Transformational Teachings from Counselor Jane Ilene Cohen

This is a part of the “Ask Jane” Series,
in which Jane answers questions
you email to her that of concern to you.

(Names are changed to protect your privacy.)

Just go to the “Contact Jane” page
and ask your question in the contact form.

Question from Jered in Mission Valley

Jered: It occurs to me that the failure of big companies — such as General Motors that received bailouts — are not so much an example of limiting decision, as they are of “broken” organizations.  GM had to break before old methods were discarded for new. It makes me think of change with people.  Clearing decisions are baby steps. But traumatic events have outsized consequences – huge steps.

Jane: This is a complex subject that can’t be explained, so that it’s easily understood, in a few paragraphs.  I will be going into this more fully in my upcoming “Life is Meant to Work” webinar as part of explaining how our experience of reality gets out of alignment with Universal Truths.  But here is a brief explanation that I hope is helpful.

The failure of big companies, such as General Motors, is most likely based on perspectives of self-interest that are out of alignment with reality.  Whenever there are perceptions that are out of alignment with reality, there are limiting decisions* at the root of it.

People with similar limiting decisions* come together and hold in place a collective perspective on reality.  People are very invested in the particular way they perceive what reality is, which represents their source of stability, survival and well-being.  It is the ground they are standing on.  That perception of reality is often greatly distorted by limiting decisions* they have made.  In general people are not willing to give up that ground unless forced to.  That’s why it sometimes takes a major crisis before individuals — and especially a group of people, such as a major organization or company — are willing to restructure their perception of reality.  They have to perceive that it is in their self-interest to make a change.  The process of evolution occurs as what people perceive of as self-interest becomes increasingly more in alignment with what actually benefits them.

Transcript Excerpts of Jane’s Teachings
during the “Shifting into Your New Consciousness” Group Experience 5-7-09

(Participant’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.)

(Jocelyn, who is in real estate, was describing the difficulty she is having in her business because of the economy.)

(To Jocelyn) “This is a very significant period of time in human history. The fact that old structures have been falling apart is causing people to reframe where their source of safety and well-being is. Is it counting on the banks to provide loans, or the stock market to behave in certain ways? Before 9-11, was it counting on our government to protect us from the terrorists in our own country? We have been counting on all of these external things that people have relied upon for security, that have been around for what seems like forever. This is an opportunity to understand that these major structures are falling apart because they are not the true source of safety and well-being. They are not the stability that humanity has convinced itself they are. It is necessary to start focusing on a different source. That’s what this whole thing is about, at least one level of it. And that’s what it’s about for you

The external circumstances being what they are, hold a lot of potential for all of us now. There’s a lot of pressure externally to make an internal shift. And this is requiring a shift inside of you. So to just sit there and wait for the external to change and to pin your hopes on that, is wasting this opportunity. This opportunity is here for a positive purpose. Take advantage of it.

Your boyfriend can say what he wants to say — he wants to be with you, he doesn’t want to be with you. And he can keep changing his mind back and forth, but he is not your source of safety and well-being. And so if you try to keep focusing on ‘Can you count on him or can you not,’ you’re going to be driving yourself nuts, because that is not the source, and you have to shift that, especially now. You’re right at the heart of the shift that is happening, because of the business that you’re in. You need to find a stable place inside of yourself that connects with the Divine, and stick with principles of what is true.

There is something that is keeping you afloat. And in some ways you are extremely good at it. There is some way that you have access to this source. When push comes to shove, you always make it. Things just turn around miraculously for you. There is some part of you that has a very, very good connection with that plumb line of stability. You just have to remind yourself that you really are very connected in some really powerful way, and start refocusing your way of orienting yourself to that, rather than your boyfriend or this client, or that client, because you’ll drive yourself nuts, because they are not the source.”

Transcript Excerpts of Jane’s Teachings during a
Shifting into Your New Consciousness Group 3/12/09

(Participant’s name is change to protect his privacy.)

(About Randy saying he’s having trouble getting work because of the economy.)

“You’re too invested in thinking you know what truth is, and grabbing the comfort of thinking you know what’s true based on what others say. You have a choice between relying on the external world to define reality for you, versus accessing your own direct experience. This relates to whether what you rely on for your source of safety and well-being comes from an external, limited, human source or from your own inner connection with a larger source (i.e. Life, the Divine, your Higher Self — however you define it). When you’re accessing your internal source you have direct access to experience, which allows you to come from a far more resourceful place, and be open to seeing the doors that are open, even if they don’t come from the familiar places you have counted on them coming from. The fact that major resources and institutions, that people have historically counted on, are failing at this time, is requiring a shift in consciousness for people. It is making clear that external sources (even long-established ones) are not where our safety and well-being come from.”