Letting Go and Embracing Change- A Path to Personal Growth

Lauren Best (00:00:08) – Welcome to provoking Possibilities, where we reflect on pivotal life moments, asked provoking questions and dream up new possibilities for living a life you love that may be a little out of your current reality. I’m Lauren Best, a certified hypnotherapist and provoker of possibility, and I’ve created this podcast for people who are curious about exploring new ways of living, who are looking to connect deeper with their bodies, their intuition, their hearts, and then known and who are really ready to just embrace their most authentic selves, to move into flow and into alignment. There is just so much that is possible for us when we open ourselves up to exploring new possibilities beyond our wildest imagination. So if you’re ready and curious to begin exploring new possibilities, join me every week for a new episode of Provoking Possibilities on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s dive in. Hi, everyone. I’m your host, Lauren Best. I am a certified hypnotherapist and provoker of possibility. And I’m just excited to welcome back any listeners who have joined me before and welcome any new listeners to the show.

Lauren Best (00:01:25) – I am just so grateful that you have chosen to spend your time listening to what I have to say, listening to the show, and also just giving your yourself that space to really discover something new and, you know, allow your curiosity to take you to new places that perhaps you haven’t been before. And it kind of leads into this topic that I want to talk about, this idea of curiosity and exploring things, exploring new things, new possibilities, things that we’re not quite familiar with. Welcoming change and even desiring change is something that I’ve been seeing a lot more recently in my own life. I’ve just been getting knocked over the head with it in different ways, as well as seeing, you know, how to showing up in the world around me, whether it is from some of my collaborators and have they’re embracing change or navigating change or my clients within their own worlds and their own lives, as well as within these different communities that I’ve been a part of and have been joining. There’s just so much to be said for abolition and just seeing how other people are really embracing change or struggling with change are trying to pivot with change.

Lauren Best (00:02:38) – So there’s so many different, you know, ways of of handling change and dealing with change. So I really want to explore this topic of change and how we can really begin building more comfort around this idea of infinite change, but also digging into some of the first steps that you can take in order to even build up even an ounce of recognizing the potential of change in our lives and in our world. It’s something the idea of change is something that I used to really struggle with. Yes, I had a curiosity around life. I’ve lived around the world. I’m from Canada, but I, you know, went to study abroad over in the UK, in London. I’ve worked over in Singapore. I’ve done a lot of traveling and I think getting out of my comfort zone to try new things is a really important thing to me right now. I’m nomadic, so I’m kind of bouncing around all over the place and there’s been a lot of uncertainty or things that have popped up, a lot of change, unexpected change that I’ve experienced in my life, one of which that was so pivotal in the pandemic.

Lauren Best (00:03:50) – You know, bringing me back to Canada when I was living over in Singapore was something that was really, really unexpected and involved, not only like the changing world around me, but also my job. I had lost my job. I was back in my childhood bedroom, so on, so forth. There were so many other elements to this change that really were piling on top of me. So. My resilience, I think, was pretty impressive when I look back now. But it came with a crash and it came with a time, a very long period of time where I just really needed to rebuild my confidence, you know, regulate my nervous system and really get comfortable with the idea of change. Because not long after that, I became really cocooned. And, you know, a lot of us were still in lockdown or, you know, staying home. And so the regular, I think doses of change that we might have seen on a regular basis throughout our lives became, you know, first it was very intense and then it almost wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t in existence as it was before when we were like, for me, I had this privilege of staying home and I wasn’t a frontline worker or I wasn’t, you know, out in the world like some other people have been this this pandemic.

Lauren Best (00:05:14) – So my resilience to change when things started to open back up or, you know, people were starting to experience different things, I really had to ease myself into it. And just there was a lot of desire for me. And I think it came from a lot of fear to really be in control of, you know, what things would change around me and. I had this desire to really like. I want to find one thing that I’m going to be really good at my business, and I don’t want it to change because, you know, so many people are successful just by picking one niche and by getting really, you know, pinned in on what it is they’re doing and how they’re doing it and just very specific. And so I for a while was really trying to fit myself into a box of. You know, not wanting certain types of change in my life. And, you know, more recently and I think towards the end of 2022, I had to get really real with myself.

Lauren Best (00:06:15) – And I think over the second half of last year, I really, you know, decided and it had to also be a decision to really open myself back up to the idea of change and what that could mean for me in terms of welcoming uncertainty and even getting to a place where I was excited about uncertainty instead of feeling like it would just knock me on the floor all over again, like it had changed, you know, contained, just like everything changes around us, the way we process change, the way we welcome change. What change looks like for us in our lives can be very different from season to season, year to year. You know, we have these ebbs and flows. Just look at the seasons or for women who or those who are, you know, menstruating, for instance, there are so many ebbs and flows and so much change that happens even with aging. The you know, the way we age, there’s change. It’s just such a constant, constant thing. And, you know, I love exploring this idea of what if we can embrace it and not try to control it.

Lauren Best (00:07:29) – But I know it’s really tough to get there. So I really think by sharing with you some of the things that I’ve had to do in order to give myself that permission to change and how powerful that has been for me will really hopefully spark some sort of inspiration for you to even, you know, build more comfort with this idea of opening yourself up to exploring new possibilities that you perhaps hadn’t even imagined possible. I really think it starts again, Like I said about, you know, deciding to welcome change. One of these greatest gifts that that we can give ourselves in life is just this permission to change. And I’m not going to sugarcoat it. You know, change is really hard. And there can be many unique reasons why change can feel impossible, It can feel scary or like it’s not even an option. And it is possible to exist in a reality where change doesn’t have to feel or look so drastic or dramatic. Of course, we also know that it is possible for change to happen slowly and naturally over a period of time, and other times it can feel like being pushed off a cliff with the risk of having everything you ever knew getting lost along that leap.

Lauren Best (00:08:57) – I’ve definitely experienced that feeling of. Being pushed off a cliff and kind of losing. You know, parts of me or comforts along the way. But the truth is, one of the scariest parts of change is the ability to accept that your identity is not the same, that you perhaps are no longer the same person and that people around you might not be able to catch up with this new version of you. And I think this might sound a little extreme going from this idea of slow change. And, you know, sometimes it doesn’t happen that slowly. Sometimes we have these pivotal moments in our lives or we have these breakthroughs or, you know, if you’re doing a lot of subconscious work with your mind and up leveling, there can be shifts that feel a lot stronger than these these slower change that happens over time. And one of the things that I really had to realize and it came up. You know, it’s very confusing when you’re when you’re feeling this shift and you’re feeling this change in yourself.

Lauren Best (00:10:01) – But there’s something that just doesn’t feel quite right. Even if you have that excitement and you have that connection to your intuition. I know in my experience towards the end of last year, I had gone through quite a beautiful shift and didn’t necessarily know the feelings that I was feeling. I know there was a lot of excitement and peace and clarity and a feeling of abundance, but there was also this feeling of grief of, you know, meeting my new self with such excitement, but also losing a past version of myself. And, you know, this might have come up for you before. It might be something that you experience. And until you do, it’s kind of one of those things you can’t really pinpoint or put your your words to. But. I want to acknowledge that change is challenging and confusing and miraculous and empowering, and it can be all of those things. It doesn’t have to be exclusively exciting or sad. You know, there can be a mix of emotions that you feel when you’re going through any type of change at all.

Lauren Best (00:11:08) – So just finding comfort in your own evolution. Can be such a powerful thing. And this is something I’ve become more comfortable with as I’ve been getting more practice lately, more practice with different types of change and with internal motivation to create some change around the way I work, the way I want to give myself the chance to be really straight up about some of the changes that I’m so, so excited and nervous to make in in my work and in my life. And yet I’m also feeling motivated to me to make these same changes. I’ve been craving a lot more consistency in finding myself drawn towards limiting access to my energy, which is really interesting because for. A while in the beginning of my business. I really. Was, you know, energetically misaligned. But I really had created what I thought were these opportunities for people to connect with me, to have on my calendar all these open spaces for people to book in with me and have a conversation and connect. And a lot of the times I had crickets and, you know, that’s okay.

Lauren Best (00:12:16) – I ended up, you know, really doing a lot of self exploration and mindset work and changing how I talked about my work and changing how I talked about myself and just getting more comfortable with how I communicate. But this led me to a place of then restricting my calendar more to create more boundaries around work and not getting sucked back into the hustle mentality and the old ways of working that I that I had worked so hard to shed. So I began restricting my calendar a lot more. And even in the last few weeks, actually last week, I just felt this energetic shift to say, Hey, I feel like I can hold more capacity. I feel like I can work with more people. And so I opened my calendar up and within a few hours on this day that I always had blocked off, I saw three appointments come in and it just felt really good and I felt energetically ready to hold that space for other people and show up authentically with the energy that feels good. So again, I feel like I’m going into another season of my life where I can really expand and not only hold space for other people, but really experiment again in, you know, are there ways that I can open up my work, whether it’s a certain week of the month or another day each week? I’m not sure I’m going to experiment it, experiment with it and just really see what feels good.

Lauren Best (00:13:52) – So, you know, I had to reevaluate what my boundaries looked like in my work and and welcome this evolution and really see what was going to fit for me. And with that, I had to also kind of let go of some of these ideas I had in my head around what came next in my business. I thought I would perhaps start doing a membership to host these group hypnosis sessions I’d already been hosting previously last year that would, you know, were donation based and so expansive and so beautiful. And if you join me for any of those or if you haven’t, you can actually listen on demand to a lot of those sessions on Insight timer or on YouTube my handle is at Lauren best underscore Co so those are available for you to listen to but that became a space for me to show up and meet all of y’all where you’re at and really, you know, create a supportive environment where I could support people through guided visualizations. And now it’s just going to look a little bit different. I think this idea of this next natural progression that I had wanted for my work was to bring more consistency and open up these sessions into a membership or a subscription.

Lauren Best (00:15:14) – And I had to also realize that perhaps that’s not the change that I want to make or that’s aligned to actually the way that I desire to work. So, you know, limiting that access of my energy in that way to creating, continuing to create amazing audios for all of you to listen to on Insert Timer and YouTube, but also saying, look, I’m ready to actually hold capacity for even more people. Whose communities can I connect with, who’s retreats? Can I be a guest expert in, you know, which companies can I show up to for their wellness day and hold space and create these beautiful wellness workshops or on a monthly basis, you know, can I come to people’s small businesses and create these sessions and these experiences for their audience or their clients or whoever it may be? This expansion is something that I thought. What happened a lot later in my journey, and now I felt like this is the change that was really going to energize me and really limit my my energy in a different way than what I was trying to do before.

Lauren Best (00:16:29) – So really. Making that space for change and for new paths to show up has been instrumental learning lesson for me so many times along this journey of navigating who I am as a business owner, as a hypnotherapist, as someone who has the ability to really hold space for others and create these experiences where people can also show up and honor their own energy and dive into places of self-discovery. So that’s something, a big change that, you know, going into 2023. Pivoted really, really quickly and. It’s been a really great time for me, even in the beginning of 2023, to still make room for letting go, making room for more possibilities to show up and really setting new intentions to let new ideas bloom. This year has been the first year in a really long time where I find myself at the end of the year and the start of this year to really look at the future and actually begin to think. Just to think about where I can create even more space to invite in even more adventure and curiosity and.

Lauren Best (00:17:46) – New possibilities. So it truly means so much to me that for those of you who have been on my journey thus far, whether it’s joining me for some of those those group hypnosis sessions in the past or you’ve been listening to some of my audios or listening to this radio show or subscribing to my love letters, which I send out every month. And if you haven’t subscribed to my love letters, you can visit my website, Lauren Bascombe and subscribe there. But I just really thank you for being a part of. This past year. This started this year of really accompanying me on my journey of self-discovery and healing and visioning new possibilities that hopefully have inspired you as well, to plant new seeds and shed different layers that have been keeping you also from embracing the most powerful version of yourself and welcoming change and. We’re into February now, but I really hope that even so, you know, the beginning of this year has been filled with abundance and good health and happiness and prosperity, and that you continue to show up for yourself in the ways that will bring even more of that to your life.

Lauren Best (00:19:06) – I want to do a little bit of an exercise right now. I want to take a space and a pause here to welcome some reflection. So I’ve I have a few questions here that I asked myself at the end of this year, and I’d love to share them with you as well. The first question is. How can I redirect my energy and use it in a way or in a direction where I will feel happier and even more energized? You can pause this if you’re listening to the replay. And if you’re not listening to the replay, that’s okay to just kind of think of, you know, what comes to mind about redirecting your energy in a new way or in a different way, a different direction where you will just feel so much happier and more energized. Perhaps this looks like eliminating certain things from your current reality or even. You know, spending that energy in a new place. I’m not sure what that looks like for you, but give yourself a moment to just really explore. Explore new possibilities for redirecting your energy in the ways that would be most enjoyable and precious to you as well.

Lauren Best (00:20:27) – And the second question I have here for you is how can I best honor my own needs and path knowing that the more I walk my own road, I will feel more fulfilled? So the idea behind this question is to really think about what are your needs first? What is the path, even if you don’t fully know? But is, you know, is there a drive of curiosity or of pleasure or of creativity, whatever it may be, You know, what are your needs in terms of showing up as the best version of yourself in the life where you would feel just really fulfilled and really happy? So it kind of piggybacks off that first question there. But really digging into how can you best honor your own needs and and what it is you need to feel more fulfilled in your life. And this is my favorite question, this third question here. I’d love for you to think about what are 2 to 5 new possibilities that you have already seen for yourself this year? We’re already almost two months into 2023, so there is proof already now for quite a few weeks there.

Lauren Best (00:21:43) – There are definitely some inklings of proof here of 2 to 5 new possibilities that you have already seen for yourself this year that you actually wouldn’t have imagined possible at the start of 2022 or even the start of 2023? You know, I did this wonderful vision board workshop a few months ago, the end of 2022 with Kirsten Marie, who’s also a radio show expert here on confident radio. It was fantastic. And if you listened to our episodes two weeks ago, we did a little deep dive into vision boarding, as well as the. Kind of breakdown or introspection into the vision board that I had put together. If you haven’t listened, you can also listen to the replay. But there were things I put on that board that, you know, I just simply put, I have this intention of doing a lot more writing this year. So I’d put an image of someone writing on a on a piece of paper and my goodness, a few days after that, you know, I had this opportunity to begin contributing to different novels and collaborative writing projects.

Lauren Best (00:23:03) – And that was something again, I thought, okay, maybe, you know, in a few months time, once I establish a standard writing practice and it was like. This already happened. This is happening already. It’s only January. And this. Possibility that I had, you know, opened a door for already kind of showed up for me. So, you know, what are some things that have perhaps surprised you or that you’ve been able to experience a lot quicker than than you would have thought? Maybe it’s something small you can look for any proof in the small things that you’ve already experienced and, you know, just appreciate or I guess acknowledge these milestones that you’ve already been able to experience. If you’re interested to share any of your reflections, you can always reach out to me by email, which is Hello at Lauren Bascombe. I would love to hear some of your achievements, some of your wins, some of these milestone nuggets of accomplishment, however big or small. I’d love to celebrate with you.

Lauren Best (00:24:09) – And to piggyback off this little reflective exercise, I know this idea of change and exploring new possibilities for your life can feel intimidating. So I thought we’d better start building with more comfort around the idea before jumping straight into the deep end. So I’ve created a set of affirmations to inspire you to open your mind, to exploring new possibilities for really designing this life that you love. So if you visit my website, you can find on the on the front page this link to a set of 31 affirmations, cell phone wallpapers I made them so that you can put them as a wallpaper on your cell phone. And there’s 30 different 31 different affirmations that will really help you open your mind to exploring new possibilities and to thank you for being part of this radio show, for listening. You can actually use the coupon code love letter in all capitals to download these 31 affirmations cell phone wallpapers for free. So please use that coupon. I love to get them into your cell phone or wherever else you want to use them, but I’d also love to share a few of them with you right now as well, so I’m going to read them out.

Lauren Best (00:25:32) – If any of them resonate with you, you can also write them down or again, you can just go and download these wallpapers for free using the code love letter, all capitals and one word to check out for free. So let’s begin. My curiosity keeps opening new doors to things that I haven’t even imagined possible. I am confident that exploring new ways of doing things will bring me to a greater place than I could have ever imagined. My heart, mind, body and soul are ready to accept all of what is meant for me. When I daydream, I plant new seeds for my dreams to grow. I embrace uncertainty, knowing that whatever is meant for me will come my way. I trust myself to make decisions aligned with my heart and values. I am grateful for my desire to explore new possibilities for living life on my own terms. I unlock new potential for self growth as I continue to trust in myself. Even when I am feeling uncertain, I trust the process. I find more strength and confidence as I continue to navigate the unknown.

Lauren Best (00:27:12) – As I continue to explore new parts of myself, I open new doors to unexpected possibilities. I lean into my imagination and intuition as I navigate new realities in my life. As I embrace new experiences, I feel grounded in the present moment. The idea of exploring new possibilities brings me hope, excitement and joy. My desire to try things differently attracts new opportunities to my life. No matter what comes my way, I keep going with confidence and ease. I can always depend on my self trust and confidence as I explore new possibilities for designing a life that I love. The more grateful I am for new possibilities, the more and more will come. And continue to show up at my door. I continue to find more and more reasons to be grateful for the unknown possibilities that lay ahead. The more I lean into the uncertainty in my life, the clearer my direction becomes. As I dream up new possibilities, I discover even more possibilities that begin to blossom. I am open to the idea of experiencing new possibilities that I haven’t even thought of yet.

Lauren Best (00:29:12) – No matter what comes my way, I have the strength and hope and imagination. Any obstacles will serve as a launchpad to allow me to fly to unimaginable heights. There are so many possibilities just waiting for me to experience them. With each new possibility that I explore. I shed old layers and embrace new inspired energy. New possibilities continue to fall into my lap the more I am open to the unexpected. The more I lean into doing things my own way, the more I feel aligned with my highest self. As I continue to walk my own path, I inspire others to take a chance on themselves and do the same. The more I am open to it. I’m going to repeat this one. The more I am open to new experiences, the more possibilities show up in my life. I feel empowered to try new things even when I am unsure of the destination. So I hope these affirmations inspired you to just keep. Curious and open to the idea of starting to explore new possibilities within your life. And again, if you enjoyed these affirmations and are more of a visual person, you can also download these 31 affirmation cell phone wallpapers to open your mind to exploring new possibilities.

Lauren Best (00:31:16) – You can visit my website, Lauren Best and use the code Love letter to download these cell phone wallpapers for free. That’s love letter all capitals and one word. Or else you can listen to the replay again and again and just close your eyes and simply listen to those affirmations and allow your subconscious mind to program them into your mind. So let me know if you end up. Using them again. Or if you just really enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear from you, love to hear where you’re at in your journey of navigating change and what that looks like in your life. And I welcome you to join me next week for a new episode. Thank you so much for listening because you’ve been listening to the show. I want to leave you with a little treat, which is one of my favorite hypnosis audios that will help you let go of the noise and worry from your everyday life by bringing you to a place where you can connect with your subconscious mind and imagine and dream about your life. Because as we continue to move through ebbs and flows and seasons of our lives, there will likely be times where envisioning new possibilities becomes difficult or where we struggle to move out of that autopilot mode and into self-awareness to really live the lives that we want.

Lauren Best (00:32:42) – So do listen to this audio. It will encourage you to keep dreaming about your life even during uncertain times where new possibilities may feel cloudy. Hypnosis has been such an amazing tool that I myself have used to move from a state of overwhelm and stuckness to really being able to keep dreaming about my life. And I know you can too. So visit the link below to download the Visualize Life. You Love Hypnosis audio for free or visit my website. Lauren best.com. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey of exploring new possibilities and embracing your most authentic self. I appreciate you and your willingness to open your mind and your heart to new ideas and ways of being that are beyond your current reality. So if you found value in this episode, please take a moment to leave a reading and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast. Your support helps us to spread the message of compassion, self discovery and personal growth to more people who may benefit from it. And if you’re looking for additional support on your journey of self-discovery and transformation, I invite you to visit my website at Lauren Bascombe, where you’ll find resources, courses and coaching services to help you navigate life’s challenges with more ease and joy and confidence and support.

Lauren Best (00:34:14) – So please check that out. And more than anything, I hope you’ll remember that you’re not alone on this journey. We are all in this together, and by embracing our most authentic selves, we can create more compassion and connection to the world. So please keep dreaming, keep exploring and keep provoking possibilities with love and intuition. I’ll be back soon with more thought provoking questions, inspiring stories, and powerful insights and conversations to support you on your journey. But until then, take care of yourself and others and remember that you are worthy of love and possibility.