LECTURE

Barbara Jackson

Sunday 13^th July 2025

“Today I want to talk about who we are. We know that we are spiritual beings, and we come into this physical vessel to learn and to grow. And as we get older sometimes, we go, “You know what? I don’t care what people think” or we care what people think or we are still aware of what people think. Now that’s not about being thoughtless, or about being careless. It is not about ‘not giving a damn’ about anybody else. The biggest question is, are you being true to yourself?

Are you being your authentic self? And when we think of all the conditioning that we have in this life; you have to know that, go there, do this, achieve that. All these conditions are put onto us, and we feel the pressure. I was always aware of myself, but people tried to tell me things they thought I should know about myself, and I would tell them, “I am aware of that. I know that. I’m okay with it.”

And when we are able to be our authentic self, our unapologetic self, we can still be beautiful, caring, compassionate, empathic people. It doesn’t mean that we don’t care about anybody else. What it means is when we are honouring ourselves, we can truly honour everybody else, and we can also honour their journeys.

There is a beautiful book I came across recently titled “Let Them” by Mel Robbins. This book is really empowering. It is not about condoning bad behaviour but rather the message is about letting people have their opinions. Let them walk their paths. And let me. Let me honour myself. Let me speak my truth. It is okay to let others be as they are.

When we have expectations of how others should be who are we dishonouring? Both of us. And when we align with others it is always whether it is a moment, a month, a lifetime. Whatever it may be, there is always a deeper message. And sometimes we don’t like where the prompt goes. Maybe it hurts. Maybe there is disillusionment. There may be pain. However, when you look deeper into the journey you can see that, even though you may look at life very differently that is okay. We don’t have to be on the same page always. We don’t have to do what everyone else is doing.

When I was in the corporate world many years ago, a gentleman said to me. “Oh, you will never find a husband” I asked him why he would say that, and he replied that I was. “Too independent. Too confident and too outspoken!” I laughed. Okay. But that is my journey.

Recently I was in Glastonbury, and I thought I would have a palm reading. The reader said that he could see that people often perceive you as blunt. He said this is because you always speak the truth and people can’t always cope with that, they don’t know what to make of that.

This is because we are conditioned to say what people expect us to say. And too sometimes we hear what we think we should hear. Speaking your truth does not have to be rude or obnoxious or hurtful. It may be perceived that way but, when you are coming from your authentic self, when you are standing in your path you know that when you speak you are speaking from your heart. And that is all that you can do. There is nothing else you can do. People may walk away. Let them. Let them have their opinion. Let you be true to yourself.

It can be hard. There can be peer pressure. We can feel as though because we are in a certain group or place in the family or community that we have to behave in a certain way. And it is not always easy to break out of that mould. It is not always easy to think that we are not going to worry about what people think because we are compassionate people, and we don’t like to hurt or be hurt. Most of us don’t do or say hurtful things intentionally.

So, if you take a moment to think of the people in your life, whether they are in your general community, your family, group of friends, acquaintances, think of the relationships you have with them. Just see if you are honouring them and yourself. How are your boundaries? Are you keeping them? Are you using your voice. Some people are ‘people pleasers’ and they can find it very hard to speak up. But even on that journey as a ‘people pleaser’ you need to ask why is that happening? What is the need that is not being met? What is the need to do as others expect? What do you need to learn.

I was listening to a podcast this morning, I love what Spirit sends. It was about our blood types. I thought we knew all about our blood types. But no. This was about our spiritual journey and how it aligns with our blood type. It was fascinating. It went through our strengths and our purpose, our passions and our challenges. In our lives we have blind spots and when we know our blind spots we can choose to work on them or not. When we ignore them or we don’t know they are there, remember we don’t know what we don’t know, so how are we meant to deal with them? At the end of the day the bigger message is, “Who am I? Am I happy within myself? Am I happy with how I present myself to the world?” And if not, then what can I change and perhaps the bigger question, am I ready to change?

So many of my clients come to me and I ask them are they ready? If you change and you heal this, who are you? And that is a big telltale sign of whether we are ready or not. Sometimes we want to change. Sometimes we want to do things differently but the doing is hard so we don’t change and that’s okay because, until we are ready, we will keep on our path. We are here to evolve and to grow as souls especially now. Consciousness is expanding so quickly so the bigger question is, how much do you want to realign with your authentic self? Your sovereign self. And what does a that look like.  It can be scary. You may think yes, I would like to be that version of me, my authentic self, but what will that be like? I don’t know if I am ready.

So, this is about asking for help. Ask yourself what you need to change. What are you ready to do to be your authentic self. And too, ask yourself, “Am I doing it for me or for someone else?” If we are doing it for someone else, it can become hard work indeed. And this is not about judgment of anyone, not about criticism of anyone. This is about bringing in awareness, bringing insight, bringing healing.

When I was in Glastonbury, I decided to lay on the ley lines intersect, something I would not advise anyone do. The next day I was walking down the road heading towards a café when I found myself on the ground with my head split open. I had the most amazing people come and support me. They helped me to the medical centre where they attended to my injuries. You might think that would be enough but no because the day after I was walking to join a tour where the ley lines cross and I had a fall. Now there was no-one around until a man came up and asked if I was alright. I asked if he could help me get a cab. He said, “I’m an off-duty paramedic but I’m just walking my dog so I’ll walk him home then I will come back and get you.” Ask and you will receive. And I had support wherever I went. On the railway it was incredible. I had wheelchairs available; people were helping me get on and off the trains. The airlines were amazing. There was just an remarkable support system and being an independent person it was incredible to receive graciously. 

And this is one of our lessons in life. Because as empaths we often offer the help more than we ask for help. It is easier for us to give than receive. And there are so many people who are unwell. While I was not unwell, I was injured and I had to sit at home for 4 weeks before I was able to get about.

The biggest lesson was that if we do not slow down and look within, if we do not care for ourselves, guess what? We will be stopped in our tracks. And believe me you do not have to go there.

So, if you have one takeaway from today, I hope it is that you go within and notice if you are honouring yourself. And we don’t always have to say NO to people. We can say, “I sorry, not right now.” Sometimes NO can feel confrontational and harsh. But if we say, “Sorry at the moment I can’t take that on” there is no doubt that you would help if you could. Remember that on the aeroplanes when the oxygen mask drops down you must place it on yourself first else you cannot help anyone.

Take a moment and think about how you speak your truth. How you have insights and experiences, and these are part of your journey. Let your light shine and don’t worry about what others think. Be different, be dorky, be weird but, BE YOURSELF.

Show up as your authentic self as often as you can and the more often you do that, the more it will become your normal way of being. As you learn, you grow and expand and each time you shine your light it shows your love of self, for as you love yourself so will you love others. But the loving of self must come first.

Thank you for listening.