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
Spiritual Surrender: Finding Divine Connection at Your Edge | Jen Briggs
"You, the true you, is higher than your mind and vaster than your circumstances. Your spiritual self is speaking to you now. You are hearing wisdom even now."
I'm coming to you today with something that feels truly inspired - an exploration of what it means to reach the edge of your own ability and surrender to divine wisdom. When we come to our limits - whether in relationships, work, or finances - we're actually being invited into a sacred moment of transformation.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The Edge of Personal Limitation
02:42 - What Happens When You Surrender
05:18 - The Ego Death Experience
08:36 - Death Preceding New Life
11:40 - The Liminal Phase & Initiation
14:30 - Finding Sacred Authority in Surrender
RESOURCES:
📕 Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Support the show with your donation: https://www.support/thewholeshebangpodcast
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Welcome to the Whole Shebang. I'm Jen Briggs, your host. This podcast was born after seeing patterns of burnout, disconnection and lost passions in all of life, and I believe it's because we functioned in part and not in whole. Society has championed a sort of overdeveloped left brain hustle culture, energy, and I think we've shoved right brain principles like empathy, intuition, creativity and playfulness into the shadows, and it just isn't working anymore. But here's what excites me I'm seeing signs everywhere that we're entering a new era that is vibrant and magnetic. So I'm inviting you to come along with me as I interview authors, business owners and, of course, chat with my friends. You'll learn new practices for everyday life, cultivating creative approaches to run conscious businesses, develop more dynamic relationships and, most importantly, I believe that you'll become more and more wholly authentically you. It's what we truly need. The complete package, the whole shebang. So buckle up buttercups, we're diving in. All right loves.
Speaker 1:I'm back today with what I hope is something a little bit inspiring for each of you. Stemmed from a morning over the weekend that I was just writing, doing some intuitive writing and some reading, and I want to share with you some of the things that came to me. I typically have, you know I've been shying away from just creating content for the sake of what I think people might want to consume. My main effort in this podcast is that everything that I bring to you comes from the inside out. It comes from a place that feels very authentic and hopefully inspired by something higher and bigger than myself, and I hope that doesn't sound too pretentious, but I just am not trying to create like what are the five things that people are looking for right now? This is coming from the inside out or from above, who knows. So today I'm going to talk about what I think it means to go through an initiation of sorts and what it means to come to the edge of our own ability and to be in a place where there's an ego death point. So first I'm going to read to you the intuitive writing that came forward to me a few days ago.
Speaker 1:It feels as though you come right up to the edge, like you can't handle more, like you've reached the end of your rope, the last straw at your job, the bottom of your bank account, the final nail in the coffin of a relationship. Do you not see that what appears as limitation is actually an invitation? This is when you become truly open to receiving the divine, because coming to the edge of your own ability brings you to your personal precipice. That sacred moment when you give up, when you surrender, when you open your hands because they're too tired to keep grasping for control, and whether your edges need smoothing, healing or simply witnessing, arriving at your edge is where you most intimately meet the creator. This is where faith comes to life. This is where all expansion exists, right at the boundary of your being, is where you begin merging with God-ness. Expanse is your ego, and sometimes our egos need a descent into the void, to die there so our spirits can emerge whole. Rest assured, you will find the edge of your ability. The solution will come to you. You will remember your connection to all that is right at the time when your mind is too tired to go on grasping for control. You, the true you, is higher than your mind and vaster than your circumstances. Your spiritual self is speaking to you now. You are hearing wisdom even now, and that authentic. You has not just the ability but the sacred authority to choose surrender before you reach your edge. This is your power, this is your birthright, this is who you've always been. I don't know about you, but that was super helpful for me to read and I'll share.
Speaker 1:I feel like I've been in what I would consider an initiation or this liminal phase of my life for about a year, after my position was eliminated in management a year ago, and I've done some consulting and some coaching and I've been working on this passion project that is the podcast, and I've been seeking clarity. I have this opportunity right now to delve headfirst into anything that's in front of me in terms of my career, my work and and I've my mind has been seeking clarity. My mind has been seeking control and plans and predictability and and the only things that have been clear is just to do the podcast, to do the work that's in front of me in terms of career work goes, but not to jump headfirst into anything else. And it's been frustrating. It's been my ego has been wanting more than that. It's been like it's not been totally clear to me, and so when this came forward to me today, for me personally, this was really helpful to realize that there is an element that we, our mind, literally gets too tired.
Speaker 1:I can't remember where I read this. I don't know if it was so. If some of you are listening, know what this situation is. But it's kind of floating in the back of my head right now that monks that there's a certain they give themselves basically an impossible puzzle for their mind to solve, so that when they're sitting in silence in meditation their mind will eventually wear out trying to solve the problem and that allows them to go into that different state of consciousness or awareness. And that's sort of what this feels like in life, when we have situations we reach the end of our ability in whatever those things are the relationship, the job, the situation where we're like, oh, I just can't anymore. That's when I think we go through these mini ego deaths, where the version of us that's trying to grasp control has to die in order for the spiritual self to come forward in a greater, more whole way. And this is kind of a bit of how it's really interesting to me when I am like okay, universe, I'm here for it, give me the solution, show me the way, whenever I tap back in or say those prayers or put my hands up and surrender, in those moments that the way that synchronicity shows up for me is pretty wild.
Speaker 1:So I wrote this a couple of days ago. This just kind of intuitively came forward. And then this morning I had this little nudge to pull a book off my shelf the Women who Run With the Wolves. It's been probably six months since I've touched that, but it's one of those books I just return to occasionally. So I did the old like open up the book, just see what page it lands on and what stands out and this. Well, I'll share this first and I'll share the other synchronistic thing.
Speaker 1:So the quote that was underlined on the page that I opened to was this lined on the page that I opened to was this death is always in the process of incubating new life, even when one's existence has been cut down to the bones. And the context of that quote is this life-death-life cycle, that incubating new life, that going into a new phase in life, that going into a new phase in life. A part of that is always death, a part of that, whether it's ego death or the ending of something. And in our I don't know if it's just in our society, if it's an American society, if it's the human feared nature within us I think we have this idea that death comes with more death. We're afraid of death, whether it's in the ending of anything because we feel like on the heels of that is going to be more despair, more pain, more hurt.
Speaker 1:And I believe that death precedes life and all of the energy that we put into maintaining a thing that's meant to die a job, a relationship, a way of thinking, a way of being, a religious belief, a political belief, when we know something is losing its substance or losing its own ability to maintain health, and we put energy into keeping a thing alive that is meant to die, energy, as we know, doesn't disappear. It goes somewhere else. So when we let the thing die, when we understand that that energy now goes into the incubating of new life, the incubating of the new whatever is on the front end, that's coming forward. And so that was this quote that I read this morning. And then I also have. Some of you will love this, some of you will not like this, but it's okay.
Speaker 1:I have an Oracle deck, aot card deck, and for me I'll just share this because I probably have some other, like some Christian friends, that maybe grew up with this idea that these were weird or out there. But I'm like what? What is it? But any, everything that we have access to, whether it's nature or books or people in our lives that rant, quote unquote, randomly say things to us, or a tarot deck, or whatever it is.
Speaker 1:To me, they're all points of reflection, they're all an opportunity for God to speak to us, god to speak to us, for divine to come in if we're looking for it and if we're open to it. And so, to me, that's just. This is a total aside. That's what this is. It's an opportunity for me to, just like many of you when I was growing up, you're reading the Bible and you're like okay, god, speak to me. I'm going to let the Bible fall open, I'm going to trust that what it is. This to me, is kind of the same thing as that. It's just like I'm still seeking the same source. I'm still seeking love, I'm still seeking truth and allowing God to speak to me. However, god, goddess universe, wants to speak. So I wrote this, writing about coming to our edge of our own ability, basically letting our ego die a death in the void.
Speaker 1:I opened the book Women who Run With the Wolves, and it's about death. Death is always the process of incubating new life, and the card that I pulled this morning is the death card of incubating new life, and the card that I pulled this morning is the death card, and so let me read to you what my deck says about what this card means. So death is the ultimate dance with life, a cyclical path which has no beginning and no true end. This restorative force is woven throughout the very cells of our bodies, in the sparks of a supernova that birth and forge new stars, and in the seeds of our thoughts, for energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. Same idea there that there is something that is dying. And in that decay, in that death, all of that energy is going to go into the birth of something new. Further on in this Oracle card deck it says on death. This powerful card shares a profound initiation into an entirely new state of consciousness.
Speaker 1:When major shifts begin to stir within your heart or soul, when you hit rock bottom, end a relationship, decide to quit your job or want a fresh start, this re-evaluation of old patterns or beliefs may force you to eliminate the distractions you've been experiencing thus far. As the old paradigms dissolve into the background, new spaces within and around you begin to unfold. The background, new spaces within and around you begin to unfold. These raw turning points often mark the deepest pathways, which emerge from the depths of our spirit, allowing our priorities to become crystal clear once everything else has been stripped away. And it leaves you with a question how have you grown and what would you like to cultivate next? Where would you like to go from here?
Speaker 1:Now, this to me is like pretty obvious, that there's a message that's coming forward, that I've gotten the synchronicities that have come forward to say, like we have these things that come to an end in our life. And now these are just my own thoughts, like the human part of me is impatient, but the truth is that in between this sort of what we call a liminal phase or an incubating phase, or if you think about a baby in a womb, there is a period of time in between nothingness or in between death and life, where a thing is incubating, where there's an initiation happening. That's another word that I keep like, that keeps coming across my path, that what is, what does it mean to have an initiation happen? And to me, it is the process of this ending and then the in-between period before the new beginning, that there's a lot of change and a lot of transformation going on and I think we're seeing that in our society on a very macro level and I think we're seeing it as individuals in a very micro level, and it means that these old ways of thinking being relating, communing, our old ways of viewing ourself, our relationship with ourself, A lot of these ways are dying. And then we're in this liminal phase which I think is really frustrating.
Speaker 1:The human part of me is so impatient with that phase because my mind, my ego, like I started by saying, wants the answers now, wants the change now, wants to be through the painful part of transformation. Now. Can I just get to the other side of this now? And so much of our experience on this earth as humans, fully human, fully divine, is the experience. It's having the experience of going through the pain and knowing what it's like to feel pain and then feel pleasure. It's, it's not. I mean, what would it be like if we just jumped from high point to high point?
Speaker 1:The transformation is such an important part of the process, which is that part from being a caterpillar and going into the cocoon and literally turning to mush, everything, basically dissolving before it can be, before that energy, before that energy can be put into the new creation that's coming forward. So one of the things that I looked up is actually just what is an initiation and this is just like a little Google search. You know we could all do this but initiations typically involve a symbolic death of the old self or way of being and a period of liminality or threshold experience which is often challenging. And it also has a rebirth or emergence with new wisdom, perspective or spiritual capacity. And to me that's like the process of what it means to not only evolve but to get stronger. You know there's that breakdown when you're building muscle, there's a breakdown in the muscle, there's a period of healing and then on the other side it's stronger and stronger may not be the best, like descriptive word for it, but at the very minimum it's different, it's changed and it requires that time in the middle, the time of waiting, the time of healing, the time of recalibration, the initiation prior to the new beginning.
Speaker 1:So if you have reached the end of your own ability, if you've reached the end of your rope, if you've reached the bottom of your bank account, if the last nail in the coffin of your relationship happened, if you feel like you're hitting us, whether it's a major rock bottom or a minor rock bottom. Congratulations. I know you, I don't know if I'd want to hear that, but I think this is a spiritual truth, that when we get to that point, this is a part of the way that life brings us through these portals into the newness, into the new beginning, and so maybe today it's an opportunity for you to reflect on. You know, I wanted to come back to something in that original writing that I wrote that was really, I don't know, kind of like a big aha for me, which is this the authentic you has not just the ability. So to me I'm going to break this down the authentic you is your higher self. It's the part of your mind that can observe your thoughts and emotions. It's the part of you mind that can observe your thoughts and emotions. It's the part of you that, when you sit back, um can see how you're feeling, can see how you're thinking. It's when you meditate, it's your consciousness. It's so that that's the authentic you. The real you is not just your mind spinning. The real you is the the um higher self, I guess, is the way of putting it.
Speaker 1:So your authentic you has not just the ability, but the sacred authority to choose surrender before you reach your edge. This is your power, this is your birthright, this is who you've always been, and sometimes I think maybe I'm wrong, but it's just my opinion that we that life, because part of what we're here to do is to learn and to evolve and to grow and to sort of rise above old karmic patterns and lineage patterns and wounds. We're here to heal those things. Egos just are so strong and we're not necessarily functioning in that higher self, we're functioning in our egoic mind. Life will have a way of bringing us opportunities to reach that edge so that we get to the place of surrendering to divine. Not that bad things are destined to happen, but that it's just the nature of life on this earth.
Speaker 1:We go through hardship, there is pain, those things happen and and life force can use those things in order to bring us to a place of like all right, I'm tired, tired enough, I'm ready to to move forward in a way that's like okay, what, how? How can I move forward differently? How can I grow from this? But as we grow in our spirituality, as we evolve, I believe that when we function, live in, breathe in, move in love through that higher self-consciousness, we catch those things before we reach our edge. We catch the ways of thinking that are egoic, we catch the red flags in the relationship. We know our worth and act on it sooner. So we don't actually we don't have to always be brought to this edge that we can decide in those moments to choose surrender to divine before our ego brings us to our edge. And I think that's really important that we have that sacred authority, that we are also divine, that we are fully human, fully divine, and in that divinity, in our consciousness of higher self, we're able to choose differently as soon as we see it, as soon as we see the choice. And in that way we are the co-creators. We are the co-creators of our life. We're not victims of life, we are co-creators of it.
Speaker 1:May you be open to receiving the divine. May your hands be open today to receiving the divine. May I be less impatient. All right, loves have a banging day. Hey you, yes you. Thank you for tuning in today. I hope this episode is supporting you on your path to becoming the strongest, the shiniest version of you. My goal and hope is to continue helping people through this podcast. So if you've enjoyed this episode or taken anything that's helped you out. The best thank you would be to join me in moving this forward by doing two simple things. If you haven't already. Following the podcast is very helpful. Also, apparently, the algorithms really like reviews. If you can take a minute to leave a review, artificial intelligence would love it and I would be so grateful. Feel free, of course, to share an episode with someone who you think may need to hear what you heard today. Thanks again, everyone. I genuinely appreciate you and I'm so thankful to be building a community like this together here. I'll catch you later. In the meantime, have a banging day.
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