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Hello and thank you for joining me today! Although this is the second episode themed 100% Jodi this is actually the first episode you are getting 100% me.

Another place you can get more of me is in The Accomplished Community. This is the community that sprung up from my book, Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing.

And while we in this community were building momentum in the first month, we have definitely taken off now.  We had our monthly Q&A/Coaching call about a week and half ago and it was amazing to watch the energy of the group rise resulting in impactful collaborations and a true sense of community. Even those who couldn’t make the call live watched the recording and added their own challenges, thoughts and coaching in the secret facebook group and that amazing energy has continued.

If you want to be a part of a collaborative and supportive community of women who are up to something in life join The Accomplished Community. You won’t regret it.

Now, for you today I wanted to share an email I received from a client after she did the Energy Leadership Assessment I offer in my business. How it works is you take a 20-minute online self-assessment and then we schedule 75 minutes to debrief your results. During that debrief session we uncover where your sources of stress are coming from and what you can do to alleviate it so you greatly reduce, and for some completely remove, those triggers for stress. It also gives you a process to continue this work as you become aware of other triggers that hide under the surface until the crop up and blindside you. You all know what I’m talking about.

Even before meeting me this particular client had been working on developing a greater level of consciousness and she was in a place where she felt caught between the new perspectives, thoughts and ideas she was being exposed to and her parent’s counsel to seek her truth from a more traditional source.

New Teachers and Classic Resources

Here’s what her email said…

“Hi Jodi,

I’m having a hard time relating my personal feelings of “Aha!” that I felt when I read [Eckhart] Tolle’s work to the background both of my parents have in the bible.

That’s a poorly worded sentence. How do I explain??

When I told my parents about my new discovery of enlightenment, they were quick to try to redirect me to the bible (dad, especially). Almost as though what I was learning was wrong, and I needed to get closer to God to fix this. But I’ve never felt closer to God than I do now.

So how do the teachings of the bible fit in to this? Admittedly, it’s been a loooong time since I’ve attended church, and the style of the bible’s writings just don’t interest me. I have a hard time following it. But I want to understand the connection so that I can bridge the gap with my Dad.

I ask because you mentioned God a few times during the assessment, and I thought you might have some insight.

I almost feel like the bible is the basic how-to guide, and maybe even a little bit of backstory on why, while this new consciousness trajectory is simply mankind finally “getting it” and seeing the bigger picture of where things need to go in order to reach that final destination of heaven on earth. How do you see it?

Ok, back to work I go! ;)”

What a great question!! What was so special about this question for me is it paralleled my own internal journey with my faith and spirituality.

I’m sharing with you my response to this email and I want to be clear, I have no degrees in theology, I do not represent any organizations and I am not an expert on God, consciousness or human evolution. My response to this email reflects my journey and my perspective. I offer it here because it was helpful to the woman who reached out to me and it may be helpful to some of you.

In Search of Higher Consciousness

Here was my response…

“I. LOVE. YOUR. EMAILS.

I’m going to give you my honest take on the bible, religion and the current trend in consciousness we are seeing right now.

Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, et al. were among the first documented human beings to experience high levels of consciousness. There is evidence that ancient civilizations had high levels of consciousness as well, with different technologies and understandings of natural science than we have. I believe the stories of the Tower of Babel and the flood explain why we lost so much technology. I’m sure wars, genocides, etc. also set us back in our evolution.

I believe we all receive messages from God [and the Universe] but through a filter of our own understanding and paradigm. My evidence: The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament had very different dispositions. The writers of the Old Testament had a different paradigm than the writers of the New Testament. It is also documented that the Catholic Church discarded some books of the Old and New Testament because there were contradictions between the books and what the church wanted their followers to believe.

I was raised Catholic, I find the Bible to be a fascinating anthology of Christianity. I love the teachings of Jesus, and when I visit family in Massachusetts I’ll often attend Mass with them because they belong to a really nice church community. The Catholic Mass can sometimes move me to tears. It’s familiar and touches a part of me that yearns to have a closer relationship with God. 

However, I don’t believe Jesus to be the “only son” of God because that’s only important in a male-dominated culture where property is inherited by males (paradigm). An only son would be the most precious asset to the family and that’s how the writers wanted us to see Jesus – he was so precious to God yet God loved us so much he gave his “only son” for us. We are all God’s children. We are all equally precious to God. Period.”

[As a side note and for your consideration, even the people you dislike most and have a hard time getting along with are as precious and equally loved as you are. I found that mind boggling at first but now it lends me peace and patience with those I don’t understand initially. Okay back to my response to the email…]

“I also don’t believe the Catholic Church has it right when it comes to women and homosexuals. I can’t be a part of an organization that views me as a second-class citizen or believes God would create a being and then demand it to deny it’s very nature. That’s the very definition of unnatural.”

[Another side note, like many other things in the history of the Catholic Church I believe you are going to see a shift in the stance on women and homosexuals, it’s just going to take time.]

“The Bible can give us insights into God and human nature (if we don’t read it too literally) and so it is an access point to higher consciousness. But it’s not the only access point and I believe, like you believe, there are access points that we have discovered that are more aligned with who we are and how we see the world.

Your parents want you to find your answers in the Bible because that is where they believe they are to be found. They likely do find their answers there. So they are, from one perspective, right. If it’s important to you to have their understanding then have the conversations that will allow them to see your perspective, even if they don’t want to change their perspective.

My parents are very similar to your parents, they still have their internal struggles with some of my decisions, but they have gotten to a place where they respect my decisions knowing it is my life to live and my life to love. You can’t take away a parent’s instinct to protect their child but you can love them for it…and set boundaries. 🙂

I hope that helps! Let me know.

Warmly,

Jodi”

“To Thine Own Self Be True”

The main point I want to hit home here is we are all on different paths though striving for the same destination. Although you can gain wisdom and higher levels of consciousness from a multitude of sources, you have to look within yourself to know which is the right source for you. And know that the same is true for others.

If this was helpful to you, share it with a friend. That’s how we help each other grow into the best version of ourselves.

Thank you for joining with me and here’s to your success!

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Resources

Apply to be on an “On-Air Coaching” episode: Are you a female leader who has been promoted in the last year? You are invited to apply to be on the podcast.

Checklist to Ask Your Company for Coaching: Would coaching help you become a stronger leader? Wondering if your company would pay? It doesn’t hurt to ask!

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Leadership Coaching: If you interested in finding out more about my coaching process, the cost of coaching, or how to ask your employer to pay for you to work with a coach, schedule a call with me.

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: The book containing a simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

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