Shed The Old, Step Into The New (Minibang)

Speaker 1: 0:02

My name is Jen Briggs and welcome to the whole shebang where, on Mondays, you get what else but a mini bang. These short episodes are really meant to meet you where you're at, to help you set an intention or focus for the week, to consider a perspective that maybe you haven't before, and to answer the most common questions that not only propelled my personal and professional growth, but the best of the best I see around me. This is where we unbecome shedding the layers and the old ways that aren't serving us anymore, and where we continue becoming, stepping into and magnifying more of who you really are and who you're meant to be. So buckle up buttercups we're diving in. If you are listening today, I'm convinced it's because you're meant to hear what I have to share. I can feel it in my bones.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Today we're going to talk about how to let things go, how to let things die, let them burn, or. What I like to say is like shedding these old layers and just to start noting that, whether you can see something coming to an end, or you feel something is coming to an end, or you can see that there's something new that's ready to be born, or a new idea that you have, an ending always means a new beginning and a new beginning always means that something is coming to an end and that can feel there's grief associated with that. Always, right, there's some kind of loss of something that we're letting go. It can feel scary too because it's change, but to remember that it is an absolutely natural part of a life-death-life process that feels to just embrace the fact that we need to let things go, shed old skins and watch, sort of be a witness to what's coming too. Today I'm going to talk about that and set the intention for the week around finding our desires and letting old things go so that we can step into those new wants and desires. And I'm going to start by reading this passage from Women who Run With the Wolves Men, don't worry, this is for you too Many will find their way to the moral obligation, quote unquote this is to live out and to express what one has learned in the descent or ascent to the wild self. The moral obligation that's spoken of means to live what we perceive, be it found in the psychic Elysian fields, the aisles of the dead, the bone deserts of the psyche, the face of the mountain, the rock of the sea, the lush underworld, any place where La Kesabi which, let me pause, la Kesabi means the one who knows, so any place where La Que Sabe breathes upon us changes us.

Speaker 1: 3:12

Our work is to show that we've been breathed upon, to show it, give it out, sing it out, to live it out in the topside world what we have received through our sudden knowings from body, from dreams and journeys of all sort. This is our mediation practice as women and men calling back the dead and dismembered aspects of ourselves, calling back the dead and dismembered aspects of life itself. The one who recreates from that which has died is always a double-sided archetype. The creation mother is also always the death mother, and vice versa. What around us and about us and what within us must live and what must die. Our work is to apprehend the timing of both, to allow what must die to die and what must live to live. Our work in this lifetime is to demonstrate that the one who knows has breathed upon us and that we are surrendering to the life, death, life process that is so flipping powerful, is it not so, on a really practical level, I'm going to take the next five, 10 minutes here to talk about how we do that in some of the simplest ways.

Speaker 1: 4:48

I think that one of the ways that we start with this is asking ourself the question what is it that we want? So you can actually any question that you ask your mind, your mind will answer. So if you ask yourself, well, what am I afraid of? Something different is going to come up. When you ask yourself, what do I want, something will come up. One of the very practical ways that I do this is I sit down and write in kind of what I would say is a free writing exercise, so you can write at the top of the page your name. So for me, jen, what do you want? Then you put your pen to paper and just start writing. Don't analyze it, don't think about it, just start writing and you'll see what comes up. By the way, these are great questions to ask people that you want to be connected to, specifically partners.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Clarissa Pinkola Estes is the author of this book. She talks about that in there. So that's the first question. You're going to start getting at those desires and at those wants.

Speaker 1: 5:46

The second question takes it a level deeper and that is what is, what is my soul's desire, what is my deepest core desire? So you notice right away. If you just ask you, if you're driving in the car right now and you ask yourself that question, something different is going to come up and usually when we ask ourself what we want, we'll come up with things. So we might come up with I want a new job, I want more money, I want a partner, I want a new car, I want new clothes, I don't know whatever the things are. House, and the thing that we desire is usually the feeling that we'll have when we get the thing. So if I want a new house, maybe it's that I want safety. If I want more money, maybe my deepest desire with that is that I want to feel free and at peace. If I want a partner, maybe it's that I want to feel consumed by love. So asking the question about the desire is going to get even more deeply in touch with what your intuitive nature is. If you want a new business adventure, if you're wanting to conquer that, maybe it's that you want to feel completely free to adventure. So as you're getting in touch with these wants and desires, you're going to run into little voices inside and outside of your head and they're going to sound like this oh yeah, but I should do this instead of that. I shouldn't do this. They won't fill in the blank. There isn't enough time, there isn't enough money, there isn't enough, whatever. Have you thought about this? So-and-so is going to have that opinion.

Speaker 1: 7:40

Those are all limiting beliefs, they're inner fears or they're the outer critics, and all of it is designed to keep you small. Why would your inner voice want to keep you small? One of the most fundamental reasons is that it's a really scientific reason. Your limbic brain, your lizard brain, way back from hunter and gatherer days, is designed to scan for threats. Change feels like a threat and so your brain wants to keep you safe. So safe, small, kind of the same thing. It will view any change as a kind of threat. So just know that those limiting beliefs are are not ill intended all the time. It's meant to keep you safe. But there is a way to move beyond them and to train yourself, to train your body, that you are still safe in the midst of change. Okay Now why would the outer critics say those things to keep you small?

Speaker 1: 8:36

There's a lot of reasons they might be saying that, but in short, I think one of the biggest reasons is that your biggest, wildest, most true version of who you are is going to be really confronting for them. Not that you are showing up to confront them, but that who you're becoming is, without you even saying any words, is going to naturally confront them. Somebody just feels like, use a really practical example. Let's say you decide you want to get healthier and you're focused on longevity of life or something like that, and so you're going to eat clean food and you're going to cut out sugar or something like that, without you telling anybody what you're doing. If you start living that way and let's say you live with a partner, they may be confronted by that. So they may feel like, oh gosh, well, do I have to do that too? Well, now I feel kind of gross because I'm not doing that and maybe I'm not good enough. And what if they think I'm not good enough? And what if I lose them because of it?

Speaker 1: 9:39

So your change is going to be confronting to them and they may not feel ready or safe or consciously available to shed their own old layers or let those things die. And, quite honestly, sometimes your change, your growth, will mean that relationships change, jobs change. It doesn't always mean they come to an end, but maybe they have a version of an end, maybe it's the ending of an iteration of a relationship or the way that you're showing up. So when outer critics are showing up, often it's a projection of their own fears. We know that. I want to reiterate that for you. And so what is that going to require from you?

Speaker 1: 10:25

In that moment, it is going to require courage for you to stand strong and la que sabe for you to stand strong in your knowing, in what you know, and to trust the process that it's bringing you to where you need to be. So you're going to be shedding old beliefs, old thought patterns, systems that are too small, relationships that might not be working the way they are, and each time you start bumping up against this layer that you might need to shed some are really small, some might be bigger. And when doubt begins to creep in, here's a thought for you Just remember that you're always going to be sacrificing something to gain something else. So you can ask yourself in those moments am I willing to give up this for that? Am I willing to give up what my intuition is telling me? Am I willing to give up this desire? Am I willing to give up this. For that, am I willing to give up what my intuition is telling me? Am I willing to give up this desire? Am I willing to give up my passion, this creative idea, this venture that I have, the truth of what I know? Am I willing to give this up for that?

Speaker 1: 11:29

And often that is a person, a place, an ideal, a job, something that feels safe or feels known or feels comfortable. So our limbic brain will often say I want to stay where it feels safe and where it feels comfortable. But here's a hard stop for me, when I learned that safety is an illusion and comfort is an illusion. It's temporary. Eventually, what feels comfortable now will get so uncomfortable because when you are in touch with your knowing, there will be tension there, because you know that you've outgrown something. You've outgrown a belief, you've outgrown an ideal, you've outgrown an opportunity, and either that thing has to grow with you or that layer has to be shed.

Speaker 1: 12:25

And maybe think of an old pair of shoes. They're your favorite pair of shoes, you love to wear them, you wear them every single day. What's going to happen? Eventually they wear down and and eventually those comfortable shoes are not so comfortable anymore. It might have holes the inside of the soles might be worn out, it might be so uncomfortable that you're having back problems, but you're wearing them because it's what you know and they're uncomfortable. Or maybe you literally outgrow something and it's squeezing you in at that point, it's keeping you bound, and so that comfort feels comfortable for a time, until it's not comfortable anymore. That's a total illusion that keeps us stuck, keeps us from becoming all that we are to become.

Speaker 1: 13:11

There's a quote that I love, that I really sort of clung to in my biggest times of transformation, from Anis Nin, and it says and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. And that's what that means to me Eventually, it was less painful to shed than it was to stay tight in that bud. And you're going to be faced with this shedding opportunity, or this opportunity to let things go and let things die, over and over and over, because that's the law of nature, that's the law of abundance and growth. They're always there, the universe is always there, the divine God, to move you, to move people, to move society, the collective, towards the intention of the highest good, the most abundant, the most beautiful thing, and so the good news there is that the universe is patient with us, and so if you don't feel ready to let that go now, that's okay. If it's meant to be, the opportunity will come back to you. Every ending brings a new beginning, and every new beginning brings an ending, and it starts with us getting in touch with La Que Sabe.

Speaker 1: 14:35

What do we know? What do we know to be true? Do we let it breathe upon us? Are we willing to let our lives be a demonstration of our knowing? Ask yourself what you know to be true. Ask yourself this week what is it that I want? And then, what is my deeper desire beneath that? What is it that I want to feel when I get that thing? And what is it that I'm going to need to shed? What do I need to let go in order to let this new thing really become its fullest self? All right, live this week with your knowing. Walk it out, friends. So much love to you. Much love to you.

Speaker 1: 15:21

Hey you, yes you. Thank you for tuning in today. I hope this episode is supporting you on your path to becoming the strongest, shiniest version of you. My goal and hope is to continue helping people through this podcast. So if you've enjoyed this episode or taken anything that's helped you out, the best thank you would be to join me in moving this forward by doing two simple things. If you haven't already, following the podcast is very helpful. Also, apparently, the algorithms really like reviews. If you can take a minute to leave a review, artificial intelligence would love it and I would be so grateful. Feel free, of course, to share an episode with someone you think may need to hear what you heard today. Thanks again, everyone. I genuinely appreciate you and I'm so thankful to be building a community like this together here. I'll catch you later. In the meantime, have a banging day.