Chuck’s Place: Life In The Unfamiliar

Waiting to be discovered…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

A mirror to the outside world now reflects a  world we can no longer count on in a familiar way. All is unfamiliar. How does this reflect life in our changing inner world? Welcome to life in the unfamiliar.

The root of the word familiar is family, that powerfully impressive network we were all born into, archetypally designed to help us achieve some core sense of self that has a consistency of feeling, perceiving and knowing, and provides us with feelings of security and confidence as we navigate life.

The imprints of these primary relationships and experiences create formidable beliefs about ourselves, and our world, which sink into the subconscious mind and govern our lives and form habits that largely define ourselves to ourselves.

This habitual self becomes our greatest place of safety, for better or for worse. Although the subconscious mind is indeed the center of our divine creativity, it is often limited by ancient internalized beliefs about ourselves that deny us access to our true creative potential.

The divine subconscious mind cannot solve this contradiction of old suggestions versus new possibilities, since its function is to create, not to analyze.

For change to happen, the divine conscious mind must reconcile these opposing beliefs by identifying and destroying old errors of belief, by aligning with truth, and by delivering wise and powerful suggestions to the subconscious mind, inviting it to open doors to new rooms of living within the personality of self. And these rooms are often quite unfamiliar.

A myriad of dream homes—both my own and my clients’—flow through my mind as I contemplate the theme of unknown rooms, newly discovered, in a present or past home.

Sometimes these rooms are occupied by old monsters; the familiar shadows of yesteryear, with all their limiting beliefs and habits. But often they are openings to a golden shadow, the innate potential within the self waiting to be discovered, nurtured and freed to blossom.

To fully live in the unfamiliarity of now in a new way is to relax the persona, the familiar face of everyday habit, and adopt a new habit of daily gratitude. The practice of gratitude upon awakening strikes down the old tried and true grimace, which typically grounds the new day in familiar disappointment, in favor of joy and lightness of being.

The practice of gratitude confirms that you are the master of your life. It is your thoughts, new or old, that generate how you feel. When you are fully in charge of thinking thoughts that positively raise the vibration of your energetic life, the key that opens a new door in the subconscious mind,  a new positive feeling of being is manifested which is impervious to outer events.

Invite the self to open the doors and walk through the past horrors. They are only ghosts holding the space of what needs to be fully owned, mastered and surpassed. Beyond those rooms are the doors to total fulfillment, but, to enter, they do require a willingness to become a being completely unfamiliar with itself.

Let gratitude alone become your guiding light. With constant gratitude you will never be the same. Let that life in the unfamiliar become your new familiar.

With gratitude,
Chuck

Soulbyte for Tuesday March 24, 2026

-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Underneath the volatile energy, that has overtaken many leaders in the world, is another energy, the individual hunger for power of each of those leaders. Their collective hunger for power is what is driving the world quite crazy right now. That power drive, driven by greed and need and ideology, is being allowed to run rampant. There are no adults in the houses of the powerful and thus no adult has control, no wise person has the ears of those power-hungry entities. Until the power hungry are out of office things will continue to ramp up, for that is how they attract energy to themselves, through feeding off the frenzy of sorrow, anger and fear. They are like wild beasts, the smell of blood fueling their desires, their hearts blackened, cut off and silenced by the hardness of their ways. They have forgotten how to be grateful, but you have not, and you already know that at some point things will change and the heart-centered will return to power. Until then, keep your own hearts alive and well  with acts of loving kindness and compassion for all you share the planet with, even those who destroy and wreak havoc, for they are most in need of it.

All our love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Monday March 23, 2026

-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

The times you are living in, the world situation that everyone is now feeling, the decisions made without your say-so, the directions being taken, the actions being perpetrated that you do not agree with put you all in a precarious situation. For how can you let things just happen? And what do you do when you feel so inadequate, so unable to protest or react? Do as the inner prophets have always done. Go inside yourself and get things right within. When you are right within yourself then the whole world outside of you has the opportunity to get right as well. We have said this many times before, the more people who get things right within themselves, the more the world will be in the right alignment to change for the better as well.

All our love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Sunday March 22, 2026

-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Before jumping to conclusions, take a moment to reflect within the self. Take a moment to take a breath and calm down. Take another moment to take another breath and calm down a little bit more. When you feel the urge to jump, to speak out, to object, defend or protest, calm yourself down first, and then see if the urge is still there. Sometimes just a moment’s pause is enough to shift you out of making a wrong decision, or saying the wrong thing, or coming to an erroneous conclusion. Sometimes it’s just better to hold your tongue and not say anything.

All our love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Saturday March 21, 2026

-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

The world is indeed in a time of great change, which is reflected in the turmoil and hardships you witness every day. Even if you are not personally feeling hardship yet, you know that it is surely possible. Prepare in small ways to be ready for anything, without panic or stress. Just keep alert and aware, for knowledge is often the best information for when times are changing. Knowledge of how to remain calm, of how to turn your energy in the right direction, of how to take care of yourself, and those you love, while also caring about others, are some of the best preparations you can make to ensure that all will be well. Prepare yourself by practicing your daily measures of grounding, gratitude, and asking for guidance. If you have made your daily practices a habit already then you are well prepared for anything. Sometimes the best preparation is on the inside rather than the outside, for a strong inner warrior is the greatest warrior there is.

All our love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR