Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
I enjoyed working with your guidance the other day, learning to flow with what comes. I discovered that my own agenda is often based on wanting to be in control, as much as it is focused on the practical. By acquiescing to the inevitable interruptions and digressions I was able to have a fairly easily flowing day without the normal tension and stress that accompany the fact that things are not going my way. I noticed that balance comes automatically when I can accept that life may not go as I had planned and in being more open to the flow of it. I guess I get afraid of the possibility that life will overwhelm, that in acquiescence comes surrender of a sort and the feeling of being on the brink arises, of having to decide between being in command and being controlled by the commanding, demanding situations that arise and getting swept up in loss of control. This is still a question of balance but, as I allow myself to acquiesce to the flow of life, I realize more thoroughly that we are not really in control, even though we may think we are. Can you comment on this? Who is really in control of our lives?

Well, My Dear Jan, you ask quite a big question that is not easily answered by a simple statement of fact, for in each of your lives does the position shift as often as the day shifts into night; at least this is what should happen. Your journey through life guides you to experience control and no control, to experience being guided and being let loose. It allows for many experiences in order that you might begin to put together the pieces of who you are in the pure light of truth. Your journey allows for this possibility to gain clarity, even as it allows for the possibility of control and the possibility of acquiescence to other guidance.

Aside from who is in control, you see, is the greater question of whether or not you can allow your self to acquiesce to a constantly changing journey so that your own position as captain of your ship may shift to other positions, equally valuable. In allowing for your status as commander-in-chief to be usurped by another inner commander and other support, as you experience other aspects of your ship’s necessities, you afford your self new perspectives and gain new abilities that will aid you greatly on your journey. You see?

In allowing the self to acquiesce to your journey you actually learn valuable skills and gain in many areas of life so that you become a well-rounded and compassionate individual. It is not wrong to lose control, to go over to another side of the self, for to experience all that you are presented with in a lifetime is quite an experience, each acquiescence potentially leading to further growth.

If you understand life as a journey, if you can accept that there are hidden aspects of the self, and that you each have a dark side, then your fulfillment of life will be greatly aided. Yet the challenge is not only to acknowledge your many-faceted self, both light and dark, known and unknown, but to take such knowledge to new levels of depth of understanding as you progress through life.

As you speak of this, I think of myself as previously needing to be in total control of every moment of my day, of every movement almost, in an effort to remain constantly protected, though I did not know what I had to fear. I became an automaton almost, neurotically controlling and demanding allegiance to my agenda, though underneath I was constantly wondering what was wrong with me and aware that I was seeking something else. I cannot now imagine that I would even be alive if I had stayed that way. There came a point where I had to let something break down and through in order to shift out of my iron-fisted position of being in command at all costs. Is this what you are talking about?

Yes, I am talking about letting go of fears in order to find out who you truly have the potential to become.

I see, as another example in my life, my own mother who has refused all calls to go innerly, who remains brutally in control late into her eighties. I could have stayed that way myself and I feel such deep compassion for her as I observe the position she is in, holding on with such fierceness to her old agenda. How do we begin to crack the veneer and allow ourselves to find the means to shift to the true inner journey?

As you know, it takes great courage and one must be ready to take the journey. Using the analogy of the captain of the ship, I suggest the first step may be to acknowledge that you are supported, that help is available in the universe, outside of you and in your inner universe as well. Begin with learning and understanding that this is true in each of your lives, My Dear Readers. Each one of you has plenty of help to support and guide you through change. Help is available to take over the wheel of your ship should you wish to go down into the hold and study your cargo, more deeply inspecting what it is that you carry.

Begin also with allowing the self to be loved from without and from within, even though you do not clearly see or understand how this could be possible. Allow the self to be cared for tenderly by the energy that abounds. Begin with self-love and self-appreciation for your daring and bravery to begin an exploration of the inner self on many levels, previously locked and kept at bay.

Do not be afraid, because no matter where you go, no matter what you discover, help is available. Begin with that.

Thank you. Perhaps we’ll follow up on this next week.

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Can you talk about the inner process today? Specifically, I am feeling a great desire to go much deeper into my inner work and practices, yet I find the perfect balance between Self and the demands of others and the outer world allusive. Often the best intentions seem to dissipate as reality takes over. I am thankful for the few quiet moments I am allotted, but I’m left feeling frustrated and yearning for more. I know this is a universal struggle and one that you have addressed before. Today, I ask for some guidance for all of us around our attempts and resolutions to gain a better balance between our inner worlds and our outer worlds, between our most sincere intentions to change and grow and the conflicts that arise as we wake up each day to new challenges. I would like to flow through my day without feeling resentful or like a failure for not accomplishing what I have set out to do.

My Dear Readers, this is not only a process of balance but an equal process of attachment and detachment that Jan seeks guidance on. It is not an easy task that you set your self, for I know that your world is comprised of many necessities, distractions, desires, and yearnings. I also know that part of your process must be allowing your self to have whatever experience you have each day, regardless of your desires, for only in being open to that which comes unexpectedly will you indeed learn what it means to flow in your life. Say that you set an intent for your day to be solitary and without outside interference, yet you are immediately bombarded with outer demands and the energy of others needing attention, whether people or things. This is a call to shift for the moment, to in fact flow with what is being presented to you. If you fight it you will only gain in resentful frustration. But if you allow your present intentions to take a back seat while you take the other fork in the road you will learn much more than if you had taken that solitary road. You see, life gives you what you need.

Your intent to gain balance, to grow, to further develop your inner practices, if set with pure desire, is already embedded in your psyche, and by default in the universal intent. In other words, if you are ready for such a journey you will be awarded all the opportunities and tools you need to take that journey. It just might not happen as you wish. In fact, if you look back on your life, when has anything unfolded exactly and as smoothly as you wished? Though you may prefer a seamless and calm existence, it is not usually how the universe offers you your challenges, though it has been known to comply when the occasion is right.

For instance, once your intentions are set, I recommend that you be open to what comes in your day to greet you. Push aside interruptions and conflicts by asking the self to accept that this is what you need at this very moment and, even though it is not as you had planned, accept that it is going to show you something important about the self. In this manner you are learning a vital step in the process of attachment and detachment, in what it means to set an intent and then let it go, knowing full well that it is already on its way, giving you exactly what you need. Does this make sense?

Yes, it does. Even though it is often hard to give up the desire to have it go my way, I do understand the importance of learning to flow with what comes.

In learning to flow with what awaits you each morning as you open the door to what life offers, you will find that your physical body will begin to release its expectations, tensions, and even ailments that may be present as a result of your need to control your inner world, your outer environment, and even the process of your psyche. Your best intentions must be set free, let out the door, in order for them to return to you bearing their learning tools.

So, for today, I suggest that you take this first test in learning to flow by setting your intentions within and then releasing them without, setting them free by asking the universe to hear you and to show you what you need in order to gain progress in your inner work and practices. You may be quite surprised to find that your inner work is going to be done totally outside of you one day and totally inside of you on another day. But keep in mind that no matter what appears as your lesson plan for the day that it is going to be exactly what you need at that moment.

If you can allow for such a process you will be well on the way to gaining the balance you seek. You will learn how to flow in your life. Your physical and mental bodies will begin to release their hold on old habits and your psyche will find resonance in whatever is presented to you because it will recognize that it is what is best for your growth. Can you flow with that?

Yes, I think so. It seems that if I allow myself to let go of expectations, of a mental construct of expectations, that I am often quite surprised by the outcome as regards a certain situation or process. If I allow myself to have no expectations then I am more open and end up feeling freer.

That is the process that I speak of as I invite you to set your intent free and release it from your incessant mind control. By releasing your intent you free your mind and body, without expectation, to experience the flow of your day and, ultimately, your life, in a mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual way. This is what you seek, though you may not quite speak of it in such terms, but all of you seek total release from the confines of life as it had been conjured.

It is time to unconjure yourselves from such restrictions placed on you by your self, your world, your intentions, your desires, and release everything to the universal intent, already working diligently on your behalf, though you may not be seeing it in quite this way. You may be seeing the flow of your life as interruptive and challenging or frustrating when, in fact, it is perfectly in alignment with the intent of your spiritual self to grow. This is the main challenge for all of you to eventually discover: What is the intent of your spirit?

Thank you for this guidance.

May you all find the soft self inside who will allow you to trust the process of your life and, without fear, allow you to let go, allow you to face the flow of your day, accepting that it is as it should be. What are you supposed to learn today? That is your greatest challenge, even greater than your challenge to stay in balance. Get it?

Yes, I get it.

NOTE: I set a new intent for the day: I intend to keep a log of my experiences today and I will report back with a posting tomorrow morning as to what I have personally learned as I attempt to do as Jeanne suggests and release my intentions and just flow with what the day brings. It is already not as I expected!
-Jan

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us as we all head back into our daily routines after a long New Year’s weekend? What is important for us to keep in mind this week?

This is a time of setting forth on new journeys with resolute and steady steps, a time to take upon your backs only that which is necessary to travel with. It is a time to consolidate, to travel lightly, without overdoing or overusing the natural and unnatural resources alike. This is a time to consider not only your resolutions of change, but the greater impact your lives have upon that earth and all who live upon it.

Today, I ask that you consider your personal impact on your personal environment. I ask that you notice how you tread upon the earth, how you mark your territory, how you control your world, and how you consider your self in it. I ask you to notice more closely the impact that you, each one of you, personally have upon the earth and upon the interconnected web of energy that holds you all knit together in its interwoven fibers.

Are you aware that you do indeed impact everything else that exists and not just your self? Are you aware that your place upon that planet is dependent upon all others as well? Are you aware that all of you, though you exist as one single being are in fact multi-beings, energetically and infinitely attached by the energy fibers that you may not be able to see but that, if you allow your self, you may feel?

It is important to remain always aware of the constant flow of energy, of interconnected energy. Even as you do your inner work, which is of utmost importance, do not forget that you are part of a greater whole. But that greater whole will not be correctly perceived in its energetic form until you can connect to the energy of self and fully understand, by your personal experiences, what it means to be energy. Thus I stress the importance of inner work in order to gain insight into the feelings, emotions, and mysteries of others upon that planet too. Only in understanding the feelings, emotions, and mysteries of the self will you be able to fully connect to the source of all things, existing in all things: the energy that you are all comprised of.

So begin your week with fresh resolve to remind your self often that you are a being comprised of energy. Everyone else is too. This is often all you need to sink into inner contemplation and feeling what that means on a greater scale, as interconnected beings who are interconnected in that realm but also in infinity, where energy is not only the source of life, but is the only form of life as well.

In a state of energy all things are possible. In life all things are possible. Today all things are possible. Stay connected to that!

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Today is the first day of a new year, the year 2010. As I write this, I have such a strong feeling that this is going to be a very meaningful year, that we stand on a verge, that efforts to shift will be accomplished, that changes will now happen that have been pending for a long time. I also feel very hopeful. Do you have any comments?

It is right to feel hopeful, for as a new year begins there is always joy at the anticipation of things to come, yet do I also caution that the world, at this very moment, the universe and everything in it, stands beside you on that verge of change, awaiting with bated breath for mankind to determine not only his own fate but the fate of the planet he inhabits. This is not a time to be foolhardy or to take anything for granted. It is a time to be serious. That being said, I do not wish to dampen your spirits, or your feelings of hopefulness, for they are indeed the feelings that will accompany you into this coming time of change, impacting all your decisions, as individuals and as a group of human beings.

A new spirit of awareness, coupled with hopeful joy, will aid you all now as you step out into a new day, a new year, and offer yourselves the opportunity for a new life. Shifting into new life is not accomplished overnight. Though you have awoken to a new year it took the whole previous year to attain this status of newness and it was indeed accomplished through many trials, tribulations, deeds, misdeeds, hard work and equally hard play. Life is continual and though you prefer to section it into segments of time I ask that you look upon your entire past as having led you to this day, this new point, and rely upon your knowledge of the past to show you what not to do, as well as what is appropriate behavior in order for the newness to be lasting and for a shift to truly happen.

What do you foresee for us this year?

I foresee the culmination of many wrongdoings. I see the escalation of war and hatred, yet do I also see it burning itself out, perhaps not in one year’s time, but the fires for finishing it will be laid and set alight. I see that America, the country, though it is made up of many concerned, honest, and good citizens, sits on the brink of disaster, though the energy of the universe wishes her to turn in the opposite direction where hope and purity of vision wait to greet her.

There is much to be learned from this viewpoint, from standing on the brink. One has quite a clear picture of the past and an equally clear picture of the future. This is so for all. You, each one of you, do have clarity today. You know what has transpired. You see clearly the year gone by and you see your future as well. Do not deny that you are capable of this. This clarity is asking you to do the right thing for your self, to be honest and faithful to your vision of heart and insight, to be truthful from this day forth, so that you may truly change your self and your world. This is a day when clarity may actually be the greatest weapon of change that each person upon that globe may take up and truly utilize for good.

Do you see disaster happening in the world if mankind does not change now?

I have seen disaster coming for a long time. I am not alone in this. You too have felt it, all of you. If you allow your truths to be spoken aloud you will hear the underlying truth of imminent disaster being spoken all around you, as well as inside each of you. But I do not predict anything, for you are fully capable of causing shift from the brink of disaster, though you will also have to deal with the consequences of your actions and activities, personally and upon that earth.

I wish to send you into joyous newness, for I know this is what you now feel, all of you, for it is a most auspicious time upon that earth.

Yes, it does feel that way. The year 2010 has such a futuristic feel to it, and I wonder if we are ready to accept a different kind of future, because I see it before us.

It is up to each one of you to attend to your personal brinks of disaster, to turn from the disaster side of the brink, from falling into devastation, fear, hatred, and desire of that which no longer holds up and turn to the other side of the brink where something new, unknown, and yes, fearful, awaits as well. The one side of the brink is very known, and I know you are bored out of your mind by it, by the repetition of the same old stuff being played out. I know you are ready to turn your back on it as you turn toward this New Year. But I ask that you first stand and look back at the old and fully accept your part in it. Take what you learn from it and dare to turn in a new direction. That is how you will face the New Year properly, with maturity and self-acceptance of your own life. In taking full responsibility for all actions may you step into a new year holding onto your hopeful joy, for then are you worthy of its bountiful energy. Then you are ready to use it wisely and well, no matter what comes to greet you.

Do you have a final comment for your readers?

Yes. I do not wish to sound gloomy, but I think you all know me well enough by now to accept that I always ask you to take full responsibility for the self and your decisions in life. Jan’s contention that there are feelings of joyfulness and hope on this day is indeed a correct summation of future prospects as well, energetically speaking. But you must make some choices that will use that energy to shift the self. In time, your own turning from the brink and toward a new plan will certainly impact the world around you as well, because you are all interconnected. Keep this in mind, as you enter this new time: the impact of YOU is great.

Never doubt that you have the power to change what you know must change. Today, you are granted the clarity to see what that is, and tomorrow? Well, tomorrow you must face the first decision that this year offers you.