Just Because

It feels right

Where it ends

Haunted to find you

Love me here

Give into the pull

Hold me here

Time is new

Protected

Where it begins

I wrote that poem over the weekend while I was out of town. Truthfully, I was paralyzed with fear while I wrote it. Overall, it was a great trip. My friend Brooke and I drove out to Asheville from Nashville for a yoga teacher training/retreat. On Saturday night, in the Airbnb, I attempted to sit down and write, thinking I would post on Sunday morning, only to end up feeling really, really afraid in my room. I was frozen. I was doing that thing when I notice every little strange noise in the house. I almost had myself fully convinced a “stranger-danger” was in the house. Yikes. It was easier for my mind to imagine that, than it was to face the stillness in a new place. My mental/emotional attention were likely being shifted toward something or other that I was very resistant to face within myself. On my Instagram and Substack, I’ve been talking about the treasure and wisdom we can find in stillness. As you can all see, I was also reminded over the weekend that stillness can be f*&#ing terrifying. This is why it’s a practice.

Hey : )

I’m Jeannie Lynn. Outside of my writing spaces, I’m known as Jeannie. I love my middle name, and I don’t get to use it enough. I decided to include it in my pen name. Welcome in. I write here. I speak virtually here. I interact with you, but I wait for you to make the first move.

Lately, I’ve been talking a lot about intuition and my upcoming book, Essence.

The concept of connecting/listening to one’s own intuition has been showing up everywhere in spaces I’m around lately- anyone else? It has also been so relevant here with you all, the longer I continue to share the contemplations I’m writing. In order to write them, I must be slow and spacious. I become attentive to something invisible. It requires me to be on a distinct wavelength. It is where my intuition, or my innate knowledge, lives. I mentioned last week I believe it is the voice of God within me. Growing up, the language I heard it described as was the Holy Spirit inside of me. Honestly, this general concept has always resonated with me. I always felt a connection with a spiritual/energetic/invisible/atmospheric realm. It became a little tricky to navigate and reconcile as I got older. Now, it is something I could describe in a thousand different ways. I know you could too.

The same energetic alignment is required of me to take your position, when I go back and read the contemplations. They meet me where I am every time. This is why I began sharing simple, brief practices, such as breathing or meditation, to prepare us for these contemplations before reading them. I believe I’ve been able to write them in a way that is specific enough to guide you and vague enough to hold your story.

In my last post Disappear, I included a video for paid subscribers, which told the story of meeting my new friend Rachel at Target.

Disappear

The synchronicities with that story go on and on and on. We met at Target, of all places, and hit it off so well in conversation that we decided to exchange info and made plans for a walk around the lake up the road from both of us. Besides having so much in common- husbands in the music industry, all the way down to multiple mutual friends- she is also an artist who loves to draw flowers. She uses watercolors within and around the sketches of her flowers. This is significant because all along, ever since I started writing Essence, I have felt like I want to work with an illustrator. I didn’t really know why- just because. I had several people in mind, and I wasn’t getting that gut feeling yet. For a while, I started playing with charcoal sketches, which I still really love. For this book and its interwoven metaphor of the lifecycle of the flower, I really wanted someone who has experience illustrating florals.

Voila, Rachel. We met in Target while browsing the sketchbooks, and she is going to illustrate my book. I can’t wait to see how it all blooms together.

Flowers from Rachel, a sweet beginning <3

In my video below, I am on that wavelength I was talking about above. It is slower. You’ll notice, I speak slower when I am in my natural element. The video is 17 minutes long. That is way longer than most people are willing to spend watching a single video online. Consider it a guided meditation then. I’m not for most people. I’m not interested in making microwaved content. I’m going in the opposite direction.

I’m slowing down.

I’m elaborating.

I’m sharing things just because.

I am sharing my true self, and she doesn’t rush for arbitrary reasons.

What I thought I was focusing on in the beginning of the video evolves and changes by the middle, and then loops back around and connects everything by the end. I let myself be in flow. I’m reminded quite often of something a very special soul told me- “you are the most intuitive person I know.” It has always stuck with me as something I want to understand more. I didn’t understand until recently that I most naturally interact with the world from somewhere below the surface. I’m sharing this here because I feel like a lot of people are realizing this about themselves. We’ve been living in systems that are not sustainable for our true nature. Those systems are crumbling. It’s getting more and more difficult to play pretend in this world. I’m not good at small talk. I am very sensitive to your energy. We are all empaths. Our capacity for empathy simply varies depending on where we are on the journey.

I am grateful for yoga and how it has brought me to this mind, body, spirit connection.

We can do a little yoga together right here.

A quick note for clarity about taking ten breaths:

It is intentional. It is a way to usher you onto that wavelength where the contemplations and the video are flowing. They could seem a little foreign if you are approaching them with a fast pace or your automatic/default thinking.

If you are sitting, see if you can place both feet on the floor. Wiggle your toes and spread them out on the surface or inside the shoe, slipper, or sock you’re wearing. Feel your feet press against the surface beneath them. Notice what you are sitting on. Lengthen the spine up, roll the shoulders back and down the spine. Roll the neck slowly. If you are laying down, notice everywhere your body makes contact with the surface beneath you.

Squeeze your hands into a fist, then open your fingers really wide. Do that five more times.

With closed eyes, take ten breaths, slowing down each breath more and more. If you lose count, start over. I challenge you to make it to ten.

After you take ten breaths, return to your normal breathing. Let go of the counting, and notice how you feel. Observe what it feels like to be with yourself, right here, right now.

When you’re ready, if you feel so inclined, watch the video or read a contemplation. Or both. Or neither. Maybe you feel inspired all of a sudden to go write something of your own, or get ingredients for something you feel like cooking, or go for a walk, or clean that corner of the house, or eat a cookie.

It doesn’t matter. Do you, boo. Do it just because.

That’s the whole point.

There doesn’t have to be some grand plan. The whole point is to move by faith. In other words, take a step, not because you know the outcome, but because it feels right. This post isn’t going anywhere. You can come back to it.

Our blueprint…

inner compass…

true self…

spirit within…

is not found by reaching, straining, or forcing things outside of ourselves.

We find the truth by nurturing ourselves (yes, putting our own oxygen mask on before attempting to “help” others). The things and the people we love will naturally shift into our atmosphere as our authentic presence is a magnet for who and what is meant for us.

My book Essence will offer the reader a journey through words to the nature of their own essence. It is specific enough to guide you and vague enough to hold your story.

The three contemplations below the video are slated to comprise the end of the book (within the last section called RELEASE). I omitted the very last contemplation. It will be a surprise when the book comes out. Keep in mind, I’m still editing these and holding the organization of the book loosely until I consider it done. My deadline for that is April 1st.

Thanks for being here with me.

Remember, I speak slower when I am in my natural element. I bet you do too, when you are saying things you really mean and talking about things that are really important to you.

CEASE

The whole engine stops. Meet your new ground zero. Silence is here, and you are ready to receive it as a gift instead of avoiding it like the plague. Give it your full, undivided attention. Let the coherence of the atmosphere affect you. It has something to tell you. Be in it. You have nothing to lose or gain. Everything comes full circle. You found the pattern and the space between. Observe the light and the dark in you. See them woven together. You are integrating all parts of yourself. It all rests together as one. Listen to the decelerating pull of your heart, despite everything around you moving faster. It is a good time to notice your heartbeat. It is trying to tell you something. The whole engine stops.

ALLOW

You are about to receive it. Look back and lovingly remember all the times you weren’t ready to give it to yourself. You weren’t ready until now, for the passing on it requires. The flower lets go of its petals, one by one, trusting the natural cycle of life. You are safe. Let it happen. This won’t be the first or the last time. Lay down all those hats you’ve worn. You are the single reason as to why they all looked so good on you. Each new hat helped you see yourself in a new way. Now, they are simply a distraction from what you truly want. You are about to receive it.

SEED

Relax into your center of gravity. Let everything pass through you. It was all a product of your imagination, brilliant Creator. It is time for the vision of your next masterpiece. You are born here again, through me. You are your true self. This alignment is a result of your persistent listening. Create what you want to create, exactly how you want to create it. This is your chance to express what it is you want most. Go deep down, where the quietest voice speaks the clearest. Listen there, and you will know. Relax into your center of gravity.

I might've spent six months lying on my living room floor
I might've been sick, then well, then sick some more
I might be prouder of me
Than I ever have been

I've been learning 'bout letting go
How to do it without my claws
Scratching the surfaces
I've been learning 'bout wasting time
And closing some doors
Hoping to open more, down the line

I knew from miles away that I would detonate
I tried some magic tricks to skip my fate
And then gave up the ball as a defender
The trick was simply to surrender

I've been learning 'bout letting go
How to do it without my claws
Scratching the surfaces
I've been learning 'bout wasting time
And closing some doors
Hoping to open more, down the line

It's okay, it's okay
Make mistakes, make mistakes
It's okay, it's okay
Make mistakes, make mistakes
It's okay, it's okay
Make mistakes, make mistakes