#547: Expansion and Retraction

Flow Dreaming.

It's a show where we talk about the power of your mind to change your world around you, to literally affect the fabric of your reality. We talk about this feeling of hope and joy and relief. And that is what being aware of your flow does. It gives you a feeling of power again in your lives.

Breathe.

I'm Summer McStravik and welcome to another episode of Flow Dreaming. Welcome. Hi, everyone, it's Summer. I am here broadcasting live with you for the first time. And I don't know, it's been maybe a year, maybe it's been less or a little more. I don't know, it's all fuzzy. So this is my beta broadcast. This is because I now have my own home studio where I can broadcast live and take your calls and pretty much everything that I used to do when I had my live program. So for those of you who are just, you know, listening and. And you want to call in. Yes. As always, I'll be getting to your questions as we get more into the show. The number to call is 760-456-7277. That is a US phone number, 760-456-7277. So what I usually do in the beginning of our broadcasts is I talk about a certain theme or topic, and today, of course, is no different. I want to talk about retraction and expansion. Retraction. Expansion. Retraction is the time, the period where you pull back, you go small, you hold back, and you basically say, I can't do this. I need to go curl up and hide. I need to cut things out. I need to pull back, I need to reassess, I need to reevaluate. Expansion, of course, is the opposite state of being. It's time to go bigger. It's time to be seen. It's time to put myself out there. It's time to stand up and ask for what I want, become what I want to become. So most of us are going through life sort of, you know, ping ponging between these two states of being. And both states are valuable, very valuable. I just, I want you to be aware of what state you're in. Energetically, emotionally, sometimes you're in retraction and you really shouldn't be. Right? You've already retracted. You've already been there. You've been there too long. You've been in the crouched, you know, head down position for much too long. Some of you are in the expansion. And maybe you don't need to be there. Maybe it's time to just chill, stop A moment, reassess, reevaluate, and prune. Just because you're in one of these energy states doesn't mean that it's the correct state to actually be in. Right? The first thing that we start with is the awareness. Your energy state, what is it? Retraction is characterized by feeling as if, you know, things maybe haven't worked out and you don't know what to do and you're frustrated and you're discouraged. Something just left you. Maybe someone left you a job, left you, something exited your life, or something came in that was unpleasant, like an illness. And you find yourself saying, I'm just going to hold back. I'm in a state where I don't know what to do and perhaps I don't trust. I need to pull back, look, evaluate, and see. It's natural, it's the ebb and the flow to use your retraction the most effectively. What I find is that one, I notice I'm in it, and I look around and I say, what do I need to prune? What's no longer serving me? What's pulling on me? What's making me feel like I can't keep up with it? I don't want to do it. This is different than things that I know are good for me, that I'm just feeling resistance to because they're hard or they're stressful, but I know they're good for me. No, pruning for me is always, I don't need this. This isn't working. This isn't contributing. The next thing I do when I'm in a state of retraction is I recognize that there's something here for me. If I look closely and I'll find it, I can discover what that thing is. What do I need to hear or learn or understand or know? And I begin hunting for it. What does the quiet mean for me? Why was I gifted this time? And I began looking. Sometimes it's that you really need a change of direction. And life had to shake you up and move things around to get you to acknowledge that and finally say, yes, you're right, you're right. I was clinging and hanging on by my fingernails. But I really do need a change of direction. And so you do that. Sometimes. The retraction is, hey, you've been ignoring your health for a long time. Now it's time to look at it, get close to it, revive it, focus on it. We're gonna clear some things out so you can. Maybe it's something to do with a Relationship. Maybe you're nursing a broken heart and you're looking at yourself and feeling like I'm pulling back from intimacy, I'm pulling back from friendships. And I'm really examining this feeling in me that, oh, you know, relationships end and it's never the right one. And I'm starting to understand that this is a cycle and that I'm perpetuating. I'm helping perpetuate the cycle by always having a feeling that in the end, I'm going to be alone. And this retraction is my moment to wake up and acknowledge, no, I don't need to say that to myself anymore. Whether or not I'm with someone is irrelevant. Has no bearing on whether or not I'll always be alone. In other words, whatever patterns are looping through your head, retraction is a perfect time to dig through them, examine them, play with them, expose them. Now, here's where retraction starts to go wrong. What happens is you start to play small. You're retracting not because you're reevaluating, reassessing, pruning, clearing. Right? There's an almost an activity in the retraction. The other kind of retraction is the energetic playing small. I can't. I'm afraid when these things start going through you and start going through your energy and your actions and your inspiration, nobody wants it. I'm not good enough. What if I fail? I tried this before and it didn't work out. I can't do it. I'm stuck. I'm afraid. I don't have any money left. There's nothing more I can try. I'm just stuck here until something outside of me changes to let me move forward again. If you are ever in that state of being where you're saying something is outside of me and that something has to change before I can move. You have gone past retraction into plain old stuck and playing small because you're relying on the exterior world, the external world. You've given it your power and you're saying, you fix it, not me. I can't do anything until it happens from outside me. Imagine it's just like a person sitting in jail. Like, why don't you get up and walk out? Well, because I don't have the key. The person outside me has the key. I have to wait until they open up the door and let me out. So meanwhile, that's why I'm playing small, because nobody's letting me out. I'm waiting for something to change. Don't Wait for something to change. That old saying, be the change. Be the change. You are the change. You can stop playing small whenever you want. You can stop retracting whenever you want. If you check deep inside yourself, you're going to find that there's a moment, there's a. There's a time when you start to realize a. I need to get back out there again. I need to try something. I need to offer ideas, inspiration, action. I need to offer something to my flow. Because we're starting to just be circling the drain here, and the drain is clogged and we're not going anywhere. We're just kind of slowly circling and nothing is happening. So be aware of what retraction is doing for you. Are you using it? I've discovered with most people that if you're really using the state of retraction, well, it ends up being pretty brief. It's not a state that usually goes on for months and years and years or even decades. Retraction is a, oh, hey, let's pull back a little bit. Let's examine, let's reevaluate, let's feel the shift. Sometimes a shift can take as long as six months or a year to fully move through your life. You know, talk about astrology and how we have some planets that take years and decades to move through. Sometimes a shift can take that long as well. But the retraction aspect of it is usually much more brief. Unless we get swept up in playing small, we shift, in other words, from retraction to playing small. And playing small simply means I'm afraid, I'm scared. I'm waiting for something happen to happen. I'm waiting to be guaranteed. I'm waiting for something to break open for me. I'm powerless. I can't do anything. And I'm afraid if I do anything, it'll be the wrong thing. Wrong choice, wrong decision, wrong direction. Now, let's contrast this with expansion. Expansion is going big. Going big. Opposite of playing small. Expansion, contraction. It's the nature of the universe. It expands and it contracts. So do you, so do I. Expansion. Everything is rolling along, growing. In fact, it might even be growing so much, there might be so much change happening all at once that you start to feel a bit frantic and a bit overwhelmed and a bit like, how am I going to handle all of this? Yikes. You may be tempted to put on the brakes. Can if you want, or you could just see what flow has in store with you. Why not see where the expansion is going to? Imagine if you trigger Every expansion, if you triggered it, why do you assume it's going to go negative? What if it's like a flower opening? What if that's what's meant to happen? It's your next step. The retraction was the bud. The expansion is the opened rose drinking in the sunlight, exposing itself to the world, showing its beauty, showing up. Expansion is when your mind is clicking with ideas and thoughts and desires. Expansion is when you say, yeah, I think I'll do that. I think I'll try that. Yes. You find yourself saying yes a lot. When you're expanding, you find yourself saying no a lot, or I'm not sure when you're retracting. I've discovered in my own life and working with a lot of other people, that expansion seems to be more of the natural, larger part of our lives. This is just. This is very rough, but. 75% expansion, 25% retraction, right? It's like. It's like you're rolling along and every now and then you check the map. You don't spend 50% of your walk checking the map, but Maybe you spend 25% of your map of your walk checking the map. The rest of it is expansion. New things, new experiences. What's this? What's that? Let's go over here. Let's play with this. Run, run, run. Have fun. Dive in the rivers and streams and climb the trees and drink life. Oh, wait. Ooh, it's chilly and rainy. Let's take a moment to retract, reevaluate, come back out of it. So just check in for a second. I just want you to notice and feel inside you for a moment. What state are you in and how long have you been there? What state are you in? How long have you been there? And is it time to adjust or not? Now, for those of you who are saying, I don't even know. What if I'm both? I don't know which one I'm in. Look for evidence in your life. Look for evidence in your emotional self. Evidence is everywhere. Every time you say, I don't know, you're just simply not looking at the evidence or not wanting to see. See what's evident in front of you. Is your life full or empty? Is your life moving along at a rapid, beautiful, expansive clip? Or is it stagnant and stuck? Is it all tangled up in resistance? That's evidence. One is retraction, the other is expansion. Look to your emotional self. Are you feeling vibrant, excited, purposeful, ready, challenged? That's expansion. Are you feeling Despondent, depressed, unhappy, stuck, unsure, scared, worried, reflective, curious. Hmm, I don't know what that sound was. My new home studio. Anyway, if you're feeling any of those, you're in retraction. So your emotional self will always cue you to what you're actually feeling. Likewise, outside of you. You'll also have the evidence of what is going on. If you can't figure it out from the inside, look to the outside. You can't figure it out from the outside, look to the inside. It's really worthwhile to understand what phase you're in really is, because this is how we as co creators moderate our life. You know, co creators are always looking and acknowledging this is the state I'm at. This is the state I'm in. I mean, in some ways, we're the biggest realists there are because we're not just like, oh, I'm not really here. This isn't really happening. We're like, no, this is the energy I'm working with. What am I going to do with this energy? We have to look with eagle eyes at the energy we're in and then figure out what we want to do with it. If you can clearly see what energy you're working with, do you know how powerful that is? If you clearly see where you are and what you are in your life, that is incredibly powerful. So that's what I want you to look at. Okay, we're gonna go to a brief little break break here. When I come back, it's called time. I cannot wait to test this out. So stay with me and we'll be back in just a moment for more flow Dreaming. We're on break, and while I give myself a second to regroup, I'd like you to consider what having private with me would be like. You see, I accept a small number of people each year for private coaching. The question is, what do you want to make? Who do you want to become? We can program and shape any area of yourself or your life. Imagine right now what you would be doing if you had no fear. Imagine how your life would look if there were no patterns and blocks repeatedly tripping you up. Imagine if you were fully healed in your heart, body and mind. Imagine if you also had a map to your success and you could follow it with ease and flow. Well, I look into you and into your life and I feel where you're going and know where the road is open and where it's blocked. I help you make the very best decisions based on what's coming up for you. I'll also show you exactly what I do day to day to see succeed in my personal and business life. And we can create a copycat plan for you. So if you're game, you can fill out an application on my website for private coaching. Just go to flow dreaming.com coaching and then let's talk. I mean, the time to go for it is now. So let's just get this started. Now let's get back to the show. In case you missed it, the number to call to talk to me live is the U.S. number, 1-760-456-7277. Flow Dreaming airs live on Tuesdays, so check flowdreaming.com for my current live broadcast time. Again, reach me at 1-760-456-7277. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back. Ha ha. How is this sounding to all of you? As far as I can tell, it's sounding great, but I'm not listening to it out my computer, speakers or phone. So by the way, yes, yes, yes, you can now listen to this program right off of my website. The live broadcast is there under the POD page and that's. That's where you can find it for the time being. Although there will be more places for you to listen to it live as we get going here in. In the coming months. Oh, oh, also, yes, there is a podcast. Excuse me, a. An app for this podcast. It doesn't air it live, though. It's only for the archive. So just a little, because I know everybody's wondering, hey, where do I hear this? Where. Where are you streaming? You know, where is it live right now? It's only off of my website, so you've got to go there. All right, let' into some calls. You know what I'm gonna answer? I'm gonna answer Yogi in New York because I said I was gonna talk to him today. Anyway, I want to know how everything is going. Yogi, welcome to the show. Yogi, you're live. Hi. Do you hear me?

I was not. I can. I can.

Can you hear me? Yes. You sound great.

Okay, cool. Calling into the show doesn't mean that you're not going to call me. You're still going to call me.

I don't know. Depends on what we get done, my dear.

Okay. Yeah, my main concern at the moment is I was waiting on a few things. Yeah, there's just been a delay. It sort of even looks as if it's not going to come through. So I wanted you to check into my flow what's going on?

Can you also tell me how Robert.

And then there's other stuff, but.

Yeah. Is he. Is he doing okay?

He's had his. Yeah, he's doing okay. It's going to take a long time for him to get off, get out of this hole emotionally and even physically. I mean, he's had a skin graft and all that done and it goes on top of his head. Okay.

Okay. For anyone listening, there's a backstory to this, but I'm not going to go into it. He's coping. Yeah. Okay. All right, so let's look at you. So, Yogi, do you mind if I tell people that this is related to your job? Job search?

Yeah.

Well, I guess you don't mind because I just told them. That's it. I forget. Okay, so you've got a couple irons in the fire right now. Okay. So what I'm feeling as I'm looking into them, I feel like one of them is a bit stuck. The wheels are kind of gummed up. I feel another one has gone with another person, but one of them is just stuck. And I'm not sure what's stuck about it. Like. Like they got busy or some. They just, they got slowed down. They had to like, pull all of their thinking in another direction. I'm just gonna ask if they're gonna return to this. Are you still a viable candidate? You still on the. You're still on the. You're still there, you're still on the ball, but, you know, they're. They're waylaid. Something pulled them aside. So I don't. I don't know. I. The other one, I feel like it's out of reach. It just feels far from me, you know, past my fin fingertips, which generally is, you know, not really in your flow. Okay. So don't despair. Continue. And this is for anybody looking for a job. Remember what you are. Remember your value. Remember what you offer. Remember what you give. Remember that people want that. There are people who want that. The only thing you can be frustrated about is it's like, you know, an old fashioned telephone switchboard. You just keep, you know, not getting quite the right connection. The person you want is there. You just have to keep plugging in all the different wires until the. Until the, the two match. That's the frustrating part. Making the match happen. Not that they're not there. I mean, the opposite, you know, use some contrast here. The opposite is nobody ever wants you again. Ever. Done. You'll never work again. I know. That sounded so horrible. Even as I said it, man, what a. Can I say bitch? I guess I can. It's my show. But that's not how you are or who you are. You are wanted. There is a company that's a perfect match for you. It's probably several companies. So I want you to just do some flow dreaming around this idea of I make the perfect match, we make the perfect match. Old fashioned, you know, even I just keep seeing this, that old fashioned telephone switchboard. You know that kind where they used to have lady operators and they'd sit there on their big frilly dresses and they'd like be punching all the wires in. That's what you need to look at. Like, boom, the right one goes in. I found my connection. Practice that feeling state. Practice that emotional end point. I found the connection. I found it. They found me. I found them. We found each other. We found each other. Practice that. It's very different than who's going to hire me. When are they going to hire me? Oh, my God, I hope I get hired. Oh, my God, I hope. I hope. Right? That's a whole other emotional state to be in. Okay. Okay. Does that help? A little bit. Practice.

It does.

Practice, practice. Okay, close your eyes. See that image. Make it align. Okay, my dear. Love you, Yogi. You're fine. Okay, take care. Bye. All right, that was fun. By the way, if you're hearing odd noises, it's my little orange cat. Her name is Loki. Yes, she has a boy's name, but we thought she was a boy actually for the first month we had her and we took her to the vet to get her neutered and they're like, she's gonna need to be spayed. So. So she likes to sit in here on my desk and you might hear her making little cat noises in the background. That is her. Let's keep going. I would love now to talk to do, do, do. How about Rita? Rita. Rita, welcome to the show.

Hi, Summer.

Hi, how are you? Do we know each other? Have we spoken before?

We have spoken and it was years ago.

Oh, great. Back for more. Yay. Yeah.

I was really excited to see your post that you would be live. So pop it just in time.

Oh, great. Thank you. Yes. You're on my beta show. Like I said, I have no idea if I was going to pull this off. So far it's doing pretty good, I think. So what's happened to you in the last few years?

Sounds good from here.

Great.

Well, I have become a doula and I've started my jewelry business And I just. It's so resonated with me to listen to the beginning of your show and you talking about being scared and feeling stuck and like. And I'm just. I feel like I have so many ideas to do great, big things, and I get worried about how much I trust myself to do these things.

Okay, so what is it that you want to do that. That's a big thing here? I mean, I think it's wonderful that you're a doula.

Okay. I.

Gosh, it's such a big thing. You can't get it out of your throat, can you? All right, let's do it. First things.

Different ideas that I. Yeah. There are so many different ideas that I come up with, and I find it hard to move forward.

Okay.

On anything, really.

Yeah. And this is because what some part of you says, I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if this is the right thing. I shouldn't try. You're kind of. Can you feel that state you're in? You're almost. It's almost like a permanent retraction. This is where you go into playing small. I'll take some baby steps and see how it goes. I'll figure out how to become a doula and see how that goes. And then. Well, now I need to tell people more about what I am and who I am. Maybe I'll do a tiny little bit and see how it goes. It's almost like you keep dipping your toe in the swimming pool. This is what I see. And you're like, well, the water feels pretty good. I wonder what happens if I wait a little longer, if it'll change. Nope, still about the same. It's a nice, steady 80 degrees in there. Oh, I think I'm gonna wait a little more and then dip my dough in again. I'm curious to know what you're waiting for to change. Who gets to give you that big affirmation, the big, bright, shiny, 100% positive you can't fail? Yes.

If you think about it, it should be me. Yeah.

But it's almost like you're waiting for someone else to do it for you. I mean, just close your eyes for a second. Really? Who is going to do that for you? It's you.

I don't think anybody would.

No. You're the only one who can give you that gift. If somebody else gives it to you, they're just. They're just nudging you along. They can't really give it to you. They can give you optimism. Positivity they can give you support. But that real solid inside. Yes, go for it, do it. It's only coming from you. So if you don't give it to yourself, nobody else can give it to you. So that becomes the crux of the matter. Why won't you give yourself a yes? Why won't you give yourself an I? Trust me. And let's play a little bigger, right? You know, put $10 in your pocket going to the casino instead of $1, little bigger. Because this repeated testing of the waters you've been doing, you can feel it's not really getting you there, it's delaying, right? So you have all of these ideas, and I think you have a scattering, as I feel you, you have a scattering of ideas because you're refusing to let yourself land on one. It's a refusal. I won't land on that one because then I'm committing and I could be wrong and I don't trust it. So I'm going to just keep coming up with more ideas. You have to close down these options at this point. You have to close down and land. You know, it's like you're a plane. If you keep flying, of course you're going to see every airport in the country. More ideas, more ideas. More. I don't know which one. Pick a city. So if you picked one idea that just felt off the top, the best, forget about the objections to it. Which one feels the absolute best right now?

Jewelry. Okay, I have a certain design that I think is really great, right?

And what happens if you land on that design and you quit? You create a suite of, you know, different kinds of objects around it. Bracelets, necklaces.

Yeah.

Wristbands. What happens if you land on it?

Yeah, okay, land on it.

Just land on it. Give yourself permission. Just give yourself permission. I know you keep waiting for assurance. Can I make this happen? Is it gonna be good enough? Am I gonna waste my money on this? Will I buy a bunch of materials and nobody will buy them from me? That list can go on forever. Yeah, landing on it is, I'm gonna get some materials. I'm gonna put this together, take some really awesome photos of it, come up with, you know, hopefully you've got, you know, logo. You have what, your Etsy store?

Yes.

And I'm sure there are ways to market yourself on Etsy. Christmas is coming. Black Friday is coming. Let your beautiful designs out. Let them breathe, let them live. You know, it's almost like being mean to your children, telling your children, you guys are too ugly to go Outside, you're going to stay here. Inside. Inside me, inside the house. You don't want to treat your jewelry like that. They're beautiful. Let them out. Let the world see them. Okay, so when I look at you, you don't really have any other options. You're faking it inside yourself. If you think you do. If you think you can just keep not doing anything in a state of frustration, it's not really an option for you. You've been doing it, but it's a default, your forward motion.

I don't really want to do that.

Yeah, your forward motion is all about you letting yourself out. You're gonna let yourself out with this line of jewelry. Then you're gonna have another great idea come up, and you're gonna let yourself out with that line of jewelry, and the audience is gonna love one more than the other. And you're gonna say, big deal. Doesn't mean one is the redheaded stepchild. Then you're gonna create more, and then they're gonna love that. Then everybody's gonna have to adjust in the family for the most popular one. And then you're gonna do another one after that, you see? And you're gonna let them all out.

Yeah.

Let them all out. See where they take you. They're nagging at you for a reason, and they won't let go of you for a reason. So stop telling them no. Okay?

Yes.

Okay. Deep breath. Close your eyes with me. And just feel. Feel yourself getting this line out. Summon up that joy, that enthusiasm. It's so fun to make. It's so fun to get out there. People are finding it and seeing it. You're curious about the response. There's no fear in you. You're just curious. I wonder who will find it. I wonder what they'll like about it most. I wonder how many people will find it. I'm curious who will buy it, you know, as a Christmas present. I can't wait to see. Maybe only two people. Maybe 20 people, maybe 200 people. Maybe I'll get so enthusiastic, I'll start taking it around to some buyers at stores, see if I can't get myself in some places. Ooh, wouldn't that be fun? What a nice way to spend the holidays. Other people are doing it. Why not me? Feel that. Get. Coast on those feelings. Flow with those feelings. All right.

Yes.

Okay. All right. Rita, thank you so much. Thank you for letting me help you.

I really appreciate you.

You're welcome. I want to know. I want to know now that that's been done. Check in with me in a couple of months and say, summer, here's what happened. You were right. Or don't say you were wrong. You'll say you were right. I'm gonna hold. All right, my dear.

Take care. Bye. Okay, bye.

Oh, this is fun. Wow. I love it. And my goodness, my entire call board is full. I love, love, love that. Okay, let's see. Oh, my God. We have someone calling in from the Netherlands. And I know that. You know what? If you. It's true, I have a U.S. number, 760-45-6727. But those of you who are savvy with Skype, did you know you can just. You can put some money into Skype? Like 10 bucks? I never realized this until this year. You put like $10 into Skype and they let you call all over the world for this ridiculously cheap amount. It's like 3 cents a minute or something. Don't quote me. But I have. I've been using it and I'm like, wow, I just spoke with England for 45 minutes and it cost me like 52 cents. That's amazing. So maybe V is calling in from Skype. Let's see. Let's see. Who is this? Is it V or Vi? Vi. Vi. Hey, are you in MI school? Yay. Great. I know who you are. Now, for anybody who's anyone curious me. School Wave five is just kicking off this month. You can still slip in under the wire if you're. Just go to my website and you can find there's a form where you can call in and we can talk about it. But anyway. So, my dear, what can I help you with?

Well, first, to answer your question, I am calling in via Skype.

Great.

And good luck on your New Life podcast.

Thank you.

So amazing that it is here again. And what can you help me with? Yeah, it may sound weird because I'm in misco 5, but it actually gives me the courage to call you up.

Great.

What's my. Could you help me with looking in my blockage with regards to why I can't put myself forward with my art? Why I can't. Is it the name? Is it something in me that I'm not ready to step up to? Help me with that.

Okay, so what do you mean by not putting yourself out there with art? Tell me what it is you are not doing.

I'm not telling everybody that they can. Jeez, I can't even say it now. Sorry. Excuse my language. I'm not saying that.

We already decided. It's not a Family show today, and I have no BLEEP button, so. Oh, yeah.

I have this blockage of telling people that it's for sale. I tell it to, like, very, very people very close by, but I don't dare to even put it on LinkedIn or whatever. I'm still struggling. Like, on which name do I put it out? And it gets to the point that I'm. I can't paint anymore because I can't afford any more new canvases.

Right, because you have so many stacked up around you in your house.

Yes.

Right. Waiting to go out and be with their new homes. Gosh, it's just like all that jewelry hanging inside the door. All of those ugly children that you're not letting out. They're not ugly, they're beautiful. You know this, right?

Yes.

Why are you protecting them? Who are you protecting? You.

I don't know.

You. You're protecting them, you're protecting you. You don't want someone to say that you're not any good. You need to own it. You're a painter. It's the same thing somebody who's a writer goes through. You know, I talk to people who are aspiring writers, and they say, but I've never written anything. It's never been published. It's never. I'm like, do you write?

Do you.

Do you dream up stories in your head? Do you put them down through your fingertips? Do you have even, you know, a half a dozen halfway written through things hanging on your desktop right now? Yes. Yes. Then you're a writer. Who are you waiting for to tell you you're a writer? It's really similar. We have a theme going in today's show. Who are you waiting to tell you you're a painter? Who has that authority? If they have that authority, you're giving it to them. And maybe you're giving that authority right now to your potential buyers, and you're afraid that if they don't buy from you, they're telling you you're not a painter. You're a painter. You paint. And you're a painter who gets better and better. The more you paint, the better you get. Do you see the logic here? It's like a feeling. Logic.

Yeah. Especially when you speak it out loud. It's like it's almost choking me as you put it out there. And I'm like, oh, that's where it is.

You're a painter. No one else is going to give you a badge of painter ness. It's like, you know, the Cowardly lion and the Tin Man. And the scarecrow. All Oz did was give them little tokens and told them they were something. He gave them tokens that were useless. He just said, you are. And they suddenly found it in themselves, waiting for someone else to tell you what you are. That's the moral of the whole wizard of Oz. You can't wait for someone else to tell you what you are. As long as you do, you're giving your authority away to someone and something else that doesn't deserve it. So you're a painter and your paintings want to go out there and everybody wants to know you paint. And you're not embarrassed that you're a painter. You're a real legit painter and it goes up on your LinkedIn profile and your beautiful paintings are at the top of your Facebook page. You're a painter. What do you guys think? Do you want to get some of my cards? Look, I printed them. I made lithographs of them. They're out there, they're available. And not everyone will like them. Not everyone will like our children either. Much as we love them. Some people will be annoyed by them and not like them. The same is true for your painting. The same is true for any book or novel or movie. Do you think all the directors out there shouldn't make their movies because they know some people are going to say that one sucked? No. You're a painter and that's okay. Yeah. So allow yourself to go out there. Allow your paintings to be seen. Allow them to dance and exist. Stop protecting them. Stop protecting your heart. And above all, don't let other people give you that validation. It's nice when they do, but it doesn't define who you are. You paint. You paint because you love to paint. Other people can take it or leave it. You are a painter. Right? I keep saying that. I want you to just know it and feel it. So when you go into your flow, you are a painter. You're a painter. What do painters do? They paint. Why? So people can see it, follow it through, feel really strong in it. Powerful. Okay. Yes. The emotional end point.

I'm a painter.

Your emotional endpoint. I love showing myself to everyone. One play with that one. That's one you have to grow into. It's like pants that you have to, you know, fill eventually. Okay, my dear, I will see you in class next week. Thank you so much for calling. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Good luck. Thank you. Bye, hun. All right, looks like we have time for. Gosh, this has gone so fast. Oh my goodness, there's so many of you on hold. So here's the way it works, right? If I don't get to your call, I am so apologetic. I'm really sorry. What happens is we just drop the calls. We can't go back on and say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye to everybody. We just drop them and you just continue listening on, you know, the stream to the rest of the program. So I can take one more call, and I'm going to do that now. Talking with. Oh, my goodness, you guys are all vying. You're equal in your intensity. I can feel you tugging, tugging, tugging, tugging. I'm gonna go ahead and try, Caitlin, because I haven't spoken to you in a while. And, Beth, maybe you can try next time. Meg, Lorelei, all of you, next time, next week. Okay? Caitlin, what's going on? How are you, honey?

Hi, Summer. Can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

Okay. My voice is extremely raspy today.

Yeah.

Well, I'm actually in the hospital right now.

Okay.

I've been with my family visiting for the past month on the east coast, and I then suddenly got sick, and everything kind of spiraled pretty quickly over last weekend where I landed in the icu.

Yeah.

And it's kind of just like a. Just like everything in my body bouncing off of each other. I feel like. Yeah, of course I have the lung infection component, and my liver is really fragile right now, so that reacts and gets worse. And now everyone's worried about my kidneys because my kidney function has not been great. And currently, this has never happened to me before. I've been here for a week, and I had a sudden drop in hemoglobin of blood loss with no apparent bleeding anywhere and no pooling in my body. But I lost five liters of blood, and so I had to get a transfusion, and I felt extremely better after. But they're still trying to figure out the mystery of why I suddenly lost blood. And they're thinking, you know, it could be my blood is breaking down right now.

Yeah.

Anyways, I'm just trying to get, I guess, some more, like, centered clarity around all this because I'm obviously feeling very overwhelmed.

Yeah, I know.

And the doctors. The doctors, you know, need me to make a decision on how serious to take this and whether I should wait until more test results come back or go ahead and get this plasma blood cleansing thing done. That doesn't have a huge risk factor to it, but it's just another stressful procedure for my body.

I feel like, okay, so stop, stop. Because I know the body stuff can Go on. You have a lot of it and it's all piling up on you. Okay, so I'm most concern right now with your emotional state. Where our heads are, our bodies follow, you know? And where our bodies are, our heads follow. So right now your body's been in the lead and you're racing to catch up with it and reacting to it. So let's play around with reversing that right now. Let's play around with. I know this sounds bizarre, but my mind feels totally at peace. I feel optimistic, I feel joyful. I'm loving up my body. It needs me right now. I'm like mama bear, my body needs me. I'm loving it up. Loving my liver, loving my kidneys, loving my lungs, loving all of me, Loving my immune system. I'm there for you, body. I'm there for you. It's like this beautiful pink wash of sparkling light. Love, I love you. I'm in a state of peace. I look around in the hospital and I just think, wow, here I am. I've been here before. I go in and I come out, let's get out this time. Let's get out again. I remember what it's like when I'm feeling strong and ambitious, when I'm feeling healthy body. You know how to do that. I'm feeling you do that. I'm supporting you doing that. That's where I'm taking my emotions. And I know very well instead I could just be responding to your pain with despair, upset, fear. But when I do that, I'm not helping you. You, I'm going to help you. I'm going to help you. I'm not going to respond with all of those negative emotions that just wind us all up in a tight little ball of fear. Instead, I'm at peace. I'm relaxed. I'm feeling my healing happening. My ability to heal hasn't disappeared or gone away. I still know how to do it. My body's doing it all the time. My cells are doing it all the time. My immune system is healing right now. That's where I'm centering my consciousness. That's where I'm centering my flow. That's where I'm centering my emotions, right there. That's what I'm doing for you and giving to you. Okay, so you can open your eyes. I know that this. I think the hardest thing about that is simply being able to draw your own emotional self away from reaction and going back into pre action. So you've been in reaction a lot. Fear Fear, indecision. What do I do? Pre action. I love you. I'm supporting you. I believe in you. I have faith in you. Right. The same thing. You want your doctor to feel for you, you need to feel for you.

All right?

Okay.

I felt that kind of last night and this morning. Yeah, I just got overwhelmed again.

Yeah. Write it down. Put it on a notepad by your hospital bed. Every time you find yourself fretting, worrying, going into fear. Look at that. Oh, yeah. My only job is to be my best friend right now. That's it. My only job is to be my best friend. And if your best friend is filling your head with crap, get rid of that best friend. Okay? I love you. You're beautiful. You're healthy, you're strong. I'm here for you. Do what you got to do. I'm just gonna make decisions that feel right. I'm taking care of you. All right? Go into that.

Okay.

All right, my dear. Love you. Take care.

Thank you. Love you, too.

Stay in touch. All right.

Bye.

Bye.

Okay, bye. Bye.

So I know Caitlin. She's also one of my ex ME school students done private work, so I'm familiar with her situation. I didn't want to broadcast it to everybody in case it seemed like I knew more than I knew. I do have some of her background. All right, so. Wow. How about that? Let's go ahead and wrap up. Close up our show today with a little flow dream Together, where we just. I don't know. We'll see. I was going to do something around retraction and expansion, but I never know what we're going to do. Just sort of. It all just gels together comes through based on, you know, you and our calls today and the state of all of our minds and mood together who are here. So again, I'm going to attempt to do something, which is to play some music behind me. Hopefully, my studio will be working beautifully. Let's see what happens as I play this. Ooh, that's pretty. Can you hear that music? Hope so. Hear the music? Can you let yourself go with it for a little bit? Isn't it interesting how they say music soothes the savage soul. Music, voice. It's all communication exchange from me to you, from the music to your ears, your body, your emotions, and you release. Release like you're dancing slowly in a beautiful sunlight. Glenn, maybe you're wearing a beautiful dress made of silks and energies that spin around you. Slow motion, a dream. Maybe you're wearing a nice, smart outfit, slacks and a shirt, feeling at the top of your game, spinning in these slow, lazy circles, arms outstretched either side, like you did when you were a kid and you'd spin outside in the grass under the sun, laughing in the moment, enjoying the pleasure of the sensation of being caught in that feeling, that vortex of spinning. You, you're swirling gently now, twirling, gliding, gliding in this very moment of time. This moment, this moment is like the center of a galaxy. You're the center of the spiral galaxy and your life is spinning away from you in either direction. Two long arms of stars and light swirling all around you. And you think about the insecurities and the fears. You think about all the why you can'ts. You think about things that have held you back and held you small. And from this perspective, you just want to laugh at them with compassion, with empathy for yourself. What could hold back a galaxy? These fears, how small they seem through the lens of time, the lens of who you really are. Look how big you are. Look how brilliant you are. Look how many possibilities there are right now in front of you. They're everywhere. They're like Easter eggs in the grass. You can spot them. Walk forward. Pick up those possibilities. Pick up those next steps. Pick up those things you try, those things you show yourself as. Pick them up. They belong to you. They are you. Beautiful. Beautiful. And rest in that feeling. Even now as you find yourself returning from flow and you open your eyes. And as the music fades, you want to go ahead and come back. And I want to thank you guys for joining me on my inaugural brand new Back Live program. I hope you enjoyed it. Give me some feedback. Would you mind on Facebook? That would be fantastic. I also asked you what your favorite show time would be on Tuesday, so please let me know until next time. Love you all so much. And I'll see you next week. I'll let you know exactly what time. I'll send out a newsletter, get on my email list and I'll send one out and we'll enjoy some more Flow Dreaming together. Take care today. One request before you go. Please rate this podcast either in itunes or tunein.com or wherever you listen to it. It'll only take you a minute to do, but your rating there is the number one way that other people discover this show and the more ratings, the more people who will find and get turned on to Flow Dreaming. While you're there, you might also want to download my free Flow Dreaming podcast app. With this app you can listen to the anywhere you want on your mobile device as well as search through listings of all of my episodes and bookmark your favorites. And if you want to listen to Flow Dreams, actual Flow Dreams on your phone, there's even another app. It's my Player app, and it will let you browse and sample Flow Dreams from the shop. There's even an oracle inside of that app to help you see and discover what you need to know most or what Flow Dream would be best for you in your life. Right now. You can find these apps on itunes, or in Google or your Amazon App Store. And again, thank you so, so, so much for giving back. Love you. Bye. Bye.