Hi Friends-
There is a lot going on.
In every direction direction I look —
at what is unfolding on a socio-political level and the fear and uncertainty that is being deliberately incited
at what is unfolding within the lives of those close to me & the very real daily struggles that they are working with
at what is unfolding within my own psyche and my own heart
— there is a lot going on.
And for better or worse, I think that's going to be the mood of 2025 — a lot of alot-ness.
So I was thinking about: How do I want to show up within this landscape?
It feels important to me to clarify this, so let me take a moment to do that.
I am not interested in telling you (again) what's going on. You have enough — probably even too many — sources for that. If you want more fear and anxiety, it is not hard to find.
My hope for this space — this newsletter and this community — is that it can be an oasis. 🏝
That it can be a space for clearing, for comforting, for soothing, for grounding, for connecting, for rejuvenating, for reflecting, for questioning, for contextualizing, for understanding ourselves in a new way.
When I say that, I don't mean ignoring, or bypassing, or pretending that things are different than what they are. I mean learning how to be in dialogue with those things in a way that is en-lightening. That helps us feel into just a little bit more lightness.
And the way we do that could be by grieving, or it could be by laughing, or it could be by dreaming, or it could be by investigating, or it could be by cradling ourselves very very gently.
We'll see.
I am also going to continue to welcome more "woo-woo" insights and teachings into this space — because that is a lot of what is giving me hope amidst the darkness.
According to acupuncturist and stone healer Sarah Thomas, the term "woo-woo" actually comes from the ancient word "wu", which meant someone who had their ear to the ground, who was listening profoundly, who was connected to spirit, who was connected to nature, who was walking in prayer.
I think that listening profoundly — to ourselves, to those around us, to the Earth — is one of the most important things we can do right now.
Thank you for being here.
Much love,
Jocelyn
Last Chance to Register...
✨ Remember Who You Are Workshop ✨
I'm hosting an in-depth workshop this Sunday, February 2nd called Remember Who You Are that's about reconnecting with your innate essence, vitality, and strength.
Through a talk, prompts, and guided meditations, we'll explore how you've grown in the past year, what patterns are ready for clearing, what values you want to align with moving forward, and what tools you can use to stay connected to yourself and grounded in your power.
The talk will be recorded and shared after if you can't make it live!
Learn more & register →
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* 10% of all proceeds will go to the BIPOC-owned bookstore Octavia's Bookshelf in LA, which has transformed itself into vital hub for mutual aid during the wildfires.
🌀 Honoring the Power of Undoing 🌀
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Wherein I talk about spirals, holding lightness alongside of darkness, my improving anxiety, the power of rest, and how to honor your undoing.
Back when I was an accidental productivity expert, I used to say: "Productivity is really about what you don't do." By which I meant: Because we are always navigating so many incoming requests, demands, and notifications, the measure of how much one will accomplish rises in direct proportion to how many things they are able to ignore, say no to, or just not do.
But I think there is something on offer here on a spiritual level as well — a lesson about the power of undoing.
For the past many months, I have been on a deep journey of undoing. Soon, I will be writing more about what has unfolded but, for now, what I can tell you is this: Allowing myself to truly be in a state of extended undoing and uncertainty has had a profound impact on how I relate to myself and the world around me.
My anxiety has been substantively reduced, and I am able to relate to it more skillfully when it does arise. I am also able to identify the thought constructs that isolate me from community with more ease, so that I might adapt and experience more belonging. And I am more present and more grateful for my many blessings big and small.
These dramatic shifts did not come from doing.
Yes, I "did" something in that I went on a two-month roadtrip — but that was primarily to occupy myself while I wasn't doing anything else.
When I was setting an intention for the trip, my intial impulse was to orient toward finding clarity about what I should be doing, about what was "next" for me. But I also intuitively knew that such an intention was not aligned. Or, to put it another way: that it wasn't available to me on that timeline, and would not be rushed.
Instead, I set an intention to "create a more livable consciousness" — an intention that sounded like quite a reach but still felt somehow "right." And, lo and behold, the fruits of this intention do seem to be coming true. My persnickety brain is causing me significantly less agony of late.
I tell you this not to flaunt my new, mildly improved sense of well-being, but to emphasize the power of undoing — of allowing yourself to be in a gestational state, of allowing yourself to sink into that amniotic unknowing, and of allowing yourself to trust that something good can come from it.
I was talking to a young friend the other day, who was beating herself up for not maximizing her time alone whilst her roommate was away. She described herself as "stagnant." But was she stagnant or was she just being still? And judging herself for that stillness? Judging herself for not being constantly in motion, for not constantly improving herself, for not constantly doing?
We are so caught up in the doing that we can hardly imagine how to rest. Much less how any good might come from it.
To paraphrase the embodiment coach and activist Prentis Hemphill on my podcast: We have become a culture that has no rhythm. We just go-go-go without cease. But as humans, as bodies, we are designed to pulse and pause — our hearts contract, then relax, we breathe in, we breathe out, we put out effort, and then we rest. This is how we are designed to operate — not to do and do and do without cease.
Of course, it is capitalism that conditions us to abandon our natural rhythms, teaching us that linear "progress" is an unadulterated good. That we should always be moving forward, extracting more out of life, increasing our profits.
And yet: True growth — evolutionary growth, personal growth, collective growth — does not unfold in a linear fashion.
True growth happens in a spiral.
Here's some succinct wisdom from Alana Fairchild in the Wild Kuan Yin guidebook:
"Going forward means going back and going back means going forward because we grow in spirals — so as we expand into light, we also expand into dark."
Imagine conscious evolution as a spiral that ascends upwards. As it progresses, it circles around and around itself so, by definition, it moves forward as it moves backward and it moves backward as it moves forward.
Anyone who has ever undergone any major transformation — like going through a breakup or losing a loved one — will recognize this process. You don't digest the event once and then you're done. It's a spiral: You circle back to certain moments and questions again and again, but each time from a slightly different vantage point.
So while it might feel like you are confronting the same issue, the same wound, the same problem again and again, each time you circle back you are actually arriving at the "problem" with new information and a new perspective.
As we look towards an immediate future that feels quite dark, I'm taking comfort in embracing the spiral as a metaphor for how change unfolds.
Returning to the quotation above again:
As we expand into light, we also expand into dark.
Again, it is not just about forward motion, or just about backward motion, it is both. As our light grows and expands, it shines on things that were previously in darkness, illuminating elements that we couldn't see before. We may not like what we see, but it does give us more insight into what needs to be addressed. What needs to be brought into the light.
This same spiraling rhythm — and the exchange between moving forward and moving backward — also applies to doing.
In order to move forward with our Doing, we must also make time to sink back into the Undoing.
Take a moment to really think about this: Do you truly believe that we can arrive at the world you want to see purely through doing?
Is there not a long list of things that first require undoing?
Concepts, conditioning, and systems that we must first unwind from?
And how can we begin that unraveling, that unwinding, that undoing within ourselves?
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It's true that there is so much to do, and so much that needs to be done.
It's true that we all have important roles to play and important work to attend to in this world.
And/also…
I am asking you to consider the idea that undoing has an important role to play as well.
So when you feel it beckoning…
when you need a nap
when you need to sleep in an extra hour
when you need a weekend with nothing planned
when you need to drop everything and just be quiet for a minute
when you need to be the field that lies fallow to replenish its nutrients
when you need to embrace the uncertainty of not knowing what you are doing
Trust that impulse.
Honor the undoing.
We have to undo in order to be able to imagine something new.
LINK ABOUT IT
Liz Gilbert on the divine feminine.
"I am god talking to herself." My project 2025, a new poem from Saeed Jones.
Scorched dictionaries: I love you Los Angeles. Keep scrolling even after the links, there's a lot in here.
The initiation deficit. Why transformation is so challenging in dominant Western culture.
Jia Tolentino on surveillance capitalism and much much more.
Yes, fear. Yes, rage. Yes, grief. And also…
The Telepathy Tapes are giving me hope.
How to weather the storm.
Last day to save $100 on my RESET course ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ For the month of January — which ends today! — I'm offering a deep discount on my 4-week course RESET, a heart-centered approach to productivity that's nurturing, intentional, and inspiring. You can use code "RESETME" to save $100 off the regular price. Learn more about the course here. ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ |
SHOUT-OUTS:
The artwork is from: Random open domain images!
Link ideas from: Ancestors to Elements and Cody Cook-Parrott.
You can support me & my work by: Sharing this newsletter with someone, taking my newest workshop, Remember Who You Are or taking my course, RESET.
Website: jkg.co
Twitter/X: @jkglei
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