Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Although I felt that a culmination of sorts had been reached a week ago, energetically speaking the past week seems to have been a time of brewing and stirring up of old energy. It feels as if, yes, we have certainly reached a new plateau from which we are getting a better picture of all the stuff that lies in the valley behind us and all around us, all that we have been sifting through recently. We still have to deal with the same stuff, though perhaps now from a new perspective. The past week seems to have given us the opportunity to gain clarity on many issues, personal and otherwise. What can we expect now?

As I mentioned last week, a step up to a new level will always afford new challenges, but, as you suggest, a view from a higher plane may also afford the thoughtful and aware the opportunity to learn from the past.

This is perhaps what you are always being granted as you move through your life: the opportunity to learn not only from your own past but from what lies most significantly in your path; owned by the self or owned by others, it does not matter, for if you are confronted by something so that you notice it, if it effects you in some way, then it is purposefully placed there so that you may learn from it.

How do you intend to live your life? Are you contented to ignore the truths being shown? As you propose in your question, Jan, in looking around from your plateau you are more clearly able to see the truths that before were unclear. Often when in the midst of life one does not quite “get” what one is being shown.

Yes, I agree. Often it takes a long time to understand the meaning of events. In looking back from a new perspective a bigger picture is taken in and things form a sort of pattern that makes sense.

It is the fate of all mankind to live through the muddled times, for it is only in emerging from them that clarity and newness of life may be experienced. Though one may be lost in the muddle for a long time there will come opportunities to shift the eyes and look around with the head above the clouds. These moments must not be squandered or rejected, for they are crucial learning times.

Are you saying that we are at one of those moments now?

Yes, this is a crucial learning time for many; especially those who have been struggling to get the self beyond a certain point. The blockages that have been in place for a long time now have the opportunity to be dismantled, crawled over, barged through, or totally annihilated by sheer force of determination and dedication to living a life of truth. One must begin to have this heart-centered purpose—to live a life of truth—in order to cross into new territory that not only offers a wider perspective and the opportunity for reflection but that also offers the reason for departing from that which is no longer working for the self.

Truth is the only thing that matters in life, but until one reaches this conclusion one must wallow in that which is untrue, false, hidden, and deeply disturbing. Pushing away the dark side of the self, by attempting to lead a happy-go-lucky life, pretending that all is well, cannot be sustained for long because the truth will always some knocking at the door of the heart, asking for recognition, acknowledgment and acceptance.

Today, I suggest that an accounting of the self as a truthful person in both the outer world and the inner world are in alignment with the energy that affords clarity and perspective. To observe oneself in operation is actually a good idea at this point.

To look at the self truthfully and honestly one must dismantle the self—strip the self down to utter truth—without ego inflation, ego deflation or wounded child interfering. One must know the essence of self and use this sober, pragmatic, and honest energy to probe into how you act, think, calculate, and plan in order to survive.

Life is not about survival, so that is the first thing to move beyond. You are not there to survive, though that instinct is in you. You are there to grow, to face life and be aware of what life offers so that growth may happen. Note how life presents itself to you. Why is your life the way it is? What are you not seeing clearly? What is your old thinking habit telling you that you are not getting? Who is in control of you and your process in life?

I could go on with many more questions, but I think you get the gist of what I am suggesting. The blockages that must be dismantled or annihilated, My Dears, exist nowhere except inside you, so that is where your probing must be centered.

Dismantle the self. If you will dismantle the false self you will achieve the truthful self, the pure essence of self. This self, heart-centered and alive to life, will offer you new plans for the journey ahead, detached from what lies in the murky past. Only in dismantling the old self will you discover that all that has plagued you your whole life long was indeed guiding you to truthfulness.

In truthfulness will life’s journey be more easily navigated because your inner guide will point you more clearly in the right direction and you will understand why you must go on this path: for the truth lies here. Follow always the path of heart-centered truth and you will lead the self on the path of change and potential for growth.