Are you "over" New Year's Resolutions? They haven't worked for me in years, and I've tried it lots of ways! I'd be willing to bet you are feeling the same way. And let's be honest, most of us here are learning, growing and questioning all year long -not just for some cliche "resolution". But, certain times of year do feel reflective and like a time to think forward for ourselves.  

All of these feelings and stirrings really came together for me while listening to an interview of Oprah Winfrey by Jamie Kern Lima for The Color Purple on the Super Soul Podcast (interview linked in show notes). The way she shares about one of her most valuable lessons and exactly how she applies it, plus some words of wisdom as only Oprah can, really ushered in a wave of inspiration and refreshing perspective for me. I felt my heart open in a deeper way. So I'm sharing it all with you.   

I'll be putting these key questions into practice this year and you're welcome to try it as well! Here's to the joy! Cheers and Happy New Year!

Show Notes:

Inspired by: Oprah’s interview with Jamie Kern Lima for The Color Purple now on the Super Soul Podcast. ( Apple Podcast Link https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-episode-jamie-kern-lima-in-conversation-with/id1264843400?i=1000639568623 )  

Gary Zukav: https://seatofthesoul.com     

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Episode Transcript: 

 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 is I chat insider style with profoundly different 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 in to our first spirit speakeasy episode of 2024. Happy New Year. Please know I am wishing you love and abundance and happiness for 2024 and forward. I've been really thinking a lot about this New Year's episode, what I wanted to record what I wanted to say. I know often here we're talking about spiritual tools or spiritual exploration or things like mediumship, the spirit world. And I kind of wanted to share a little bit about what I've been inspired by recently, it's a rethink or a rework of resolution, I'm kind of jokingly calling it the resolution solution. So we're going to talk about that today, I'm going to share how this inspiration came to me and what I'm going to be working on in the next year. As far as my own new version of a resolution, that's not a resolution at all. For me, I am someone and I think a lot of you that listen and that follow the podcast, which I'm so grateful for. By the way. A lot of you also like me kind of reevaluate yourself pretty frequently, the things that are going on in your life, what your goals are, what your intentions are. I know many of us understand that healing and growth and personal growth is kind of an ongoing process. Not really necessarily like a once a year process. But there was a time where I really enjoyed the idea of a resolution. The other thing I want to mention is, you know, I know for some of us, especially in adulthood, we think of New Year's as the beginning of the calendar year January 1, right? So whether you're considering new year for you January 1, or whether you're considering it, you know, when I was a kid, especially as we start to become more self aware, the beginning of the year is definitely the beginning of the school year and who you want to be that year in school and NBC knows, or whether you celebrate the Lunar New Year, it really is a time that becomes kind of pensive. I think obviously, we know that typically it's a little darker, it's getting dark earlier where maybe not able to be outdoors doing activities in the way we can when the weather's always nice. So I think we do tend to become a little bit more reflective, but I just want to acknowledge that so many of you are doing reflection growth development. Asking yourself you know, the hard questions working on your emotions the whole year long, so big hugs to you. So I just want to acknowledge that about so many of you that that I know or that have been in classes with me or readings or have reached out to me personally so it doesn't mean that this is the only time of year we do this. For me there was a time like I was saying where I really enjoyed resolutions and thought oh, this is a great fresh start. It's a great refocus time a great reset. So if it works for you to do kind of like the old school resolution, then of course it's okay to do but what happened for me and I think what happens for a lot of us is resolution time becomes a little bit overly self critical and kind of almost self punishing. And I think for for some time part of it is intended to be that way in the traditional viewpoint of it because we're coming from you know, holiday season and excess and the New Year is a time to like start that diet or get to exercising or you know clean up your health or whatever it is historically for a lot of people and the self punishment of it version of it stopped working for me years ago so I don't know about you I no longer do resolutions they don't resonate with me anymore in the same way. It does, you know had gotten to feel for me anyway like a time of kind of unhealthy criticism or punishment as far as like okay, I'm gonna make sure I'm you know, exercising to this degree or it just felt like Get a tightening write a packing my schedule more full, you know, needing to be more, more and more productive when I already felt stretched to my limits. And so some time ago, I want to say, oh, maybe 10 years ago, maybe not quite, I shifted to doing a word for the year and that word could represent like a theme or something I was calling in for that year. And I did lots of different words over the years. And through that I kind of learned, I had to be careful what the word was, I was choosing because, you know, as a teacher that I mentioned, often, the beautiful, wonderful Jana Van Zandt, the way she says it is, when we want to heal something or address something, everything that's not like it shows up. So kind of be careful what you wish for with choosing the word for the year for yourself. That's what I noticed for myself. And at some point, that stopped being intriguing to me, that stopped being interesting. And so for the last, I don't know, four or five years, I had shifted it and was doing, I still do this actually making little note cards for like my personal year, if you heard the episode a couple of weeks ago, eight themes for an eight year, the must no themes for 2024 episode.
We all have a collective year, which for 2024 is eight. And then we all have an individual number for the year. And so based on whatever my number was, I would go in and you know, this year, I'm going into a year two for me personally, and we're going to eighth year collectively. So I would make some notes for myself about the themes I could expect or what might arise. I still do that. But I've really been going through something the last couple years, which I touched into a little bit in the ebb and flow episode, why balance is BS and refocusing towards ebb and flow. That was a few weeks ago, I highly recommend checking that one out if you haven't. But I've really been shifting away from this idea or kind of my own soul, my own systems have been shifting away from this hyper productivity. And I still, I mean, I still have accomplished a lot this last year, when I look at it over the year, we've had a full year now just a little bit more than a full year of the podcast. So a lot of things have really expanded grown, I've moved house in the last year, the area of San Diego that I live in is different. So really, if when I look back over it, a lot of things have still gotten accomplished. But the the way I'm honoring my own energy and my own flow is maybe different. So this idea of like a theme to live up to or a resolution of something I'm going to really force myself to change about myself, none of that resonates with me anymore. And I've been kind of thinking about this a little bit lately. Like Like I said, most of us are doing some sort of like self evaluation, reflection, personal development a lot of the time. So it's certainly not something I only think about once a year, but just in the last couple of months. I've been really thinking about life, I guess. And as far as moving towards 2024, I think it's natural to think about like what we want to accomplish what we want to have our life look like the things that we're wanting to experience or bring into our existence, maybe their personal goals, maybe their life goals, or business goals or whatever. But I just couldn't really figure out how I wanted to create this transition into 2024 For myself, or what I wanted to kind of focus on or set myself up for. And I also am podcast listener. So I have a handful of podcasts that I listen to, and one of them is the Oprah Super Soul Podcast. I'm a really big fan of Oprah, this is kind of a quirky thing about me that I think there are so many of us that from afar have had Oprah as one of our mentors and teachers. I remember when her talk show was more of just like a, I don't know, a talk show, kind of like those talk shows at that time were a little more sensationalized, and then she shifted into more educating her viewers and woven into all of that education was a lot of spiritual education. So I still follow a lot of the spiritual teachers that she has presented to her audience over the years. I am a big fan and that way, I think she's incredibly wise and I love the wisdom that she shares in the way that she shares it. So I'm going to talk a little bit about Oprah, actually, because just recently, she had an episode on her podcast that really inspired me and actually it was Oprah being interviewed by a lovely woman named Jamie Kern Lima for a talk about the new Color Purple movie that was just released. I don't know about you, but I am a huge fan of the original Color Purple movie that Oprah was in, that Steven Spielberg directed. I never have read the book. And I'm actually, now that I've seen the, they're not calling it a remake, they're calling it a, like a reimagination, as I think is what they're calling it, which is perfect. If you see a new one, I want to read the book there isn't that it's actually inspired by a book. So if you if you've never read the book, maybe like me this year, that'll be on your things to consider list. But Oprah is producing or has produced this next reimagination of the original color purple as a musical version. It's a great interview. Her podcast is of course, on all the platforms. It's called Super Soul, Oprah Super Soul. And I highly recommend the interview, if you can check it out. It's a great interview. And she shares that one of the most important things she's learned, like throughout her journey actually came from when she was originally being considered by Steven Spielberg, for her role in the original movie Color Purple. And she was she tells the whole story much better than I'm about to summarize. So like I said, check out that, that podcast in that episode, it's, it's worth checking out. And she's talking about how she was being considered for the role of Sophia. And that then there was another actress that was coming in for it, who she was certain was going to get this role. And she just basically started singing and really released her attachment to the outcome, just you know, when your heart is broken, because you think something is gonna go a certain way, you've been working hard for it to go a certain way, and it doesn't. And she's just sharing her experience of that. And she said, the lesson itself, I'm gonna give a direct quote was, "do everything you can work as hard as you can, and then let it go. Give it to God, give it to the universe, do not resist, do not push against it, let it go." And that, to me is so profound just in itself. Because I think that any of us that are on you know, our own personal spiritual journey, or even have a calling or a draw, or an interest in all the things that we talked about on this podcast, I think we know you know, we're working towards being in non attachment to the exact outcome and things she'll to letting things go. And, of course, like I said, I love Oprah. And I'm not surprised. I've heard her talk about these type of themes, working with the energy of the universe before, but just the way she gave that quote, in such a nutshell, was so profound in itself. But then she goes on to talk about that that lesson had been a guiding force for her in the way she made her choices, the things she did, the way she showed up in the world. And I love the way she said it. She said when she lost the lesson, she got it again, which How many of you can relate with that, when we kind of lose sight of a lesson that we've learned or something that we know deeply to be true. It's like the universe brings that lesson around for us to learn again. And she said she got that lesson again, she tells a story about going into a really dark place that depression after her movie, precious failed at the box office on the first day it was released. And she had been working on and pouring her heart and soul into that project for more than 10 years. She said, and I love the way she said it because she says I'm going to quote her again. It says not because of the movie failed, but because my attachment to it succeeding. So she goes on to talk about that. You know, she really loved what she created. She loved the project. She loved the way it came out the artistry. She loved all of the process of creating it, she wouldn't change a thing and she even tells a story about how, after the initial screenings, they suggested that she change parts of it and she refused. She said no, the the work is the work is the way she said it. The art is the art. This is this is what the intention was I'm not changing it. And she goes on to explain that this experience really shifted her perspective to considering everything she does as an offering. And she goes on to explain that it's a conversation with Gary Zukav, who if you don't know who he is, he was a guest on her show many times. He's kind of been a an afar long term teacher of mine too. He's an esteemed author. He wrote that book Seat of the Soul, teacher etc. So I highly recommend checking out his work. And he had asked her some questions, which is sort of the nature of the way he teaches is just to ask opening questions. And he asked her, you know, what was her intention with the project? What did she want people to feel? And when she articulated it was she shares in this interview, he said, Well, I felt that and my wife felt that and I know some other people that I've talked to that also felt that she kind of was clinging on, but I wanted a bigger audience to, to feel this. And this is not a direct quote, but essentially, what she wanted people to feel and understand, he told her, Well, you weren't creating a project that was for everyone, you were creating a project that was for certain people, and for certain people who could receive it to understand.
And it was just so profound, the way that she explains it the way that she came to understand, oh, okay, that this is a piece of art that I've created. And yeah, maybe it wasn't for every single person, maybe it was for, you know, opening up a certain people. And she came to the understanding, to let the joy of the process of the work and putting the workout into work the world be our joy, not how people receive it, which it sounds like common sense when you say it, right. Like, it's about the you know, the work that you create the how you no matter what your job is right, or what you put your effort into the world, whether it's a family, or whether it's someone's a janitor, or a chef, or an airplane pilot, or a writer, whatever we do for our work, a school teacher, it's about that being our art form, pouring our heart and soul into it, for the joy of creating it for the joy of the experience and what we're offering, not how people receive it. The real joy is in the offering is the way she said it, which is so profound, and really just inspired me and sent me off into a lot of thinking this last week or so, since I listened to it as I'm recording this, it's actually New Year's Eve in the daytime. So really, the question I want to offer you for this New Year's Day episode is what are you offering in 2024? For me, my hope, like I said, it's not a resolution. My hope is to continually be checking in on myself with this question throughout the year. What is my offering to myself? What's my offering, to my family, community world, and for my fellow mediums out there, what is my offering to the spirit world, because we serve the spirit world as mediums, and asking this not just as me not just as my personality as joy, my ego self, but also asking it, listening just to that voice of my soul, just to that inner, still small voice within me, what is our offering me myself and I soul, right? As a soul experiencing this physical life, what's my offering to myself? What's my offering to life itself to the community to the world. And this is going to look and sound different for each of us based on what we're choosing to focus on what we're choosing to create as an art form. And like I said, it can be in any area of your life. It could be, you know, in any facet, it could be in in relationships, it can be in your work, it can be in your private time, it can be in your relationship with yourself, it can be in your spiritual practice, any area of your life, but I'm just offering you to come on board with me and do my resolution solution this year. And just be asking yourself this question. But like I said, not just as your personality listening to that inner knowing, yearning, calling of your soul, what am I creating? What am I embodying what am I demonstrating? What am I sharing? What am I expressing, from my soul into the world, in any area of your life, but with non attachment to the outcome pouring out as a joyful offering from our souls. And I'm going to quote over again and read this quote again. I just want you to sit with it. See how it moves through you considering looking at it from the perspective of not just this physical version of you, but this soul version of you the higher self of you The soul within you, that moves you that inspires you do everything you can work as hard as you can, and then let it go. Give it to God, give it to the universe, do not resist, do not push against it, let it go, the real joy is in the offering. Oh, Oprah, you gotta love her. So that's really what I'm thinking about this new years, it's not so much planning, and calendaring and charting and scheduling, although I'm gonna get to that, of course, I think we have to live in the human world, right? We're, we're having this human experience. And there's things we all have to show up for. And for me, this version just resonates differently this year, it's not putting me on a pressurized to do list, it's not requiring me to try to be a different version of myself, or mold myself into something more acceptable to society, or to people's voices that are not mine, or to an ego voice that maybe isn't in the highest and greatest alignment with my soul's path for this year. I already been thinking about this a little bit. So for me hearing this interview and these profound words and profound experiences in the way, only Oprah can share them. It just tied everything in for me in such a powerful way. Those of you that receive emails from me know that I asked maybe a month ago, maybe more, we've been talking about, you know, doing more, or different free group readings and free community healings like we've been doing for several years now. And just thinking about what's my offering as a soul. And it's a challenge, to ask ourselves these questions, to sit with these questions and really be in non attachment to the outcome, not be attached to how it's received in the world, we're so trained, marinated in this idea, especially in North America, to always be climbing that ladder always be pushing for more success, more efficiency, getting more done, right. And so it's, it's easy to get attached to the outcome. I had an experience this year, that was really tough. And it's because literally because I was attached to the outcome, and I came to acceptance even very early on as it was happening. That, you know, the timing is not the timing. And so this isn't going to go in the direction that I had intended and hoped and had been really working hard for. And that it was, it was about divine timing, and that it was okay. And I feel like you know, it's a lesson that we learn over and over again in our lives, that when something's for us, eventually it will come to us. And when something's not for us, pushing as hard as we can, and trying to make it happen, seems to never come to fruition fully in the completely developed and stable and,
you know, abundant way that we had hoped. So that's just kind of what I'm thinking about as we enter into 2024, meshed with of course, those eight themes that are going to be arising for all of us. And that idea of ebb and flow, there's a lot to consider. And a lot of us have so much on our plates already. Between you know, whatever your work is in the world, between your obligations, your family, your we talked about this in the ebb and flow episode. You know, if you listen to that one, you'll remember that we have all these things on a to do list and on a schedule and on a Oh, yeah, I also have to get groceries and oh, yeah, I'm supposed to be having friends and having fun. Like, I forgot to put that on my calendar. So there's already a lot going on. I'm just not feeling it to, to do a traditional resolution or word and, and use it to push myself into changing my expression. I don't think it is very successful like that. I think it's just an old, an old way of being mean to ourselves, and that's not serving us. And what is that offering us right like as as an offering to ourself it's kind of whipping ourselves into submission for like a new exercise and diet plan that doesn't feel good. That feels like a lot of pressure and a lot of stress and a lot of often mean words coming from inside ourselves to ourselves, judgment. This just feels I know it's not going to be easier. So I don't want to like be misleading in that way. Because it gets hard to ask these questions. It's hard to ask, Where am I in resistance to what my soul really wants to be expressing where Can I be more non attachment with how this outcome is. And just knowing that if we're doing our best and trying, you know, to the best of our ability, giving our heart and soul, and then letting it go to the universe, or God or whatever version of that you want to insert in there, that we are in alignment with our highest and greatest good that we are expressing the truest version of our soul, and maybe it will help you accept who the truest, you actually is a little deeper, I know, again, shout out to my mediums and spiritual practitioners out there. I know for a lot of us, it can be a struggle early on, to even feel comfortable telling other people in the world what our gifts are, or practicing, as a healer, or practicing as a reader, a medium, whatever it is that you might love, and be called to do. Even sometimes musicians and artists and dancers have a hard time showing their art form to the world, it can feel really vulnerable, because it is the truest, deepest, most natural part of ourself. But is that are you at a place where you need to offer that to yourself, and just express who you truly are in that way in the world. And like I said, it could be in your job, but it could also be just a hobby, it could also be a side project or an interest, or maybe for some of you, it's something that's just starting to call to you. Don't let that pressure creep in of all, if I learn this, like, what am I going to have to do with it? Or am I going to have to make a channel on some kind of platform? Or am I going to have to be seen in the world? Or? No, not necessarily. There's lots of ways to offer, our form of art or creation into the world can look lots of ways. So it's important to notice those questions creeping in, because we can work from there, we can see what that resistance is about, we can see where it comes from, we can see if it's even true for us anymore, if it's an old pattern springing its way up. But I really just like this re frame this resolution solution, if you will, of reframing the idea of becoming someone else, or a more acceptable version of ourselves into this idea of offering, in the purest way, the most vulnerable and true parts of ourself, in different areas of our life, into the world, into the family, into the community into ourselves. Again, we're all having a huge human experience, but they're very unique in the way that they are. Even though of course, there's common themes that come up and common emotions that come up. It's a, you know, are you offering yourself space to grieve when you need to, as a soul in this human experience? Could be even that are you offering yourself honoring the weird little quirky habit or hobby that you don't tell people about? Are you honoring that you need a little bit more rest than you're getting? Or could you make that offering to yourself? And then, in turn, is that helping you offer more of yourself in your role as a parent, as a teacher, as a community member as a team member? What if you might have a job outside of the home, you know, is that is that allowing you to bring more of an offering. It's so interesting how this ties into mediumship. For me at this point, and for the last several years, I feel like most things tie into mediumship for me, and there are times where a spirit person from the other side who's communicating through me to a family member will say that the kind words that that person gave them were some of the only kind words they were receiving at that point. Or maybe they received those words or sentiments or emotions at a time where they were feeling really low about themselves and maybe other people didn't know it. So even if you are interacting with the public in any way, whether it's you know, personally or professionally, that interaction with you could completely change or support or shift a perspective or an emotion in another person and maybe that's your offering. Maybe that's what you're offering is ease in the world with others. So just some food for thought as we shift into 2024 kind of having an at home, taking it easy, doing a little bit of a work day as I record this, but just a lot a lot on my mind. I guess as we shift into this new year, a lot of inspiring thoughts, a lot of questions I'm asked give myself that we've just been talking about. And like I said, there's time for planning. And of course, we're gonna have to, you know, some of us will have to set some goals and projections and things that we're working on, but at the heart of it, can you let yourself look more at what it is you're offering, as a soul through this human version of you into the world, and prioritizing that as your measure of success, your measure of happiness. You know, like Oprah said, the real joy is in the offering. So that's what I want to leave you with, for my welcome to 2024 episode, I hope that this has given you some food for thought, I hope that this resonates with you, I would love it if you'd share with me, the area or the form of offering that your soul is calling or nudging or moving you towards on your path. And this idea of non attachment. It's a big idea. It's a it's a practice, it's not a one and done right. So. But I also want to offer to you from my soul to yours that you are worthy of all the success happiness, abundance, love and joy that your heart and soul longs for. That you are enough, just as you are, even if there are imperfections like there are in all of us, even if there are things that you're still working on growing through wanting to change your enough just as the sole expressing in human form that you are.
And I love Yeah. And I know that everyone in the everyone in the pod squad loves Yeah, what a dorky way to say it. But everyone who was part of the Spirit speakeasy fam. So just knowing that you're more loved and supported and worthy than you even realize in this moment, just by being you. So I hope this was meaningful for you today. And I do just want to remind you that I am still collecting stories of signs people's signs that they've experienced in the world, I would love it to hear from you directly. You can either email me your story, joy at joyful medium.com Or you can call spirit speakeasy hotline, which is area code 3059285683305928. Love L O V, E or 305-928-5683. And share with me your story of a sign that you get from the universe or a sign that you've gotten from a loved one in the spirit world, how you see it, how it shows up for you how you feel any of that. Because I've really want to create an episode on this. I think so many of you are seeing and feeling and experiencing signs, but you're not sure how everyone else is experiencing them. And I think we learned through sharing. So please know that I'm really considering you and what I'm offering as a soul into this community for 2024 and into the world at large. So the more love pouring into the world, the more love that everyone can receive and that can be reflected back to all of us. Welcome to 2024 Guys buckle up. Let's see what this one has in store. Big hugs, lots of love. Bye for now from inside, Spirit Speakeasy