The Whole Shebang
The Whole Shebang Podcast is a space to explore our collective awakening, often through the lens of unifying the Divine Feminine and Masculine in order to experience our most whole lives.
Each week Jennifer connects with various teachers, authors, friends, heart centered leaders and creators on topics such as coming home to ‘Self,’ consciousness, sacred sexuality, manifestation, abundance, inner alchemy and personal growth.
These conversations are aimed at supporting people in connecting to their own inner knowing, power, and divinity, to enlighten their lived experience, and move people towards their fullest potential. The Whole Shebang Podcast is here to create an energetic space and channel where people are invited to re-member who we are as individuals, and as a collective.
It's with all the love, and so much joy that we invite you to to buckle up buttercups, because we’re diving in! - xx
The Whole Shebang
The 7 Hidden Phases of Transformation | Jen Briggs on Life Changes
"The change, the transition, the transformation - it's not just about the thing that's changing. In fact, it's very rarely about the thing that's changing. It's about you becoming somebody new."
Are you in the midst of a major life transition? In this episode, discover the seven universal phases of transformation that every change journey follows. Whether you're navigating career shifts, relationship evolution, or spiritual awakening, understanding these phases will help you stop fighting your current stage and start flowing with it.
We'll break down each phase of transformation - from disruption through rebirth - while offering profound insights about why we resist change and how to embrace the natural rhythm of personal evolution. Learn why your current discomfort might be exactly what you need for your next level of growth.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
06:03 The Seven Phases of Transformation
12:10 Self-Sourcing and Inner Wisdom
16:50 Integration and New Beginnings
24:53 Reflection and Questions for Growth
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The change, transition, the transformation. It's not just about the thing that's changing. What you're really wanting is to feel differently, to experience something different. Chase things because we think when we get there we're going to feel a certain way. It is the process that we go through on the way to the thing that actually gets us the feeling that we want.
Speaker 1:I would like to talk today about transition, about times in our life where we're going through change and that could be in any facet of your life, and I am, of course, as you know it's no surprise have been going through what I would describe really as like a rebirth again. It's like every seven years I have a huge career shift, or I've had a relationship shift, or I've had a move from my house, and over the last eight months, every major facet of my life has shifted, and so it's no surprise that I've been reflecting on the process of transition and change, the process of transformation. This can show up in really micro ways for us and small changes that are happening in our life. It can be maybe you fine-tuning your fitness or your nutrition or meditation or your spiritual beliefs. We're also seeing this on a really large scale in our society. Right now we're going through a huge transition with our presidential changeover. No matter what you, if you feel excited about it or not, it's causing a lot of unease in people unknown, and so we can see this on major scales. We can see this in nature and we can see this in our personal lives, and it might be see some of these I'm going to call them symptoms, but, yeah, signs that people that you're close to are going through a major transition.
Speaker 1:If we don't know what those phases of change, transition, transformation look like, it can be pretty confusing. So my hope today I'm going to provide you with these seven phases of transformation is that you can reflect back on times in your life and what that process has been like and potentially where you're at right now and some of the bigger things in your life and maybe some of the smaller things in your life. So when we look at transformation, we can start with, you know, like a typical starting place, which is called like a normal flow. It's where everything feels pretty stable and it's moving along. And if that's you, I don't know how you got there. So I'm like, has my life ever been? It has, but it just it feels like there's usually something kind of moving and undulating and evolving right.
Speaker 1:But first stage is normal flow. Life is PG, we've got stable teams, stable systems, reliable relationships, reliable career. Everything is just clipping along well. And stage two is where disruption happens. Sometimes disruption is our choice and sometimes it's not, but whether it's welcome or not, it's challenging no matter what. So disruption is when the shit hits the fan, and this stage can be very triggering and, in some ways, really positive. It can trigger reorganization in your industry or maybe in your work. It can trigger growth. It also can be triggered by things like illness, death, breakup, marriage. So you get the idea.
Speaker 1:Disruption is anything that interrupts the normal flow and during this phase we're getting hit with shock. It's like the shock of the challenge gets. It's hitting us. We move into phase three, which is lovingly called mayhem. Welcome to mayhem and confusion. So this initial shock at this point might still be existent, but now you're having the reality start to set in that this thing is actually happening, that this is your life, that you're living in, and normal day tasks can be tougher to complete. You might be confused, you might feel out of sorts, you might be making some decisions that you wouldn't have previously made. You could be feeling tired, irritated, depressed, angry. So the sort of how this phase manifests can look very similar to depression, and there might be depression associated with it too.
Speaker 1:During this phase it's also very common that you would be running from pain. You're running from the pain of disruption at this point often Not everybody, but most people do. You can do it with healthy quote, unquote healthy ways or unhealthy ways. So that might be running to work or people or the gym, or alcohol or love or sex or anything that distracts you from working through the challenge. It is so common that we want to escape the pain, whether we're doing it consciously or subconsciously. In a form of escape might even be numbing just numbing emotionally. We talk about that in a lot of these episodes that we think we're fine might even be numbing, just numbing emotionally. We talk about that in a lot of these episodes that we think we're fine because we're numbing.
Speaker 1:My experience has been and I've seen a lot of people that eventually the things that we numb or we shove down or we run from they catch up to us, and so if you're in this phase right now, my encouragement would be to you to face the pain, to work through it, whether you need to get help through a friend or a therapist, or it's journaling and processing on your own. And it might not be death. I mean, that's a real thing. It could be grief of something big, like the death of something big, lick the death of something. But it could also just be you know, somebody in your job quit and you've got to hire and you're annoyed because you've hired for that position three times in the last two years and so you're just you're just avoiding it and avoiding actually looking at the bigger picture, the bigger challenges, because there might be a bigger challenge. Maybe it's you, maybe it's the structure of the position. Instead, you're just kind of like okay, well, let's just keep going, we're just going to hire this thing. So be mindful, because we can be really tricky with ourselves at convincing ourselves that we're not avoiding the pain of the real problem. But when we slow down, often we realize we've been running from really dealing with the root of what's happening.
Speaker 1:Okay, that is phase three. Phase four this one can be confusing to the people in our world. We move into a form of hibernation. So the day-to-day chaos and confusion has for sure taken a toll on you at this point and the shock of stages two and three are starting to wear off. But this is the point when you go dormant, you hibernate, you get in a quiet cocoon. So I know it's pretty cliche, but you know how a caterpillar transforms. They have to go inward. So in an organization, in a healthy and I think this is a very healthy, necessary phase, that again, when we're in phase three and we're trying to avoid it, we might just try to like bypass this hibernation phase.
Speaker 1:But this is when we really start to do the inner work. It's a critical phase of facing our fears, uh, shames, old version of ourselves, guilt, shadows, um, it's a time when we are needing to consider letting things go, letting old patterns go, letting old limiting beliefs, ways of thinking, maybe letting relationships go go, letting old limiting beliefs, ways of thinking, maybe letting relationships go. But we need to do the inner work to discover what is happening. And in an organization this could look like a team really starting to dive in and investigate and pause and slow down, just slow down to speed up. But we've got to really start processing and looking at what's happening. So if it's on an individual level, we often during this time instinctively know that we need to separate ourselves from people. We need to create the space we need to create a cocoon, a safe space where we're not entrenched with old people and old patterns and we can really discover and change. Discover and change who we are and change, discover and change who we are.
Speaker 1:So this is a point when you're coming to terms with reality and you will probably start to feel peace. So this is the value of talking through all of the phases, because if you're in phase two, if shit just hit the fan for you, there will come a day when you'll work through the hard stuff and you will feel peace again. A day when you'll work through the hard stuff and you will feel peace again. This is the hibernation phases, when you start to exhale and realize there's a light at the end of this tunnel. There really is. This is where the healing begins. This phase in the process is where the healing begins.
Speaker 1:So then we move into phase five, which is called self-sourcing, and it's during this time that you realize that the only way that you're really going to come out on the other side of this is knowing that you are the source of the answers that you need. It's really easy to be during this phase, looking to everybody else for what their opinion is, and I am a huge believer of having sort of a cabinet of people around you, a wise counsel that you can go to and hear perspective, because we all have blind spots. So hear me on that. I think that's important that we do that. But at the end of the day, you know you have the answers that you need in order to work through this problem. You know what you need to shed, what needs to be let go of. You know what your potential is. You know what your team's potential is, what your business, you know what the potential is of the relationship. You know it. You know it deep in your gut and I know that you know it. If you don't know it, if you don't feel confident in your knowing, today you can borrow my belief. I know that you have everything that you need, and so it's during this phase five that you start to realize that you are a source of wisdom, of intuitive knowing, of power, of the ability to navigate this challenge and come out on the other side stronger than you were. So you get what you need by finding it from within, and your instinct during this phase is going to bring you back to self. So clarity during this time is going to show up in a variety of ways that include self-reflection, journaling, meditation. Time is going to show up in a variety of ways that include self-reflection, journaling, meditation, getting in tune with your body.
Speaker 1:It's no surprise that I would say that Oftentimes we run from our pain by staying in our mind, and so our mind loops, loops, loops, loops, loops. It creates anxiety, it creates depression, it creates this sense of feeling stuck. It's partially we are avoiding the pain that resides in our body that we need to move through. So it's during this time that it's really important that we're getting back in touch with our body and paying attention to what it's speaking to to us in symptoms and cues and and butterflies, and our gut, the way it literally feels, the feelings, like sensation of it. Also, just paying attention to your dreams. Your subconscious is really powerful. I believe it's connected to a higher source and so it speaks to us symbolically, often through our dreams. So what's happening there? What is your mind trying to work through and resolve and solve for you?
Speaker 1:We're digging up the earth at this point. That's what I like to say. We're asking questions that at one time you might've been too afraid, too ashamed, moving too quickly to even pause and ask. So whether it's at work and you're going, hey, let me slow down and really investigate and ask the real questions that we haven't wanted to ask or had the time or made the time to do. It's the same thing in your personal life. This is when you're really digging up the earth. You're really getting courageous with yourself and what you know to be right and true.
Speaker 1:And as we're moving into, or transitioning into, the next phase, this is also a time when you're going to start feeling this sort of fight rising up in you. It's a fight to protect your change. It's your new ways of thinking, acting, habits. It might be a new, a new venture in your business, something that you're putting out there, but you're feeling a fight. And if we bring it back to the butterfly analogy, you all probably know I'm sure you could Google a video on this before the butterfly breaks free of the cocoon, it starts flexing its wings. There's this fight that's happening, that is strengthening its wings so that it can break out and once it does, it can fly. It's no different with us. There's this sort of flex of muscle that starts to happen. But simultaneously, we're still protecting the change, and that's really important.
Speaker 1:That, as you're sharing with people, whether it's personal or professional, about what, what the transition is, what the transformation is, there is an element sometimes of us needing to protect and maybe this goes back to the hibernation phase, but I think it's important to note because if you have somebody in your world that's going through this transition and they're hibernating and they're in this self-sourcing phase, it might look like they've cut you off in a rude way. But maybe they've cut you off because you're not for them anymore, maybe they're outgrowing you I hate to say it, but it's true so you could choose to grow with them. But also they might just be protecting their change, because when you've got sort of an embryonic idea or or something that is just starting to come to light, it's pretty scary to just hold that out in the open and expect it to stay safe. And some of those ideas in us might be ones that we don't bring all the way to fruition, and so it may not be worth exposing it out of the gate. So, anyhow, this is a time when we're still sort of protecting what is what is happening, but we're. We're building these muscles to break out and get ready to come into the next phase, which is integration. So phase six, integration, is when we start to see the new like with more clarity. We start to see the new possibilities and pathways. So the habits are changing and we're starting to integrate new tools and new insights that we've learned from the past two phases and we're starting to slowly unfold. So, whether it's slowly unfold these bits of ourself that we're, that we have grown into and are changing, or maybe we're still slowly starting to unfold the vision for whatever the next chapter is in the business, but're still slowly starting to unfold the vision for whatever the next chapter is in the business, but this is slowly starting to come forward and you're getting ready.
Speaker 1:You're kind of feeling yourself walking up to the edge of the cliff and take that proverbial big leap. You can feel the change happening and you're right there, but you're not quite ready yet. Change happening and you're right there, but you're not quite ready yet, and that's that kind of oh. There's nothing like that place when you're standing at that cliff and sometimes you're jumping into a really exciting new venture and sometimes you're jumping out of something that's really hard to leave. And you know that once you jump and pull the ripcord and the parachute comes out, that there's no like putting the parachute back in, there's no putting the conversation back in your mouth. And if you're there today, if you're at that precipice, getting ready to take a leap deep, I'm with you in spirit and I'm reminding you today that you have everything you need. You have the words, you have the courage, you have the strength, you have the ability. And when you know that, you know that, you know that, you know that, you know that knowing is your power, there's nothing left to do at that point but to jump. So you got to jump. You don't have to jump. But do you want to keep living the way you've been living? No, don't talk yourself off the ledge, jump, okay.
Speaker 1:And once you jump, you're in the next phase, which is newness, it's phase seven. This is when you can take a breath and realize you did it. You did it. You did the thing that was so hard to do. The fight wasn't for nothing. At this point, when you're looking, when you're at that cliff if we back up to that place and you're getting ready to jump, you've worked really fucking hard, you've dug up the earth. You've done a lot of internal work. You've had really tough conversations with yourself, with other people. You're at that precipice right now and all you have left to do is make that one big final decision and know that on the other side of that is newness. It is newness. It is something different and more powerful that has been begging to of. That is newness. It is newness. It is something different and more powerful that has been begging to be birthed within you. So when you take that leap, when you break out of the cocoon, you can look back and realize you did it. You've come through the fire, you came out on the other side and you have a new outlook on life In a very practical way.
Speaker 1:You'll see some people. They might start to dress different, they might start to sound different than they did in the past. You know that it's possible to become someone new. And if you know me at all and what I believe, that all of this isn't just about, it's not really about the circumstance. It's so important I should have started here. So important I should. I should have started here.
Speaker 1:But the change, the transfer, transition, the transformation, it's not just about the thing that's changing. In fact, it's very rarely about the thing that's changing. It's about you changing, you becoming somebody new and feeling the way that person feels when the circumstance has changed. What you're really wanting is to feel differently, to experience something different, and so the circumstance is going to allow for a different feeling or a different way of being. We often think we're chasing things, or we do. We chase things because we think when we get there we're going to feel a certain way, and sometimes it is the process that we go through on the way to the thing that actually gets us the feeling that we want Because we've got to become somebody new, we've got to become somebody stronger if we're going to be the kind of person who takes the risk and does the inner work and realizes our opportunities to sharpen and soften and all of the things. So that's what it's about.
Speaker 1:Now I have for you. I love a good book quote. I love a great book. I'm reading like 10 at a time. In fact. I have a problem I keep ordering books and I can't read them fast enough. So I've got a few quotes for you today and, if any one of them strikes you, I found it to be really helpful to me to like, take these quotes and, if there's one that stands out, put it on a post-it on my mirror, or put it on my dashboard in the car, or turn it into a photo and screenshot it and put it on the backdrop or what's called screensaver of the phone, because those things remind me of why I'm doing what I'm doing and where I'm heading and what the truths are. So here are a few quotes for you around transition, transformation and change.
Speaker 1:Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. That's Lao Tzu, I think that's how you say his last name, t-s-u Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. And that speaks to me, to that period of waiting, of hibernation, when we don't have clarity around what's next, that it's so tempting to try to hurry up and change. But the real opportunity is to hurry up and wait, wait, wait in the change, wait in the transformation. There's a lot happening that we can't control, that we can't muscle through, but to understand that nature has a very beautiful, natural way of evolving, of having these old things die and new things be born. So we don't need to hurry it up, we need to allow it to happen the way that it's supposed to happen, anis Nin, and the day came when the risk to remain tied in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. That was my North Star during the biggest times of transformation of my life, because it was so tempting to remain where I was, to stay that person, to stay in those circumstances. But I started to feel the truth of the pain, that the risk to stay, the risk to be tied in the bud, was more painful. It really was. It was more painful than the risk that it took to blossom and to become.
Speaker 1:This one's from Clarissa Pinkola Estes, from the book Women who Run With the Wolves. It's a little bit longer Story time with Jen. Here we go. This is our meditation practice as women, calling back the dead and dismembered aspects of ourselves, calling back the dead and dismembered aspects of life itself. The one who recreates from that which has died is always a double-sided archetype. The creation mother is always also the death mother, and vice versa. Because of this dual nature or double tasking, the great work before us is to learn to understand what around and about us and what within us must live and what must die.
Speaker 1:Our work is to apprehend the timing of both, to allow what must die to die and what must live to live must live to live. I love this quote, you guys. I love it so much. Our work is to apprehend the timing of both, to allow what must die to die and what must live to live. This one's so huge to me.
Speaker 1:We so often hold on to things that are dying. We just hold on by like our nails and we cling to it, and our work is to apprehend the timing. And our work is to apprehend the timing to know, the timing to know and to let the thing die when it's time to die. We only cause ourselves and the people around us and our society and our working environments more harm when we hold on. When it's time to let the thing die, we also must let live what must live. So oftentimes there are things in our life, I think, that have been begging. They've been just like crying out to be nourished, a creative project, a new potential relationship, a softness within yourself that there are these different aspects that need to live, that are withering, they're withering and they're just like they need a breath, they need air, and so we must apprehend the timing of both. So what in your life needs to die and what in your life needs to breathe and be born.
Speaker 1:Okay, a few questions for reflection for you. Look at the person next to you. We always used to say this in church I went to like a Pentecostal church for years and they'd say turn to the person next to you and say amen, sister, or something like that. So you can turn to the person next to you and say, grab your pen and paper. So you can turn to the person next to you and say grab your pen and paper. Here's a couple of questions to reflect on after we leave mini bang church. All right, hardy, gave you the two.
Speaker 1:What's something that is asking to die so something new can be born? What are you gripping when life is asking you to surrender? What old story keeps pulling you backward? What wisdom lives in your discomfort, in that pain, in that cycle of transformation? What wisdom is in that place for you? What becomes possible if you trust this timing? Where is not knowing actually protecting you? What are you being prepared for? How might this waiting be the work? What could releasing control create magic? Or, sorry, where could releasing control create magic? What version of you is being birthed? How is transformation serving your evolution? Oh, I could cry. What if you're exactly where you need to be, my friends, what if you're exactly where you need to be? We resist, we resist, we resist. But what if you're exactly where you need to be? Okay? This is why I'm doing this.
Speaker 1:Gosh darn it, guys, I wish I could see you right now. I feel so much love for you. I feel so much gosh dang. I wish I could see you right now. I feel so much love for you. I feel so much gosh dang love for you. All right, I'm with you and whatever your transition is, transformation is, and you're not alone. Everybody goes through this stuff. This is the nature of life, this is natural, this is normal. You are where you're supposed to be right now. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for joining me on the whole shebang. That's all I have. Have a great week. I love you. Goodbye.
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