Halfway Through the 9 Year: 5 Questions to Align & Take Charge

We’re officially halfway through this powerful 9 Universal Year—so what does that mean for your soul, your energy, and your next steps?

In this mid-year check-in, I’m sharing 5 soulful, intuitive questions to help you reflect on what’s shifting within you, what’s asking to be released, and how to prepare for what’s quietly unfolding.

Whether you’ve been actively working with the energy of this 9 year or just sensing big internal shifts, this episode will help you:

✅ Recognize subtle forms of resistance (and what they’re trying to teach you)
 ✅ Gently acknowledge hidden grief or emotional closure you may still need
 ✅ Identify energetic, emotional, or physical clutter blocking your clarity
 ✅ Retire outdated roles or identities you’ve outgrown
 ✅ Begin laying the spiritual groundwork for your next aligned chapter

💡 This isn’t about rushing toward the next thing. It’s about honoring what’s ready to shift—and consciously aligning with what truly matters.

So whether you’re journaling, walking, folding laundry, or simply taking a breath… let these questions walk with you through the rest of your summer.

Mentioned Episode:
🎧 9 Themes of a 9 Year (2025) → 

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2084888/episodes/16312287

Video: https://www.joyfulmedium.com/blog/9-Themes-2025

Join me Live on Zoom for my Free Monthly Community Healing session! You'll receive a blend of Reiki (Energy Healing), Chakra & Aura Clearing & Balancing, Color Healing, Grounding, Cord Cutting, Trance Medium Healing & more. 

Get all the details & Sign up now to receive the link and replay for the next session! https://www.joyfulmedium.com/Events

Get Joy's Free "Sign Magnet" 3 Day Mini Course HERE https://www.joyfulmedium.com/sign-magnet
Joy's Website: www.joyfulmedium.com
Instagram: @JoyfulMedium
TikTok: @JoyfulMedium
Facebook: @JoyfulMedium
Facebook Group: Joy's Soul Spa
YouTube: Psychic Medium Joy Giovanni

Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Joy, hey, beautiful soul, welcome to spirit speakeasy. I'm Joy Giovanni, joyful medium. I'm a working psychic medium, energy healer and spiritual gifts mentor. This podcast is like a seat at the table in a secret club, but with mediums, mystics and the spiritual luminaries of our time. So come behind the velvet ropes with me and see inside my world as I chat insider style with profoundly gifted souls, we go deep, share juicy stories, laugh a lot, and it wouldn't be a speakeasy without great insider secrets and tips. You might even learn that you have some gifts of your own so step inside the spirit speakeasy. Hey, beautiful soul, welcome back, or welcome in for another episode of spirit speakeasy. This week, we are gonna be checking in with something really special. As you might have realized, we are about halfway through the year, so I really want to go in and do a check in. Since we are halfway through this nine year, I want to share five questions to align and take charge. If you missed that episode towards the end of last year where we did the nine themes for the nine year, which is 2025, you're going to want to go check out that episode. I will link it in the show notes. We're not going to go back over the nine themes, but since we are officially halfway through this powerful, nine universal year in today's episode, we're going to do a mid year soul check in. So whether you've been consciously working with the energy of this nine year or not, you might be feeling it. Some of the things you might be feeling are this inner pull to release what no longer fits, some whispers of something new stirring just beneath the surface. You might be feeling the anxiety or excitement of a brewing change. You might be aware of tension between holding on and letting go, whether it's collectively or in your own personal life. My intention for today's episode is this mid year soul check in to offer you five powerful questions to consider that you can reflect on walk with or gently explore through the rest of your summer. For those of you in the northern hemisphere, or during your winter, for our friends in the southern hemisphere and in Australia. Hello, guys. These five questions are in alignment with the nine themes of the nine year, and will realign you with tuning into what's shifting in your inner world. So you don't waste this moment, because while the nine year of 2025 may be a year of endings, it's also a time of sacred preparation. So whether you're journaling in the quiet or folding laundry or walking through the zoo with your family, let these questions meet you where you are and evaluate them kind of as you move throughout your day. The nine year is such a powerful and incredible energy. And I know that we always go through the themes of the year, sort of end of year, beginning of year, but I really wanted to take this opportunity to kind of expand on that work of just knowing what the themes are and really getting aware in this next half of this nine year, and looking at these five questions so we can really continue to align, fine tune and set that foundation so that we're ready for the one year. So this first question that I want to share is, what are you resisting in a nine year? Resistance can feel especially loud. Have you? Have you been feeling this, that inner friction, whether it's about letting go or grieving, accepting a truth or simply taking that next step? Resistance is often your soul's signal that something wants to shift, but you may be clinging, pausing, postponing or pretending that it is not time yet we can get into this as humans, right in a nine year, resistance often marks the exact threshold where your growth is trying to happen. Think of it as like this threshold of your comfort zone, perhaps, and that resistance is what we need to just step over into this next place. You may find yourself hesitating rather than moving forward. You may find yourself avoiding the thing you know deep down is calling for your attention. That's just part of our human nature. So what is resistance really? Resistance can be sneaky. It doesn't always look like a firm no or a hard pass. Often it shows up in ways we don't immediately recognize. Here are some examples, procrastination. It can be a way that sneaky way that resistance. Distance shows up. You guys know, I love my sneaky ways. Can show up as perfectionism like well, if I'm not gonna get it perfect or do my 100% I'm not gonna do it at all. I've heard that recently in my office, actually, it can show up as feeling foggy or scattered or suddenly exhausted. It can show up as staying busy with everything except that thing that we know we're quote, unquote supposed to be doing or looking at or moving forward. For some resistance shows up as over researching, but never acting, not taking action. I can't even tell you how many research tabs I have open at any given moment. Sometimes it's because of resistance that I'm resisting actually taking action, it can show up as irritability or frustration towards the very task or person that we secretly care about. Have you ever had that happen, or you're feeling irritated, but it's really just you resisting. Have you ever had it show up as saying I'm fine when something inside is clearly not fine. Maybe we're resisting looking at something, talking about something, engaging in something that can happen. Resistance can even look like ignoring red flags or proverbial fires in our lives, or maybe it's ignoring physical signs or symptoms from your body or from your emotions. For you, there's lots of ways that resistance can show up. Some of them don't look like they directly connect, but they do emotionally. Resistance often arises when there's something we know we need to feel or shift or grieve or accept or release, but it feels uncomfortable or maybe inconvenient or even sometimes too vulnerable to face right now. And we often throw that little caveat on the end, right now, I'm gonna get to it, just not yet. It's not time yet, right? No, not gonna face that right now. Energetically, resistance can feel like dragging your feet through the mud while you're trying to move forward. Maybe you and one part of you, you think, yeah, I'm going to move forward. This is my goal. This is what I'm doing. But then these other things, too much research, suddenly tired, feeling symptoms from your body, and you're not realizing, Oh, I'm resisting moving forward on this thing in this area and this project. Often we resist what feels uncomfortable, but that discomfort is that doorway to release or to realign. Sometimes we resist because we sense what a big shift this will create. Did you ever have something that, like, you really know in your heart of hearts is the best choice for you, but you know that as soon as you commit to that or make that choice, that it's gonna really just open a whole can of worms. And we're not sure how things are gonna play out. Like it's, you know, it's going to be a big shift, and you're not sure, like, what's going to come on the other side, or what kind of a mess this is going to create, even though, you know, in your heart of hearts, it is the best choice for you, the nine energy. It doesn't rush you, but it does keep kind of circling back to whatever needs resolution. So pay particular attention to any themes or like reoccurring points that you've been experiencing already in this six months, and certainly as we continue to move forward, because it does kind of keep circling back, nudging you towards release or clarity or peace, or sometimes even just being honest with ourselves, we can kind of look at this from a spiritual angle too. Sometimes resistance is like a sacred stall. It's your system protecting you from something that you're maybe not ready to fully face. But other times, it's a subtle fear of what's on the other side of that change, maybe more responsibility, more visibility, or just the unknown. I think a lot of us have, at least part of us that sometimes naturally resist change or wants to oppose what we feel like we need to do. Have you ever felt like that? Okay, so here are some additional prompts with this question of, what are you resisting to kind of help get your thoughts, your energy stirring around this. What decision or conversation Have you been avoiding even though you know it's time, let's get in there, guys, let's like, nitty gritty, right? Because sometimes we can be like, I'm not, I'm not resisting anything. I'm I'm moving forward, right? I'm floating along. But what decision or conversation Have you been avoiding even though you know it's time. What emotion or truth Have you been kind of skimming across the surface of hoping that it'll just go away? You ever do that, if there's like, an emotion or truth or something that you're like, have realized about a person or a situation and you're like, I'm just gonna keep keep this surfacey and maybe this will go away? Kind of. Look at those things. You could also look at this question of, is there a version of you that you're afraid to step into, because it means letting go of who you've been in the past that can be scary. Change can be scary. I can tell you that what I do the weekly readings, if you guys don't know, I do weekly readings every week, if you're on my free email list, you get them sent to you in your email box. They're also posted on my website, joyful medium.com, in the blog section, and they're on the social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, usually Tiktok and YouTube. So you can find those weekly readings there. But anytime something comes up about change, I get so many messages of discomfort from people of fear. So is there something that you know that you're being called towards, but you are kind of afraid to step into it, or afraid to look at it, because it means shifting who you've been or the way things have been, right? Sometimes the thing you're resisting the most is the very thing that will unlock that deep peace or clarity or your next aligned step. But it doesn't mean that you have to force it. It means it's time to stop pretending that you don't know what it is. So you don't necessarily have to like even if you acknowledge it, make all these great changes in in one week, but sometimes the first step is just acknowledging right that okay, I'm not going to pretend I don't know what this is. I'm not going to pretend I don't know what's happening here or I'm not feeling what I'm feeling. Because often we can pretend we're not feeling what we're feeling right just sweep it under the proverbial rug or shove it down. We all know that's not great for us. So I'm gonna give you kind of a mini exercise if you want it, and I'm gonna try to give one for each of these five questions. But the question itself is just, what are you resisting? And then you can go as deep into these as you want, through your season, right? Summer season or winter season. So this mini exercise, I just wanna pause and write down these things. The truth I've been resisting is, that's a big one, right? The truth I've been resisting is, I think we all, we all have some no matter what area of our life they're in. The next prompt here for this mini exercise. What scares me about accepting this is, so once you've the truth I've been resisting. What scares me about accepting this is and then the next, last one is what I know deep inside is. So just to start getting that truth stirring within you, just to start getting yourself, within yourself, to acknowledge what you actually know is true. The truth I've been resisting is what scares me about accepting this is what I know deep inside is journal these, if it feels supportive, or you can even just kind of hold the questions like gentle friends companions in the back of your mind, and maybe you're like me, and you like to use the notes section of your phone, kind of see what bubbles up to your awareness when you're holding these in the back of your mind, or when you're thinking about them, and you can let these kind of questions or thoughts or musings travel with you this summer, maybe while you're walking through the zoo with your family. We have a beautiful zoo here, and I know lots of people do where you are, so maybe just as you're kind of spending family days, you can start thinking about, yeah, what is what am I resisting here? What am I resisting? Maybe it's while you're taking a summer drive with the windows down, or sitting by the water and just dipping your toes in, maybe you're folding laundry and you're kind of perusing through these questions in your mind, just let the answers rise when they're ready they always do, and this reflection doesn't require immediate action, so don't be nervous. Just acknowledgement can begin the shift. And again, we're wanting to take advantage of this nine year energy and just be honest with ourselves, resistance is almost like wearing a pair of shoes that like used to fit but now give you blisters, but you keep walking, even though every step feels uncomfortable, and you're just trying to pretend these are your favorite shoes and you love them, and you don't notice the discomfort. Or maybe it's like skipping a software update because you're afraid that it'll mess up your system. I've definitely been guilty of this a lot, and meanwhile, everything is like running slow and glitchy and but you're still resisting this update, right? Because you don't want it to change anything. Okay? So that's that first question. What are you resisting? Question number two, what grief or closure needs to be witnessed now, it's been a hell of a year already, and we're only as I'm recording this in the middle of June, so I think this is a tough question, but something that we need to keep working on as we move through this nine year just to better set us up as we continue to do. Grow and expand and change. So what grief or closure needs to be witnessed this nine year is a natural time of endings, cycles one to nine through the numerology of the years. But not all endings come with clear closure. Have you ever had that where something just kind of ends and there's not a real point of closure? Some losses can remain unacknowledged, not because we don't care, but because life moves so fast, especially with the current news cycle, things are moving so fast, and the world doesn't always give us permission or time to grieve what feels maybe small or invisible, right? There are certain things that that even like at your workplace, you might have permission if you're like, really sick, or if you've had, like, a significant loss in your family, but you might not get a day off to process something that might be invisible to other people. We can unknowingly be carrying around unresolved feelings and carrying out unresolved loss for many, many years. Grief just isn't for death or heartbreak, you guys. Grief can come in any area of our life, although those are, of course, really important as well death or heartbreak or loss, it lives anywhere. Something meaningful has shifted or slipped away. It could be anything in any area of your life. So we all have some things that we are actively grieving or coming to terms with letting go of, or even things in our life where someone else has grown and we might even still know them or be in relationship with them, but it's just in a different way, and maybe we need to grieve who they used to be and who they're becoming we can get excited about right the many faces of grief that often go unnamed. I just want to share a few of these, because I know sometimes the word grief can just get so attached to a physical loss or a passing of someone to the spirit side, or, you know, a breakdown of a relationship or a job, but grief really has so many faces. Maybe it's the identity that you used to have, or thought you would have. There was a time in my life where I thought I would be doing something very different, and I've had to take some time to kind of grieve that part that I didn't get to fully realize. It's It's not that I don't love what has happened in my life and who I am now and the people that I have around me. I do doesn't mean we don't need to acknowledge I had some different plans at one time, and that would have been awesome too. Maybe for you, it's a friendship that's faded without a conversation where it happened, and you're just I actually had someone that I was coaching on that recently, where a friendship relationship just kind of slipped away, and they didn't know why, and their feelings were kind of hurt about it. And there was some processing to do there, right? Some grief to do there. Maybe it's a dream that you had personally, that you quietly let go of and didn't really talk to anyone about it or share it, or are realizing now might never come to be maybe it's something that you thought, oh, one day I'm going to do that, or go to this place or experience this thing, and now you're realizing like, oh, that's stuff that maybe is never going to happen for me. Maybe it's a feeling that you've outgrown your community or your workplace or even your own role in your family. You know life isn't static or stagnant. Things are growing and shifting and changing, and perhaps as we grow and shift and change, we are outgrowing some relationships or experiences or ways that we've shown up in different places. So maybe there's also a version of you that couldn't come with you into this next phase. There's parts of you that you've left behind, or just things that aren't fitting in your life anymore. We can also very real be mourning a collective experience, injustice, global loss, forced military takeover of our communities. Environmental grief, maybe it's something culturally that you don't agree to anymore, or that just doesn't feel like home anymore to you, more of like a collective experience that we're grieving as an individual, that's a real thing, even, quote, unquote, good changes, graduations, big, exciting moves, someone accepting a new, wonderful job across the country, a marriage, a promotion. Sometimes even these really wonderful things can carry some unspoken grief. Remember joy and grief often travel together. There are kind of two sides of the spectrum of the same type of emotion. I often tell people to the depth to which we loved something is to the depth to which we need to grieve that thing when we don't have it or when it shifts to a different way in our experience, the spiritual perspective. To hear is really that grief is sacred. We don't always talk about it like that in our day to day lives, but it's a sacred experience. It's not a weakness, it's not a detour, it's not something to rush through. It's not always comfortable, but it is a portal, and a nine year unprocessed grief has this way of surfacing, not to like overwhelm us or to force us into a direction, but instead, it's to be integrated and transmuted to help us move forward and to allow us that freedom to heal What's no longer serving us and move and grow into these more expanded or updated versions of ourselves, what we allow ourselves to grieve, we can finally release and move through. On the other side of that coin, if we do not allow ourselves to grieve or to acknowledge or to process and release, we can have kind of these festering subconscious emotions, and sometimes we even can unconsciously develop behaviors tied to these emotions or these losses. For example, have you ever held on to a dress or a pair of jeans or a suit, or even gasp A swimsuit from a version of yourself that realistically won't return. I I had to do that in my last move. I had some custom swimsuits that I was hanging on to that this version of me, this 47 year old version of me, she not going to fit into those ever again, and I wasn't holding on to them in a nostalgic memory box, type of a way I was holding on to them in a way that was kind of not very nice to myself, and pressuring myself and remembering a previous standard that I held myself to. So do you have anything like that, like an article of clothing that's not like, Oh, my sentimental like, for example, I have my captain's jacket from high school cheerleading that's nostalgic in a in a happy way. It's not in a way that's like mean to myself. Do you have? Do you have something like that, like an item that you're hanging on to from a version of you that realistically is not returning? So it can even be kind of in a in a small, seemingly unseen or insignificant way like that. So some questions to reflect on with this, what do you need to grieve is, what part of me or my life or my past am I quietly mourning without realizing it? Often grief is happening. It's it's in that sometimes when someone says like, Oh, something just feels off and I don't know what it is, or I just don't feel as happy as I think I should be. Given all these wonderful things in my life. Sometimes this is part of our lives or our past that we're kind of quietly mourning without realizing it. So it could be that, is there anything in my past that ended abruptly or prematurely that kind of sticks with me. You know, sometimes we have those things in our past, of someone that left abruptly, we didn't get the closure, and that kind of sticks with us. It's the sticking with you that is kind of a good clue that there's something there that needs to be addressed or looked at or grieved or felt. What loss big or small still carries a little sting when you think of it or when you unexpectedly are reminded of it. It could be the loss of an old relationship, for example, break, a breakup, a breakdown of a relationship, that you still have a little just sting in your emotions when you are unexpectedly reminded of it. It just means there's a little more grieving to do. It's not, not a way to judge yourself, but just know well, there's more emotions here to look at, to process, to potentially grieve. And the last here is what goodbye did I never really say out loud or even to myself. Sometimes we need that little bit of closure, that little bit of goodbye. I'm going to share an optional gentle practice. It's a gentle grief witnessing exercise. You could choose to do it or not. You could save it for another time, but it's in a supportive exercise. So I know some of you are like me and like like a practical exercise or something to play with. So here it is. This is a soul farewell letter. So I just kind of invite you to sit down at some point when you're able and write a letter to what you've lost. It could be an old version of yourself. It could be an actual relationship or person. It could be a favorite item I had, like a beloved bear that was from someone who's not on this earth plane anymore, that I lost, and I had a lot of grief over that. Clearly, I still remember when I was a kid. So even if what you feel like you lost, or what's coming to your awareness as something that you can work some emotions around. Even if it was like a long time ago, or feels like it would be small or insignificant to someone else, or kind of subtle, you don't need to explain it to anyone else. Is just for you, and you don't need to send this letter. So if it's about a person, don't feel like you need to, like, go private, investigating and find someone to send them this letter. You don't really have to keep it. I have a dear friend who does exercises like this, and then we'll burn them, and they have like, a fire pit outside in their place that's safe, always, always fire safety. So you could, you don't have to keep it. You could destroy it in some way, if that felt right to you. If you didn't want to keep it, it's just giving the loss a voice is part of healing sometimes. So for example, you could start this letter to yourself, or to this grief, this this thing that you've lost, dear old dream, maybe when you're a kid, you had a dream of what your life would look like, and this, ain't it so dear old dream, or Dear version of me who thought we'd stay forever. You know, I've had clients that that went through a divorce, a breakdown of a relationship, or a dissolution of a partnership. And even though it was the best, most aligned decision for them, they still carried some guilt, because they thought, you know, I made this commitment and I thought I was going to stay forever. So dear version of me who thought we'd stay forever. Dear city I left. This is a good one, dear identity that I no longer wear. So it's that sort of an idea. Maybe it's something like a physical item you lost. Maybe it's a place that you lost connection with a version of yourself, a dream job, a career that you didn't pursue. Maybe it's a high school sweetheart that you didn't get closure with, that you just want to privately do some closure and again, you could choose to burn the letter in a safe, symbolic release. You could read it out loud during a quiet moment, just to yourself, and do some mirror work if you wanted. You could place it under a candle or a crystal as like a blessing of this closure. You could keep it in a journal, if you like, to kind of review and remember things that you're working on. There's no right or wrong way to do this. I encourage you to carry the reflection gently. This isn't something we want to like be hard on ourselves about. This is just This is gentle. This is playful. This is our summary, summary stuff to look at episode. So carry this reflection gently and remember you don't have to solve this grief today. Grief is not something we solve. Just notice what wants to be seen or felt or acknowledged, be available, to have your memory jogged or triggered or your emotions touched this let this reflection kind of walk with you throughout the summer, in those quiet moments, in moments of laughter, in solitude or in community, whatever it shows up for you as grief doesn't mean something is broken. It means something mattered to you. So hopefully you can work that question and come to some clarity, to do some release for this nine year. That question number two was, what grief or closure needs to be witnessed? Question number three of these five questions to ask yourself halfway through this nine year, where is there still clutter? Energetic, emotional or physical? Okay, so we talked about the importance of decluttering during a nine year. A nine year is kind of like spiritual composting. Everything that's no longer serving your evolution, or anything that's not working for you anymore is coming up for sorting, for reevaluation. Some things are meant to be kept, of course, and others transformed, and many things are meant to be released entirely. And that doesn't have to be a total change in our lives. It could even be like, Oh, I'm going to work on my negative self talk and release that and fill it in with something else. Clutter blocks, clarity, clutter of all kinds, not just physical clutter. If you've been asking for a sign or a breakthrough and it feels like it's not coming, or that energy is not stirring. Check your energetic closet, so to speak. What are you hanging on to that you know you need to declutter from your life, from your emotional space, from your head space, from your energy, whatever it might be, clutter isn't just stuff, even though that's often how we think about it, and I've definitely listened to lots of helpful podcasts about decluttering, like your kitchen, for example. But it's not just stuff, it's anything that no longer belongs. It can show up as unfinished conversations that weigh on your heart or your spirit. It can show up as a closet of clothes that just don't match who you're becoming. It can show up as digital clutter. Maybe there's emails that you're avoiding or people you need to unfollow or unfriend, or things on your feed that just are toxic or, yeah, not not moving your energy in a way that's in alignment with your future, right? So kind of you? I think a lot of people are on their phones a lot. You could take a few minutes and do some digital decluttering, if you wanted to. It could be emotional loops, for example. Maybe it's guilt or what ifs or keeping tabs on people that you've outgrown. Have you ever done that kind of keep checking on someone that you've well outgrown? I've really worked the energy of that one, so that's not one for me, but if you are doing that, I highly invite you to really just see if you can do some release around that. For some it's calendar chaos. Maybe you notice that, particularly in summer, you say yes to everything, but then you feel drained by most of it, because you're just overfilling your calendar, and maybe you're gonna get clear about that. Maybe it's energetic over commitments for you being too available, too accommodating, or too like entangled or enmeshed or CO dependent with people. It's just something to start looking at and and taking stock of as we cruise through the rest of this nine year. A spiritual perspective, or some thoughts on this is every object or thought or commitment holds energy. I know we've talked about this in the more psychic episodes where, like items, physical items hold energy, but soda, thoughts and commitments and other stuff that we're holding on to that's non physical. Your emotion about each object or thought or commitment also holds a vibrational frequency. So it's not just the item itself, it's what it invokes in you. Does it stir your emotions? Does it trigger you? Do you have things that you hold on to that it's not like a memory in a positive way that you're hanging on to and you become emotional. It's a memory in a negative way that you're hanging on to and becoming emotional. It's not that emotions are bad. They're not, but it's just being aware of that vibrational frequency of the the stuff of our lives, and what it triggers, or how it resonates in us. I'm going to give you an example, hopefully make this a little more grounded. If you're, for example, surrounded by things that you have resentments towards. Let's just use this example, a dearly a daily carpool. Maybe, maybe you agree to be part of a carpool, like you have kids in school still, and you resent that you have to drive this freaking carpool and something like that. Maybe for you, it's like a vase that you hate, that a family member gave you for a special occasion, and you keep it up in your home or office out of guilt. Maybe it's like we were talking about in the last example, a pair of jeans that you haven't fit into in 15 years that stare at you from the corner of your closet with judgment, something like that. So the things that you have resentments towards, right? And then they're surrounding you. You're surrounding yourself with things that create a vibrational frequency of resentment, of disappointment, of shame, of guilt. It's not those genes, it's that emotion that they invoke in you. It's that you feel like they're judging you, or you feel like it's giving you some kind of guilt or shame or disappointment. It's the vibrational frequency of the emotion that these items create in you. It's not the item themselves, that vase could have gone anywhere to anyone, and could be just as happy living in the closet, or the goodwill that vase has nothing about it. It's It's what it's bringing up in you that you have it up on your whatever shelf and you hate it. So it's really more about you than the tangible item. In a nine year the universe is telling you lighten your load. What can you sweep away? Not out of punishment, right? It's not trying to take things away from us, to punish us, but to make room for what's next. I used to do this thing with my kids when they were little. Around the holidays. We'd do kind of a quote, unquote spring cleaning version, where it's any toys that they felt like they could share with another kid now that they didn't need to own themselves, but that they could share. And that's how we'd sort of do this decluttering before the holidays, where they'd get a bunch of new gifts or toys or whatever so, and kind of think of it like that, like we need to release some things, not out of punishment, but to make new for what's going to be next, to help you step more fully, not the vibrational frequency of who you were, but of what You want to attract next, what you want to experience, what you want to create more of not holding you in this prison of who you used to be and what you used to want, right? So here's some questions to reflect on as we think about creating more of what we want, what in my life feels like it takes up more energy than it gives back. Oh, I know that's a tight one, because sometimes we feel like we have obligations, right? I'm going to give you some examples of how to work this in just a second, but let me give you these questions first. So what in my life feels like it takes up more energy than it gives back? Where do I feel heaviness, obligation and resentment? Those aren't great feelings. So. So if I cleared just one thing, physical or emotional, what would bring me the most relief? If I could just, like, release one thing, a physical thing, an emotional thing, what would bring me the most relief? As you go through these questions, start to understand and lean into your why, so I'm going to give you an example to hopefully help kind of gel this in, because this tool is so easy, but it's so powerful. Maybe in your mind, as we're going through these questions, you're thinking, I did subscribe to a carpool. I do feel resentment towards it, and I would love to get rid of that carpool. And maybe initially, as you're thinking about it, you feel resentful about driving that carpool, but then as you start to dig into your why, so, okay, drive this carpool. I hate that I have to do this carpool, and what I'm telling you is like start to understand and lean into your why. So as you start to dig into your why with this carpool, you remember that actually one of the reasons that you decided to be a part of the carpool is because splitting up the ride sharing duties allows you to work late one evening each week so that you can leave early on a different evening, and you don't have to miss the soccer games that you really want to go to for your kiddo. So in this example, remembering this why? This reason probably doesn't make the carpool any easier or make it suck any less, to be honest, but remembering the reason you do like it or do want it can help adjust your emotions or attitude and therefore shift your energetic vibration about it. So it's not going to change the carpool these annoying kids that you got to pick up, whatever it is, but it can change your attitude as you go about it, because you realize, like, Oh, I'm so grateful I get to leave early one day a week. Even though I don't love this carpool, I love the outcome. This is awesome. Instead of being resentful and grumpy, it can change your energetic vibration about it. Okay, I'm gonna give you another example, in case that one didn't do it for you. This example, maybe you come to the awareness like, what's, what could you release? What's one thing that's either taken more than it's given, or one thing that you're like, I just really like to release this thing. Maybe for you, it's, I no longer enjoy spending time with my longtime friend. Let's call her Maya. Why specifically do you no longer enjoy spending time with her. Well, maybe you say joy. Here's the truth. All she does is complain and spread negativity. And even if I try to suggest an easy change or solution or a book that might help her, or suggest therapy, it seems like she just wants us to complain and be unhappy, and she doesn't want anyone around her to share good things in their own life, or talk about positive things. And it's been like this for years, actually, and I'm taking this from a recent coaching so that's why I have so much content for it. And the question, I guess, is, then, is, why are you friends with her? Right? So if it's like, I just I, I just know I no longer feel good spending time with this friend. We've been friends a long time, but I just don't enjoy spending time with her. Okay, why do you no longer enjoy spending time? She's a downer. She's an energy vampire. I don't love it. Why are you friends with her? Well, partly, I guess, because we've known each other since we were young, and partly out of guilt, I guess so in this case, understanding the why might bring more clarity around. Okay, well, maybe a 21 year old version of me got along with Maya really well, but I've grown, and actually, I've maybe grown and changed to where we're not in a similar place anymore. So maybe, you know, 37 year old me doesn't want to be friends in the same way with Maya anymore. So that's something to evaluate. It might be a full release of that relationship. It might just be that you don't allow it to take up time on your calendar anymore. So you get to choose. You have full choice, but evaluating these things as we're moving through the rest of this nine year just can be so, so powerful. So it's not even what are you feeling like you would want to declutter or release, but, but why? Why do you have that thing in the first place? Why you hanging on to it? Why do you feel that way? So it's really leaning into that. Why? So I have another optional practice for you. This is a sacred inventory checklist. I really invite you for the next like month, just pick one category this month and gently assess. So this is kind of your invitation for this practice. I'm not saying you have to do a whole life overhaul. Maybe that's too much for you, but maybe just pick one area of your life. Maybe it's your physical space, your digital world, right? Your Devices. Maybe it's your inner dialog that you're going to work on or be aware of. Maybe it's your calendar, if you're like someone, that the calendar is just too much for you. Or maybe it's your relationships, if you. Want to kind of do a big excavation and really just simply notice, as you move through the summer what makes me feel heavy and what makes me feel open. So if you're going to do your digital world, for example, Azure, whatever it is for you, maybe it's emails, maybe it's content that you're taking in, maybe you're creating what makes me feel heavy and what makes me feel open, right? That's the evaluation, if it's your inner dialog, same thing, what that I'm saying inside to myself makes me feel heavy, heavy hearted, heavy emotion, just heavy in the energy. Or what makes me feel open, open? I love that open, breezy light, right? So choose what area of your life, whatever you like, and just start to notice this next month, or maybe through the summer, what makes you feel heavy and what makes you feel open, kind of like these two little scales or a little meter within you. And I just want to encourage you as you reflect, not everything you feel resistance towards is meant to be cut out. Sometimes it's an invitation to reconnect to your deeper why. When you understand what's underneath the discomfort, whether it's resentment or fatigue or disconnection, you gain clarity about whether something truly needs to go or maybe it just needs to shift, or maybe some new agreements need to be made, right, so that you can be living more in alignment with what you want to experience and who you are. Some things drain us because they've expired. That's certainly true. Other things drain us because we've forgotten why we chose them in the first place. So let this be a compassionate, curious exploration, not a judgment. Don't self judge. It's not helpful. You don't have to overhaul your life this summer, but noticing what feels heavy or misaligned or just kind of off creates space for healing and honesty and conscious choices, and that's hopefully what we're all moving towards, more consciously choosing where we spend our time and energy from a soul aligned place, rather from, rather than from this place of like guilt or obligation, because that just breeds more resentment. Decluttering doesn't always mean walking away. It can mean recommitting with fresh energy, like the carpool. It can mean shifting the terms. It can mean blessing something for the role that it played, and gently letting it fade away like thanks and no longer need you. There's no right or wrong answer here, just truth and your truth and the freedom that comes when you honor your own truth. That brings us to number four on the list of these five questions to be considering as we move into the second half of this nine year energy. What roles or personas Am I being asked to retire? This is an interesting one, because, like we were talking about, life isn't stagnant as we move and as time moves, things change. Kids grow. Our experience deepens. Sometimes we might get more clarity about a relationship or a job or a way of being. A nine year invites you to release not just situations or relationships but versions of yourself that you've outgrown. Many of us are walking around still performing roles that we learned in our childhood. Maybe we learned them through crisis or through survival at different parts in our life, but what once protected or defined You may now be keeping you small, is that true anywhere in your life? Let's think about it this mid year moment is a powerful time to ask. Is the way I'm showing up, still true to who I've become? Sometimes we're just living out old patterns, common rules that may indicate that you're ready to shift right? I'm going to give you some common roles, and I just want you to let it wash over you. Remember, non judgmental space here for yourself. Let these roles wash over you, as I say them, and just see, am I wearing this role? Do I still want to wear this role? Is this still in alignment? Is the way I'm showing up, still true to who I've become. Here's some common roles that may be ready to shift. The Fixer or healer. This is the one that's always helping others, even when you're totally depleted yourself, the strong one. This involves, like, hiding your pain to keep it together for everyone else. The strong one, the overachiever, doing more to prove your worth, not because you love doing more, but to prove your worth. That's kind of a key. The Peacemaker, This often involves swallowing your truth to keep everything or everyone at peace, the people pleaser. I know. I know all of these pretty well, saying yes, even when your soul is saying no. As the people pleaser, the compliant one, also known as the good girl or the good guy, blending in, not rocking the boat, total fear of dis. Approval, just wanting to be compliant. Go along to get along, right? Be a good girl or a good guy, the doormat. You have no boundaries, and you allow yourself to be walked on. I've definitely played all of these roles at different times. The victim, everything happens to you. Woe is me is often the plight of the victim. These roles often started from love or necessity or cultural conditioning, but into nine year, they begin to feel like costumes that no longer fit. Maybe you don't feel like you need to be the strong one for everyone else. Maybe you have grown and done personal development and realized, Oh, your emotions matter too, and you're not required to hide your pain or put yourself to the side and sacrifice everything for everyone else. You matter too. Maybe you've learned that, and so now you no longer need to play the role of the strong one all the time. This is about growth, transition, evolution. We're always growing out of certain thoughts, beliefs, fears and expanding into more fully expressed versions of ourselves. Hopefully, we do have free will, and we can refuse to grow and evolve or even drag our feet. But if you're here, my best bet is that you're growing and evolving, and you're showing up and you're trying. That's all that's really required, is showing up and continuing to try. Here's some questions to reflect on with this one, who do I automatically become in certain situations or relationships, and does that version of me feel authentic? We often see this around the holidays, but I know a lot of people in summer do, like summer trips, like back home, wherever that is, or like a family reunions or family gatherings. This is a really interesting time to evaluate this one. I think of it most around holidays. I think that's when it's maybe the most talked about, just in online in general, but like when you go back home to visit family or to a family reunion, do you slip into an old version of yourself, like, Who do you automatically become in those certain relationships or situations, and does that still feel authentic to you? So if you do have any kind of family togetherness coming up, this is a great time to evaluate that. Or even like a work retreat or a work meeting, you can evaluate it in any area of your life. The next thing to reflect on what part of me feels tired of holding up an image or an expectation or an identity. Sometimes we hold on to an identity because our family of origin expects that of us, and so we hold on to it even though we feel tired and it doesn't feel genuine to us. If I stopped performing this role, what would I gain and what might I lose? Because the next thing, if you notice you're stepping into a role, or kind of playing a role, or wearing a costume of a an archetype, all right, so if I stopped performing this role, what would be better or what would be worse? And the last question here to kind of reflect on is, what version of me am I secretly longing to express more fully, or even to know more deeply? Because often, if we're stepping into these old versions of us or these old expected roles, there's another part of us lingering just under the surface that is wanting to be more fully expressed, that is secretly longing to come to the surface more or be known more deeply, right? It's who you're growing into, who you're becoming more of. From a spiritual perspective or some thoughts, your soul didn't come here to perform. It came here to embody so retiring a role or a version of you that you used to step into, or a role you used to play, isn't a rejection, it's an integration. It's choosing presence over pretense. In a nine year, you're being invited to stop proving and start being. That really struck it for me that that line, in a nine year, you're invited to stop proving and start being so maybe just kind of lightly, be evaluating, where am I proving versus being right? An optional little practice for you, the mask meditation. You have to do this right now, but when you're able, you kind of just close your eyes for this exercise, and you start to evaluate from within, what mask Am I still wearing that no longer feels like me. Because if we think about this as more masking or costuming, these roles that we step into almost like an exaggerated, imaginary version of it, it can make it even a little more clear when we're doing it, what part of me is ready to step forward instead? Because if we can retire one of these roles, maybe there's a different, evolved part of you that can step in and take over in that area. What you can journal about, what you see or feel. Just let yourself write without edit. Editing like you can as you kind of ponder these questions, or go to that family reunion, or engage with people from your past or people from your maybe different areas of your life, your community, your place of worship, your place of work, just kind of evaluating and just take some notes or do some journaling about what you sense or seal see or feel, let yourself write without editing, or you can even if you discover, oh, there is a role that you're stepping into, a version of you who held a role. You can kind of write another little letter, a thank you letter for that version of you and their service, and then ask what your soul wants to step into next. I want to offer a little gentle reminder here retiring a role or a version of yourself. It doesn't mean you failed at it. It means you no longer need it to feel safe or seen or worthy. The more aligned that you become, the less performance is required. You're not like performing yourself as a personality. You're just being yourself. You don't have to try to be you. You get to just be okay. That brings us to my fifth and final of these things that we're considering in this halfway through the nine year soul check in these five questions to align and take charge. Let's come to this fifth question. What are you preparing for. And are you aligned with what's coming? Spoiler alert, you still have half the year to get aligned. In case you are feeling like, oh my gosh, I can't believe we're already you know, towards the end of June as the time this is going to release, and what am I going to do? You still have half the year to prepare. So what are you preparing for? And are you aligned with what's coming next for you? The second half of a nine year is a sacred threshold, while the energy of Completion is still present as part of this year, the space it's clearing isn't empty, it's fertile. So what you tend to right now, even in small, seemingly invisible ways, becomes the foundation of your next cycle. This isn't about hustling. I know we can get into that hustle culture pretty easily, so you're not trying to hustle yourself into something new. It's about becoming intentional with the energies that you carry forward into the rest of 2025 and beyond, of course. So think of it as spiritual stage prep. If you're getting ready for your next act in a play, right blend the energies at play. So this moment is potent both and right. It doesn't have to be so black and white, one or the other. I'm releasing this and I'm becoming this. It's kind of a both and, right? You're still being asked to release What's no longer for you, but you're also being asked to begin preparing for who you're becoming or what you want to experience next. We experience versions of this energetic threshold many, many times in our lives. It's almost the energy of finishing middle school or getting ready to move on to high school, or maybe finishing high school and getting ready to move on to college or college to work. We've made many transitions in our lives, and you've learned a lot about who you are and become so much but now you're transitioning into the next phase, right? And there's still time to prepare. So I'm going to give you some soul questions to explore for this. What are you preparing for, and are you ready? Right? What are you preparing for, and are you aligned with? What's coming next for you? These questions sound like, what parts of me feel like they're quietly becoming something new. Often, we even lightly, subconsciously, become aware of ourselves changing or becoming interested in different things, or even curiosity about new things. And we often become aware of these things well before we share them with anyone in the world, even a closest friend or confidant, so just starting to feel into within yourself, what parts of me are feeling like they're quietly becoming something new, what internal seeds have been whispering to me, nudging me towards a new direction or a new role or a new thing to explore? Am I setting up systems, boundaries or intentions that support who I'm becoming, not who I've been. This is a tough one, because we are who we are in this moment, but we're all becoming new versions of ourselves and evolving all the time. Hopefully, so are you setting up boundaries that are supportive to who you're wanting to become? It doesn't mean you have to do it as you've always done it, but you can kind of be thinking and feeling forward and setting up those supportive structures for yourself. What kind of supportive structures, energetic, emotional or practical does Future Me need? Maybe it's therapy, maybe it's as a personal assistant. Maybe. It's just some different support around the roles you're releasing and what you're stepping into, right? But just starting to think about, okay, this person, that I'm becoming this version of me, that I'm continuing to step into the stuff I want to create, what supportive structures, energetic, emotional, practical, need to be in place for future me. What foundational spiritual or energy management practices could support me as I become future me, for example, I've talked about this before. This is a perfect time to work with a foundational practice like daily meditation, gratitude practice, even a mindfulness like being present. Practice working with your intuition, etc. What foundational spiritual or energetic management practices could support you as you become this future version of you as you call forward these things you want to experience next, I'm going to give you a little practice for this one. And again, these are just meant to be fun, playful things that you integrate through your summer or the season that you're in right now. This is an idea of building an invisible foundation. So for this, I invite you to pick one area of your life to begin preparing quietly behind the scenes. It could be clearing space on your calendar for more rest or creativity or collaborative meetings or aligned work, right? So you can most of us need to start working our calendar ahead. I know that's true for me. Is that true for you? So kind of looking ahead on your calendar for future you Okay? Could I, could I get a daily meditation in here? Could I carve out a time to be part of a group that I'm wanting to join, right? Maybe it's setting boundaries that reflect your values, that you're living into to create more of right? Maybe it's like for me, for example, a new thing that I've been trying is, first of all, I've been trying to take two days off. I'm only successful at it some of the time, but I try to have a 24 hour period where I'm not answering business emails. Not everyone's loving it, but I need it, and it's something that's supportive for me and who I'm growing into. So it could be something that feels kind of small like that, or easy to integrate just boundaries. What are your new boundaries, and what boundaries does this future version of you need that can be supportive? Maybe it's taking one micro step towards a long held dream. Maybe it's like buying the URL the.com right? Maybe it's creating the outline for the book or essay you want to write. Maybe it's asking for some help. Maybe you have a dream that you don't know how to move forward. So maybe you're gonna enlist some people that know a little more than you, some professionals, and ask for a little help. Maybe it's as simple as looking into that class or that group or that certification. Maybe it's updating your environment to reflect who you're growing into now, not just who you were. Of course, memories are powerful, and it's wonderful to keep happy memories or sentimental things around you, but maybe you're wanting to integrate and add some things that represent who you're becoming, the next version of you. For example, this could be as simple as ordering one of those, like nameplate plaque things that sits on your desk with your name and your future title on it. Maybe you're, you know, not owning your own business right now, but you're gonna get a little plaque for your desk at home with your name that says owner or CEO or president, whatever it is that you're wanting to grow into. Maybe it's as simple as just you writing down some affirmations that you can say to remind yourself who you're becoming. So this is kind of integrating a little bit of an invisible foundation. I want to just encourage you and remind you that you don't need to be ready, in a traditional sense, to grow into this next version of you. You're not preparing for like a grand arrival, right? It's not like you got house guests coming and you need to do all this preparation. You're preparing to meet yourself more fully, to express yourself more fully. These small shifts, these quiet preparations and honest adjustments, become just kind of like a scaffolding or support beams for a more aligned soul led life. And that's more than enough. So in closing, as we wrap up this episode, as we move through the second half of this nine year, remember, you're not late, you're not behind, you're right on time for the version of you that's ready to emerge. So whether you're gently noticing what you've been resisting or making space for quiet grief or closure, or maybe clearing emotional or energetic clutter from your space or your life, maybe you're working on retiring. Airing a role that no longer fits for you, or laying unseen groundwork for what's next. You're doing the real work that's soulful work, and this season, it's sacred. Let summer be your reset, let the light and heat support your clarity, let play stillness and truth telling guide your next steps, not pressure you or for those in the winter season now, allowing that season to help with this internal contemplation and expansion, trust that whatever you're tending to, releasing or reimagining right now, it's part of your own greater becoming. The second half of the nine year isn't a countdown, it's a preparation. So don't rush the blooming. Let the roots deepen. And if you haven't already checked out that nine themes for the nine year, I'm going to drop it in the show notes, and I highly recommend you check it out so you can see which of these themes you're already really noticing. It's pretty crazy, especially with the things that are coming up in our current events in the States. Some people that are heavily in the news right now, not just political, but also kind of social public figures. This is all in the themes. This was all in that episode that we talked about. You are going to be shocked at how these themes are playing out. I recently re listened to that episode, and it was so much fun, so I'll drop it in the show notes. It was released around the end of the year. It's called the nine themes for the nine year, what to expect in 2025 so highly encourage you to check that out. Have some fun with these questions, with these queries. I will run through them really quick again, before we go just the main questions, what are you resisting? Was the first one, what grief or closure needs to be witnessed is the second one, where is there clutter? Still, whether it's energetic, emotional or physical, so decluttering. The fourth one is, what roles or personas, am I being asked to retire? Think about taking off that costume, that superhero cape, and the fifth one is, what are you preparing for, and are you aligned with what's coming so these are delicious. These are fun. I highly encourage you to ponder and just let this energy roll around in your space, come to some recognitions and some clarity, so that you can really embrace what this nine year is offering you and prepare for what this one year, next year, in 2026 has for store. And remember, don't rush the blooming. Let the roots deepen. Big hugs. Lots of love. Bye for now from inside spirit, Speak Easy. You.