, you're, you're not normal and your experiences are just so

(06:52):
different. And so Long story short, I just
wanted to, you know, party and hang out, like not know what's
going to happen all the time in advance, you know, like just
just different things. So I, I just asked for it to go
away and it did. And it did, which was not to my

(07:15):
benefit, but at the time I thought.
You thought so at the time, right?
Because it was a little too intense.
And I think we all go through that, that you and I both did.
I think probably, I suspect many, if not most do.
And yet there comes a time when,oh, I miss that.

(07:38):
I'm so grateful that I have another chance is what I is what
I'm saying. I'm so grateful that I had
another chance to fully integrate all parts of myself.
And you know, now I'm living in that and I wouldn't go back for
anything because it they're, they're superpowers, for lack of

(08:01):
a better term, but. And they expand your perspective
and your ability to play in lifeso much that why would you want
to limit yourself again? Right to be basically in a form
of ignorance because that's whatI was.
Once I asked for those things tobe removed, it just put me in a
place of ignorance. Where my intuition wasn't

(08:22):
working the same, like just the different things were not in
place. And as a result of that, I
really went through, you know, tough times because I just poor
decision making, I'll say and. I opened my my mouth in the
wrong place at the wrong time and my parents decided to commit

(08:45):
me at 19. And then I had.
I'd had a conversation with psychiatrist the year before
right after my spiritual awakening and he said you know
why so young? I was 18.
He says why you've had a spiritual awakening, why so
young? Not sure.
Most people don't go through it till the mid 40s if they ever
do. My advice to you is keep your

(09:07):
mouth shut. People are not going to
understand you. Why is advice?
Did I heed it? Nope.
So the following year, I got beat up at a frat still in
college, got beat up at a frat house, ended up in the emergency
room. And my parents decided, because
I did talk to them about it and they decided, oh man, I need a
break. And then the psychiatrist there,

(09:30):
using the DSM 4 at the time, didthe whole diagnosis label, you
know, prescription and all that kind of stuff for Thorazine.
And man, what a hell that was orcould have been.
And yet I was up playing ping pong beating the male nurses and
they couldn't figure it out because the amount of Thorazine
that I was on, I should have been a lump in the corner.

(09:54):
What it did though, was it really because the doc wouldn't
listen? I eventually had to tell him a
lie in my perspective of what hewanted to hear just so I could
get my freedom. And I did.
But I shook so bad on the insidefor fear that if I open my mouth

(10:15):
up too much, I get put back right.
And literally, that feeling was so intense and it shook me to
the core so much that my body would tremble.
It was so embarrassing. Especially, you know, 1920 years
old. Wow.
So I can understand. That was just a show that not

(10:38):
only am I empathetic, I could really understand and relate to
what people go through. You know, what I find
interesting is that even though we have these different avatars
and art, like we're certain where, it's like we're all gone
through the same thing. It looks.

(10:58):
Like Tom Campbell, is that whereyou pulled that from?
It no, it's, it's just, it's a note from just seeing, you know,
seeing how people are. You know, I, I had dinner with a
friend and we were talking aboutthese experiences that we had.
We didn't even know each other, but they were so similar.

(11:20):
Inexperience and even just speaking with you, we have this
similar experience. It's presents itself
differently. It look your situation, it's
independent, right, But at its four it was the same thing,
right, that is. Absolutely.

(11:41):
Same thing. So Long story short, I had I, I
went back to sleep when I asked,you know, for it to go away.
And it happened. But even though I was asleep,
there was still always something.
There was always still a knowing.
But I'm going to be frank. There's always a knock on the
door, right? Yeah, I was like kind of.
Answer it or not. I was like ignoring it.

(12:04):
I wasn't. I wouldn't.
And when it would start sometimes to talk loud, I would
become frustrated with it and, and say things like, well, why
does everybody else get to be, you know, normal?
Why do I have to? You know, there was there was
some butting of heads. Or much is given, much is
expected. There was a butting of heads for

(12:27):
a while where I was just saying,well, why can't I just be like
everybody else to, you know, like, why?
And this was when it kind of like, built up to a fever pitch
of me saying no. And it's saying yes, right?
Right. Well, this is so this gets into
that area. I can totally relate to that.
I, I mean, that could be so fun and so excruciating that at the

(12:50):
same time, right, this gets intothat.
OK, the evolutionary process andthe, I think the Urantia book
calls it repersonalization, not necessarily reincarnation,
because when we don't reincarnate, we don't come back
as the same being, right? We come back as a personality
that's evolving in a different body, same soul.

(13:14):
This speaks to that right, whereperhaps you have made the
choices to still pay attention where others have not, and that
over time that disparity in experience shows up as all these

(13:34):
different levels in society. Yeah, and I do believe that it's
my code, right? I believe we're all coded like
we have different codes and and they're all and and and no code
is over another code, right? It's not even.
They're all integrated. We're all threads in the

(13:55):
tapestry. We're all threads, but there are
difference is the same way there's different types of say,
animals right on on the Serengeti, right.
And we do need to be respectful of that.
You need to say it. Why?
Why can't I be like red, designed like them?
That you're #1 your genetic codes are different, right?

(14:17):
Your individual like a snowflake.
But there's really only 37 kindsof snowflakes from what I've
heard. So more beyond that.
And you have the frequency that we break out, which is a soul
level or whatever you want to energetic level, you know ervin
Lasso calls that the higher self, right?

(14:39):
And that directed energy, potential experience,
information, intelligence, all of those things encased in that
trickles down from that source code into these physical bodies
there where we have that brain, blood, mind, you know,
coagulation that allows us entrance into that greater

(15:04):
experience. And I even for a moment want to
think what if we are created andyou?
We all have free will but you'recreated for different purposes
from the beginning. Do your creation how you are
created. You are created from the

(15:24):
beginning. Again, not one being better than
the other, just different and ora different component, a
different presentation, a different presentation of
source, a different expression of it.
But some were were coded for different purposes.
And. Into that.

(15:47):
You know our our skill sets. Excuse me.
So I noticed that you put on a lot of events at one point, like
22 of them or something like that, right?
So I spent a decade with 100. So these kinds of things that
are, I don't know if you're familiar with Tempe Arts
Festival. Is it?

(16:07):
It's a fourth largest arts and crafts festival in the country.
And I was one of the coordinators for that.
The 90s quarter million people over a weekend, right?
So those kinds of audiences, if you will take a lot of prep work
and being able to understand thethe skill set necessary to do
that. That's not available necessary

(16:29):
to everybody, although they're capable of developing it if they
so choose. Some of us are just naturally
inclined to be able to do that. And find joy in doing it.
Absolutely. And find joy in doing it.
So if, for example, have me to try to do something that someone
else is very good at, I call that their, you know, their

(16:51):
genius. And I mean, I could possibly
learn it. I don't know that I ever may do
it at that level. But even if I could, I wouldn't
have their joy. Like I wouldn't have the joy in
the same way they have it because it's it's it's not my
ministry right. Exactly.
It's like it's. Not there's a mentor I have.

(17:14):
We did a podcast together for a while called two Small Biz guys.
He's 20 years my senior, old Jewish guy from Chicago.
He's got this wonderful banter, right?
And he says to me one time, he says, you know, because I have a
broad skill set and I'm really good at a lot of things.
He said. Why should you be doing
something well that you shouldn't be doing at all,

(17:42):
right? So that speaks to this nature
that we have in the DIY world ofwanting to do it all.
And for solopreneurs, a lot of us are capable of doing that.
I don't want to do it at all. At all.
For me, it's been fun in in justthe learning of how right now
that I know how, what can I delegate?

(18:04):
What's best? Where is my true passion at Just
like yours, right? You've developed that?
Right. I just want to live in the joy.
I want to be in the joy of it atthis point.
Now, how did you find that? How did you experience the
development of your passion, purpose, direction, mission,

(18:24):
ministry? I heard you say.
Because that's really what it is.
Well, it really started. So after again, I went through
the whole I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it.
It just started to kind of come back online.
But what really kicked it into OverDrive is that I ended up
getting COVID in like February of 2020.

(18:47):
So this was before it was even officially announced.
I just started not feeling well and all of these things, but
also something that happened in February is I've had a vision 20
years ago and I'll, I'll speak to my visions.
I don't always understand what they are.

(19:09):
I, I'll have them and I, my visions and my, I can, my
visions and dreams are very different.
So I. Sometimes takes a lifetime to
understand them. Right.
So you understand when you have visions or you have supernatural
experiences and things of that nature, you don't always
understand what they are. It takes time.
So this. He had a great thing, Renee

(19:31):
Maria Rielke, you're probably familiar with the 20th century
philosopher, he says. You know, you ask the questions,
you gotta let life answer them. That's beautiful.
That's beautiful. So I I had this vision which was
about COVID 20 years ago, but I did not know that it was about

(19:52):
COVID. So I'm in my kitchen February
2020 and the vision comes to me and I understand exactly what it
means now. I understand it past, present
and future in the eyeball. I am hysterical.

(20:12):
My husband at the time is like, what's the matter with me?
And I'm just like incoherent. I'm like the vision.
Oh my goodness. Because I could.
I knew. You don't have the ability to
articulate the ineffable at thatpoint, right?
Couldn't communicate it because again, this there wasn't even a
pandemic, but I saw the pandemic.

(20:33):
I saw the length of it, like I saw the whole thing and I knew
that that's what the vision was,but I can't, I couldn't
communicate that simultaneously.I had COVID but did not know
what it was I had I just wasn't really feeling well and it just,
I couldn't shake it no matter what I did.
Fast forward into time, the COVID gets so bad I have to go

(20:57):
to the hospital. It's not even a pandemic because
again, this it hasn't been announced yet.
I go to the hospital and they'relike, we think you have
COVID-19, but nothing has reallyhappened yet.
You know, they don't. They couldn't test me.
They didn't have testing kits. There was all this stuff.
So Long story short, they send me home to self quarantine and I

(21:23):
that is when my spiritual awakening blew open.
So now. So the universe said, OK,
Shakira, you're not going to listen.
We're going to make you listen. We find her right where we want
her, right? Yeah, exactly.
Alone for 14 days. I'm not on the phone or the

(21:45):
computer really anything becauseI I.
Literally don't feel like it. I felt like I was going to die
and then I'm going to be honest,I'm not sure I didn't die
because I've never been that sick in my life.
I remember one night calling outand I said am I going to die?
Because just the pains, I mean it was, I can't really even

(22:08):
explain it how I felt, but I thought I was going to die.
I couldn't. Relate to it.
I had viral meningitis at 27. Did you feel like you were going
to die? Oh, I was hoping because it was.
The pain was so excruciating. You know, I had a wife and three
kids at the time and they were freaking out.
I was freaking out that it was. And there's nothing you can do

(22:30):
it. Was.
That you just have to let it have its own course, you know,
and hopefully you don't die in the process.
Well, I did. And hopefully you don't die in
the process. Did you die?
I, you know, having the experience of dying as a
teenager and and being drawn into the light and going beyond

(22:51):
it and coming back in my body and understanding that, you
know, when cosmic consciousness connects condensed into form,
just unaware, just like the restof us, right.
So I had a precursive event thatdidn't create the angst or I'll
put that mitigated the angst that I would have had.

(23:14):
I just wanted to let go, right, because the pain was so
excruciating. And you know, in what I found is
interesting, maybe you've I'd experience this as well.
So the layers of being all right.
It's like when you're wanting toget away from the pain in your
body, you go into different levels in the depths of

(23:35):
consciousness that you are to get away from that pain and it
can feel like you're actually dropping into a different zone.
Did you experience that? You know, I'm not sure if, if I
if I was aware at the time, but the pain got so bad that I said

(23:57):
to source, I said, am I going todie?
Because I and source said no. And I said OK.
And then it was like I went intoanother realm of experience
within myself, right? It's all within you.
Within myself of low vibrationalthoughts and relationships and

(24:23):
all these. I had a dark night of the soul
in that room. Those are beautiful, aren't
they? They are not.
When you're in it but looking bad, it's like, oh, that was
pretty cool. It was amazing, but in the
moment it's like I I was almost in a self examination where

(24:43):
everything just was coming up for me to examine and make.
Like many who have near death experiences report, there's a
life review, there's a self examination that takes place.
Right. So I had that experience where I

(25:04):
just, I can't even really explain it, but I'll just say I
won't say my life flashed beforemy eyes because that wasn't it.
But it was definitely a self examination at my core, the
depths of my being, right? And so once that happened, I was
changed. I was just forever changed.

(25:26):
So now the 14 days are over, butI'm still pretty sick because I
had, I don't even know if that COVID still exists that I had, I
had the COVID that you know. Well, there's, as I understand
it, there was the one that presents as pneumonia
eventually, right? But the true COVID-19, the, the
bio weapon, instead of filling the lungs with fluid, it

(25:51):
actually called them, caused them to become fibrous.
But the evidence, you know, the,the flu, right?
Because it, it, that's what it is.
Basically, it happened to be more intense and, and could have
been caused by all kinds of environmental considerations.

(26:13):
The fact is, it was perfectly timed.
Correct. And so now my 14 days is over,
but I'm still not well, I'm not I don't think I'm going to die
still I I can at least walk, butI it actually probably took me a
full year to to fully recover. Sure.

(26:34):
That being said. Well, and you're in a population
dense area too, so you're constantly, you know, I.
Was in New York all the time. I was just in New York like I
right, absolutely, very dense, very New York, that type of
thing. Absolutely, absolutely.
So during now this period, my spiritual awakening is

(27:01):
full-fledged. And like I said, and I'm still
not exactly well. So and now it's officially a
pandemic now. Like now what do I do?
OK, I can wait for a while longer while everybody.
Stops and everybody is freaking out.
But but again, remember I already told you I had the
vision 20 years ago. So I already know what's going

(27:24):
on and what's going to come, butI'm not worried at all.
I'm like, it's fine. They're like, we're going back
to school in two weeks. I'm like, you're not, it's fine.
They're like, that's yeah, yeah,they're not, they're not.
Then they come back in two weeks.
They're like they said we're going to go back in another two
weeks. I'm like they said we're going
to go back in two months. I'm like, no, just buckle down.

(27:44):
Like let's. Yeah, just chillax for a while
and. Settle down.
We're in this for the long haul,right?
So I'm in like I'm in a place ofZen.
I'm in a place of Zen. I am feeling everyone.
My my energy. I'm feeling people's energy.

(28:06):
They're calling. I'm feeling like massive groups
of people's energy. It's I'm like I'm everywhere all
at once and and not I'm just in a I love.
How you said that, I love how you said that because in that

(28:26):
experience I have it too, right?There's a certain sense there's
there's even a sense of when these, let's say vibrational
shifts and elevations take place.
There's a sense of sloshiness inthe body as you're going
through. You know, you don't quite feel

(28:47):
like you're under the influencesof gravity, right?
You're kind of just kind of of loose in how things are
operating. And it, it, it can often feel
for me when it first started when I was much younger, it, it
was really disconcerting becauseI was concerned about my own

(29:09):
mental health and what was goingon with me and, and with the
history that I had is like, OK, things are possible.
It could be different. Let's find out and, and do some
research and see if there's others experiencing similar
things and, you know, see if I can find some corroboration that
I'm not dysfunctional and it didn't prepare over time that

(29:33):
that was the case. I didn't think I was
dysfunctional because I just hadso much confirmation.
I mean, people were calling me that I hadn't spoken to and I
don't know how long, and they were telling me that they were
calling me, but I already knew what they were going to say.
It was just a very. Weird.

(29:55):
It was just so I didn't think I was losing it.
I was, I, I knew I was back because remember, I was already
there. But I, I closed the door.
But I felt back. But I was even in a better place
than I was before because I wanted it as opposed to when I

(30:15):
was younger. I didn't because I thought I was
missing out on something. Clearly the second time around
knew I wasn't missing out on anything and that this was in
fact the thing to do. Did you notice the observer and
yourself going well, how about this?
You might want to take a look atthis right just the the nudging
of your attention to specifics. I would say yes.

(30:40):
And for me though, it happened in the form of intense extreme
downloads that I was receiving on an ongoing continuous basis.
So I was once I was opened up, Iwas getting.

(31:01):
So basically you were living in what might what some might call
a 5D world as opposed to a 3D World. 5D and at times 12 D
right right right right. I go between I live in five DII

(31:21):
love. I believe that's where we are,
right? Now that's where we are.
Now I, I tell people I live in heaven, right?
So it's I live in 5D. However, there are times I go to
three DI do not like it, but youknow, it happens when I go to 12
D it's that's what I call the Godhead.

(31:44):
And in my book I talk about that.
But 12 D is the Godhead. It is.
It's a whole different. That's a whole different thing.
5D is this. That's the same frequency that
we experience in the white light, right?
That's what it is. It's interesting in, in my
explorations, I was questioning the nature of reality and, and
how many layers and things like that, because I've had some

(32:05):
experiences that alluded that there were.
And so in 1989 I was introduced to a process called the Multi
Plane Awareness Technique and itwas developed by William Swigard
in the 1950s. It is a process that is
facilitated that takes the experiencer through 9 planes of

(32:27):
consciousness from the 4th to the 12th and integrates the
bodies on each one of those planes.
Then in and, and of course I gotto the end of it.
I got the prompt to get ready tocome back and I was ready.
So I did the then the facilitators when I turned to
look at him and said, uh oh. And I said, what, what's going

(32:49):
on? Well, you're supposed to drop
those bodies off and I'm like, whatever, I'm back.
So I had a party in my room for a couple of weeks afterwards.
Didn't get a chance to figure itout until the psychic spent the
night with me and said, my God, how can you sleep in here?
There's got to be at least a dozen different beings in this
room. And I realized it was all me.
So then Fast forward 20 years later, I rented an EPI and

(33:13):
closes work and it's called the triadic dimensional distinction
vertical paradigm and they positthat consciousness, space and
time are tethered across 9 dimensions.
Doesn't eliminate others, just like the multiple plane doesn't
eliminate other dimension. It's just said this is our human
bandwidth. Right.

(33:33):
This is, this is what we can understand.
This is our bubble of comprehension at this time.
Right, so here's the science, the quantum physics or quantum
theory of everything you know, mathematical proof of the direct
experience that I had 20 years prior and so.
Even just to think about the need for proof or for

(33:59):
mathematics and I I believe mathematics to be the well.
The universe is built on math and science.
I believe it's the language, right?
Like I actually believe that's the code.
I believe math. Math is and music.
Music is the language. Math are the letters.
It's right And and and music is.Really.

(34:20):
The words. It's just a frequency, right?
If you Bach, Bach. Is works we were just reading
there's a a Russian scientist that's developing a whole study
course book around the Goldberg Variations, and this was Bach's
way of putting divinity into music so that we could.

(34:42):
Experience it and you know, it'sinteresting because when I was
younger, I love Bach, I love Mozart.
Like when I remember I was saying that I didn't really, I
mean I was aware of secular things, but what I loved, I
always loved classical music. When I was younger, I even used
to play classical music. So I loved classical music.

(35:06):
Even still to this day now I listen more to frequency, just
pure tones. But that being said, I feel like
there I can understand when you talk about divinity being in the
music because I loved now, if you can imagine me little black
girl loving both and those things from little always I know

(35:31):
because it it just spoke to well, I'm.
Looking back now, you see how connected you really were
because these were your natural inclinations.
Natural inclinations, right? And so now Fast forward to you
saying, was I the observer? I was the observer, but I was
also the listener and able to be, again, in some ways,

(35:57):
everywhere, all at once, but at the same time in a local place
and at the same time. Well, there's that tertiary
right that the the Trinity that explains, you know, from the
macro to the micro, from the three Suns to the electron,
neutron and proton to to this observer, listener and

(36:18):
participant. Yes, yes, that's what I
experienced, observer, listener and participant.
So during that next phase, I just did a lot of listening.
I I mean the, the self exploration was still not over.
I mean that never insists. I don't think it never is right.

(36:38):
But it was still happening. And now you have to keep in mind
that I'm still in my old life, in my new mind, right?
So. Why is it, you know, Dudley
Lynch wrote a great book called Mother of All Minds and he
presents this shift from the Alpha mind and Alpha body to the

(36:59):
beta mind still in the alpha body.
So this is and the beta mind. So the differences between the
two. The Alpha is steeped in
competition. Ego.
The beta understands oneness andcollaboration, so that's the

(37:21):
shift that we're making where our minds right.
This is a transformation of whatthe Greeks called the Thetonic
being, which means thinker within us.
So now as we continue to move forward, I am examining my life

(37:47):
and my life choices around my work, my family, all of those
things. And it was at that time that I
said, I don't want to do what I'm doing anymore, which is I,
my career is more than 20 years in PR and events.
It's been a, a fabulous career. I've had the opportunity to work
with tremendous brands and professional athletes and

(38:11):
elected officials and the list goes on, right?
And, and nonprofits, right? So it's been a, a wonderful,
tremendous career. However, I said I want to move
the needle and PR and events, while wonderful, doesn't
necessarily move the needle. And I said, what should we do?

(38:32):
When Spirit said social impact? And I was like, that's perfect
because I always love social impact and.
That's where events turn into experiences and opportunities
for growth. Experiences, opportunities for
growth, opportunities for community, opportunities for

(38:54):
idea sharing. I think of them now as portals,
right that you? Or Texas you.
You enter in and you leave changed, right?
And everything is orchestrated, but you don't know that because
you're just enjoying it, all right?
Every single thing is selected for.

(39:15):
Again, this is where you're playing your perfect role as
that thread and others are gathering around you because of
the resonance and the harmonics and the operational capacity of
those combined skill sets as a servant leader, this is
imperative for the new leadership that's emerging now

(39:41):
to understand, in my opinion. Would you, would you consider
that, you know, a kind of a taking that all the esoteric and
the metaphysical and putting it into a very practical package?
Absolutely and I think we talkedabout it a little earlier I what
you're saying I I call it poor genius like you're a genius

(40:03):
right And and even. If there's a guy.
But even just having your skill set right, having your skill set
but without the frequency changes it right.
So I'll just say you can have a skill set and I'm going to take
us out of it and say to, to to build a car, right.

(40:24):
But if if you're have a skill set to build a car but you're in
5D, that. Then you're building a Tesla.
No, the whole and. Left into that one.
The whole thing is different, Yeah, You both have the same
skills. You take a car and you're

(40:47):
building it and you're tapped into 12 D the whole.
You change the whole plant. You don't.
Then you get into what they callit, a bimasa.
You, you change everything. You change everyone around you,
you know and so. What you hit on right there, you
change everything around you. My calendar reference, right?

(41:13):
We escalation of consciousness from 87 to 2012 hit the apex.
Now we have this new living awareness in us.
We embody it. Then we take it into the world
because it's our only choice. What we do anywhere, we do
everywhere, according to TR Vecker.
I believe that I experienced that.
So then by taking that energy into a new world and you're

(41:37):
affecting everyone, what happensis that everything that doesn't
fit raises to the surface for examination, review and
reformation, which is what's happening right now.
We can call that a tower, a tower moment, you know?
And then now you've got to go through that rocky transition of

(42:03):
moving from the old world to thenew world because there's people
attached to that. There's things attached to that,
there's ideas attached to that. There's relationships all on the
ocean of emotion seeking safe harbor.
All attached to your old life that maybe don't fit in the new

(42:24):
one and you can't really do both.
And literally, I tried to do some of the things still and it
just didn't fit. You know, one of the things that
I stopped doing was drinking. And not that I was even ever a
big drinker, but when I would just try to drink it, literally

(42:48):
one day I was visiting a great girlfriend.
We're in Chicago. We go to an amazing lounge.
I order, you know, we ordered drinks.
And before I go to take the sip,Spirit said, when you drink, you
can't hear me. And I was like, huh, OK, you

(43:10):
know, I blow it off. I take like 2 sips of that
drink. I'm like drunk.
I don't, I'm like, what's going on?
Meanwhile, this is a whole drink.
I take literally 2 sips. I, I can't even, I was so
sensitive that I couldn't, I can't even drink anymore.

(43:31):
And again, I was never a big drinker.
I'm, I'm with two drinks, 2 glasses of wine, I'm done.
So it's not even like, but I just couldn't because my
sensitivity, I change, my frequency change, my being
change my mind change. So again, even if I was trying
to do certain things that I usedto do, I could no longer do them

(43:53):
going forward. They just didn't fit.
My body wouldn't allow it. My mind wouldn't allow it.
The toughest parts of it, to your point, are the
relationships, because many of those people I love, I love
current. However, it can't make the
transition this relationship. It ends here, it stops here, it

(44:19):
changes in its being but. We recognize the levels of
toxicity that we are no longer willing to tolerate.
And participate in. Right.
Right, because the toxicity is not one way, it's a two way,
even if. That doesn't mean that they have
bad intentions, right? It's just the level that they're

(44:41):
operating at is incompatible. It's incompatible.
Their intentions almost don't even matter, right?
If it's incompatible, it is. It's it doesn't it doesn't
matter if they're they're they're trying to be
incompatible or they're not, if that makes sense.
It's like you get to the point of it is so when we go to you.
Love them and let them go. You just let them go, and that's

(45:04):
what unconditional love really is.
It's really just letting people go and be and not wanting them
to even change just how. Do you apply that to you,
Shakira? How do you apply that to you?
Well, that was. Because that's where it all
starts, right? You can't do it with others
until you can do it with yourself.

(45:25):
Or sometimes you can do it with others before you can do it with
yourself. That was my experience.
I have forgiven everybody else. I had let everybody go from a
place of love. But I was still frustrated,
angry with myself about choices I had made.

(45:46):
And I had to eventually forgive myself because I had forgiven
others. I had let others.
I had done all that. But there was work I still
needed to do where I needed to look myself in the mirror.
And we talked about mirror work in another conversation and say

(46:06):
I forgive you, I love you. I had to start doing that.
I don't think I had ever really told myself I loved myself
before. I don't ever really remember
that. When I was a child, I wasn't
going around saying I love. I wasn't looking at myself and
saying I love you. I wasn't doing that in college.
I wasn't doing that through, youknow what I'll call the family

(46:28):
years. I wasn't doing those things.
But now I've learned. I look myself in the mirror.
I say I love you. I hug myself, right?
That's where we met. I was doing that.
Friend when I came out of the, my divorce, corporate expulsion
and and church and all that stuff, you know, like the
universe does they, they providemiraculous friends that just
kind of show up and say, OK, here's your next step, right.

(46:51):
So he gave me this opportunity of the process and it it's
really simple. You make a list of the people
you know. You start with the ones you have
the most problems with, and you take each individual.
You go into your mind, you visualize their face, look into
their eyes, and you say simply, I love you.

(47:14):
Our purpose is oneness. Now taking that and applying it
to self is even more powerful because now you've got the
outer, which are those that you have difficulties with, and it's
all about you. It's all about your ability to
handle the challenges that you're faced with.

(47:39):
The other side is that, OK, you start with in order for me to be
able to love you, that love has to be at the core, and it comes
from that place of oneness, thatunconditional place.
And once you get there, your life is forever changed.

(48:01):
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
So Speaking of the change, greatSegway, right?
How did you take that and apply it into the work that you're
doing now? Well, again, a lot of spiritual
guidance and downloads, but onceI said, you know what, what can
I do next? And you know, spirit said social

(48:25):
impact. So I've been, I started my own
process of, you know, quantitative and qualitative
research, meeting with leaders and government, corporations,
nonprofits, and finding out about how they manage their, you
know, what we'll call ESG or environmental social governance,
their impacts and their social responses.

(48:47):
Did you, did you use or utilize or even be?
Are you aware of the ISO 26,000 social responsibility standards?
I know you're familiar with the ISO Group, the international
Standards Organization. They have the.
I didn't know I didn't use those.
OK, well this is so just a feather or a arrow in your

(49:11):
quiver, right? The International, the ISO
26,000 was ratified in 2010 by 92 countries.
So there's some precursor work that's already been done to
edify what you're doing that youcan use because it's all you
know. The the more corroboration and

(49:31):
data we can have to give those with lesser sensitivity some
demonstrable proof, the better things flow.
Absolutely. You're spot on with that because
once so once those changes or once that research was done, I
went back to school, University of Pennsylvania Social Impact

(49:56):
Cohort 2023, you know, did all of that piece and.
Wow, so that's like really recent.
Really recent. Awesome.
I launched I launched this thinkdo tank in 2024.
I launched it at the top of the year, so it took me 4 years to

(50:19):
make it what it is 'cause I knewI wanted it to be world class.
I knew I wanted our our models. I knew I wanted our IP to be
world class. I knew I wanted it to be
something that could help any country in the world, could help
any corporation in the world. It's actually built for high

(50:39):
level corporations and countriesand NGOs.
It's built to help those. And the reason is that I said I
wanted to positively impact 1,000,000 people per year.
And those organizations have theresources as well as the reach
to do that. So it was built for that, not

(51:00):
for cachet, but because they, ifwe work with them by just by
virtue of us working with them, we can impact the maximum amount
amounts of of people. And they can go into millions
and billions and, and the the whole nature of being able to
shift the, as I see it, the paradigms of agendas.

(51:23):
The old paradigm is profit over people and planet.
Pretty simple and it's proven right.
We've done some amazing things, but it's been to the detriment
of others. The new paradigm is people in
planet over profit. So it's not profit over people
in planet, it's people in planetover profit doesn't do away with

(51:45):
profit because we have to have something that sustains us and
gives us the ability to thrive. And right now the only way that
we understand that is through energy exchange.
And the more we have, the betterwe can do.
Right. I mean, I don't think there's
anything wrong with profit at all, because profit is really
abundance and I believe that we are it.

(52:05):
Is. Right.
It's kind of creating a hybrid model, if you will, between
communism and capitalism. Right.
Which is really what you call utopia, which is the most
sophisticated society, right? But it's not a pipe dream, it's
actually doable because of the practical things that can be put
in place in order to achieve it.It can be, and that's what we're

(52:27):
going to. Well, some of us anyway.
Those who want to people like you, Zen and you know, and
myself and others, we're really the, you know, we're the middle
men. If it makes sense.
We're just here to kind of get over this hump, you know, the
the last. We're the midwives.
Yeah, we're here. The people who still need to

(52:48):
make their choices or still needsome help, we're we're here to
help them. We're here to support one
another, build community, thingslike that.
But we're not really going to bein the golden age because it's
too calm. We're just helping it get here,
right? Like we're.
We don't know about that, honestly, Shakira, because of
what I understand from my own experience of the longevity that

(53:11):
we have and are capable of. There's records in Southeast
Asia of monks living to be 8-9 hundred years old, right?
If they can do it, we can too. If they can do it, we can too.
I'm here. I'm here for 800 years.
I love it. You know, we say, I don't want
to imagine all the the, gosh, just the excitement of seeing

(53:38):
and being in the changes. I mean, I hadn't even really
fathomed me still being here in 800 years.
But what I will say is this, what a blessing to behold to be
able to live in the age that youhelped to bring about.

(54:00):
Very true. Well, I mean, I feel so much
fullness. Well, and we don't know right
now. All we can do is say, well, the
possibility exists. Let's find out.
Oh my goodness. But you just provided a hope
because I was very much preparedto just do this work,
understanding that it was for others, it's for me, but

(54:20):
understanding that it's for the future, right?
I would, I'm very much was prepared to do this, not looking
to necessarily reap the harvest of that, if that makes sense.
But what you just explained is that no, it is possible that you
may in fact experience it in itsfullness because it's it's here

(54:45):
now. Again, like I said, I live in
heaven, right? So it's here now.
Absolutely. We are eternal beings in.
The fullness of what it will be.Right now, again, we're still in
the throes of the separation. And yeah, we're in the throes of

(55:05):
disbelief, right then we've got people like Jesus who said
anything I can do, you can do itmore.
And he shows us that we can takeour bodies with us and then it
come back and return and and be apparent physically to others.
Now that's a phenomenal thing. There's evidence of others
who've done that. They call them the Ascended
Masters and there's woo woo stories about those, right?

(55:27):
People think that's not possible.
Do you? Think we can become, do you
think we can become Ascendant masters or do you think they're
coded like that? Both.
I think we have the choice. That's the free will.
I want to be 1, so it's. Up to us.
I think saying I am one or others saying they are 1 is a

(55:49):
bit pompous and egotistical and indicates that they aren't
right. We never know.
All we know is that we're connected and that we love and
are loved, and that's where we reside in that.
People on Earth now are there people on Earth now saying
they're ascendant masters? Oh yeah, yeah.
I ran into a bunch. There's people that saying

(56:12):
they're the reincarnated this and that and the other, you
know, and granted, with my history being adopted, orphan
and adopted and having all of these things, you know, there
are things that I've been connected with that I'm often
hesitant to talk about because they are so far beyond this

(56:33):
planet. For instance, my engagement with
the Galactic Federation and being known as Zendor, the son
of Ashtar and Athena, right? In that, in that world, I'm
known. Well, in this world, I talk
about that and I'm all of a sudden, oh, you're one of those,
right. So to be able to have that, it's

(56:59):
like the truth is less than Fulldisclosure because when, and I,
my dad told me this when I was younger and I argued with him
for a long time about it. But in those cases, when you are
so far on the fringe and the information or the identity that
you know you have elsewhere you share here, it's going to create
separation. That's not the intention, but

(57:22):
because of the belief system of others, they automatically
distance because there's no direct experience for which to
garner some kind of relative understanding.
Yeah, and fear. Sure.
Well, we fear what we don't understand because you can't

(57:44):
control it. Fear, there's a there's a lot of
low level vibrations attached tothat.
I think there's another conversation for us to have
about the Galactic Federation. I'm sure there is just based on
what we've had so far and I'm sure we'll have that.
I, I know, you know, for now this has been, gosh, just even

(58:07):
the prelim, we really dove deep and, and got to know each other
at levels that I find just astronomical in respect of that
in the conversation we've had, the finding of the practicality
and perseverance and applicationthat you have been able to reach

(58:28):
in your professional experience and presentation.
How does, how might you encourage or offer advice,
encouragement, support and simply shifting how others might
think of themselves? What, what advice can you give

(58:51):
to those that are in this quandary and they're caught up
in the the low level thinking about themselves?
How can they rise above that? Oh wow, that's so beautiful.
You know, that's actually my book.
Over the Veil. 21 keys to raise your frequency.
I Segway then I I would. It's actually exactly about that

(59:16):
and how I even came to write it.I was on my way to a meeting
with the COO and I intentionallywanted to walk to this meeting
and so I'm walking to the meeting.
It's downtown in the community Ilive in, so I'm walking and on
the way. Spirit says when you get there,
write a list of everything that you've done.

(59:38):
When you get there, write a list.
So I'm just like, OK, fine, I get there, we have the meeting.
Meeting is great, meeting is over.
I go to pack up my laptop and stuff and get ready to leave.
Before I can do that, the personwho I'm having the meeting with,
they, they leave, but they come back and they say, oh, I'm

(01:00:02):
having a hard time sleeping. If there's anything you know
that could help me, let me know.And I was like, oh, the list,
they were gone. They came back.
So I'm like, oh, the list. So I'm like, let me work on that
and then I'll send it to you. So literally this list comes out

(01:00:26):
like this. I put my hands down.
I start typing, the list just comes out right.
And so literally as I'm putting the period, the barista in the
coffee shop is like we're closing.
So it's like it just right. I think so.
That's an impeccable example of how flow works.

(01:00:53):
So that happens I'm this isn't aGoogle doc, this is not a book.
This is a list that in my mind Iplan on sharing with leaders,
like people that I'm working with because I told you I'm PR
and events. So I work with a lot of
executives, like high profile people, but they have their own

(01:01:16):
challenges, right? So in my mind, I'm going to
share it with them and with my loved ones, right?
Just as people ask me for our advice, I'm going to share this
list with them. Fast forward, I'm sharing it
with my girlfriend who actually owns one of the New York Times
best 100 restaurants in the country, and I'm sharing it with

(01:01:39):
her. I'm reading it to her and she's
like, that's not a list, that's a book.
Put that out and I was like, what?
And she was like, it's not. OK, yeah, I got.
You mean I got to do more? Yeah, you.
Have I thought I was done? Wait a minute.
I'm like, no, no, no. She's like, yes, it's a book.
And so the journey to have that list well into a book the.

(01:02:06):
Book catharsism that takes placeas a result of that I know well,
because and you don't know that without, you know, having to
write those and especially with the caliber and and the the
focus of that work and those questions and wow.

(01:02:29):
And that insight because I mean,there were some things, some of
those. That's what comes with the with
the cathartic moments as you're writing the book, right?
Because I know we think 70,000 thoughts a day, right?
Even when we're in process of doing something, our mind is
like on steroids, especially with this kind of activity

(01:02:54):
because you're thinking about all the different kind of
applications about it. You're just seeing it pop,
right? You don't even have to try and
look. It's just there.
You don't have to look and you know some of the things in the
book are, again, it's 21 keys. They're quite practical things
like getting rest, drinking water, right.

(01:03:15):
So there's things that are quitepractical.
But then. And we sometimes forget about.
That you forget about and I'm and I mean that seriously and
even in the chapter on water, ittalks about water like how you
have to drink it, but it also talks about how water is ancient
and was here before the planet and how it has memory and like
all those things too and. We're 70% water.

(01:03:38):
Right. So, you know, like Masari Moto's
work and how we think about our own body of water is going to
affect what happens to it. Right and how thoughts have
vibrations and the thought form vibrations impact the water on
your body. Right.
Right, so, right, so the, so thethat's but even that feels safe.

(01:04:06):
Then there's certain stuff in itthat I I said y'all want me to
be killed like y'all. I love that y'all.
I do that occasionally right? Sorry, that just endearing.
Y'all want me to be called crazyor be killed because some of the
down some of it is is me and my writing and other parts are

(01:04:30):
literally just downloads that even as I've been editing the
book I'm like. Wow, I wrote this.
Where'd this come from? Where did this come from because
I don't know this. I don't Shakira Johnson in this
doesn't know that some of the things I know and I experienced,
but other stuff is like is divine is higher level

(01:04:52):
knowledge, right. So it's really the purpose of
the book is, as I was told this to be a guide is to guide people
to your point who want to be better, who want to raise their
vibration, but they don't know how to do it.
They don't know how to do it. And so it's literally meeting

(01:05:15):
people where they are and just providing practical tools and
tips and things that they can doto actually increase their
frequency. And once you increase your
frequency, it's a game changer because it it, it actually is a
form of protection because thereare certain things that just
can't really touch you anymore. I call it a Lotus leaf.

(01:05:38):
You know, it's like you're sitting on your Lotus leaf and
they can't reach you because it's too low.
You can maybe get lured off it and go down and say, what are
they doing down there? What is that they're saying?
What is that they're doing? And then now you're kind of in
it. But as long as you stay with
your frequency high and in that Lotus leaf, there's a certain
peace and understanding and protection that that provides.

(01:06:02):
We even talk about just the changes that are happening
naturally. Even though we can put a name or
a point person or a thing to whythese changes are happening.
I really know that it's all divine.
It has to happen. You know, it is darkest before
the dawn. We have to examine and look at

(01:06:22):
everything. It's to your point, then, when
you talked about the dark Night of the soul, when you're going
through it, you're like, what ishappening after you're like,
that was amazing, beautiful, wonderful, spectacular, tough.
Yeah. Right.
But you're grateful that it happened.
I really that the things that are happening on the planet.

(01:06:44):
Would be who I am without it. It's you would feel the same.
I know you made a great point though, about reaching people
where they are at, right. This is that's marketing one O 1
right? You want to put it's that level
at the same time, we tend to want to pull or believe maybe

(01:07:10):
prematurely, the people are already where we are and that
causes a frustration. And in reality, it's that hand
extended and the desire to understand where they are.
First cubbies, 5th right habit, understand before being

(01:07:32):
understood. That then allows us to OK, now I
know where they're at. Maybe I can offer the right
questions that lead them to the next place that I found and
maybe I can help them develop their own questions because they
have the answers and and it's the questions that are pertinent

(01:07:54):
to that individual that will help them ascend.
Not anything that we can specifically say to them,
although it helps. Right, yeah, I agree
wholeheartedly. For me, the title of the book is
Over the Veil and in it it asks everyone before you start,

(01:08:15):
continue to read, would you liketo go over the Veil and.
Permission asking permission so important.
And if and if they and I say, ifyou say no, it's OK, there's no
judgement, come back or not. If you say yes, understand that
your life is going to change. The book is in fact a portal,

(01:08:37):
and it's not because of my own magical doing.
It's because by virtue of the person agreeing and saying yes
that they would like to go over the veil, the universe takes it
from there. So yes, I am providing practical
steps, but just because the person has been asked the
question, said yes and then now can look at the steps source

(01:09:02):
Spirit says we got it from here,right?
It's like we're funneled into source and we have all of our
different ways of displaying that funnel and all kinds of
different perspective views, places, spaces, all that kind of
stuff. And yet it leads to that one
source that it. Leads to the one source by many

(01:09:23):
names. People call all different names.
You know, I'm not a big debater about that.
But The thing is, I just by the agreement to do it, that's where
Spirit says, OK, we've got it now.
They're ready. They're ready, and.

(01:09:43):
The Spirit's got us now and, andyou know, you've got another
meeting coming up. I want to be respective of your
time. And wow, this has just been an
amazing conversation, Shakira, The, the generative nature of it
that, you know, it's like a couple of East Coasters talking,
right? Because we didn't necessarily
talk a lot over the top of each other, although we were really

(01:10:06):
interactive in the process and, and there were a few questions
asked, but it was mostly it seemed like a sharing of
perspective. And in that shared view we have.
Absolutely. A conversation with another
member of the soul body and then.
The octopus movement, right? It's.

(01:10:30):
Interesting how the collection of octopi are called a
consortium. I love that.
I love that when I was getting my master's, I worked a lot with
consortiums from the collegiate perspective, but it was all
people who had different expertise but were together for

(01:10:52):
the same purpose. And that's what we're all
striving to help bring forth in this next phase of creating Co
creating a new normal. A new normal and I'm excited for
it. It's already here, which is
witnessed by your beautiful podcast.

(01:11:13):
And for you doing this. Thank you, Zen, for providing
this platform, this portal, not only for your guests, but for
just the world to experience this type, this frequency of
conversation. We could have spoken about
anything, but instead we used our power of the spoken word,

(01:11:36):
our frequency to continue to raise it.
And so I'm grateful for you. Thank you for thinking of me.
Thank you for using your time and talents in this way and I'm
grateful for the knowledge to know I may live, you know, maybe
not 800, but I don't know, 203 hundred, you know, I don't know.

(01:11:57):
We'll see. I have no idea.
I was just told that I'm going to help facilitate a new world
order of harmony among people and planet and that it would
happen in my lifetime. I love that.
I love it so much and it alreadyhas happened.
You've already done it, You've already achieved it, you've
already helped to do it. I'm just stepping into, right?

(01:12:20):
It it's just it's already all done.
It's already all done. And I'll say this in a closing
for those who are coming over the veil and for those who are,
you know, in it already, just our being is enough to you don't
have to start a podcast like Zen.

(01:12:41):
You don't have to write a book like me.
You don't have to do any of that.
Just your being provides an example.
Just your doing how you are, your grace that you show your
love, that you show how you carefor yourself, how you care for
others, how you operate providesan example for others.
So you don't have to be a hero. You don't have to take on some

(01:13:04):
big quest. You can, you know, just be if
that's what you so choose. But if you have a passion
project or something that, you know, in my case, spirit was
like, write this, do that. They're very direct with me, but
that's a whole that's another interview.
If you get that, you can move onthat.
But even if you don't or if you're slow, that's built in.

(01:13:28):
You know, it's, it's taken a long time for this book to to
come out. And I was so frustrated.
And they said we built that in. We built that in.
We have all the time that you know, there's there's a
consideration of time constraints.
No, there aren't any. They're like we've, I'm like,
no, I feel like it's taking long.
I'm procrastinating. They're like, we knew that

(01:13:49):
already and we built it in like we built your procrastination
into our timeline. You're fine.
They tell me all the time. You're fine, you're fine.
You're good. You're exactly where you need to
be, so. The angst is self created right?
It's self created and it's unnecessary.
It's unproductive. Yes, yes, absolutely.

(01:14:11):
Shakira, it's been great. Thank you once again.
Thank you so much. May your podcast be blessed and
viewed and heard by people and millions all around the world.
Awesome. Thank you, Namaste.
And in LA Ketchen, thanks for sticking with us for this
episode of One World in a New World.
Don't forget to like, subscribe and share.

(01:14:33):
And thanks to Shakira. I will see you next time.

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Ep 197 - Achieving Unity in a Changing World Through OPEN Discussions

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep 197 - Achieving Unity in a Changing World Through OPEN Discussions