March 9, 2026 âą 46 mins
Feeling overwhelmed, heartbroken, angry, or spiritually exhausted by the state of the world right now? You’re not alone.
In this week’s episode I’m calling us in, speaking honestly about the grief, moral exhaustion, and collective heaviness so many sensitive souls are carrying.
I don’t have any answers, but I do believe there is power in naming what is real, calling in steadiness as a community, and finding a way to stay human without shutting down, to care deeply without collapsing.
We also close with a short but powerful guided exercise to help you call back your energy, reconnect with yourself and return to your own “one guided next step” from within.
đ©”If you want to come back just for the exercise later, it begins around 31:34.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:01):
Joy, hey, beautiful soul, welcome to spirit. Speak
Easy. I'm Joy Giovanni, joyfulmedium. I'm a working psychic
medium, energy healer andspiritual gifts mentor. This
podcast is like a seat at thetable in a secret club, but with
mediums, mystics and thespiritual luminaries of our
time. So come behind the velvetropes with me and see inside my
(00:24):
world as I chat insider stylewith profoundly gifted souls, we
go deep, share juicy stories,laugh a lot, and it wouldn't be
a speakeasy without greatinsider secrets and tips. You
might even learn that you havesome gifts of your own so step
inside the spirit speakeasy.
Hey, beautiful soul. Welcomeback for another episode of
(00:46):
spirit speakeasy. I want to bereally honest with you today.
This is not one of thoseepisodes where I come in with
five perfect reasons or answersor a neat spiritual bow tie
around everything that's goingon. I don't have that today.
What I have is a full heart, aheavy spirit, a lot of thoughts,
(01:07):
a lot of feelings, and a realsense that many of us are trying
to live our quote, unquote,normal lives with everything
that's expected of us also,while witnessing an abnormal
amount of cruelty and chaos anddeception and grief and
suffering all at once, and Idon't hear many spiritual
(01:29):
leaders or teachers talking thathonestly and openly about this,
not really, and I have beenstarting to hear criticism of
why are more spiritual leadersand teachers not talking about
this? And it's true, I haven'treally heard many talking about
all the things going on in ourcurrent day world, certainly
(01:53):
from a United Statesperspective, not in a way that
feels human enough, not in a waythat feels grounded to me, not
in a way that makes room for theheartbreak, the rage, the fear,
the moral exhaustion, all livingin the same body in the same
moment at the same time. Sotoday, as usual, I don't want to
(02:15):
spiritually bypass anything. Idon't want to pretend that if we
just raise our vibration hardenough, none of this touches us.
That's not true. I don't believethat being spiritual or a
spiritual being means beinguntouched by the world. I think
being spiritual in a time likethis means making it our
(02:36):
responsibility to stay awake, tostay honest, to stay
compassionate, to staydiscerning as much as possible,
and to return to our own selfwithout pretending the world is
okay when it clearly is not so,if you've been feeling
overwhelmed, if you have beenfeeling angry, If you've been
(02:58):
feeling emotionally flooded, ifyou've been trying to function
while your heart is breakingover what you are seeing and
experiencing, if you've beenstruggling to know how to care
deeply without completelycollapsing. This episode is for
you. I am calling us in, intothis space together, into the
(03:18):
spirit speakeasy together,because I may not have answers,
but I do know the power of beingin community, and that was
always my intention with thispodcast, was to create a safe
community. Lately, I've beensitting with a lot, and I've
been feeling many of you havetoo. There is so much happening
(03:41):
in the world right now that itcan feel hard to even know where
to put your heart first, andtoday, we're going to talk a
little bit about it, and then Iam going to guide you through an
exercise later in the episode,I'll let you know when that's
coming, so that if you need topause and return for the
exercise you can because I'vereally been sitting with it,
(04:02):
with my Soul, with my guides.
And I think the reason I haven'tbeen talking about things is,
one, I have a lot of personalfeelings and opinions about it,
and I don't want anyone to feelexcluded, and I don't want to
create a debate space here. Andtwo, I don't have answers, and
so I feel like that makes itreally hard and overwhelming to
talk about because I don't havea lot of answers. But what came
(04:26):
to me through my recentmeditations is I do have tools,
and I do have a safe space thatI can offer, and so that's where
I'm starting from today. Andagain, there's so much happening
in our world right now that Icould feel very hard to know
where to put our heart first.
We're witnessing escalating warand civilian suffering abroad,
especially in North Africa, upinto Lebanon, Palestine, Iran,
(04:49):
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Israel. Ofcourse, we're witnessing renewed
outrage and deep concern. Aroundimmigration enforcement, if you
want to call it that here in theUnited States, I have some other
color for words that I wouldrather call it, but I won't, and
there's deep concern happeningwithin a lot of us who are
(05:14):
seeing what's going on,including reports of findings
that have intensified publicconcern here in the United
States around repeated illegaldetentions of human beings,
including children. No human isillegal, as many of us say, and
we're also watching continuedpublic distrust around
(05:36):
accountability, transparency,the handling of powerful people
and horrific abuse cases, both,you know, in this war that's
happening with the ice, theimmigration enforcement that's
happening here in the US withthese Epstein files, the E
files, let's call them. I don'twant to get banned anywhere.
(06:00):
We're not going to go intodetail there. The other thing
is, yes, all of these things arehappening, but as sensitive
souls and as souls that have hadexperiences in the world, we
also need to acknowledge thatthis can be lighting up previous
trauma for us. If you've someonethat, if you're someone that's
ever been traumatized in aphysical abuse way, looking at
(06:21):
the Epstein files or hearing thedetails or reading about them is
probably triggering you ortaking you out at the knees,
emotionally, in a way that maybeyou can't even quite put your
own finger on. So witheverything going on, and I know
I haven't even listed all of it,I'm going to spare you. You know
what it is. I know what it is ifyou felt distracted or raw or
(06:42):
even angry or exhausted, ifyou've been unable to focus,
feeling unable to create, unableto pray or do your own personal
spiritual practices in the sameway, or unable to just keep
scrolling and smiling and movingon like none of this is
happening. I want to say veryclearly that makes perfect
(07:04):
sense. So I think a lot ofsensitive people, particularly
empaths, healers, intuitives,highly sensitives and deeply
caring human beings, are justcarrying a lot more than they
realize right now. You arecarrying a lot more than you
realize right now.
(07:28):
And I also just want to sayyou're probably not just tired.
You probably feel exhausted, butit's probably not just a human
tired. It probably feels like asoul tired. And you're probably
not just stressed. You'reprobably grieving, grieving for
different shades and versions ofmaybe what we thought we were
(07:49):
all in agreement with in thisworld, or where we thought we
all wanted things to go, or manyof us did, and grieving the
tragedies and travesties we'reseeing. You're not just
frustrated. You are morallyexhausted from witnessing
cruelty normalized in real time.
We're all under this, thissystem that is trying to flood
(08:11):
us. We keep hearing this termflood the zone, flood us with so
much chaos, so muchmisinformation, so much
depravity that we are numb anddesensitized, and so if you are
feeling kind of taken down bythis, or the opposite, if you're
feeling incredibly sensitized,right, just know that that is a
normal response, and This is anabnormal, unusual situation that
(08:38):
we're living in, most of us aretrying to keep our routines
going, live up to ourobligations in the world, keep
our businesses going or theplaces we work, keep our
families Okay, keep showing upfor clients or kids or family or
partner or Community, whileinwardly feeling like something
(08:58):
is just deeply off and no one ispaying attention to fix it. And
that makes sense, too. I thinkone of the hardest things about
times like this is that we canstart to question ourselves. We
can start to let questionswrestle with our soul inside of
(09:20):
ourselves, almost, things like,why am I so affected by this?
Or, why can I just notcompartmentalize this and keep
it pushing right? Why does thisfeel so personal? Why can I not
just focus on my own life, and Iwant to offer this, maybe the
fact that you cannot fullydisconnect is not a problem. I
(09:40):
think it's a testament to whoyou are as a sensitive soul and
how much you care for yourfellow human beings. Maybe the
fact that your heart responds tosuffering is not a weakness.
Maybe being disturbed by lies orexploitation or violence.
Violence or corruption, abuse,displacement, sheer inhumanity.
(10:01):
Maybe that doesn't mean thatyou're too sensitive. Maybe it
means that your humanity isstill intact, and that matters.
That matters more than I thinkwe all can recognize from our
current vantage point. I thinkwe won't really know, until
looking back many years fromnow, the power of those who
(10:23):
still had their humanity intact,because there are times in
history when numbness becomessocially rewarded, when apathy
starts to pass for maturity,when cynicism starts to pass for
wisdom, when silence starts topass for being above it all or
somehow spiritually evolved. Butthere's a difference between
(10:46):
protecting your energy andabandoning your humanity.
There's a difference betweengrounding and numbing. There's a
difference between spiritualsteadiness and emotional
disconnection. And I think mostof us are trying to figure out
how to stay open hearted withoutbeing swallowed alive by the
sheer volume of what ishappening. That is the tension.
(11:07):
How do I care withoutcollapsing? How do I stay
informed without becomingconsumed? How do I remain
compassionate without becomingenergetically shredded to
pieces. How do I keep myspiritual connection alive when
the world feels so brutal andunstable? I don't have a perfect
(11:28):
formula for any of that, sothat's what I have to tell you
today. But I do think it beginswith telling the truth, and the
truth is that many people arecarrying a kind of grief that
does not have a formal place togo. It's a grief for what is
happening to people, to ourfellow human beings, even if you
(11:50):
don't know them personally, wecan admit, no matter what side
of any political line that we'reon, that treating humans unhuman
like is not okay. I hope we'reall on that page.
Grief is probably such a part ofour day to day right now that we
(12:10):
might not even be able torecognize it separately. But I
believe we all have grief forwhat's being exposed, grief for
what we can feel under thesurface of what is not yet been
exposed. Grief for how long someof these things have been
hidden, for the manipulationinvolved for all of us, grief
(12:31):
for how often power protectsitself and not the innocent.
Grief for children, grief forfamilies, grief for people being
treated as disposable, grief forthe erosion of our trust as a
society, grief for the feelingthat so many systems are not
(12:52):
protecting the vulnerable theway that they should or not
reining in power the way thatthey need to absolute power
corrupts absolutely. And tolayer on top of all of this is
this powerlessness that Idefinitely feel as a regular old
citizen, and probably you do tosome degree as well. It's a
(13:14):
painful feeling of I can seethis, I can feel this. I know
this matters. I know this iswrong, but I cannot personally
fix all of it, and I don't feellike any contribution that I can
give as one little human isgoing to make much of a
difference, and I don't knowwhat to do. That's a hard thing
for any human being to sit with,especially if you are in the pod
(13:39):
squad, right? Someone who caresdeeply, a sensitive, someone who
wants to help. Many of you havereached out to me at different
times through email or respondedto surveys or in the workshops,
and you feel that part of yourcalling in this world is to help
others, to support others, andwhen we are oriented that way as
(13:59):
a soul, of course, all of thisfeels impossibly hard and
impossibly powerless from ourperspective. It's a hard thing
for for any of us. So I want togently say something important
here. Your pain is not proofthat you are failing
spiritually. Your overwhelm isnot proof that you're weak. Your
(14:21):
anger is not proof that you areunhealed in some way. Your
heartbreak is not proof that youare dramatic or too much. And
sometimes our feelings areevidence that we are perceiving
reality accurately. Sometimesour soul's not asking us to feel
less. Sometimes it's asking usto hold what we feel more
(14:44):
wisely, because if we don't, oneof two things can often happen,
either we can get swallowed bythe overwhelm and pain and start
collapsing into despair andhelplessness. I will be honest
and let you. I've had severaldays kind of paralyzed on my
couch where I have felt unableto create or work or do the
(15:06):
things I need to do, like wewere just talking about, and I
think that's a totally normalresponse to this level of trauma
and chaos that we're involvedin. So we could either kind of
get swallowed by that pain andstart collapsing, or we can
detach so aggressively that welose touch with the tenderness
and the caring that makes us whowe are as human beings. Neither
(15:29):
one of those is the goal. Idon't think the goal is to not
feel anything, and I don't thinkthe goal is to feel everything
all at once with no boundaries.
I've tried both of those on allof our behalf, and neither are
working. So what is thesolution? Then again, I told
you, I don't really have a lotof solutions today, but I do
think the goal is to become asteadier vessel, a truer vessel,
(15:52):
maybe more clear, more grounded,a person who could say, Yes, I
see what's happening. Yes, itaffects me. Yes, I care. Yes, I
have grief that I'm processing.
I have outrage and no, I willnot let this disconnect me from
my own soul, from my own innervoice. That is the sacred work
(16:13):
here for those of us that aresensitives and intuitives and
light workers, which you allare, if you're listening,
whether you know it or not,because when everything feels
intense, many people don't needanother polished teaching about
detachment or taking ourspiritual position in the world.
We need permission to be human.
I feel like we need someone tosay, of course this is affecting
(16:37):
you. Of course you're tired, ofcourse your heart hurts, of
course you're struggling to makesense of all this, and also, you
don't need to give your wholelife force to panic. You don't
have to let helplessness narrateyour future or feed that anxious
voice in the back of your mind.
(17:01):
You don't have to carry everytragedy in your body at full
volume all day long in order toprove that you care. That's just
not sustainable. It's nothealthy for you or your nervous
system, and it doesn't helpanyone else either. There's a
difference between compassionand self destruction. There's a
difference between witnessingand allowing that to collapse us
(17:26):
internally, to come on boardinto our emotions fully. There's
a difference between stayinginformed and feeling your
nervous system a non stop streamof terror until you can no
longer access your own wisdom.
So what do we do? I hear? Andthe truth is, I really honor all
ways of doing it. I have heardfrom spiritual practitioners and
(17:46):
light workers on one side of thespectrum who are like, I'm not
watching any news. I don't wantto see anything. I don't want to
know anything. I don't want tobe
disrupted in my emotions at all.
I personally don't think that'sthe solution, but I don't have a
judgment about people who needto do that to protect
themselves. We're going to talkmore about this as we go. And on
the other side of the spectrum,I know people who have really
(18:08):
sprung into activism, and whoare for better or worse, some in
a healthy way, and some in anunhealthy way, consuming every
bit and puzzling as much as theycan, and it almost reminds me of
those crime shows that we've allseen with the whiteboard with
the pictures and the evidenceand then the red strings
everywhere. So I think there isa middle you guys know, I don't
(18:31):
necessarily believe in balance,and I don't know how we find our
balance in all of this, but whatcan we do? I think first we stop
asking ourselves to be machines,and we stop asking each other to
be machines. We are not amachine. We are a human who is a
soul having a human experience.
(18:52):
We're not a content processor.
We're not a spiritual robotwho's supposed to metabolize war
and corruption and abuse andpropaganda and cruelty and grief
and fear with no consequences.
You're a human being. You're asoul, having a human experience,
a tender human being, adiscerning human being. And that
(19:12):
means you need a rhythm to yourlife, and this chaos is really
throwing off the rhythm. We allneed rest. We all need pauses.
We all need to do our ownspiritual hygiene, your own
spiritual practice. My firstmentor used to call things like
grounding and running yourenergy changing your spiritual
underpants. Shout out to HeatherRenee. We do need emotional
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honesty with ourselves and withpeople we can trust our sacred,
safe communities. We needboundaries around what enters
our field and how often. We needmoments where we can exhale and
kind of give our system a break,because, if not, our intuition
can get buried under all thenoise, all the chaos and when
(19:59):
things. Are so chaotic outsideof ourselves, it's easy to feel
like we are standing in theocean being pummeled by stormy
waves from every direction andknocked down, and keep trying to
stand up and get our breath andthen another wave of chaos hits
us. So we do need pauses fromall this, because not only does
our intuition get buried underall that emotional noise when
(20:22):
we're constantly looking outsideof ourselves, but our body gets
flooded. Our immune system getsweakened, our hormonal systems,
you know that fight, flight,freeze gets triggered. Our
cortisol goes a little bitbananas. There are so many
physiological aspects we getexhausted and fatigued, and then
(20:43):
we feel like we need to pushthrough. And we feel like, why
am I not achieving and pushingthrough the way I normally do?
Why do I feel like I'm not, youknow, meeting my goals? And then
everything starts to feelequally urgent, equally
terrifying, equally hopeless,and we're wishing for future
predictions. No one can predictthe future definitively. There's
(21:04):
lots of potentials, because partof the work right now is
refusing to lose your center,not because everything's okay,
not because you don't care oryou want to tune out the outside
world, but because your centeris where your clarity actually
lives. That core of your being,your center, your intuition, is
where your discernment lives.
It's where the next right stepsbecome visible. And again, we
(21:26):
talk about this a lot here, notthe whole path. You might not be
able to see 10 steps ahead. Youmight not be able to know, well,
in a few months if this ishappening and this is happening
and this is not happening, thenso stop trying to do future math
in your head, it's just notgoing to work, and it's going to
keep you in that chaos loopinside of yourself. It's why we
need to be able to ground andfind our center, because that's
(21:50):
where we get the next few steps,the small steps, right, and then
we build from there. And I thinkmany people are secretly waiting
to feel hopeful again before wefeel like we can take the next
right step. But hope is notalways the first thing that
comes back. Sometimes the firstthing that comes back is our
(22:10):
ability to breathe. It's ourability to see our own next step
clearly. It's sometimes theability to have enough
steadiness to say, Okay, I can'tdo everything, but I can do
this. I can do I can go groceryshopping for my family. I can
sit and read a book with mykiddo. I can do a five minute
(22:32):
meditation and just give mynervous system a break. There
are small things we can do, andthat matters more than most
people realize, because when theworld's chaotic, the next right
step is sacred. A phone call canbe sacred. A donation can be
sacred. A boundary can besacred. A prayer or sending your
(22:54):
love or healing energy can besacred. A nap can be sacred.
Logging offline can be sacred.
Telling the truth can be sacred,protecting your peace for one
hour so you can hear your owninner guidance again. That can
be sacred. We don't always needa grand plan to return to
(23:15):
ourselves, and sometimes we needto be honest as an act of
reconnection, right? Notgaslighting ourselves that
everything's fine, you're fine.
You're not seeing what you'reseeing. Keep it moving. That is
just going to gaslight us. It'sspiritual bypassing, and it's
going to make us feel more andmore disconnected from ourselves
as sensitives, and then we feellike these sensitive souls lost
(23:37):
in this wave tossing oceanwithout even that feeling of
connection to ourselves, andthat's kind of the opposite of
the direction we want to go withthis. But again, being spiritual
does not mean being neutral inthe face of harm. I want to name
this. I know that in somespiritual circles, it's kind of
the let them theory of it all,and we will talk about that in
(24:00):
another episode, if you want. Idon't love to disparage or give
my negative opinions on otherpeople's work, but I think just
letting everyone do whateverthey want and having no
boundaries, that doesn't feellike the answer either.
Compassion doesn't requirepassivity, love doesn't require
denial, consciousness does notrequire pretending like
(24:21):
everything is morally okay ormorally equivalent being awake.
Awakeness does not require oursilence. We can be deeply
spiritual and still say this iswrong, this is cruel, this is
dishonest, this is dehumanizing.
This is unacceptable. This isbreaking my heart. Is what I
(24:43):
feel like I've been saying a lotlately. That doesn't make you
less spiritual, it may actuallymake you more spiritual and more
spiritually honest, at leastbecause spirit's not asking us
to become numb and witnesssuffering, spirit might be
asking us to become clear.
Clearer, braver, steadier,participants in this moment, not
perfect, not all knowing,certainly not free of emotion,
(25:06):
but awake to what is happening,paying attention and present,
giving our presence to what ishappening, not shoving our head
in the sand. You can takebreaks. Though. Remember, please
don't think I'm like trying tosay someone reached out to me
recently and just kind of it wasmore of like an evangelical type
vibe to the message that justbasically said all light workers
(25:29):
need to be evangelized and needto be forcing people to come out
and support in different ways.
And I just don't think that'strue. I think we all have a
different way of lending oursupport. I know, for me
personally, part of what hasfelt heavy is that I don't have
some master key for all of this.
I don't have all the answers. Idon't know how long all these
(25:52):
terrible things are going tolast, or if any sense of justice
is going to come out on theother end, I just have a lot of
feelings, I have a lot ofopinions, I have a lot of
heartbreak, I have a lot ofconcern, and I also have a real
desire not to add to thenumbness. And maybe some of you
feel that way too. Maybe part ofwhy this hurts is because we can
(26:16):
feel how much is at stake, andwe don't want to turn away from
what's happening in this moment,because sometimes I just
recently had a plumbing issue inmy kitchen sink. And I live in
kind of a tall building. It'snot quite 20 floors just under
that, and I thought it was mygarbage disposal, even though I
(26:36):
don't put much down there, butit was really gunk that was
building up from above me in thebuilding, in the old, 100 year
old plumbing that is there, andit kind of reminds me of this
moment, right? Just continuingto ignore the sludge, ignore the
clog is not going to fixeverything. Sometimes that muck,
that sludge, that grossintention, needs to come out so
(27:00):
that we can look at it, so thatwe can change the systems, so
that we can close the loopholesof power. I won't go into it
because I have a lot offeelings, but I do think
sometimes certain things need tohappen so that we can make
changes, so that we can makereform, and that this is kind of
where I want to offer a littlebit of a reframe. We don't have
(27:22):
to solve everything in order tobe part of healing at this time,
sometimes being part of thehealing looks like refusing to
lie to ourselves. Sometimes itlooks like staying in a soft
place when the world is veryhard and keeping our compassion.
Sometimes it looks likeprotecting one vulnerable
(27:45):
person. Sometimes it looks likehelping your own nervous system
come back online so you canthink clearly, so you can hold
calm, clear, grounded space forothers. Sometimes it looks like
resting without guilt, please.
Let me say that again, restingwithout guilt. If you need a
rest, take it if it's at allpossible or the soonest time
(28:08):
when it's possible. Sometimes itlooks like staying in integrity
when lying would be easier, orspiritually bypassing. Sometimes
it looks like remainingcompassionate when the world is
trying to train us intoindifference. Please hear me
when I say indifference is notthe same as peace. Numbness is
(28:29):
not the same as wisdom. Collapseis not the same as compassion
and hopelessness is not thewhole truth. It may be part of
what you feel. It's certainlypart of what I feel. It may be
something that's visiting youheavily right now, the way it is
for me, but it's not the wholetruth, because even at times
(28:49):
like this, love still exists,Courage still exists, decency
still exists, care still exists,resistance and resilience and
prayer and sending energyhealing and integrity actually
still exists. Acts of protectionand tiny sacred choices and
(29:11):
people stepping up asindividuals to help one another
still exists. And maybe that iswhat hope looks like right now,
not pretending everything isfine, not forcing optimism, not
bypassing the pain, but choosingagain and again, not to abandon
ourselves, our emotions, oursoul, just because the world is
(29:34):
acting soulless, without soulright now. And that's a
different kind of hope. It says,I see what's happening, I feel
what's happening, maybe even Ifeel all of this. And admitting
that you're affected by what'shappening, and you'll still
protect the light withinyourself. You'll still listen
for what is yours to do fromwithin, within within, I still
(29:59):
tend. My humanity. I hope youwill too. I still refuse to
become cruel and hardened. Iwill still refuse to let despair
become my religion. I'm notgoing to do it, and I hope you
won't do it either. And maybethat is the invitation right
now, not to become less caring,not to become less aware, not to
(30:20):
become less engaged, but tobecome steadier inside your
care, wiser, inside yourawareness, more intentional,
inside your engagement, to stopasking your nervous system to
absorb the whole world and tostop shaming yourself for being
affected, and instead begin toask, what is mine to hold today?
(30:44):
What's mine to do today? What'smine to release today? And what
would help me return to myselfso I can keep showing up with
truth, compassion and clarity.
Because this is not aboutsurviving the news cycle. This
is about protecting your spirit,your personal intentions in the
world, protecting yourself as asensitive soul and all the inner
(31:08):
children within you in an in anera of like complete overwhelm,
this is about keeping your soulintact, the humanity of who you
are intact in a time when peoplecan become very fragmented. This
is about remembering that yoursensitivity is not a liability
to be crushed. It's a sacredinstrument. It's a secret
(31:33):
superpower, actually, but likeany sacred instrument, it needs
tending. It needs care. It needstuning. It needs rest, it needs
reverence. So maybe this is themoment to stop asking, How do I
stop feeling so much, andinstead ask, How do I care for
(31:54):
myself wisely enough to keepfeeling without breaking I'm
going to say that again. How dowe care for ourselves wisely
enough to keep from feelingwithout breaking? That is a
sacred question. So what I wantto give you is a very simple
practice in just a minute here,if you're driving or course, or
(32:14):
running or cleaning, just pause.
I'll tell you when I'm going tostart, but you can just pause
and you can revisit it and getthe exercise at a time when you
can do it. Because we do need tobe coming back into ourselves.
We do need to give our nervoussystem a chance to calm down. We
do need to look within, eventhough it's also important to be
(32:39):
looking outside of ourselves andpaying attention. We need to be
looking within for stillness.
And I'm going to give you a bitof a simple sacred practice. And
if you're not in a place whereyou can do so, that is fine, but
if you are, we're going to startnow. So just pause, wherever you
are, if you could take a momentto sit down, if you are on a
(33:00):
break and you can just let youreyes rest closed. That would be
ideal if you're in a placethat's safe to do that, if not
again, pause and come backlater, and as you start to
gently let your eyes restclosed, just imagine bringing
all of your attention, all ofyour awareness, right into the
center of your head and justtake some comfortable breaths.
(33:24):
Honor what your body wants.
Maybe you need deep breaths,maybe you need shallow breaths.
Just however your body wants tobreathe is fine, and with each
exhale, just allow your physicalbody to soften just a little bit
more good right where you are.
Just take a gentle breath, ifpossible, in through the nose,
(33:50):
and exhale through your mouth,if possible. As I'm recording
this, I also know it's cold andflu season, so if you cannot
breathe through your nose, thatis perfectly fine as well, and
just keeping yourself in alittle bit of amusement, a
little bit of lightness. Andagain, one more breath gently in
(34:10):
comfortably and exhale as youcome all the way into the center
of your personal space bubble.
And now, if it feels okay, seeif you can just gently place one
hand on your heart or the centerof your chest and one hand on
(34:32):
your lower abdomen, your bellyjust below your belly button, or
even just above your bellybutton, on your solar plexus,
wherever feels comfortable onyour abdomen, good. So one hand
heart or center of chest, onehand somewhere comfortable on
your abdomen, either just aboveor below your belly button and
(34:56):
continue to breathe. This is aclosed loop of a. Energy. Now
you're just receiving energyfrom yourself back into
yourself, good. And just notice,notice the seat beneath you.
Notice your feet. Feel the tipsof your toes, if you're lucky
(35:17):
enough to have all of them,good. Notice that in this moment
you are here, you're present,you're fully available.
And let's just do a coupleaffirmations from this space
where you're really just givingthat validation and
(35:38):
acknowledgement to your heartspace and to your abdomen space.
These abdomen chakras reallyprocess a lot of our emotions
too. So just silently or aloudwith each exhale, repeat after
me, what I feel is real good,what I feel might sometimes feel
(36:02):
heavy,good, and I don't have to carry
all of it alone.
I don't have to carry all of italone, good. And then, as you
continue to breathe, just see ifyou can notice or allow your
(36:26):
shoulders to just relax a littleto unclench a little good. See
if With your next breath, youcan notice if your stomach area,
your abdomen can relax even just5% Good, nothing dramatic,
(36:47):
nothing forced, just a littlesoftening, good. Now with the
next breath, we're going to doanother affirmation you can
repeat silently or aloud. Irelease the pressure to fix
everything in this moment.
(37:08):
Good, releasing that pressurenow, good.
And let's just call back ourenergy. Imagine a big,
beautiful, white, fluffy roseout in front of you, about the
size of a watermelon. You canimagine it just floating there
or sitting in your lap, and justimagine repeating silently or
(37:30):
aloud, I call back all of myenergy now. I call back all of
my energy from panic, fromstress, from helplessness, all
of my energy returns to me now,and you might sense or feel or
(37:51):
know that energy collecting inthis rose right out in front of
you and this rose will alsopurify this energy and make it
entirely your own, again, good.
And just imagine this rosefloating towards you with all of
this energy that belongs to you,being restored, cleared,
(38:13):
returned to you, good. Andimagine allowing this energy to
enter either your heart space orthat solar plexus, reclaiming
all of your power, all of yourenergy, good. And let's pause
here and just gently hold thequestion, the idea, the
(38:36):
intention somewhere below thatheart space, what is just one
loving, honest, grounded thingyou could do next for yourself
in this day or this week? Not 10things. One thing. What is one
loving, honest, grounded thing Ican do next, and just pause
(39:01):
here. Let that question land.
Hold it in your heart as youcontinue to breathe, the answer
might bubble up or it might cometo your awareness a little bit
later. Maybe it's rest is theanswer. Maybe it's prayer or
sending love. Maybe it's turningyour ringer off for an hour or
(39:24):
checking on someone you careabout. Maybe it's making a $5
donation to a cause, or more ifyou can afford it. Maybe it's
speaking up on behalf ofyourself or someone else. Maybe
it's preparing and registeringto vote and lending your voice
that way. Maybe it's journaling,maybe it's just offering some
(39:47):
healing and love to your ownbody so that you can discharge
some of what you've beenholding. Maybe it's crying or
drinking water. Whatever comesup for you is. Just allow
yourself to hold on to that oneloving thing that you can do for
yourself next good, and thenjust out in front of you,
(40:09):
imagine a big, beautiful, goldenorb and from your heart, from
behind your heart, even fromyour toes, imagine sending love
compassion. Imagine sending thetruth that you care, that you're
(40:31):
witnessing the pain of others,and you're sending love into
this bubble, good and just for afew minutes here, allow that
love to emanate from you. Andit's maybe something very small
we can do, but it's somethingnonetheless. And as this bubble
continues to fill with goldenlight and the love from within,
(40:53):
you, just imagine sending thatbubble out into the ethers, so
that it can be received ashealing or love or a moment of
breath or compassion for someonewho desperately needs it right
now. And if you want to do apractice again later, you could
(41:14):
send another bubble, or you cansend love or energy to a
specific person, a specificsituation, a specific area,
those are all wonderful actionsto do good and release that
bubble coming all the way backto yourself and with each
(41:35):
breath. Now finally, let's justintend that we are willing to
give ourselves compassion as weshow up and be present. You're
willing to breathe it in and letit out slowly, good, just like
the weather, feeling thoseemotions, but not getting stuck
(41:59):
in them, good and with eachbreath, now just starting to
feel that energy in your bodyagain, you might feel your toe
tips or your fingertips gentlyinhaling and exhaling good. And
when you're ready, you cangently blink or open your eyes
(42:19):
coming all the way back to me, Ihope that that little exercise
gave you even the smallestexhale, and as we come all the
way back in, you can imaginefilling yourself with a rich,
warm, golden light your bodydeserves moments of breath,
(42:40):
moments of pause, moments ofreturning to yourself from the
outside world, so that you canbe awake and attentive and
present and holding this energywith the rest of the collective
your nervous system deservesmoments of breath and exhale.
Your soul deserves moments whereyou're not being asked to carry
(43:02):
everything all at once. And Ithink this is part of the
practice for all of us now,returning again and again, not
perfectly, but repeatedly,returning to our breath, our
discernment, our compassion, thecore of our beings. And you can
take moments of pause and sendbits of love or prayer or energy
(43:22):
returning yourself to the partof you that knows how to stay
human in inhumane times, and ifthis episode met you in a tender
place today, I just want to saythis. You're not weak for being
affected. You're not broken forfeeling overwhelmed. You're not
falling apart because your hearthurts. You are not less
(43:43):
spiritual because you have griefor anger or opinions or deep
discomfort with what we'rewitnessing in our world right
now. It means you're alive,you're aware, you're present,
you're paying attention, you'regiving your sacred attention to
other people in need, and yourtenderness, your conscience and
(44:03):
even your refusal to go numb,may be part of what keeps your
soul grounded in a time likethis. Please be gentle with
yourself. Please be honest withyourself, not only about what's
going on in the world, but aboutwhat you can hold in any given
moment. Please protect yourenergy. And what I mean by that
(44:24):
is being gentle with yourselfwithout shutting down your
humanity. Let yourself care, butdo not ask yourself to carry the
whole world in one human nervoussystem. Come back to your body,
your breath, release energy thatfeels built up in your body,
that is what we can do today,and maybe that's where hope
(44:47):
begins again, not in certainty,not in perfect answers, not in
pretending, but in one honestbreath, and in our togetherness,
holding this truth with oneanother, even if we don't have
answers. Even if we don't have asolution to offer, just standing
together, witnessing, beingpresent, not in certainty, not
(45:10):
in perfect answers, but in justgrounded truth and choice and
doing the small acts for ourselfand for others as we can I just
encourage you to keep holdingthe light, refuse to abandon the
light within you, and refuse toignore the light that we know
(45:31):
lives in others. That is what Ihave to offer today, just this
moment of togetherness aroundthis and this moment of breath
and coming back to our bodies.
So thank you for being here withme today. Thank you for caring
about what is going on. Even thefact that you are thinking about
it or worried about it, orfeeling a lot about it, shows
(45:51):
that you genuinely care. I'msending you so much love, so
much of my light going out toyou, because we might not have
solutions, but if all of ourlights come together in one
container, how much brighter andmore supported could we all
shine? That's the intention Ihave for us. So however you are
(46:12):
coping and managing, if you havelearned some new coping skills,
please feel free to share themin the comments, I love when we
can come into community togetherand share what we know in the
meantime, Big hugs. Lots of loveand bye for now, from inside
spirit speakeasy, you.
Joy, hey, beautiful soul, welcome to spirit. Speak
Easy. I'm Joy Giovanni, joyfulmedium. I'm a working psychic
medium, energy healer andspiritual gifts mentor. This
podcast is like a seat at thetable in a secret club, but with
mediums, mystics and thespiritual luminaries of our
time. So come behind the velvetropes with me and see inside my
(00:24):
world as I chat insider stylewith profoundly gifted souls, we
go deep, share juicy stories,laugh a lot, and it wouldn't be
a speakeasy without greatinsider secrets and tips. You
might even learn that you havesome gifts of your own so step
inside the spirit speakeasy.
Hey, beautiful soul. Welcomeback for another episode of
(00:46):
spirit speakeasy. I want to bereally honest with you today.
This is not one of thoseepisodes where I come in with
five perfect reasons or answersor a neat spiritual bow tie
around everything that's goingon. I don't have that today.
What I have is a full heart, aheavy spirit, a lot of thoughts,
(01:07):
a lot of feelings, and a realsense that many of us are trying
to live our quote, unquote,normal lives with everything
that's expected of us also,while witnessing an abnormal
amount of cruelty and chaos anddeception and grief and
suffering all at once, and Idon't hear many spiritual
(01:29):
leaders or teachers talking thathonestly and openly about this,
not really, and I have beenstarting to hear criticism of
why are more spiritual leadersand teachers not talking about
this? And it's true, I haven'treally heard many talking about
all the things going on in ourcurrent day world, certainly
(01:53):
from a United Statesperspective, not in a way that
feels human enough, not in a waythat feels grounded to me, not
in a way that makes room for theheartbreak, the rage, the fear,
the moral exhaustion, all livingin the same body in the same
moment at the same time. Sotoday, as usual, I don't want to
(02:15):
spiritually bypass anything. Idon't want to pretend that if we
just raise our vibration hardenough, none of this touches us.
That's not true. I don't believethat being spiritual or a
spiritual being means beinguntouched by the world. I think
being spiritual in a time likethis means making it our
(02:36):
responsibility to stay awake, tostay honest, to stay
compassionate, to staydiscerning as much as possible,
and to return to our own selfwithout pretending the world is
okay when it clearly is not so,if you've been feeling
overwhelmed, if you have beenfeeling angry, If you've been
(02:58):
feeling emotionally flooded, ifyou've been trying to function
while your heart is breakingover what you are seeing and
experiencing, if you've beenstruggling to know how to care
deeply without completelycollapsing. This episode is for
you. I am calling us in, intothis space together, into the
(03:18):
spirit speakeasy together,because I may not have answers,
but I do know the power of beingin community, and that was
always my intention with thispodcast, was to create a safe
community. Lately, I've beensitting with a lot, and I've
been feeling many of you havetoo. There is so much happening
(03:41):
in the world right now that itcan feel hard to even know where
to put your heart first, andtoday, we're going to talk a
little bit about it, and then Iam going to guide you through an
exercise later in the episode,I'll let you know when that's
coming, so that if you need topause and return for the
exercise you can because I'vereally been sitting with it,
(04:02):
with my Soul, with my guides.
And I think the reason I haven'tbeen talking about things is,
one, I have a lot of personalfeelings and opinions about it,
and I don't want anyone to feelexcluded, and I don't want to
create a debate space here. Andtwo, I don't have answers, and
so I feel like that makes itreally hard and overwhelming to
talk about because I don't havea lot of answers. But what came
(04:26):
to me through my recentmeditations is I do have tools,
and I do have a safe space thatI can offer, and so that's where
I'm starting from today. Andagain, there's so much happening
in our world right now that Icould feel very hard to know
where to put our heart first.
We're witnessing escalating warand civilian suffering abroad,
especially in North Africa, upinto Lebanon, Palestine, Iran,
(04:49):
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Israel. Ofcourse, we're witnessing renewed
outrage and deep concern. Aroundimmigration enforcement, if you
want to call it that here in theUnited States, I have some other
color for words that I wouldrather call it, but I won't, and
there's deep concern happeningwithin a lot of us who are
(05:14):
seeing what's going on,including reports of findings
that have intensified publicconcern here in the United
States around repeated illegaldetentions of human beings,
including children. No human isillegal, as many of us say, and
we're also watching continuedpublic distrust around
(05:36):
accountability, transparency,the handling of powerful people
and horrific abuse cases, both,you know, in this war that's
happening with the ice, theimmigration enforcement that's
happening here in the US withthese Epstein files, the E
files, let's call them. I don'twant to get banned anywhere.
(06:00):
We're not going to go intodetail there. The other thing
is, yes, all of these things arehappening, but as sensitive
souls and as souls that have hadexperiences in the world, we
also need to acknowledge thatthis can be lighting up previous
trauma for us. If you've someonethat, if you're someone that's
ever been traumatized in aphysical abuse way, looking at
(06:21):
the Epstein files or hearing thedetails or reading about them is
probably triggering you ortaking you out at the knees,
emotionally, in a way that maybeyou can't even quite put your
own finger on. So witheverything going on, and I know
I haven't even listed all of it,I'm going to spare you. You know
what it is. I know what it is ifyou felt distracted or raw or
(06:42):
even angry or exhausted, ifyou've been unable to focus,
feeling unable to create, unableto pray or do your own personal
spiritual practices in the sameway, or unable to just keep
scrolling and smiling and movingon like none of this is
happening. I want to say veryclearly that makes perfect
(07:04):
sense. So I think a lot ofsensitive people, particularly
empaths, healers, intuitives,highly sensitives and deeply
caring human beings, are justcarrying a lot more than they
realize right now. You arecarrying a lot more than you
realize right now.
(07:28):
And I also just want to sayyou're probably not just tired.
You probably feel exhausted, butit's probably not just a human
tired. It probably feels like asoul tired. And you're probably
not just stressed. You'reprobably grieving, grieving for
different shades and versions ofmaybe what we thought we were
(07:49):
all in agreement with in thisworld, or where we thought we
all wanted things to go, or manyof us did, and grieving the
tragedies and travesties we'reseeing. You're not just
frustrated. You are morallyexhausted from witnessing
cruelty normalized in real time.
We're all under this, thissystem that is trying to flood
(08:11):
us. We keep hearing this termflood the zone, flood us with so
much chaos, so muchmisinformation, so much
depravity that we are numb anddesensitized, and so if you are
feeling kind of taken down bythis, or the opposite, if you're
feeling incredibly sensitized,right, just know that that is a
normal response, and This is anabnormal, unusual situation that
(08:38):
we're living in, most of us aretrying to keep our routines
going, live up to ourobligations in the world, keep
our businesses going or theplaces we work, keep our
families Okay, keep showing upfor clients or kids or family or
partner or Community, whileinwardly feeling like something
(08:58):
is just deeply off and no one ispaying attention to fix it. And
that makes sense, too. I thinkone of the hardest things about
times like this is that we canstart to question ourselves. We
can start to let questionswrestle with our soul inside of
(09:20):
ourselves, almost, things like,why am I so affected by this?
Or, why can I just notcompartmentalize this and keep
it pushing right? Why does thisfeel so personal? Why can I not
just focus on my own life, and Iwant to offer this, maybe the
fact that you cannot fullydisconnect is not a problem. I
(09:40):
think it's a testament to whoyou are as a sensitive soul and
how much you care for yourfellow human beings. Maybe the
fact that your heart responds tosuffering is not a weakness.
Maybe being disturbed by lies orexploitation or violence.
Violence or corruption, abuse,displacement, sheer inhumanity.
(10:01):
Maybe that doesn't mean thatyou're too sensitive. Maybe it
means that your humanity isstill intact, and that matters.
That matters more than I thinkwe all can recognize from our
current vantage point. I thinkwe won't really know, until
looking back many years fromnow, the power of those who
(10:23):
still had their humanity intact,because there are times in
history when numbness becomessocially rewarded, when apathy
starts to pass for maturity,when cynicism starts to pass for
wisdom, when silence starts topass for being above it all or
somehow spiritually evolved. Butthere's a difference between
(10:46):
protecting your energy andabandoning your humanity.
There's a difference betweengrounding and numbing. There's a
difference between spiritualsteadiness and emotional
disconnection. And I think mostof us are trying to figure out
how to stay open hearted withoutbeing swallowed alive by the
sheer volume of what ishappening. That is the tension.
(11:07):
How do I care withoutcollapsing? How do I stay
informed without becomingconsumed? How do I remain
compassionate without becomingenergetically shredded to
pieces. How do I keep myspiritual connection alive when
the world feels so brutal andunstable? I don't have a perfect
(11:28):
formula for any of that, sothat's what I have to tell you
today. But I do think it beginswith telling the truth, and the
truth is that many people arecarrying a kind of grief that
does not have a formal place togo. It's a grief for what is
happening to people, to ourfellow human beings, even if you
(11:50):
don't know them personally, wecan admit, no matter what side
of any political line that we'reon, that treating humans unhuman
like is not okay. I hope we'reall on that page.
Grief is probably such a part ofour day to day right now that we
(12:10):
might not even be able torecognize it separately. But I
believe we all have grief forwhat's being exposed, grief for
what we can feel under thesurface of what is not yet been
exposed. Grief for how long someof these things have been
hidden, for the manipulationinvolved for all of us, grief
(12:31):
for how often power protectsitself and not the innocent.
Grief for children, grief forfamilies, grief for people being
treated as disposable, grief forthe erosion of our trust as a
society, grief for the feelingthat so many systems are not
(12:52):
protecting the vulnerable theway that they should or not
reining in power the way thatthey need to absolute power
corrupts absolutely. And tolayer on top of all of this is
this powerlessness that Idefinitely feel as a regular old
citizen, and probably you do tosome degree as well. It's a
(13:14):
painful feeling of I can seethis, I can feel this. I know
this matters. I know this iswrong, but I cannot personally
fix all of it, and I don't feellike any contribution that I can
give as one little human isgoing to make much of a
difference, and I don't knowwhat to do. That's a hard thing
for any human being to sit with,especially if you are in the pod
(13:39):
squad, right? Someone who caresdeeply, a sensitive, someone who
wants to help. Many of you havereached out to me at different
times through email or respondedto surveys or in the workshops,
and you feel that part of yourcalling in this world is to help
others, to support others, andwhen we are oriented that way as
(13:59):
a soul, of course, all of thisfeels impossibly hard and
impossibly powerless from ourperspective. It's a hard thing
for for any of us. So I want togently say something important
here. Your pain is not proofthat you are failing
spiritually. Your overwhelm isnot proof that you're weak. Your
(14:21):
anger is not proof that you areunhealed in some way. Your
heartbreak is not proof that youare dramatic or too much. And
sometimes our feelings areevidence that we are perceiving
reality accurately. Sometimesour soul's not asking us to feel
less. Sometimes it's asking usto hold what we feel more
(14:44):
wisely, because if we don't, oneof two things can often happen,
either we can get swallowed bythe overwhelm and pain and start
collapsing into despair andhelplessness. I will be honest
and let you. I've had severaldays kind of paralyzed on my
couch where I have felt unableto create or work or do the
(15:06):
things I need to do, like wewere just talking about, and I
think that's a totally normalresponse to this level of trauma
and chaos that we're involvedin. So we could either kind of
get swallowed by that pain andstart collapsing, or we can
detach so aggressively that welose touch with the tenderness
and the caring that makes us whowe are as human beings. Neither
(15:29):
one of those is the goal. Idon't think the goal is to not
feel anything, and I don't thinkthe goal is to feel everything
all at once with no boundaries.
I've tried both of those on allof our behalf, and neither are
working. So what is thesolution? Then again, I told
you, I don't really have a lotof solutions today, but I do
think the goal is to become asteadier vessel, a truer vessel,
(15:52):
maybe more clear, more grounded,a person who could say, Yes, I
see what's happening. Yes, itaffects me. Yes, I care. Yes, I
have grief that I'm processing.
I have outrage and no, I willnot let this disconnect me from
my own soul, from my own innervoice. That is the sacred work
(16:13):
here for those of us that aresensitives and intuitives and
light workers, which you allare, if you're listening,
whether you know it or not,because when everything feels
intense, many people don't needanother polished teaching about
detachment or taking ourspiritual position in the world.
We need permission to be human.
I feel like we need someone tosay, of course this is affecting
(16:37):
you. Of course you're tired, ofcourse your heart hurts, of
course you're struggling to makesense of all this, and also, you
don't need to give your wholelife force to panic. You don't
have to let helplessness narrateyour future or feed that anxious
voice in the back of your mind.
(17:01):
You don't have to carry everytragedy in your body at full
volume all day long in order toprove that you care. That's just
not sustainable. It's nothealthy for you or your nervous
system, and it doesn't helpanyone else either. There's a
difference between compassionand self destruction. There's a
difference between witnessingand allowing that to collapse us
(17:26):
internally, to come on boardinto our emotions fully. There's
a difference between stayinginformed and feeling your
nervous system a non stop streamof terror until you can no
longer access your own wisdom.
So what do we do? I hear? Andthe truth is, I really honor all
ways of doing it. I have heardfrom spiritual practitioners and
(17:46):
light workers on one side of thespectrum who are like, I'm not
watching any news. I don't wantto see anything. I don't want to
know anything. I don't want tobe
disrupted in my emotions at all.
I personally don't think that'sthe solution, but I don't have a
judgment about people who needto do that to protect
themselves. We're going to talkmore about this as we go. And on
the other side of the spectrum,I know people who have really
(18:08):
sprung into activism, and whoare for better or worse, some in
a healthy way, and some in anunhealthy way, consuming every
bit and puzzling as much as theycan, and it almost reminds me of
those crime shows that we've allseen with the whiteboard with
the pictures and the evidenceand then the red strings
everywhere. So I think there isa middle you guys know, I don't
(18:31):
necessarily believe in balance,and I don't know how we find our
balance in all of this, but whatcan we do? I think first we stop
asking ourselves to be machines,and we stop asking each other to
be machines. We are not amachine. We are a human who is a
soul having a human experience.
(18:52):
We're not a content processor.
We're not a spiritual robotwho's supposed to metabolize war
and corruption and abuse andpropaganda and cruelty and grief
and fear with no consequences.
You're a human being. You're asoul, having a human experience,
a tender human being, adiscerning human being. And that
(19:12):
means you need a rhythm to yourlife, and this chaos is really
throwing off the rhythm. We allneed rest. We all need pauses.
We all need to do our ownspiritual hygiene, your own
spiritual practice. My firstmentor used to call things like
grounding and running yourenergy changing your spiritual
underpants. Shout out to HeatherRenee. We do need emotional
(19:37):
honesty with ourselves and withpeople we can trust our sacred,
safe communities. We needboundaries around what enters
our field and how often. We needmoments where we can exhale and
kind of give our system a break,because, if not, our intuition
can get buried under all thenoise, all the chaos and when
(19:59):
things. Are so chaotic outsideof ourselves, it's easy to feel
like we are standing in theocean being pummeled by stormy
waves from every direction andknocked down, and keep trying to
stand up and get our breath andthen another wave of chaos hits
us. So we do need pauses fromall this, because not only does
our intuition get buried underall that emotional noise when
(20:22):
we're constantly looking outsideof ourselves, but our body gets
flooded. Our immune system getsweakened, our hormonal systems,
you know that fight, flight,freeze gets triggered. Our
cortisol goes a little bitbananas. There are so many
physiological aspects we getexhausted and fatigued, and then
(20:43):
we feel like we need to pushthrough. And we feel like, why
am I not achieving and pushingthrough the way I normally do?
Why do I feel like I'm not, youknow, meeting my goals? And then
everything starts to feelequally urgent, equally
terrifying, equally hopeless,and we're wishing for future
predictions. No one can predictthe future definitively. There's
(21:04):
lots of potentials, because partof the work right now is
refusing to lose your center,not because everything's okay,
not because you don't care oryou want to tune out the outside
world, but because your centeris where your clarity actually
lives. That core of your being,your center, your intuition, is
where your discernment lives.
It's where the next right stepsbecome visible. And again, we
(21:26):
talk about this a lot here, notthe whole path. You might not be
able to see 10 steps ahead. Youmight not be able to know, well,
in a few months if this ishappening and this is happening
and this is not happening, thenso stop trying to do future math
in your head, it's just notgoing to work, and it's going to
keep you in that chaos loopinside of yourself. It's why we
need to be able to ground andfind our center, because that's
(21:50):
where we get the next few steps,the small steps, right, and then
we build from there. And I thinkmany people are secretly waiting
to feel hopeful again before wefeel like we can take the next
right step. But hope is notalways the first thing that
comes back. Sometimes the firstthing that comes back is our
(22:10):
ability to breathe. It's ourability to see our own next step
clearly. It's sometimes theability to have enough
steadiness to say, Okay, I can'tdo everything, but I can do
this. I can do I can go groceryshopping for my family. I can
sit and read a book with mykiddo. I can do a five minute
(22:32):
meditation and just give mynervous system a break. There
are small things we can do, andthat matters more than most
people realize, because when theworld's chaotic, the next right
step is sacred. A phone call canbe sacred. A donation can be
sacred. A boundary can besacred. A prayer or sending your
(22:54):
love or healing energy can besacred. A nap can be sacred.
Logging offline can be sacred.
Telling the truth can be sacred,protecting your peace for one
hour so you can hear your owninner guidance again. That can
be sacred. We don't always needa grand plan to return to
(23:15):
ourselves, and sometimes we needto be honest as an act of
reconnection, right? Notgaslighting ourselves that
everything's fine, you're fine.
You're not seeing what you'reseeing. Keep it moving. That is
just going to gaslight us. It'sspiritual bypassing, and it's
going to make us feel more andmore disconnected from ourselves
as sensitives, and then we feellike these sensitive souls lost
(23:37):
in this wave tossing oceanwithout even that feeling of
connection to ourselves, andthat's kind of the opposite of
the direction we want to go withthis. But again, being spiritual
does not mean being neutral inthe face of harm. I want to name
this. I know that in somespiritual circles, it's kind of
the let them theory of it all,and we will talk about that in
(24:00):
another episode, if you want. Idon't love to disparage or give
my negative opinions on otherpeople's work, but I think just
letting everyone do whateverthey want and having no
boundaries, that doesn't feellike the answer either.
Compassion doesn't requirepassivity, love doesn't require
denial, consciousness does notrequire pretending like
(24:21):
everything is morally okay ormorally equivalent being awake.
Awakeness does not require oursilence. We can be deeply
spiritual and still say this iswrong, this is cruel, this is
dishonest, this is dehumanizing.
This is unacceptable. This isbreaking my heart. Is what I
(24:43):
feel like I've been saying a lotlately. That doesn't make you
less spiritual, it may actuallymake you more spiritual and more
spiritually honest, at leastbecause spirit's not asking us
to become numb and witnesssuffering, spirit might be
asking us to become clear.
Clearer, braver, steadier,participants in this moment, not
perfect, not all knowing,certainly not free of emotion,
(25:06):
but awake to what is happening,paying attention and present,
giving our presence to what ishappening, not shoving our head
in the sand. You can takebreaks. Though. Remember, please
don't think I'm like trying tosay someone reached out to me
recently and just kind of it wasmore of like an evangelical type
vibe to the message that justbasically said all light workers
(25:29):
need to be evangelized and needto be forcing people to come out
and support in different ways.
And I just don't think that'strue. I think we all have a
different way of lending oursupport. I know, for me
personally, part of what hasfelt heavy is that I don't have
some master key for all of this.
I don't have all the answers. Idon't know how long all these
(25:52):
terrible things are going tolast, or if any sense of justice
is going to come out on theother end, I just have a lot of
feelings, I have a lot ofopinions, I have a lot of
heartbreak, I have a lot ofconcern, and I also have a real
desire not to add to thenumbness. And maybe some of you
feel that way too. Maybe part ofwhy this hurts is because we can
(26:16):
feel how much is at stake, andwe don't want to turn away from
what's happening in this moment,because sometimes I just
recently had a plumbing issue inmy kitchen sink. And I live in
kind of a tall building. It'snot quite 20 floors just under
that, and I thought it was mygarbage disposal, even though I
(26:36):
don't put much down there, butit was really gunk that was
building up from above me in thebuilding, in the old, 100 year
old plumbing that is there, andit kind of reminds me of this
moment, right? Just continuingto ignore the sludge, ignore the
clog is not going to fixeverything. Sometimes that muck,
that sludge, that grossintention, needs to come out so
(27:00):
that we can look at it, so thatwe can change the systems, so
that we can close the loopholesof power. I won't go into it
because I have a lot offeelings, but I do think
sometimes certain things need tohappen so that we can make
changes, so that we can makereform, and that this is kind of
where I want to offer a littlebit of a reframe. We don't have
(27:22):
to solve everything in order tobe part of healing at this time,
sometimes being part of thehealing looks like refusing to
lie to ourselves. Sometimes itlooks like staying in a soft
place when the world is veryhard and keeping our compassion.
Sometimes it looks likeprotecting one vulnerable
(27:45):
person. Sometimes it looks likehelping your own nervous system
come back online so you canthink clearly, so you can hold
calm, clear, grounded space forothers. Sometimes it looks like
resting without guilt, please.
Let me say that again, restingwithout guilt. If you need a
rest, take it if it's at allpossible or the soonest time
(28:08):
when it's possible. Sometimes itlooks like staying in integrity
when lying would be easier, orspiritually bypassing. Sometimes
it looks like remainingcompassionate when the world is
trying to train us intoindifference. Please hear me
when I say indifference is notthe same as peace. Numbness is
(28:29):
not the same as wisdom. Collapseis not the same as compassion
and hopelessness is not thewhole truth. It may be part of
what you feel. It's certainlypart of what I feel. It may be
something that's visiting youheavily right now, the way it is
for me, but it's not the wholetruth, because even at times
(28:49):
like this, love still exists,Courage still exists, decency
still exists, care still exists,resistance and resilience and
prayer and sending energyhealing and integrity actually
still exists. Acts of protectionand tiny sacred choices and
(29:11):
people stepping up asindividuals to help one another
still exists. And maybe that iswhat hope looks like right now,
not pretending everything isfine, not forcing optimism, not
bypassing the pain, but choosingagain and again, not to abandon
ourselves, our emotions, oursoul, just because the world is
(29:34):
acting soulless, without soulright now. And that's a
different kind of hope. It says,I see what's happening, I feel
what's happening, maybe even Ifeel all of this. And admitting
that you're affected by what'shappening, and you'll still
protect the light withinyourself. You'll still listen
for what is yours to do fromwithin, within within, I still
(29:59):
tend. My humanity. I hope youwill too. I still refuse to
become cruel and hardened. Iwill still refuse to let despair
become my religion. I'm notgoing to do it, and I hope you
won't do it either. And maybethat is the invitation right
now, not to become less caring,not to become less aware, not to
(30:20):
become less engaged, but tobecome steadier inside your
care, wiser, inside yourawareness, more intentional,
inside your engagement, to stopasking your nervous system to
absorb the whole world and tostop shaming yourself for being
affected, and instead begin toask, what is mine to hold today?
(30:44):
What's mine to do today? What'smine to release today? And what
would help me return to myselfso I can keep showing up with
truth, compassion and clarity.
Because this is not aboutsurviving the news cycle. This
is about protecting your spirit,your personal intentions in the
world, protecting yourself as asensitive soul and all the inner
(31:08):
children within you in an in anera of like complete overwhelm,
this is about keeping your soulintact, the humanity of who you
are intact in a time when peoplecan become very fragmented. This
is about remembering that yoursensitivity is not a liability
to be crushed. It's a sacredinstrument. It's a secret
(31:33):
superpower, actually, but likeany sacred instrument, it needs
tending. It needs care. It needstuning. It needs rest, it needs
reverence. So maybe this is themoment to stop asking, How do I
stop feeling so much, andinstead ask, How do I care for
(31:54):
myself wisely enough to keepfeeling without breaking I'm
going to say that again. How dowe care for ourselves wisely
enough to keep from feelingwithout breaking? That is a
sacred question. So what I wantto give you is a very simple
practice in just a minute here,if you're driving or course, or
(32:14):
running or cleaning, just pause.
I'll tell you when I'm going tostart, but you can just pause
and you can revisit it and getthe exercise at a time when you
can do it. Because we do need tobe coming back into ourselves.
We do need to give our nervoussystem a chance to calm down. We
do need to look within, eventhough it's also important to be
(32:39):
looking outside of ourselves andpaying attention. We need to be
looking within for stillness.
And I'm going to give you a bitof a simple sacred practice. And
if you're not in a place whereyou can do so, that is fine, but
if you are, we're going to startnow. So just pause, wherever you
are, if you could take a momentto sit down, if you are on a
(33:00):
break and you can just let youreyes rest closed. That would be
ideal if you're in a placethat's safe to do that, if not
again, pause and come backlater, and as you start to
gently let your eyes restclosed, just imagine bringing
all of your attention, all ofyour awareness, right into the
center of your head and justtake some comfortable breaths.
(33:24):
Honor what your body wants.
Maybe you need deep breaths,maybe you need shallow breaths.
Just however your body wants tobreathe is fine, and with each
exhale, just allow your physicalbody to soften just a little bit
more good right where you are.
Just take a gentle breath, ifpossible, in through the nose,
(33:50):
and exhale through your mouth,if possible. As I'm recording
this, I also know it's cold andflu season, so if you cannot
breathe through your nose, thatis perfectly fine as well, and
just keeping yourself in alittle bit of amusement, a
little bit of lightness. Andagain, one more breath gently in
(34:10):
comfortably and exhale as youcome all the way into the center
of your personal space bubble.
And now, if it feels okay, seeif you can just gently place one
hand on your heart or the centerof your chest and one hand on
(34:32):
your lower abdomen, your bellyjust below your belly button, or
even just above your bellybutton, on your solar plexus,
wherever feels comfortable onyour abdomen, good. So one hand
heart or center of chest, onehand somewhere comfortable on
your abdomen, either just aboveor below your belly button and
(34:56):
continue to breathe. This is aclosed loop of a. Energy. Now
you're just receiving energyfrom yourself back into
yourself, good. And just notice,notice the seat beneath you.
Notice your feet. Feel the tipsof your toes, if you're lucky
(35:17):
enough to have all of them,good. Notice that in this moment
you are here, you're present,you're fully available.
And let's just do a coupleaffirmations from this space
where you're really just givingthat validation and
(35:38):
acknowledgement to your heartspace and to your abdomen space.
These abdomen chakras reallyprocess a lot of our emotions
too. So just silently or aloudwith each exhale, repeat after
me, what I feel is real good,what I feel might sometimes feel
(36:02):
heavy,good, and I don't have to carry
all of it alone.
I don't have to carry all of italone, good. And then, as you
continue to breathe, just see ifyou can notice or allow your
(36:26):
shoulders to just relax a littleto unclench a little good. See
if With your next breath, youcan notice if your stomach area,
your abdomen can relax even just5% Good, nothing dramatic,
(36:47):
nothing forced, just a littlesoftening, good. Now with the
next breath, we're going to doanother affirmation you can
repeat silently or aloud. Irelease the pressure to fix
everything in this moment.
(37:08):
Good, releasing that pressurenow, good.
And let's just call back ourenergy. Imagine a big,
beautiful, white, fluffy roseout in front of you, about the
size of a watermelon. You canimagine it just floating there
or sitting in your lap, and justimagine repeating silently or
(37:30):
aloud, I call back all of myenergy now. I call back all of
my energy from panic, fromstress, from helplessness, all
of my energy returns to me now,and you might sense or feel or
(37:51):
know that energy collecting inthis rose right out in front of
you and this rose will alsopurify this energy and make it
entirely your own, again, good.
And just imagine this rosefloating towards you with all of
this energy that belongs to you,being restored, cleared,
(38:13):
returned to you, good. Andimagine allowing this energy to
enter either your heart space orthat solar plexus, reclaiming
all of your power, all of yourenergy, good. And let's pause
here and just gently hold thequestion, the idea, the
(38:36):
intention somewhere below thatheart space, what is just one
loving, honest, grounded thingyou could do next for yourself
in this day or this week? Not 10things. One thing. What is one
loving, honest, grounded thing Ican do next, and just pause
(39:01):
here. Let that question land.
Hold it in your heart as youcontinue to breathe, the answer
might bubble up or it might cometo your awareness a little bit
later. Maybe it's rest is theanswer. Maybe it's prayer or
sending love. Maybe it's turningyour ringer off for an hour or
(39:24):
checking on someone you careabout. Maybe it's making a $5
donation to a cause, or more ifyou can afford it. Maybe it's
speaking up on behalf ofyourself or someone else. Maybe
it's preparing and registeringto vote and lending your voice
that way. Maybe it's journaling,maybe it's just offering some
(39:47):
healing and love to your ownbody so that you can discharge
some of what you've beenholding. Maybe it's crying or
drinking water. Whatever comesup for you is. Just allow
yourself to hold on to that oneloving thing that you can do for
yourself next good, and thenjust out in front of you,
(40:09):
imagine a big, beautiful, goldenorb and from your heart, from
behind your heart, even fromyour toes, imagine sending love
compassion. Imagine sending thetruth that you care, that you're
(40:31):
witnessing the pain of others,and you're sending love into
this bubble, good and just for afew minutes here, allow that
love to emanate from you. Andit's maybe something very small
we can do, but it's somethingnonetheless. And as this bubble
continues to fill with goldenlight and the love from within,
(40:53):
you, just imagine sending thatbubble out into the ethers, so
that it can be received ashealing or love or a moment of
breath or compassion for someonewho desperately needs it right
now. And if you want to do apractice again later, you could
(41:14):
send another bubble, or you cansend love or energy to a
specific person, a specificsituation, a specific area,
those are all wonderful actionsto do good and release that
bubble coming all the way backto yourself and with each
(41:35):
breath. Now finally, let's justintend that we are willing to
give ourselves compassion as weshow up and be present. You're
willing to breathe it in and letit out slowly, good, just like
the weather, feeling thoseemotions, but not getting stuck
(41:59):
in them, good and with eachbreath, now just starting to
feel that energy in your bodyagain, you might feel your toe
tips or your fingertips gentlyinhaling and exhaling good. And
when you're ready, you cangently blink or open your eyes
(42:19):
coming all the way back to me, Ihope that that little exercise
gave you even the smallestexhale, and as we come all the
way back in, you can imaginefilling yourself with a rich,
warm, golden light your bodydeserves moments of breath,
(42:40):
moments of pause, moments ofreturning to yourself from the
outside world, so that you canbe awake and attentive and
present and holding this energywith the rest of the collective
your nervous system deservesmoments of breath and exhale.
Your soul deserves moments whereyou're not being asked to carry
(43:02):
everything all at once. And Ithink this is part of the
practice for all of us now,returning again and again, not
perfectly, but repeatedly,returning to our breath, our
discernment, our compassion, thecore of our beings. And you can
take moments of pause and sendbits of love or prayer or energy
(43:22):
returning yourself to the partof you that knows how to stay
human in inhumane times, and ifthis episode met you in a tender
place today, I just want to saythis. You're not weak for being
affected. You're not broken forfeeling overwhelmed. You're not
falling apart because your hearthurts. You are not less
(43:43):
spiritual because you have griefor anger or opinions or deep
discomfort with what we'rewitnessing in our world right
now. It means you're alive,you're aware, you're present,
you're paying attention, you'regiving your sacred attention to
other people in need, and yourtenderness, your conscience and
(44:03):
even your refusal to go numb,may be part of what keeps your
soul grounded in a time likethis. Please be gentle with
yourself. Please be honest withyourself, not only about what's
going on in the world, but aboutwhat you can hold in any given
moment. Please protect yourenergy. And what I mean by that
(44:24):
is being gentle with yourselfwithout shutting down your
humanity. Let yourself care, butdo not ask yourself to carry the
whole world in one human nervoussystem. Come back to your body,
your breath, release energy thatfeels built up in your body,
that is what we can do today,and maybe that's where hope
(44:47):
begins again, not in certainty,not in perfect answers, not in
pretending, but in one honestbreath, and in our togetherness,
holding this truth with oneanother, even if we don't have
answers. Even if we don't have asolution to offer, just standing
together, witnessing, beingpresent, not in certainty, not
(45:10):
in perfect answers, but in justgrounded truth and choice and
doing the small acts for ourselfand for others as we can I just
encourage you to keep holdingthe light, refuse to abandon the
light within you, and refuse toignore the light that we know
(45:31):
lives in others. That is what Ihave to offer today, just this
moment of togetherness aroundthis and this moment of breath
and coming back to our bodies.
So thank you for being here withme today. Thank you for caring
about what is going on. Even thefact that you are thinking about
it or worried about it, orfeeling a lot about it, shows
(45:51):
that you genuinely care. I'msending you so much love, so
much of my light going out toyou, because we might not have
solutions, but if all of ourlights come together in one
container, how much brighter andmore supported could we all
shine? That's the intention Ihave for us. So however you are
(46:12):
coping and managing, if you havelearned some new coping skills,
please feel free to share themin the comments, I love when we
can come into community togetherand share what we know in the
meantime, Big hugs. Lots of loveand bye for now, from inside
spirit speakeasy, you.
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