"The Energy is Not Your Enemy!"

This past weekend I was privileged to hear Jaison and the Nine (a wise and benevolent configuration of interdimensional beings who speak through him), address the wild 'n' woolly times we're enjoying — or NOT! — these quantum-shift daze.

One of the hallmarks of true channels is humor, something I discovered on my own evolutionary journey. Spirit (God/Goddess/The All/Creator/The Great Wazoo ~ choose your own term) has a wonderful way of imparting truth in language that enLIGHTens as it tickles our funny bone, making it easier to assimilate the gifts.

A favorite from Saturday: "pre-awakening, or 'pa'!" (said as if he was spitting it out!). An audience member chimed in, "Afterwards, it's "ah!" And this co-creation is exactly how learning happens, and growth occurs.

The essential message I took away from the 2-hour session: "We are erecting and perfecting a higher level of reality. Our higher self has returned and we are in the process of journeying up to meet it."

When you receive information like this in a room suffused with love from a group of "wise guides," you can't help but drop weight.

And this is another of The Nine's key messages: the distinction between "luggage" and "baggage". Luggage is what you need to move ahead; baggage is what you need to release. I dreamed years ago about packing for a trip, discovering when I arrived that all my heavy outer garments had been left behind. You can learn more about the journey that led to the creation of Live Your Light on the CD, What You Need to Know Now: A Road Map for Personal Transformation.

More of The Nine's core messages:

• Prior to the celebration there's a recalibration, and that's what's going on now. (My April 2010 What Shines newsletter topic was "Calibrate," and I must say, listening to The Nine is affirming everything I'm bringing through!)
• The highest level of learning for your soul exists in your emotional body; the soul converts these experiences into wisdom. And it's usually the last place you want to go. One past participant said, "What I want is just beyond the place I don't want to go through!"
• The energy is not your enemy — it's "wrapped in the barnacles of the past". As Caroline Casey (who dueted with Jaison on her radio show twice recently) says, "It's not just viral; it's spiral!"
• Become the kind of companion you've not had in your life before: wise and generous and compassionate and kind. Woo-eee!
• Forgive yourself for all the judgments that have created limitation in your life. You are a powerful creator! Embrace all; you are not the victim here!
• View incompletion as a highly defined art. If you incarnated with people who embody this attribute, you will embody it because you want to help them! Release it emotionally so you can go forward, accept responsibility (the ability to respond) and complete what you've come here to do! WOW!

[This is when The Nine call in the clowns. Jaison said, "See how much light you can stand…until the Light Police come in and say, 'There's too much fun going on here, we have to shut it down!'"]

• Finally, money. "We're coming on a Jubilee ~ all the economies on the planet are going to undergo a fundamental change," Jaison says, as I've written often as well. What was fascinating is when he added: "Most people who are in control of large sums of money are in control of the idea of the money. The experience of money exists in the mind and the heart."

How much Light can you stand? Contact me for an energy upgrade! I'm offering an enlightening laser Summer Special: U Shift

A Rose By Any Other Name

The rose energies are enveloping us these days, and as I am a member of the Rose family of humanity, I feel called to share the rose wisdom. As I explain in my name shift article:

"The word 'rose' is identical in English, French, German, and many other languages. The rose is symbolic of female sexuality, and of the Goddess. In ancient Goddess culture, the five-petaled rose represented the five stations of female life: birth, menstruation, motherhood, menopause and death. The blossoming flower resembles the womb: witness the evocative art of renowned American painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Rose is also an anagram for Eros, the Greek god of sexual love. Down through the ages, it has been one of the secret names of Mary Magdalene.

In aromatherapy, rose carries the highest healing frequency. 'Rose' is also the past tense of 'rise,' which means to grow, to go beyond — to metamorphose! It's a verb, which is really what we are — we're more process than product. The interface of the spiritual and the material is where we co-create, co-evolve. I feel a broader sense of kinship with all life as Amara Rose."

Three years ago on Mayan New Year's Day (July 26th), I read an astonishing article in the now-defunct Psychic Reader magazine, which said that the earliest known reference to the rose was 5000 B.C., in ancient Sumer. Since I've long identified with the Sumerian Goddess Inanna, and her archetypal underworld journey, these words resounded in my being.

The rose is a herald of change, calling us to balance spiritual and material, peace within and harmony without. In 2009, I discovered a novel called The Rose Labyrinth, which arrested my attention with this:

"The rose … is a code showing the aim of all humanity to attain divine wisdom. The only path to that wisdom is through love, and knowledge; the blooming rose translates the whole meaning of the universe. To understand the mystery of the rose is to comprehend the essence of the universe. Through its simple perfection, we may become more perfect.

"To realize the possibilities of the rose, mankind must develop the capacity for love to the point of loving all peoples, all creatures, all that is different and foreign to us. We must enlarge our capacity for knowledge and understanding through the loving intelligence of the heart."

It's a tall order, and ~ we're being given Divine assistance as never before. In her June New Earth Rising log, Celia Fenn writes, "In the New Earth Grid System, the power flows from South to North and from North to South. The Flow that is known as the 'Rose Line' flow or the Divine Feminine Flow/Goddess Flow or current, moves from the Southern Pole area of Antarctica and northwards along the meridian lines that are called the 'Rose Lines'.

"The most active of these 'Rose Lines' at the moment is the South/North and North/South flow through the Americas … from Antarctica and up through Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia and then along the Andes, through Central America and up through the Rockies to the Northern Polar Circle. This is the territory of the Eagle and the Condor, and as they unite to fulfill the prophecies of the end times, we are experiencing huge transformation on the planet."

Finally, I went to a spiritual service this past Sunday that I attend very occasionally, with the Unitarian Universalists. To my delight, the service was focused on sacred drumming and chanting using Layne Redmond's Lotus of Light CD, Chanting the Chakras. I was privileged to hear Layne live during my awakening journey in New York State years ago, so I knew the power of this work with the frame drum. (Layne is the author of When the Drummers Were Women and an incredible shamanic healer.)

To my amazement (although nothing ought to surprise me any longer!), we closed the service with a simple hymn called, "I Know This Rose Will Open." The lyrics:

I know this rose will open
I know my fear will burn away
I know my soul will unfurl its wings
I know this rose will open.

So, dearhearts, the message is crystal now: We are being called, sanctioned, sanctified by The Rose, to open as the lotus, to live in and from our hearts, to love beyond limits and not to limit our love. This is the ultimate gift and key to the next stage of conscious evolution.

Blessed Be.

A Kinder, Gentler Humanity?

Change arrives not with a bang but with a whisper, and it's only our attunement that alerts us to its presence. While I know all is reflection — that how you act/react is in some way related to my behavior — yesterday two small but distinct interactions stood out as heralding a quantum leap in human compassion and kindness. Each is so tiny that you might wonder, "What's the big deal?" Yet aggregated with the myriad other such expressions of kindness and caring taking place in lives right now around the globe, I venture to say a shift in consciousness is indeed underway:

In the morning, I needed to print several pages while at the library. Though I have my own laptop, I long ago gave away my printer, so on the rare occasion I need to print something, I send the document to my web-based email, log on to a library computer, and send it to their printer, which then requires coins to print out the document. Laborious, though not time-intensive. The only challenge is getting onto a library PC, because they're usually in perpetual use during the hours of library operation.

I approached a miraculously free machine just as a young man slid into the seat and was entering his library card number. I said apologetically, "I was just on my way over here to print a few pages — will you be long?" He looked up, smiled, stood up, and said, "Go ahead!" I was amazed, and promised to be quick. Four minutes later I found him, gestured to the free machine, and thanked him again for his patience and kindness. He didn't seem to think he'd done anything special, so I added, "It's rare." Though possibly, becoming less so.

In late afternoon, I pulled into a busy gas station to refuel my ancient Toyota, which looks a lot worse than it runs. A fellow at the next pump smiled a few times, then came over to speak. I thought he might need directions, but he said, "I don't want to impose, but did you know your left front tire is low on air?" I did indeed. I smiled back and said, "Yes, it has a slow leak, but thank you very much! I really appreciate your concern."

As I drove away, I marveled at these two small demonstrations from strangers that we are becoming more connected, more caring, more open to serving our brothers and sisters from a full heart. Subtle shifts make all the difference, as I've written before: it's a tiny step and a quantum leap from scared and scarred to sacred, from density to destiny, from tough to touch, from passive to passion, from buying to being. And encounter-by-encounter, heart to heart, we're growing here.

What Does It Mean to "Live Your Light"?

When I was first feeling my way into a new reality — before my "dark night of the soul" journey that would transfigure my life and catapult me from marketing communications maven to "midwife" for the soul — I'd begun a women's spiritual circle, and had attracted a few coaching clients, though the term "coaching" wasn't even on my radar at the time. (The coaching profession has only been a formalized entity for about two decades).

I was in love with the Emile Zola quote, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud." I was yearning, burning to live out loud, even as I struggled to understand what this might mean. I bought a box of greeting cards bearing this epigram and an exuberant figure, arms upraised, and used them to write a personal message to each client at the close of a session, as both affirmation and exhortation.

Then one day my carefully constructed life crumbled, eclipsed by a health crisis that halted the old in its tracks and called me to live experientially what I'd heretofore only grasped from books and workshops. It was a three-plus year initiation in the wilderness of my soul, and I e/merged (energy and emotion merged) on the far side as a lighthouse for others walking this path of personal awakening. I won't detail it here, as my website, numerous articles, CD and monthly newsletter cover this and much more. What I will share is how the name for my service evolved:

On the far side of the journey, I created Metamorphosis: The Center for Creative Change as my service vehicle. And while this was accurate, "Metamorphosis" was already the name of a type of healing work (hence confusing for some people) and the name itself was declarative. I felt called to invoke (literally, "give voice to") the possibility inherent in every human being. And then I housesat for a woman who had the book, Bringers of the Dawn, on her shelf.

Barbara Marciniak channels the Pleiadians, a collective of multidimensional star beings. In the book, they apprise us, "You must live your light …" The words chimed in my soul as a remembrance, and when I began to develop my website a year or so later, this was the invitation and invocation I chose.

When you live your light, you are living out loud, in tune with your highest purpose and service, as a beacon and resource for others. It doesn't matter what your 3D "assignment" is: whether you're an auto mechanic or mother, company president or country president, impoverished pilgrim or billionaire: when you live it, you shine, and this radiance is what uplifts and shifts humanity, and the planet we all share. This is what it means to become the gift.

Thanks for Living Out Loud ~ and for Living Your Light!

Blessings!

Summer Solstice: An Opportunity to Become More Whole

Summer Solstice celebrates the sun at the peak of its power. Both the sun (male energy) and the moon (female energy) are waxing, or increasing, now. June 21st marks the longest day and shortest night of the year, in the northern hemisphere. (Winter Solstice for our southern hemisphere allies). It's a stillpoint. A time to reflect. A potent moment to set your intention, because the manifestation momentum is strong.

The day goes by many names: All-Couples Day, Feast of Epona, Gathering Day, Midsummer, Litha, Vestalia. In ancient times, June was a popular marriage month, since summer offered a window between the sowing and reaping seasons. The June full moon was considered the best time to harvest honey from the hives, and newlyweds were fed honey during the wedding feast to encourage love and fertility. The tradition lives on in our modern post-nuptial getaway, the honeymoon.

How might we translate our ancestors' emphasis on love and union at Solstice to our lives today? In other words, how can we best live this light?

It's a grand opportunity to burn away old patterns that no longer serve our highest good, in order to become more whole. Whole, holy and heal originate from the same root. We can use the power of Solstice to assist us in integrating the masculine and feminine energies inside ourselves. The moment is ripe for sacred reunion. What do I mean by this?

Most books, films and songs that speak of love refer to romantic love between two people. We've been taught to look outside ourselves for completion, to seek the Other and to rejoice when we connect, or to keep searching.

What we're really seeking is a part of ourselves, which is why we often feel incomplete when we hook up with someone whom we hope will fill the empty place inside us. The wedding of the light and the dark, of the magnetic, receptive, lunar, "feminine" self and the dynamic, assertive, solar, "masculine" self, has to take place first within our own being. And yet — it's through relationship that we get there!

The beloved is a catalyst to help us merge the complementary aspects of ourselves. This is a radical idea, and challenging to hold. It turns everything we believe about romantic love on its head.

One of the ways to shine your own light more brightly is to celebrate yourself and each other, through whatever art forms call to you: music, dance, poetry, painting, comedy improvisation, theatre, ritual, chanting/singing, multimedia … and silence. Enlarge the lens you look through by asking, how can I expand this experience, become inclusive rather than exclusive?

This Summer Solstice, I invite you to sound the clarion call for your own companions of destiny — those who can see and honor your authentic self. The Mayan Oracle (a book and card deck based on the Mayan sacred calendar) says, "When you have been truly seen, you feel empowered, and remembrance of a shared sacred trust is ignited."

Acknowledge your connection with all life, and allow the simple to nourish you. Sitting beneath a tree, enjoying the sun on your feet and the wind in your hair, being thankful for life itself, is wholeness exemplified. The romance of living — and the wedding — begins first within you.

Timeshifting as the New Earth Rises

Celia Fenn offers an extraordinary discourse on what's happening now, beginning with the total lunar eclipse of June 15th, through Solstice on June 21st and through our November Stargate and into 2012. I highly recommend digesting her entire entry: New Earth Rising: Mastering Time and Embracing the Energy of Love and Support. Here's a summary:

Time in 3rd dimensional reality is only one measurement, and not the most effective, for accelerating consciousness. Celia introduces us to Astronomology, an amalgam of astronomy and astrology that combines the best of both worlds to enhance our perspective.


She writes, "the New Reality Science of Astronomology (is) a new way of viewing the evolution of the Earth and of humanity through the stellar charts of the Heavens, and one that incorporates thirteen houses instead of the twelve of conventional astrology.

"The thirteenth house is called Ophiuchus, and it falls in that area between the end of Scorpio and the beginning of Sagittarius. The name "Ophiucus" simply means "Serpent Holder" and this constellation is identified with healing and the Master Healing Energies, and the Archetypal energies of Aesclepius, Imhotep and the Snake Goddesses!

"Primarily, Ophiuchus is an energy that supports and nourishes and heals. But, it is also interesting that Imhotep was known as a 'Master Builder' and Architect, and in some accounts is credited with the design and building of the Great Pyramid. This is of interest because the Total Lunar Eclipse and the Solstice Alignments will be activating the Stonehenge SuperGalactic Portal, or 'resetting' the clock on the Stonehenge sacred site to align the Earth with the Galactic Center, and this resetting wil be transmitted to all those sacred sites that function as the 'nodes' of the Planetary Supercomputer, including the Pyramid Complex at Giza, and that will ensure that Planet Earth is perfectly aligned on her trajectory towards the 2012 alignment with the New Age of Light, which is also called Ascension.

"What is most important is that Ophiuchus is the energy of healing and support, and the energy of aligning with the Galactic Frequencies. So many people complain of feeling lack of support on so many levels. Yes, probably because you have been living according to one singular calendar or time cycle technology that completely misses out this energy of healing and support. As we shift into an awareness of the Zodiacal Healer and how these energies work with us, we can channel these energies into our lives in ways that are healing and supportive of our changes.

"On the 15th of June 2011, the Full Moon will rise over Stonehenge in Total Lunar Eclipse. The Moon will also be just 3 degrees from the Galactic Center, that is, almost in conjunction. At that moment, powerful Lunar and Galactic Light Codes will recalibrate the Divine Feminine energies of the Snake Goddesses and the Platinum Ray energies of the Shekinah into the Stonehenge Time Code Frequency Cycles. The Energy of the Great Cosmic Mother, Ma'at, will bring the entire Henge back into Cosmic Balance..."

Touching the Source

I've just read The Myth of The Great Ending by Joseph M. Felser, PhD (see my LinkedIn review) and, aside from the book itself being a must-read for anyone wondering whether the Rapture might yet be at hand, Felser cites some amazing material from Robert Monroe (founder of the Monroe Institute), whose work I'll read next.

Here's Monroe's description of a holographic, telepathic communication from Source, that Felser calls "a nearly indescribable and emotionally wrenching voyage to the very center of universal intelligence". Though it must have been virtually impossible to step the experience down into language, this poetic transmission resonates in me as "YES":

There is no beginning, there is no end,
  There is only change.
There is no teacher, there is no student,
  There is only remembering.
There is no good, there is no evil,
  There is only expression.
There is no union, there is no sharing,
  There is only one.
There is no joy, there is no sadness,
  There is only love.
There is no greater, there is no lesser,
  There is only balance.
There is no stasis, there is no entropy,
  There is only motion.
There is no wakefulness, there is no sleep,
  There is only being.
There is no limit, there is no chance,
  There is only a plan.

~ from Ultimate Journey

Breakdown, Breakthrough

A poem I wrote during my prolific high school literary period just tumbled into consciousness as an ideal reflection for these tumultuous times. If you're feeling what these words express, know that the breakthrough awaits. I'll speak to this in my June newsletter.


Breakdown

When silver smiles turn to brass
And bronze gods start to rust
A tenuous hold on sanity
Begins to disintegrate.

That's when you realize
Milky Way is merely a candy bar
And you feel yourself
s

l

i

p

p

i

n

g

Into a corner of your mind where

all
that
glitters

Are the gold fillings
in your teeth.

How to Retrain Your Brain

In today's nanosecond business climate, thinking outside the box is too small. Instead, try thinking outside your brain. How's that again?

We use our left brain—the logical, linear, analytical mode—for business most of the time. Yet it's the right brain—the creative, intuitive, emotional side—that can actually help boost your business dramatically … if you allow it the freedom to guide your thoughts and actions when your left brain is saying, "but that's a waste of time!"

Here are 8 mental expansion exercises to catalyze your own brain-retraining ideas. READ THE REST!

Stand! Mother's Day Message for World Peace

This Sunday the United States celebrates Mother's Day, a holiday that was originally not a Hallmark occasion, but a call for women to put an end to war. Poet, author and activist Julia Ward Howe first championed a Mother's Peace Day in 1870. In her Mother's Day Proclamation, she exhorted, "Arise, then, women of this day! 
Arise all women who have hearts … solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
 whereby the great human family can live in peace..."

More than a century hence, women everywhere are heeding the call, via StandingWomen.org. Since 2007, this group has sent out a call for people to join hands and hearts for five minutes of silence on Mother's Day, in service to planetary peace. The global events were catalyzed by The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering, a children's story about two grandmothers whose vigil sparked an international movement.

As we awaken to our responsibility ("the ability to respond") to our Mother, and the beneficent power we can unleash, what shines through is:

It doesn't take slogans and permits. It doesn't take anger or weapons. It takes a village — and a vision. We have, and are, both. We are the ones we've been waiting for. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I have a dream that one day this nation will wise up…" Let the global upwising begin!

Beltane: Celebrate Your Planet, Yourself

May 1st is Beltane: a time for celebrating the beauty and sanctity of all life. Today is a moment for reclaiming your power, balance, and inner strength.

Beltane is one of eight Shabbats on the Wheel of the Year. The others include the Solstices and Equinoxes, Lammas (August 1st), Samhain (October 31st), and Imbolc (February 2nd). Beltane breathes renewal into our cells as we acknowledge the Nature Kingdom and the advent of summer. For our Southern Hemisphere allies, the Wheel of the Year is reversed: they now celebrate Samhain.

In the West, we often water down our sacred days to become mere children's celebrations: Samhain, ushering in the dark half of the year, becomes a specter of itself as Halloween; Imbolc, heralding the return of the light on February 2nd, morphs to Groundhog Day; Beltane becomes a chance to dance around the Maypole. Yet the deeper meanings reflect our lost connection with natural rhythms, with the seasonal shifts we actually embody.

As Samhain honors the power of death, so Beltane honors the cycles of life and rebirth. Beltane takes place in Taurus, the zodiac's most earthy, sensual sign, and focuses on exuberant sexuality: the pollinating of flowers, the lush cornucopia of fruit-bearing plants and trees, the reproductive cycle of the entire natural world, from birds and bees to humans. It's a celebration of fertility in all its forms — and thus we dance in homage to Aphrodite, the Goddess Herself.

Although traditionally observed on May 1st, astronomical Beltane arrives about the 5th, a nice sync-up with Cinco de Mayo, giving us an entire week in which to renew, dance the fire back into our beings, and open once again to a sacred reUnion of our masculine and feminine selves. Mythologist Kathleen Jenks provides a page rich in Beltane lore from around the globe.

Renowned ritualist Ffiona Morgan says of an anticipatory Beltane celebration, "As I walk through the blooming earth to join friends, I realize that passionate love takes many forms, and that the earth is my greatest lover. I bless my blue planet, vowing unchanging devotion and care for Her. Seeing Earth as a living, breathing female has changed me, and become the cornerstone of my commitment to Her." (from WeMoon Datebook © Mother Tongue Ink)

Radiate: To Emit Light

The Unity Wave is turning fear on its ear, in every sense. Since Japan's cataclysm, the entire world has been sending love to the affected area and prayers for healing. Then I learned about the women of Chernobyl (see Meltdown), who returned to their native land not long after the incident, and have survived against all odds for 25 years, thanks to their love for the Motherland and abiding community, which appear to trump radiation for health and longevity. But in all this, we were still seeing radiation as "the enemy".

To radiate means to emit light. A few days ago, Jean Hudon sent this extraordinary tale via his Age of Awakening compilation: how radiation itself can be a path of spiritual emergence.

During her many years working in the former Soviet Union, and exposure to Chernobyl radiation, Rama Jyoti Vernon discovered one group of children who were doing exceptionally well. She asked their doctors the secret to offsetting the radiation poisoning, and they told her:

"Radiation is light and has a high vibratory frequency. Through our spiritual practices of meditation, prayer, Yoga, eating less dense foods and faith and love of God, we can raise our own cellular vibration to that of radiation to offset the harmful effects.

"'You see,'" one Russian doctor bubbled with excitement, “We are using radiation as our spiritual guide. It forces us to be more fully conscious each moment of every day. If we have a negative thought it reduces the vibratory frequency of our cells and we become more susceptible. If we are angry or critical, our cells vibrate at a slower pace and we can become ill. If we become lighter, we become light and become one with the light of radiation. You see,'" they beamed, "'radiation is our spiritual practice.'"

This flies in the face of everything we believe and "know" to be true; that's why it's all the more imperative to pay attention. Nothing now is as it was, and this is a profound teaching.

I read this story as I was being gifted my own opportunity to put it into practice: not with radiation per se, but in terms of transmuting my beliefs. A week ago I suddenly became very fatigued, and it lasted for four days with no apparent origin; I didn't feel sick, just exhausted. However, given all the evolutionary upgrades taking place in 18-day cycles now, that didn't seem so odd.

Then Sunday night the hurricane hit.

Wrenched from a peaceful sleep at 1 am (which corresponds to liver, the body's main organ of detoxification in Chinese medicine), I was fevered, sweating with chills, and had an overwhelming urge to release from two major orifices (that's about as delicate as I can say it, lol.) On Monday I went for a Network chiropractic treatment. I felt somewhat better by Tuesday (the fever was down) but still very sick. I ate nothing these two days, just some water and grapefruit juice. As I lay in bed, I had the clear sense that I wanted to embrace a raw food diet. I know very little about how one actually lives the raw food lifestyle, and don't own the requisite dehydrator, juicer, etc. Yet I suddenly knew I wanted to eat lighter ("eat light"!) — and I've been eating a healthy, organic diet for decades.

By today, though, my throat was still red and swollen, my tongue bright white, and I spiraled into fear: what if it's strep? I often had strep throat as a child, and took loads of antibiotics. The last antibiotic to pass my lips was 18 years ago when I had pneumonia. It did nothing except give me diarrhea, and I vowed that I would never take another unless it was a matter of life and death — and I was not complete here. My body does not handle drugs of any kind well.

Yet here I was, contemplating a pill. First, however, I needed a throat culture. Muscle testing myself, I got that I did NOT have strep. But I was in memory. Minus any primary care physician or health insurance, I contacted a few local urgent care clinics and learned that the fee for a throat culture for an uninsured individual is — wait for it — $3-400! Excuse me? A discussion about health care in America is a topic for another day. Suffice it to say, I turned them down.

I then called an acquaintance who works with clients holistically, prescribing nutritionally-based remedies that work at the cellular level. Her husband picked up her phone — she's out of town for two weeks! Oh, I should have called yesterday!

Then I began to smile. All the paths to diagnosis, traditional or alternative, are blocked. What's this really about? Radiation! Raising my vibratory frequency! I am ready and willing to emit more light. One of the supplement specialists at Whole Foods says she's been feeling the exhaustion, too, and numerous people have been coming in complaining of severe throat pain. Maybe it's a call to raise our collective voice in service to the highest, to speak our truth and honor all perspectives to a greater degree than we ever have before!

There has never been a year like 2011. We are in the New Earth Birth Canal, and the alchemical fires are licking us clean. I know I can withstand this, even as I surrender to the Light more completely than I ever have in my life — and I've been through the fire a few times!

When I think this way, feel this way, it brings tears of joy to my heart. If you are feeling these or other ascension symptoms, please share your story. It will benefit us all. Because we are, of course, All One.

Be the Wave of Now. Blessings, abundant health and much love to you, Beloveds!

Meltdown

My April newsletter, Nuclear Family, focuses on how to create a "nuclear reaction" that heals all, using "nuclear" as metaphor. But I didn't consider the word "reactor" until I heard Caroline Casey discuss it on her Visionary Activist radio show this week, in which she reminded us that in lieu of being "reactive," we could seek solutions.

"Reactive" is one of those delightful words that lends itself to a subtle shift, like scared into sacred, density into destiny, nowhere to now here: simply by moving the "c", we morph reactive into creative — and we're able to "c" clearly!

One inspiring group of women who see clearly demonstrated with their very lives that love and connection supersede radiation. Known as the "babushkas," this determined group of elders, all past 70, chose soon after the Chernobyl disaster to return to Ground 0, despite warnings that the area was contaminated and permanently uninhabitable. They have survived and thrived in the "Exclusion Zone," eating contaminated food, breathing contaminated air and drinking poisoned water, for a quarter of a century.

On the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, More magazine did a story about these plucky people who chose their Motherland over fear, proving by example that love can transmute toxins. (Intriguingly and presciently, the interviews were conducted last December, prior to the Japan 'quake/tsunami/reactor breach).

How can we each become a "nuclear creator," choosing from our very core to heal our individual and collective problems through Love? It adds a whole new dimension of meaning to "meltdown," in which we liquefy into the heart of Oneness.

Feel free to Tweet me your ideas! Or post them as Comments here, and I'll relay them to the Twitterverse and beyond. Blessed Be.

Asian Earthquake / Tsunami Redux

We've been here before: the 9.0 Indonesian 'quake struck the day after Christmas 2004, unleashing unimaginable devastation from which the affected countries are still recovering. It's déjà vu all over again. As I look at the images of destruction in Japan, mulling over the meta level lessons of this latest leveling, I revisited the article I wrote six years ago: Watershed.

This is only one of many such cataclysmic events we're experiencing as humanity births itself to a new level of consciousness. Yet context is crucial to understanding what's going on. I did my best to explain the higher dimensional perspective to my dad yesterday, and while he listened, he remained skeptical, because the material is so foreign to his way of thinking. So I wrote him a letter, and realize much of it may serve others as well:

"The times we're living in are some of the most exciting ever (although doubtless people of most eras have felt this way), because, in a very real sense, we're witnessing the end of history. This is what the conclusion of the Mayan Calendar points to; not the end of the world, but our collective graduation into a new level of consciousness as a species. It's a monumental shift that humanity has, in essence, been growing towards since man first walked the Earth. The past few decades have seen a tremendous acceleration in this process, and on March 9th, we entered the final phase, or "step" on the Mayan pyramid, called the Unity Wave. Scholars have been writing and teaching about this coming time for years; numerous books, articles and videos are available on the subject of human evolution and specifically this time period.

But it doesn't entail believing in Mayan cosmology. The Maya simply left good breadcrumbs — a map for what would unfold far into the future. They were one set of guides. Other indigenous peoples, such as the Hopi and Aztecs, have said the same thing. The Mayan system is the one that found me during my own awakening, but it's not a "belief" or philosophy with which you need to agree. The shift is happening regardless; my role has always been to transduce, or step down, energy/information into an available form for others.

Think of it this way: when people thought the Earth was flat, this didn't alter the truth of its spherical nature. Yet the proof that our planet is round galvanized a global shift in awareness and acceptance. Same with whether the sun revolved around the Earth, or the Earth around the sun. This shift in human consciousness is happening globally, and millions of people have been facilitating it.

Now we're at the critical juncture, waking up en masse. All systems are affected: political, economic, geophysical. The riots, the cataclysms, are all part of it. And we will emerge on the far side into a new reality. This will evolve over time; it's not like throwing a light switch on a certain date. The article, The Sky Is Falling – NOT! The Truth About 2012 is one of my clearest explanations.

Having this information offers you a grander context for your life, and for how you perceive the world. Of course, you're welcome to disregard it all. That's always an option, with any new information. But until you have the knowledge, you can't make an informed choice."

∞

We are living a tsunami in consciousness, a tidal wave illumining all. May you live through an open heart, which is the key to all healing, and be blessed as you hold this light for others.

Firework: An Ecology of the Mind

I can't get the lyrics to Katy Perry's Firework out of my head. While the tune is catchy, the first time I actually listened to the words, I marveled at her perspicacity. Who hasn't felt "like a plastic bag drifting through the wind, wanting to start again"? I sure can remember when I had no skin, "so paper-thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in." And that part about feeling "already buried deep, six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing"? She knows the journey, all right.

This is how I felt when I thought no one understood what the awakening process looked like for me, when they thought I looked fine, unable to read the wildness in my eyes. And as I embarked on a three-plus year dark night of the soul, questioning my very existence, I didn't yet know how to "ignite the light and let it shine." Yet this became my life purpose, and the name of my service — Live Your Light — on the far side of this healing adventure.

How does Katy carry such insight at such a tender age? She penned Firework in her mid-20s — a time when I was still fast asleep spiritually. Given the accelerated pace of personal and planetary evolution, it doesn't surprise me that Katy is conscious far earlier in her life than I was. What's exciting is how cleanly she's managed to encapsulate personal evolution into a few spare lines, offering guidance and upliftment to multitudes on their quest.

Another song that riveted me in a similar way a few years back is Crazy, debuted by Gnarls Barkley in 2006. I was driving, idly listening to the radio, when the DJ offered, "Pay attention to this one," and I was astonished to hear, "I remember when, I remember when I lost my mind. There was something so pleasant about that phase. Even your emotions had an echo in so much space. And when you're out there, without care, yeah, I was out of touch. But it wasn't because I didn't know enough. I just knew too much. Does that make me crazy? Does that make me crazy? Does that make me crazy? Possibly."

This is exactly how I felt, what the journey looks like: you do "lose your mind," your ordinary, rational mind, as you embrace the multidimensional realms of existence. Everything in your life echoes, because you've pried your mental fingers loose and are free-falling into the depths of your soul. I speak to this in detail on my CD, What You Need to Know Now: A Road Map for Personal Transformation.

How amazing it would have been to have heard such songs in the blackness of that dark night. And, in fact, they were probably there, had I been able to hear them, or known then what I was experiencing.

So as we enter this corridor of global rebirth en masse, know that you are not alone, even when you feel like a plastic bag drifting in the wind, having lost your tether to reason. It's exactly what needs to happen now, and it's all good. Surrender to the journey of a lifetime; on the far side of it, you'll ignite the Light, and let it shine.

Haven't Got Time for the Pain? Try Acupressure

Carly Simon's lyrics are about heartache — but physical aches and pains can often be far worse. If you're in chronic pain, it's difficult to enjoy life. All your energy gets diverted to what hurts.

In modern society, we've relied on pharmaceuticals for "fast, temporary relief," which is an empty promise: the pain will return as soon as the palliative effect wears off.

Holistic remedies, by contrast, focus on cause rather than symptoms, and look for where someone's life is out of balance, which created the pain symptom in the first place.

Don't Cure, Prevent!

In ancient China, prevention was a high art. People paid their doctor to keep them well; if you became ill, the doctor's fee stopped until you were healthy again. What a concept! Small wonder that Chinese medicine has flourished for over 5000 years.

Now we're beginning to embrace this perspective in the West. In 1998, the U.S. government established The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the first time an American governing body formally recognized complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a standard of care.

By far, pain is the overarching reason people choose alternative medicine: 55 percent of those seeking help suffer from back or neck pain, joint pain, arthritis, or migraines.

Acupressure works by stimulating the body's own creative energy, known as "chi". READ THE REST!

More Power to You!

I've been reading two classic books about power: Power vs. Force by David Hawkins, MD, PhD, and Power Through Constructive Thinking, by Emmett Fox. Both authors are master teachers with a spiritual focus; Fox, whose work saw its heyday in the early part of the 20th century, reminds me of Florence Scovel-Shinn, author of The Game of Life and How to Play It, which has helped me immeasurably on my awakening journey.

While there is much useful material in Fox's book, I wasn't finding anything particularly new at this stage of my evolution — until I came to the chapter on Reincarnation.

I've long believed that we select our birth families based on the Earth lessons we've chosen to learn this time around. This is Louise Hay's (You Can Heal Your Life) premise, and she's been one of my foremost personal growth guides for decades. But Emmett Fox brought me up short when I read, "Of course, we do not choose our parents. We go to the parent whose nature and conditions correspond with the state of the soul when it incarnates. And often that family is anything but what we would choose at that time." It's a very subtle shift, but a crucial one.

He goes on to explain how we assimilate the mannerisms and characteristics of our family members, but that there is no such thing as "heredity": instead of "inheriting" any conditions or predispositions from our ancestors, we gravitate to families where similar conditions already exist: like attracts like.

When I got this on the subtle level, it caused a primal shift in my awareness. For many years, ever since I first became conscious, I had evolved from "blaming" my parents for conditions in my life, and instead sought to see how I could heal what did not serve them, in myself first. I felt I'd taken on many of my mother's fears (e.g., deep water, dogs, public speaking) and had been overcoming them one by one in my life, reasoning that on some level, this was also healing the issue for her, since I was her daughter and had received these imprints in the womb or as a young child.

But now I understood that, far from taking on her issues, I had simply incarnated into this family because these fears mirrored my own! In a twinkling all residual feelings of holding my family in any way responsible for anything I experience, dissolved in a pool of Light. No wonder that it always seemed, when I mastered something and shared the details with my mother, that she was innately cheering me on, even as her words barely registered comprehension of the spiritual overlay.

It's challenging — even as a writer — to translate this core awareness into prose for you. If you can, pick up Fox's book and read that chapter, the most powerful (for me) in the book, and perhaps you will experience the same transmutation. It is quite literally, alchemy. I feel a step closer to living from true power.

More power to you, beloved. Blessings!

Your Essence is Enough

Today's my birthday, and I gave myself the gift of a phone call to one of my dearest friends back East, Ellie, who is 97.5 years old and, after a hip fracture a year ago, is once again walking up and down the three flights of stairs to her apartment. She is a spiritual beacon for me, and for many: whenever I call, there's sure to be someone else there, basking in the sunlight of her love.

I phoned her yesterday but she wasn't feeling well, and as I hung up, I beseeched Spirit, "She's lived such an exemplary life, and been through the broken hip; why is she still here when she's so ready to go home? Please make her transition easy and full of grace." And the message I received in response, which I shared with her today when she said, "In 2013 I'll be 100!" is that she is still here because she's helping to anchor the Shift of the Ages in this watershed year for humanity.

With her usual humility, she thanked me for my kind words and said she isn't able to do very much these days, but she thinks of me so often. I said that's exactly the point: it's not in the doing, but in the being, that she serves.

Our thoughts come first. Ellie sits in her small comfy home and radiates the love in her heart as she always has, which is why, after nearly a century and with no offspring of her own, she has, as she said to me today, "More friends than I can count." She calls herself lucky; I call her loving. People want and need to be in her energy field.

She is my ultimate role model. I don't know if I will ever attain the level of selfless Love for all that she expresses simply by living her life, but I feel very blessed to be the recipient of this essence. She thanked me for the gift of the call, saying she felt so uplifted, and I said, "You see, we are modeling where humanity is growing: giving and receiving are one in truth. I am so uplifted from talking with you as well!"

This is my birthday gift to you: know that, as you live the Love that you are, you are enough. Radiating the beauty in your soul is all that's required, though it's often a tall order. What we do in the outer world doesn't matter in the end; only Love is real. Your essence is enough.

Imbolc: Groundhog Day to the nth Power!

February 2nd goes by many guises. In the U.S., it's popularly celebrated as Groundhog Day, when a small furry rodent supposedly either sees his shadow or doesn't, and the result determines whether we experience six more weeks of winter. The day has far deeper meanings than this — but yes, it is a potent moment to watch your shadow!

Celebrated cross-culturally, the day is both a Christian and Pagan holiday, known variously as Imbolc, St. Brigid's Day (Bride's Day), and Candlemas.

In Celtic and Earth-based traditions, Imbolc ("in the belly") is one of the most powerful portals on the ancient Wheel of the Year: the exact midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

A harbinger of Spring, Imbolc celebrates the return of the Light in a profound sense. It's the first "cross-quarter day" on the Wheel of the Year, which honors the two Equinoxes and Solstices, as well as Beltane (May 1st), Lammas (August 1st), and Samhain (October 31st).

At Imbolc (Candlemas in Christianity), the energies begin to pulse with renewed life and hope. Fire festivals are common. Vicki Noble, co-creator of the Motherpeace Tarot and author of Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World, which affected me profoundly during my own awakening, writes, "Traditionally a time of transformation and initiation, Imbolc brings 'big dreams' and a raised vibration …

"With powerful Pluto in the physical sign of Capricorn (until 2024), we look forward to momentous planetary and personal change. As old structures crumble, inside and all around us, imagine yourself sitting safely inside of Kali's dance of liberation."

In 2011, ten planets and asteroids congregate around the Moon and Sun conjunct Mars, portending a profound surge of alchemical fire power to ignite our dreams.

What most astonished me was discovering that St. Brigid (in the Irish tradition) is the Patroness of Midwives. Since my birthday is February 4th and I've long referred to myself as a midwife for our global rebirth, it was a clarifying reminder of "what we know, before we know that we know!"

Enjoy this poem by Dawn Callan, which symbolizes and summarizes this moment eloquently:

Some By Fire

~ Dawn Callan
from Awakening the Warrior Within

Like a Phoenix from the embers
Ashes to ashes
Burning, burning
Some by fire
Some by water
Until we remember returning.

Some by the arts of the necromancer
Some by the sword
Some in the trance of the Sufi dancer
Some by the word.

Prodigal daughter
Walks the Warrior's path
Some by water
Some by tempting God to laugh.

Woman's body
Warrior's soul
Dance the ancient rite
Free the dragons of desire
Into the Light
Some by fire.

How's Your Sox Life?

Several years ago I was housesitting for a friend over the holidays. Her housemate hadn't yet moved out, however, so Sandra (who was no longer speaking to her) advised me, "Just ignore her."

To be sure, her housemate was not the most congenial person. She was needy. If I looked at her or replied to any comment or question, I'd be listening to her for the next hour. This could be rather discomfiting.

But I wanted to be kind. During this journey, I had a "clothes encounter" with my winter socks, which I'd somehow misplaced. I had eight or nine pair, in vibrant hues. Although I didn't recall packing them in one of the boxes I'd stored months earlier in Sandra's garage, I checked anyway. No socks.

That night as I allowed my mind to relax, I received the impression that my socks were in the external compartment of my green duffel bag, which had been in my car the entire time. In the morning, I looked there. Bingo.

Sandra's housemate heard about the sock caper, and had expressed her yearning for purple socks, since she'd once had a pair that had either been lost or stolen. When I found my sock cache, I walked into the house and held up two pair, one purple, one blue, and offered her whichever pair she wanted (we wore the same size).

Like a starving person being offered food, she grabbed the purple ones and thanked me profusely, saying, "It's like you gave me a house!"

I was humbled, and ashamed of my earlier thoughts. Sometimes — often — it takes so very little to uplift one of our fellow travelers. What we need to know is usually quite "clothes" to us.

So … how's your sox life? If it could use some rejuvenation, you know what to do now. Blessings!

Help! I Need Somebody …

Have we entered the "We Decade"? People are becoming more friendly and helpful than ever — and as always, what we give returns in spades (or hearts). Here's what it looks like:

A week or so ago, a shopper at Whole Foods pulled out an extra shopping cart for me as she got her own, and, delighted with the simple, unsolicited act of kindness, I declared this the year when we all receive what we need effortlessly and with grace!

A day or so later, a young mother with two small kids needed dinner plates; she couldn't leave the eating area to get them, so I went over to the hot bar for her, and she was inordinately grateful.

Yesterday, I parked my elderly car (that has a broken driver's side door handle for which I'm seeking a replacement part!), too close to a high curb, and when I went to open the passenger door to crawl through and unlatch the driver's door, as I've been doing the past few days, I couldn't open it wide enough to get in!

I stood there wondering what to do when a kind man walked by and I motioned to my plight. Without missing a beat he angled his arm in enough to roll down the back window on the passenger side, then crawled through the window to open the driver's door! I was amazed — and amazingly grateful.

These are all seemingly small acts, but aggregated times seven billion, they can add up to a far happier planet.

Let's choose to be helpful — and happy! Blessed Be.

If It's Broke, Should You Fix It?

We're all familiar with the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" But what about when it IS broken ~ is "fixing" necessarily the best strategy?

In the last month, my eyeglasses, car door handle and wristwatch band have all "broken." I was cleaning my glasses when the micro-thin bridge quietly snapped in two. My old Toyota's door handle mechanism, which had been progressively weakening for weeks, finally quit working altogether. And my beaded watchband's elastic cord broke.

From a 3D perspective, we could view these incidents as discrete (unrelated) events that occurred because the objects in question simply wore out. And this interpretation would be accurate, although limited. Since I tend to live on levels other than the literal, I laid in bed one night and wondered what message, if any, all these "breaks" happening at year-end 2010 might be trying to communicate.

Eyeglasses help me see, but have nothing to do with inner vision. My car transports me from Point A to Point B on the physical plane, but can't help me travel metaphysically. And my watch enables me to "tell time" in our linear, third-dimensional reality, but will not assist me in accessing the timeless realm of Now.

The sense I have, especially after participating in an alchemical conversation between Jim Self and Celia Fenn on Winter Solstice, is that these breaks actually signify a breakthrough: in the incipient New Earth, we'll see with our inner eyes, travel at the speed of thought, and live in the eternal present.

It was a humbling and humorous awareness. I've always enjoyed these "object lessons" ~ especially from my car, which has long served as a surrogate "body" of sorts (if you spend considerable time in your own vehicle, I expect you know what I mean.)

Of course, since I am still traveling in 3D, I'm in the process of seeking a replacement part so that I can open my car door; the watch is out being restrung, and I'm going to invest in a new pair of eyewear so I can continue to journey safely while in a body.

With a foot in both worlds, this is one of the most challenging and exhilarating times to be alive. You can read more in my January newsletter, Some Assembly Required, which will be live on 1/2/11.

Blessings and joy to you!

The Mother of All Winter Solstices

Visionary activist astrologer Caroline Casey has been calling it, "The Mother of all Winter Solstices". This December 21st heralds a full moon / total lunar eclipse, making our inner darkness visible. What has been concealed is now revealed, and ready to be healed.

It's a galactic Dark Night of the Soul as we surge down the 2012 corridor into a brand new world, eclipsing millennia of spiritual darkness, says astrologer Allison Rae. She offers one of the more eloquent and inclusive depictions of now, and what it means for each of us. READ MORE

Two no-cost events I'm participating in that are sure to provide groundbreaking guidance and information:

Celia Fenn with Archangel Michael in conversation with Jim Self, Solstice eve webinar from 4-5:30 pm PST

And immediately following, human capacities pioneer / social architect Jean Houston, offering her signature Mystery School as a teleclass.

Join me, and invoke the 2011 you deeply desire and envision.

Taking the Bite Out of Tooth Decay

Frank Zappa once wrote a tune called, "Dental Hygiene Dilemma." The song may have been intentionally tongue-in-cheek, but the poor oral health of millions of Americans isn't very funny. According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, "95 percent of the civilized population suffers with tooth decay and/or periodontal disease." Which might sound pretty shocking — until you count yourself among this group.

Who knew that the very substances I was using to clean my teeth — tap water and toothpaste — were actually creating the problem? READ MORE!

Kindness

Naomi Shihab Nye's poem is a universal salve; the depths of the Journey we all must make:


Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

The 7th Day of the Mayan Galactic Underworld Begins!

On November 3rd we entered the 7th and final "day" of the Mayan Calendar, which takes us up to its momentous conclusion in this time-space continuum, the much-lauded 2012. According to Mayan scholar Carl Johan Calleman, the end date is actually October 2011. But we're quibbling about minutiae when dealing with cycles so vast: on a scale of 26,000 years (the Mayan long count), 2011 or 2012 makes little difference. Besides, the Maya were not using our Gregorian calendar, but indigenous cycles aligned with the seasons and the stars.

The particular passage is all about balance: fully embodying the feminine after millennia of masculine dominance, and allowing both our bodies and our planetary body to come into wholeness and fusion.

This is not about masculine and feminine as they apply to gender distinctions, but to the energies we all carry: masculine being synonymous with dynamic, assertive, solar, outward, yang energy, and feminine synonymous with magnetic, receptive, lunar, inner, yin energy. Wedding the light and the dark within ourselves is the beginning of sacred reUnion for us all.

For more information on Mayan Calendrics, here's the piece I wrote a year ago when we entered the 6th Night: The Sky Is Falling ~ NOT! The Truth About 2012.

Halloween: Just a Specter of Samhain

In the U.S., Halloween is all about costumes, trick-or-treating, candy and, occasionally, mischief. Few people realize the date also marks a sacred day on the Celtic calendar, Samhain, ushering in the dark half of the year. October 31st precedes Day of the Dead/All Soul's Day, which takes place November 1-2, honoring those who have crossed over. Clearly, the dark side — what remains hidden from view — is calling.

As mythologist Kathleen Jenks writes on Myth*ing Links, this is an excellent time to explore what is ending, or "dying", within our own beings. What do you need to release in order to move forward in your life? Now, when the veils between worlds are thin, is a ripe moment to embrace transformation.

The souls of those who have transitioned can share their wisdom with us still, if we request their collaboration. Visionary activist astrologer Caroline Casey likes to say, "We cannot live through the dead, but we can invite the dead to live through us." What gifts are asking, aching to be brought forth in you?

The real treat of Samhain is the opportunity for quantum growth, on both personal and planetary levels. And the trick, perhaps, would be turning your back on those inner voices begging you to shine your brilliance and step fully into your aliveness, purpose and service.

So by all means, enjoy the outlandish get-ups and fun. Try not to ingest all the candy at once. And remember to remove your mask when trick-or-treat time is over, so that you can fully become who you came here to be. Blessings!

Taking It Personally

Recently I suggested to a new, local editor that we meet in person to discuss some story assignments. She acquiesced, though I sensed she found it an unusual request.

Today I called a business prospect who responded to my initial email with an email asking several involved questions, and wanting a rate quote. Since he'd included a toll-free telephone number, thinking to connect as well as expedite the process, I phoned this morning.

He sounded nonplussed when I identified myself, saying, "I'd prefer to communicate by email if you don't mind. I'm interviewing a number of candidates." I felt like part of an assembly line, and dismissed — not to mention a lot less inclined to continue this potential "relationship".

Yet truth be told (because I always strive to share the complete story), I didn't accord his online post any more importance initially than any of the other ads I receive daily as a member of a freelance writers' network. With these sites, I troll for new business by sending out fairly generic letters, customized as the posting warrants.

Does the fact that he knew who I was make a difference, assuming he received numerous replies?

I can appreciate both perspectives. I opt for going the extra step and connecting via phone or even face-to-face when possible — especially if we're going to work together. Yet I've also enjoyed working virtually with many individuals and businesses around the world for many years. I see it as a question of balance.

How personally should we take or make our virtual connections? Your thoughts?

I Can't Get No … Satisfaction — Or Can I?

Gretchen Rubin wanted to discover the secret to happiness, so she spent a year "test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happy — from Aristotle to Martin Seligman to Thoreau to Oprah."

She began blogging about her experiences and discoveries, convinced no one but herself would ever read it. Famous last words. Four years on, several hundred thousand people look forward to her daily musings, and her book, The Happiness Project, is a #1 New York Times bestseller. One reviewer calls it, "A cross between the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love."

I first wrote about Gretchen's work in March 2008 in my inspirational enewsletter, What Shines. (This article, A Big Tank of Pink Liquid is now part of my eBook, What Shines: Practical Wisdom for Unleashing Your Inner Brilliance/Volume 3). Today I listened to her share some of her wisdom in a telecast:

How can you increase your happiness every day?

#1: Get enough sleep!
#2: Novelty and challenge bring happiness, but not right away. First you'll feel insecure, incompetent, and frustrated — push through to mastery.
#3 Strong relationships. Increase your contacts with others, including social media — but don't overdo it!

Gretchen blogs six days a week, and encourages people who are having trouble blogging regularly to actually increase the amount they blog. It's counterintuitive, yet, she says, when you know you have to do something daily, it becomes part of your routine.

She also recommends adding structure to your blog. She has specific categories: video, tips, quizzes, quotes, interviews — which makes it easier to frame what she wants to share. People learn differently, so offering various formats allows more people to resonate with what you have to offer.

Finally, she says, don't be concerned if some visitors don't agree with what you post. A strong brand will repel as well as attract. While it's painful to have someone attack you in their comments, it also provides an opportunity for you to learn from them, expand your growth by not reacting in kind, and engage more readers through the discussion.

Is Your Battery Corroded?

Last evening I stopped to put gas into my trusty Toyota, which is now old enough to graduate from high school. When I turned the key afterwards: nada, zip, no reaction. I popped the hood, and sure enough, the battery (barely a toddler) was laced with corrosion.

What ensued is comical this morning, not so much last night. The first AAA driver I called gave me a jumpstart, but said he was a tow truck and therefore had no tools to clean the battery. He sent me sputtering down the road to a nearby Kragen's Auto Supply. The Kragen employee helpfully cleaned the battery terminals while the battery was recharging in the store. We then asked another customer if he'd please help me with a second jumpstart, and, although at first nothing happened (tension!) at last the car sprang to life.

I thanked both Samaritans profusely, backed up, and — it died completely.

This time when I called Triple A, I did request a tow truck. When Dave arrived, he asked what the problem was, and I recounted the evening's events. But instead of hooking me up for a tow, as I expected, he asked me to pop the hood again, and expertly found quite a lot of additional corrosion under two of the bolts, that the Kragen's employee had missed in the dark. After this, the car started up just fine, and I drove home.

Since my car has often symbolized my body and/or my life, I immediately began to identify areas where my "battery" (life force energy) might be corroded. Even when we think we're in great shape, having done a lot of work on ourselves and transmuted dross to light, there can still be a bit of corrosion hiding in the corners of our mind, sapping our power, creating "terminal illness" on many levels. Our battery isn't dead; it just can't fire because of the insidious slime gnawing through our façade, encroaching on the cables to make a clear connection impossible.

The solution, with cars, with our bodies, and with Life in general, is to alkalize: get the acid waste (rage, frustration, disgust, hatred, fear, despair …) out of your system through the powers of love, appreciation, enthusiasm, self-worth, service, joy … and your battery will continue to serve you faithfully for many years to come.

Context: The Sequel

The "Tao of Now" for my October What Shines newsletter is Context, and how, as Anais Nin observed, we see things not as they are, but as we are. Today I experienced another, literal, "frame of reference":

I'd wandered into a local art gallery, in part because a new client had mentioned his photography was being exhibited there. After finding his work, I continued to enjoy the other artists' creations ~ until I came to a canvas that appeared to have crumbling strips of white plaster pasted on a background, with a little blob of red in one corner. The price was $1350, and I shook my head in amazement. While I aim never to criticize art, as it's the epitome of personal preference, this looked like something a child might have done when bored.

I strolled to the entrance and saw a fellow I've seen here before; one of the exhibiting artists. We struck up a conversation, and I mentioned that, as usual, I loved seeing the new works on display, although there was one that I didn't understand. Something kept me from saying anything more judgmental. I was glad I'd obeyed my intuition when Bob revealed himself as the creator of the piece.

A recent transplant from Taos, New Mexico (a noted art colony) he explained that the white strips represent the dominant Caucasian culture — which is crumbling — and the red dot, Native Americans, whom we've dominated. All at once, like a trick cube, his work appeared brilliant, and I asked why he didn't include a brief Artist's Statement with the piece to help people understand his intent — even something as simple as "Anglo / Native American". But he wants it without training wheels, so to speak. Enigmatic, though quite powerful, once I had a context.

Where are you making assumptions because you're missing the proper context? It's a potent exercise for us to practice every day: staying open to new information that could completely shift our interpretation of what we think we see.