Owning Your Projections: Stop Blaming and Take Your Power Back with Soul Recovery

What if true freedom wasn’t about changing others, but about shifting how you see and engage with the world? In this episode, Rev. Rachel Harrison explores the transformative concept of owning your projections—the unconscious ways we attribute our unhealed wounds and limiting beliefs to others. Inspired by The Four Insights by Alberto Villoldo, she walks us through a powerful exercise to recognize and reframe these beliefs into empowering “journey statements.” Along the way, she guides us through the 9-Step Soul Recovery process, showing how taking responsibility for our inner world allows us to reclaim our power, break free from blame, and step into authentic peace—no longer needing others or the world to be different for us to be okay.

Join me IN PERSON on April 13th in Sacramento California for an all day retreat to deepen your Soul Recovery Process. Learn more on the website! 

Join Rev. Rachel for an upcoming Soul Recovery workshop or retreat—an opportunity to deepen your healing, release old patterns, and reconnect with your true self. Learn more and register at https://www.recoveryoursoul.net/inperson

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not allied or representative of any organizations or religions, but is based on the opinions and experience of Rev. Rachel Harrison. The host claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein. Take what you need and leave the rest.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Soul Recovery
• 4:12 Taking Responsibility for Your Experience
• 9:54 Understanding Projections and Core Wounds
• 16:07 We Are Powerless Over Everything Outside Ourselves
• 21:58 The Shadow Self and Healing Inner Wounds
• 29:21 Owning Your Projections Exercise
• 35:46 Creating Journey Statements
• 42:57 Living Authentically in Soul Recovery

Transcript

Rev Rachel Harrison: 1:02

One of the core tenets of soul recovery is the concept that to heal the world around us, the people around us, isn't about changing them. It's about turning the attention to ourselves and recognizing that the only control that we actually have is to heal and change ourselves, how we see it, how we're going to show up in it, and to look at our own core wounds and our own beliefs and our own patterns and be willing to do the work to change what no longer serves us and to stop projecting our wounds onto the world around us, but taking our power back, taking responsibility for how we are going to interact with everything. Today, I end up going through all nine steps of the soul recovery process, as I share with you this concept of owning your projections, which is around taking responsibility for how you are going to be in your life, how you are going to choose to see it, and it's a sense of freedom when you let go of needing them to be a certain way for you to be okay. Enjoy the episode. Them to be a certain way for you to be okay. Enjoy the episode.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 2:07

Welcome to the Recover your Soul podcast a spiritual path to a happy and healthy life. My name is Reverend Rachel Harrison. I started Recover your Soul after having profound changes in my life from my recovery of alcoholism, codependency and control addiction. I was guided to share the tools and principles of spirituality and soul recovery to help others transform their lives as mine was transformed. For us to overcome external circumstances, we need to turn the attention to ourselves, focusing on our inner change and healing. Positive results in our lives will follow. Hi, it's Rev Rachel. Welcome to the Recovery Soul podcasting community. I'm so grateful to have you here today.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 2:53

We are indeed learning to recover our souls, to be able to take our power back and to learn how to be okay when everything around us doesn't feel okay, to choose a spiritual path to a happy and healthy life, and this means that we take responsibility. It means we take responsibility for how we choose to see it. It takes responsibility about how we choose to show up in it. It means that we stop thinking that the other people around us, everything in our life, is the reason why we are not happy, and what I've been doing in the last seven years on my own soul recovery journey is deepening this understanding through all the variety of spiritual and psychology and even mindset tools that are out there and there's just so many beautiful and enriching tools out there and concepts, and it's about finding what is right for you. Your own mixture of what's right for you and what the mixture is for me has turned into soul recovery.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 3:54

You know, I got here because I started in 12 step. I got here because my life was so, so, so miserable that I'd gotten to that place where I hit the wall, where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was sick and tired of being an alcoholic, I was sick and tired of blaming everyone around me for my unhappiness and I was sick and tired of being a codependent people pleaser. And there is something really beautiful about being in that state where you look around and you say, is this it, is this what I want, is this how it's supposed to be for me? And guess what? You have a choice. You have a choice. This is the piece that's so beautiful about the new step one in soul recovery when you're ready for awakening, when you have that moment in time where you recognize that everything else outside of you is what it is and that you get to choose how you're going to interact with it. You're going to choose whether you're going to be in it, in this relationship, in this job, in this location, but it isn't about changing them. It's about coming more aligned with you, stepping more fully into your authentic self, into your wholeness, into your true nature of who you are, and we quit blaming.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 5:02

And so today's podcast is something that I've been wanting to do for a while, because it's an exercise I got out of one of the books that I've read that has been really impactful to me, and it's around projection. And, first and foremost, I want to say that projection is a term that has a lot of different layers to it, and I am not a psychology expert. I'm not here to try to talk about it in terms of, maybe, what a therapist would talk about it. In and in everything that I say, please understand that I am filtering it through my own perception, which actually, interesting enough, is kind of what a projection is right. So I'm projecting onto the screen of my movie of the world of life, the way that it filters through me. But I want to share with you these tools that I'm learning, and so the concepts that I'm talking about, and even as I use the word projection, take it lightly, because if you're somebody out there who's really intellectual and you're like no, no, no, no, no, no. This is Freud had.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 6:02

Projection is one of the defense mechanisms and he labeled it as such and such. Okay, that is true, but we are here to look at it from a soul recovery vantage point, a way of looking at how we can take our power back and be in our own life Without this concept that we think that it's happening to us. Life is happening for us and not to us. And the more that we stand in this place, it says, I get to decide. In step one in soul recovery, it says recognize your suffering. Become aware that your dissatisfaction and suffering is caused by your current perceptions, beliefs, patterns, stories. It's caused by how it currently is running through your operating system, and acknowledge the need for change. Understand that this awareness is the first step towards awakening and transformation. This is the first step towards healing, and owning your projections is a profound way of taking your power back.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 7:11

Taking your power back, you know, my story is that for so much of my marriage, my projection was that Rich and his behavior and his actions and who he was, and his alcoholism was the problem. And in the midst of that I'm projecting, that my happiness is based on his well-being. Well, the truth was that I had a whole bunch of stuff going on. I had a whole bunch of things that I needed to look at. I had a whole bunch of unhealed wounds. I had a whole bunch of expectations. I had a way that I thought that it was all supposed to be. I had my own defense mechanisms. I had my own character flaws, my own defense mechanisms. I had my own character flaws, I had my own wounding, I had my own stuff, and instead of me being in my life and working on my stuff, I was projecting my unhappiness on him and saying, if he would be different, I'd be better.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 8:00

So I want to talk about this from the spiritual vantage point and again, as always, take what you like, take what you need, take what aligns with you, what you feel is giving you a tool, and process it in your own journey of healing, and if it doesn't align with you and it doesn't seem to resonate, just let it go. Take what you need and leave the rest. I want to talk about this from two books, and I have read so many spiritual books and I'm so grateful for the chance that I have to actually deepen this relationship so much, and I'm sure there's actually more places that I've gotten these concepts from, but these are the two that are in my hand right now that I've been going through. You know that the Course in Miracles is huge for me, and it's something that I did about right after I got sober actually maybe less than a year, no, about a year after I got sober, because I was really in the 12 steps for that first year. And, of course, the Miracles, which is a channeled work, and again, I want your spirituality be yours. I'm always sharing with you my spiritual experience, but I'm not trying to tell you what to do spiritually, even as a metaphysical minister. I just want to present you with information and, if it resonates with you, go with it and learn more about it.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 9:21

So the Course in Miracles was this really incredible text, and what I got out of it the most was this part of us that is constantly judging and that judgment is suffering, because the judgment is this desire for us to protect ourselves, and if we can judge, either for good or for somebody being bad, then we can have certainty. We can try to figure it all out, but we're putting them as the other. That's duality and spirituality. There's a concept of duality versus the oneness right and in the duality it's like the outside, the other, the they versus the wholeness of all. And when you stop judging, you actually can be more present with what is. You can be in a neutral state and recognize that everything that we're judging good or bad, is actually the process of how it's going through our own minds, through our own belief systems. And that's the power of soul recovery, which is this, this understanding that of course we have beliefs and patterns and systems. Of course we do. That's what our brains do. Our brains are like little computers and from the moment that you were born, you are figuring out the world.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 10:38

I'm looking at my little grandson's pictures. He's four weeks old now and he has this little inquisitive, grumpy face right Because he hasn't started smiling yet. And I'm just looking at him and I'm having this visualization of his brain and his soul coming together and starting to like figure out the world. And he's already figured out things like if I'm hungry, I cry, and then I get picked up and I get attention. If I want attention, I cry. Right now he's in a place where he just wants contact naps. He just wants to nurse and he wants contact naps. He doesn't want to be laid down, he wants to be with you all the time. Well, he's figuring that out. This is our computer system in our brains that figures out how to get our needs met, and then he's making decisions Is it safe here, is it unsafe here? And it only grows from there as our brains begin to expand. And you know me, I'm in the woo.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 11:37

So I think that our souls and our spirits are part of that and they're awakening within us with how our brains begin to develop. But of course they develop with protective mechanisms. Of course they set up systems Aside from the wisdom of the universe. When we tap into that space, it takes a long time for us to even open up those channels. But when you're a human being, in your body you're creating your own operating system that is based on the experiences in which you have.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 12:11

So every single thing that you see, every single thing that you do, every single thing that you interact with is a product of you focusing and having that move through this system that is in your brain that has all these experiences, this system that is in your brain that has all these experiences. Everything that we see is a product of how we choose to see it, how we choose to be with it, and that actually means that you have control over your experience. We're powerless over every single thing outside of ourself. That's step two in soul recovery to truly understand that we are powerless, not from a place of weakness, but from a place of freedom and release. You are not in control of anything outside of you, nor should you, nor do you want to be. That you have control of you, that you have control of how you're going to see it. You have control of how it feels to you. You have control of what you're, and that allows us to be in what is from a more empowered space, and this concept of projection, where we're putting on somebody else, how we feel.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 14:33

Now, absolutely, when people say or do things that are unkind, there are things. There's no doubt that people are showing up in ways that are not well, no doubt. There's no doubt that people are showing up in ways that are not well, no doubt. So I'm never saying that someone is not coming at you or you don't deal with things that are incredibly painful, incredibly difficult, but at every moment we are being invited, we're being offered the ability to choose how we're going to interact with it, how we're going to see it. Am I going to project my woundedness and my lack and my fear into that situation, or am I going to interact with it how we're going to see it? Am I going to project my woundedness and my lack and my fear into that situation, or am I going to actually look at those aspects of myself and be curious and say why do I want to blame rich for everything? What is that within me? Oh, I have a belief system. I have a part of myself.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 15:23

This is step three in soul recovery. Who knew that we're going to be going through all the steps today In soul recovery? Then, in step three, we're looking at what are these belief, stories and patterns that are underneath. This is what Carl Jung brought about in the shadow self, this concept that we, of course, we all have these shadow parts. Self, this concept that we, of course, we all have these shadow parts. And the shadow parts want to stay hidden, they want to hide, they don't want to come out. So they use all these tools and stories and patterns and beliefs to protect themselves, and so much of it is protecting a core wound, and most of our core wounds are based around being unlovable and unworthy. It's so tender to me, so tender to me, that if you really were to have all of us come together and have clarity and authenticity about what that real core belief is underneath, clarity and authenticity about what that real core belief is underneath that got set up by hurts and disappointments or or trauma, that there's something underneath that we all are terrified that we're not enough somehow, that there's something wrong with us.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 16:39

Are you ready to step into your soul recovery? Visit the website recoveryoursoulnet to learn more about the nine step soul recovery process. I hope that you'll join us the first Monday of every month for the free soul recovery support group on Zoom, where we learn more about soul recovery and connect with each other. If you'd like to work directly with me to move through the nine step soul recovery process, I'm here for you. But you can also choose to work the steps on your own, with individual modules intended to support you, to work at your own pace and on your own time. And if you want even more soul recovery, join us for the Recover your Soul bonus podcast for Patreon members and Apple podcast subscribers, where I interview amazing people, sharing soul recovery tips for us and also do spiritual book studies. You can also find Daily Inspiration on Facebook and Instagram and join our private Facebook community. Visit the website for more information, links and registration for everything. Back to the episode.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 17:39

I think I may have said this in the last podcast, having just done four days of Tony Robbins. I think I may have said this in the last podcast, having just done four days of Tony Robbins there was just so much evidence of thousands and thousands and thousands of people on this, on this particular virtual summit right, that are all experiencing the same thing, and I know that that's, that's mine too, and so that's a projection. When we don't feel like we're enough, of course we're. That is going through our system and then projecting out into the world around us. And Brene Brown famously has said you will find what you're looking for. You will find what you're looking for. If you're looking for somebody to tell you that you're not enough, guess what? You will absolutely find people who will tell you you're not enough. And if you look for people who will tell you how wonderful and beautiful and whole you are, you will resonate that with that. You will find that. And here we are in soul recovery. We got here because we it was messy. It was messy and hard and uncomfortable and something happened right.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 18:42

Maybe you have someone in your life who is really struggling with addiction, or maybe you're really realizing that your codependent behaviors are really keeping you from being in healthy relationships. Or maybe you just found this podcast because spirit gave it to you. I love the stories where people come to me for coaching and I say so, how'd you find the podcast? You know, and how can I help you? And they're like I have no idea. I have no idea. I was on Spotify, I was on Apple and you just came up. That is divine. That is that guidance that just says you're in a place where something is there working for you, because we are not here without that guidance of spirituality. I am so grateful to be on this spiritual path. So this place where we are is us taking our power back. We're starting to recognize the truth around these principles.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 19:35

So the two books that I have in my hand right now the first one is called the Four Insights Wisdom, power and Grace of the earth keepers, by Alberto Valado, and this book was used by my, my local sacred circle that we do. We used to do it every month last year and this year we're doing it every other month, and it's the first Saturday and it's a morning. And for last year we did two books. We did a Wayne Dyer book and then we did this one, the Alberto Valado book, and what I love about this book is that it had so many beautiful aspects of what I've learned in so many other places.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 20:15

This is the thing, when you start reading so much content that you realize it all is speaking the same language, that you realize it all is speaking the same language. It's all speaking about love, wholeness, forgiveness, letting go of judgment, letting go of this heaviness that we have, that we feel responsible for everybody, and coming into our own, being selfish enough to do our own spiritual work. It all is speaking the same language, about connecting to something even greater still. And even if you read the Bible from a metaphysical interpretation, it's saying the same stuff too, right? So it's really this concept of really noticing that the truth is filtering through.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 20:59

To choose love and not fear that was the main tenet of the Course in Miracles, too. To choose love and not fear. That was the main tenet of the Course in Miracles, too, to choose love and not fear. So Alberto Valado is a man who discovered shamanism and has studied through a whole bunch of other things. He has a bunch of books. He's really good, anyway, and I won't even begin to go into this book, but he had a section in the back that was around owning your projections, and that's the model that we're going to do. And then the other one is that I just recently started reading A Way of Mastery, which is another channeled work, similar to how the Course in Miracles is a channeled work.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 21:36

And again, you know, take whatever you believe about any of those things, it's fine, but what it says in the first line of the projection section is nothing you experience has been caused by anything outside of you. Now, a few years ago, more than a few years ago, when I first started my journey of soul recovery, seven years ago, that was a really hard concept. That was a really hard concept for me to get, because I was so stuck in that deep belief that we have that, that this wasn't mine, that this was because my family were a bunch of addicts, that my sons were ADHD and were falling into their own issues, that my husband was the way that he was, that you know, my jobs were the way that they were. The people that I worked with were the people that they were, that everything that I experienced was because of them. But the more spirituality I've done, the more clarity I have is that the reality in which is inside your soul, the peace in which is inside your soul, will reflect out. That's such a tenet of soul recovery.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 22:47

To do your inner work to change external circumstances, you must turn the attention to yourself and your own healing. That is a foundational piece of soul recovery and it means that you actually take responsibility. You take responsibility to work on your inside, to work your shadow, as Carl Jung would say. So another line says the way to heal the world is not by seeking to change what is on the outside, but by first changing what's on the inside. And it says projection is an act of trying to get rid of what you do not want within. So if I don't feel worthy, if I don't feel innately and this is all subconscious a lot of times we don't even really know that there's a limiting belief we're like. But I'm working hard in my business and I have goals and I have this clarity of who I am and what I want. But if you have a subconscious, underlying core wound that's been hiding in there, it gets stuck in that projection that you don't even know is projecting and keeping you stuck. That's the part that's so incredibly fascinating about that is that when we project to others why we're not being successful, why this isn't happening, why my relationship isn't happening, we're putting the energy outside instead of looking at what we could learn more on the inside.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 24:13

There's a lot of learning that I'm seeing for myself that makes me understand how deep it is to be in judgment, how deep it is to want things to be different, how deep it is to be dissatisfied with the world and the people around us right To be pissed at the cars or the way that the politics are going, or you know all these things that are happening. Why can't my kids get it together? Why can't my husband be like this? Why can't my wife be like this? Why is? Why is it this way that it is? And you've heard me time and time again come back to the place that says you have control of nothing outside of yourself, but you have control of what's inside of you and you can start asking yourself am I judging? Why am I judging this? What? What's happening?

Rev Rachel Harrison: 25:01

If you've ever had any desire to do the steps, I have the first four steps on the website and they're like being in a session with me. There are videos that include guided meditation and working through the steps and really working on this powerlessness. Because step two, where you really have clarity and the freedom that you can feel of stop trying to control everything around you, is so profound. It just changes everything and it helps with the projection. It helps with that part that you want to make them be a certain way. I want to go to the Roberto Valado book and he says to own your projections, you must first discover and acknowledge the parts of yourself that you've refused to look at, to heal.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 25:46

This goes back to the soul recovery process. In the soul recovery process, you know we've talked about step one, two and three now, and then the process is about being ready to truly look at. What are these beliefs, what are these patterns, these stories that are running my operating system? Can I then step four connect to a higher power, recognize that I'm part of something bigger, more than just this body? Here I am connected to source I'm connected to everything it's the oneness that I talked about and then to be willing to look at the patterns and be willing to let them go.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 26:23

Most of us have been doing this for so long living from these limiting, painful woundedness, this trying to control the world around us and everybody around us that it's pretty scary to think about letting that go and to changing our belief systems and opening up to a new way of being. We've been using the same tools for a long time. When you have awareness that these patterns, beliefs and stories have given you something, that you have learned from them they have been part of your curriculum of life on earth school, as I call it that you've gained something from it, that it's giving you insight into those shadow pieces to let them go. But you're ready to change. You're ready to release old patterns that no longer serve you and then you embrace new ones. What is a healthier way of being If I'm not projecting, if I'm actually in that space of truly connecting to my true nature and being in the world as it is?

Rev Rachel Harrison: 27:22

Neutral, more neutral things that are happening around us are just neutral. It's what we decide that they are, that make them good or bad. It's that judgment. It is just happening and some of the stuff that is happening is really complex and difficult. But if you have a situation such as somebody's an addict and they are in the depths of their addiction and they are making choices that are horrendous, horrendous choices, that is an is for them and we can attach to it a whole bunch of stories about what they're doing to us. And if they would do, if they would be a certain way, then we could be okay. And there are real consequences, real boots on the ground, things that have to be done. Maybe it's a separation, maybe it's, you know, a safer place to live. All of those are real life situations. But we are determining every step of the way whether we're projecting how we feel, who we think we are, what they're doing to us in those situations. And the healthier you get and the more you step into the wholeness of who you are, the more that you have the ability to see them as struggling, to see them in their own journey, their own experience, and to have the sadness that might come around how your life is going to change, to be disappointed, to have your heart broken. But those are not actually coming from those patterns and beliefs and stories that are keeping you stuck. That's actually standing in the truth of who you are. That's giving you control over who you are and how you're going to show up, because they can't make you feel any way. They can provide you an opportunity to witness and see just like they're feeling the same way.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 29:16

There are a lot of addicts addicts in their depths of their disease, are selfish, selfish, selfish. They can't see that anything is not a projection. They are so in a projection that their lives are so horrible because of everything and everyone and no one has been there. And it is a quintessential space of somebody, in the depths of their own darkness, that they can't look at themselves. So they project it out and then they're using a substance alcohol and many drugs or substances that it doesn't matter. Eventually it will become an addiction because of what it does to your body. So it's this very difficult situation that people can be in, but if you look at it from a neutral space, everyone's in it, in their own place, and you're taking your power back by being in it for you.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 30:10

So this concept that Alberto Valado talks about in owning your projections, is about being willing to recognize that everything is a reflection for us to see better for ourselves. Everything is a reflection to stop saying they're the problem and start saying what am I going to do about it for me? Not that you're going to change them, not even that if you do this work so well, so intently, so beautifully, so fully, that you will magically, miraculously change and sprinkle stardust over everybody around you and everything will be great for them. Maybe it will not, and maybe, just maybe, your profound changes in yourself will be a light and a beacon of hope for others to make choices for themselves, because you're handing them the responsibility of their own life and you're not accepting their projections either. And that is power. That's power to be okay even when everyone around you is not okay, and it's power to reflect back to them. You're not taking their unhealthy projections, you're allowing it to be a mirror, but you're standing firm and with boundaries in your own way of being. Standing firm and with boundaries in your own way of being.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 31:31

So this concept of looking at and doing your own shadow work means that you're seeing that there's benefit in looking at these parts of ourselves, to love yourself completely for everything, even the darkest shadow. One of the things that Alberto says is you project every aspect of your shadow onto the world, be it positive or negative, and the universe is so fluid that it will arrange itself to accommodate all of your projections and prove you right every time. Right that piece where, if we want to see beauty and happiness and good, we're going to get that, we're going to have more of that. And if we're seeing that nothing ever works and this is scary and terrible we're going to get that. We're going to have more of that. And if we're seeing that nothing ever works and this is scary and terrible we're going to get more of that. And it isn't a reward or a punishment system. It's a an incredible part of how spirituality and the laws of spirituality speak above, where, when we align and take responsibility for ourself and whatever that frequency is, we will align with that frequency, because it is the nature of how science works. It's the nature of how the universe works. So you get to choose.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 33:09

No-transcript journey statement. You are claiming, you are making a decision and claiming a new way of being, and it is so easy to fall back. There is such a draw to go back to what makes you want to be small or afraid or those old belief systems are so entrenched in there. But when you command and make a decision to be well and to be happy, it's amazing how things change when you truly let go of those beliefs and patterns that no longer serve you. They may come up, they may show themselves to you, but they do not run your show anymore. So this aligning with this new perception is this journey statement, and the journey statement is an action. It's, instead of being an affirmation, which is something like I love myself and I love my children. It would be more of an action. As I love myself, I'm able to love my children more fully. It's moving into a truly claiming for yourself In the exercise of owning and projections.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 34:23

He says to make a list of three problems you have, using simple statements that focus on yourself and be sure to name the situation rather than scribing an entire story around it. So some of the examples are I can't be happy when there's so much sadness and injustice in the world, and this is very current, right. I can't be happy when there's so much sadness and injustice in the world. Another example is my ex-partner is being so rotten to me. A third example is everything's going so horribly. No wonder I can hardly bring myself to face another day. And I'm just going to read what he says. Instead of trying to paraphrase, now own the projection and explore the consequences of the thoughts, beliefs and actions you've chosen. Rephrase your problem in the form of when I do such and such, this is what happens.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 35:13

Please note that this is an exercise not about assigning blame and feeling poorly about yourself. The purpose is to recognize that you're dreaming your reality, you're choosing your reality and that you can choose a different one. You can choose a different one. You can choose a different one. Although the instructions are very clear, you might find it difficult to understand because the ego is so reluctant to go along with this exercise. Instead of saying I can't be happy when there's so much sadness in the world, you would say when I only see sadness and injustice in my life, I make myself unhappy. Or instead of my ex-partner is being so rotten to me, you would say when I'm so rotten to myself, I hurt myself. Allow my ex to hurt me.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 36:00

And then, the third being everything's going so horribly, no wonder I can't get out of bed. The next way of doing it is when I dread facing the day. Everything goes poorly. So you're actually taking responsibility because when we put the energy out there and we say that everything on the outside needs to be okay for us to be okay, we will never have any power because we're powerless over every single thing around us. This is about the world. We're powerless about the world, the ex-partner. We're powerless over our ex-partners. Everything goes so horribly. No wonder I can face another day. That's another one. That's like the world around me and the people around me are so horrible.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 36:40

When we take responsibility for ourselves, we're owning our projection, we're recognizing that we're putting the energy on them instead of on us, and we're taking our power back. So he says after you've owned your projections that's the part of saying when I, when I, when I, when I allow myself to, when I see it this way, when I get caught up in someone else's issues, when I choose others over myself, when I think that I can't, when I right, when you see how you're owning that projection, you're taking your power back everything begins to change. So he says after you own your projections, turn them into a journey statement which reflects your deliberate choice about what you will think, believe and do. You are taking your power back to make a deliberate choice In 12 step, they say, to make a decision, and I've been thinking a lot about the power of making a decision. When you go well, maybe I'll, maybe I'll eat better, very different than I am choosing. I am making a deliberate decision to make my well-being and my health my number one and top priority. And then it's very easy to not eat the sugar, to not eat the carbs, if you're saying, oh, I'm not really going to do it. Well, maybe I might do it, I might think about it, and then someone shows up with something yummy and delicious. Of course you're going to have it right. So this decision is something that is so powerful.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 38:12

After you own your projections turn into a journey statement which reflect your deliberate choice about what you will think, believe and do, state the results you hope to achieve. In this form as I do such and such, this form as I do such and such, this positive outcome results. So this is where you're really using the power of your mind, the power of your thoughts, the power of your creating, co-creating, with a higher power of your understanding, to align yourself to what you are calling to yourself. So the example is, as I see, joy and justice around me. I bring happiness to myself and others as I live and practice peace. I share peace with my ex-partner and others as I arise each day and greet it with gusto. Life beckons to me and all goes well. And then it says once you've owned your projections, you'll realize that if you could change the external circumstances you imagined were necessary for your happiness, you still wouldn't be satisfied. It's that recognition that even if it all seemed perfect, there'd still be stuff inside of you that needs to be worked on. It's not about the rest of the world being perfect needs to be worked on. It's not about the rest of the world being perfect.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 39:31

And we did this exercise at one of the sacred circles, as I said, and it was the only one that Rich ever came to, actually. And it was interesting because I found myself checking myself when it's just me and I'm in the state that I get into, when I move into Rev Rachel, I do a meditation, I do a prayer, I actually move into myself and I move Rachel over and I connect Rev Rachel to the consciousness. That is what I believe is the universe and the wisdom that comes in and a channel opens and I'm so grateful for that channel. And so I'm in this sacred circle and Rich is watching me and I'm talking, and I'm noticing that my channel is partially closed. And so when we did this exercise, I said when Rich is here, I can't be Rev Rachel.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 40:23

That's so interesting, isn't it Right? I'm putting it on him. He's there with his eyes open, attentive, looking at me, with a smile on his face, proud of me and just as happy as can be, doesn't have a smirk. Or even if he did, you know, it's still that awareness about how you're letting somebody else, something, determine who you are, because really, underneath, he's shining a light on my piece of myself that feels unworthy sometimes, that feels like I'm in trouble or I'm not doing something right or I'll be judged. That is one of my underlying wounds.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 41:01

And so then, when I moved to the next place and I said, when I am concerned about what he thinks about me, I block the channel for me to open to my wisdom and the guidance from spirit. When I, when I am concerned about what he thinks, I'm taking my power back, I'm choosing myself, I'm recognizing what I see. I'm choosing myself, I'm recognizing what I see. And then I moved into my journey statement. As I connect to my true nature and authentic self, as I connect to source energy, I'm able to allow the wisdom to flow, no matter who I'm with or where I'm at. That's empowerment, that's that place that says as I choose, as I choose.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 41:52

And so this concept of projection is really about us having more and more clean awareness of the choices that we are making, about how we're going to see it, how we're going to let what people are doing outside affect us and what we are doing within ourselves. That is then referencing out into the world, where we're in a mirror all the time and there's always this opportunity to grow and to learn. And you might be in a situation where you recognize that you're giving your power away so much because there's pieces of you that need and want to be attended to. And just to recognize that you need and want love and connection and that this isn't happening in this situation might be one of the most profound things that you discover when you really look and say I'm looking for all of this to be better and be different. But if I'm honest, if I look at the neutral, if I look at the what is this just is like this Does this work for me. Or you look at it and you say this is like this and I recognize that I've been layering a bunch of expectations or desires for people to be something other than who they are and I can start to see them for who they are in a new way, and that's been the example in my life.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 43:21

But I feel for those of you who are in these deep, deep, dark and difficult situations in your life that mean that you have to truly step in the strength and the power of who you are and make choices that can be very difficult and complicated, but I am here to tell you you can do it. You are so deserving of a life that is filled with every bit of happiness and peace and kindness and contentment and joy. You are deserving of that in your life because it is the essence of who you are. But we can stop projecting that they need to be a certain way for us to be okay and we can start claiming and saying as I choose myself, as I choose my own soul recovery, as I choose my own healing, as I choose my own well being, I can have the strength to make difficult choices. I know that I have everything that I need to move forward and that will line you up energetically to the things that are coming, that will open the doors, that will be the synchronicities, or those out of the blues or the things that happen that are really the flow of universe, the flow of spirit. And it isn't that everything lines up on some golden road where it's perfect, but you have the opportunity to be more strong in exactly who you are at each moment, from a clean energy that is choosing love over fear and and letting go of judgment and letting go of projection and opening fully to forgiveness is the path to freedom and that is the soul recovery journey.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 44:58

So, just to hit on the last couple soul recovery steps, we did the aligning with the new perception, which is really that journey statement. Align with a new, healthier perception of yourself and the world around you. And then you deepen your spiritual practice. In step eight you engage in a regular spiritual practice, you connect more and more deeply to this incredible divine being that you are. And then step nine is shine your light, live authentically, live without control or judgment, embrace your true self, accepting the world as it is. Didn't intend to go through the nine steps today, but they are just such a beautiful process of us releasing that peace that wants it to be different on the outside and taking our power back by choosing to turn within and heal and love and get to know ourselves for the beauty that we are.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 45:52

As always.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 45:52

If you need help with this, I'm here for you, either to do individual coaching sessions with or you can work the steps on your own. Join me in a retreat, come to the free soul recovery support group once a month. There's just so many ways to do your soul recovery journey and if none of those appeal to you, just keep listening to the podcast. It is indeed changing and shifting what's within you, especially when you decide that you are worth it, and you are worth it Until next time.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 46:42

Namaste with being part of that community, but your subscribing helps support this podcast and the Recover your Soul community. If you want to listen to those bonus episodes but can't subscribe right now, do know that you can be a free Patreon member and have access for limited time to new episodes. Visit the website RecoverYourSoulnet or check out the show links below for coupons and information for upcoming events. I thank you for sharing this podcast with your friends and family. I thank you for giving it five stars, and the reviews that are left bring tears to my eyes. I am honored to be part of your life. Together we can do the work that will recover your soul.