– May 2026

What happens when you’re released – or release yourself – from all the familiar tensions?

Many people I’ve encountered can answer this question by referring to a drug experience. Uninhibited freedom and joy. A clean, bright version of Self. Sometimes it comes with clarity, grace toward self and others, and even universal affection. This can lead to dancing or other movement. Sex, perhaps. In any case, there’s Flow.

In the last blog post I shared about the imminent opportunity to transition to this version of your reality. As usual for humankind, it can come down to the willingness thing. This transition is personal, not something we wait for everyone else to make real. It’s our moment to smash through our own locked gate of “Yes, but…”

80-20

Behavioral research from various sources indicates people prefer things that are at least 80% familiar. In the metaphysical community, you’ll often hear people use the word “grounded.” They’ll say things like “We have to ground this energy” and “integrate it into your real life.” Often I think we intend to mix this 20% New into the 80% you want to keep.

I’m not saying this is unhealthy. But in the next breath we also say we want “A New Earth.” We talk about jumping timelines, and facilitating new realities. Manifestation. We imagine the realization of our full potential. We dream of transitioning to completely new paradigms (not 20% new paradigms). Do we want a world with 20% less war, or a 20% change of heart? Of course not. We want New. And New is not 80% The Same.

To me, research like this reveals constraints we’ve been conditioned to accept. Thresholds of tolerance that we equate with “normal” and “healthy.” At the individual level, being even just 50% New means you are 100% Weird.

So what does this mean for you, and for your “enlightened” path? How big is your appetite for New? Everyone wants aliens or Jesus to swoop in and bring The New. But if that happened – if you were miraculously “saved” – what would you be willing to let go of to experience that new reality? Perhaps the ET’s offer an advanced map of reality, complete understanding of the human body and consciousness, technology to explore the universe, and every reason to embrace peace and joy. Would you respond with “Yeah, but…” ?

Blank

When your default is a lack of peace and joy, life’s pain-and-healing dynamics offer a chemical substitute. That crescendo to relief and its bittersweet clarity can suffice as the bright spot in your day, or year.

But if one day we wake up without that lack, when we connect with a beautiful New, then that pain-and-healing pattern doesn’t pay out. The brain’s familiar reward systems don’t work anymore, and the new ones haven’t been built yet. As we consider letting go of familiar patterns of thinking and relating, the road to brightness, peace, and joy may start with just feeling less for a while.

Between that decades-long period of inner tension (your life so far) and that moment of radiant peace (the miraculous unfolding), it’s possible you might experience a BLANKNESS. In releasing ourselves from the pattern of wanting that familiar tension, we may need to pass through a phase of not wanting anything at all. And like an addict in recovery, we may find ourselves in that uncomfortable space of “I appreciate this lack of struggle, but is this smoothness good?”

This familiar rest stop in the transformation cycle is where some of us seem to be at this time.