INSPIRATION FROM ROSEMARY: Winds of Change

My video for the week: Winds of Change:

Is Your Life Reflecting Your Values? — Richard’s Commentary

Rosemary always asks these pointed and difficult questions! Yes, I know they are good for me to reflect on, to answer, truthfully, for myself. And I actually thought this one would be reasonably easy for me to reply to and write this commentary. Then I took a second look!

A couple of years ago I did an exercise to clarify my values, to align them with my thinking, my philosophy. I made a list and prioritized it. I took a deep dive into this analysis, writing at length about these values I had come up with, what they mean to me and how I live by them. At the end of much thought I distilled the set of values down to two key ones: Practice and Love. In fact I even drew a diagram, a schematic to relate these two primal values: Practice –> Love.

No, this doesn’t mean my practices lead to love and it doesn’t mean if I practice well enough I will learn love. Maybe these meanings are overlays here, but these are two distinct values for me. I truly value that I am able to practice my various approaches to live a conscious life. Meditation, yoga, qigong, pages, poetry, … and any other consciousness raising practice that comes along that has potential for me is a key value. And how much more can I say about Love? Self, family, friends, community, humanity, life, Planet Earth, Nature, food, wine, beer making, wow…so much to love in life! And, clearly there is a relationship between practice and love. I love my practices. My practices help me better understand this whole sense of Love. Love improves my practices. It is complex and I can’t say that I even fully understand it when I write, and I often do: Practice –> Love.

But Rosemary’s question goes deeper here. Yes, she asks us to review our values, but more importantly to review our lives as they reflect those values we reaffirm! This is the key analysis, the driving question.

And I’ve spent the last several days, as part of our retreat weekend, reviewing and refining my answer. My answer initially is “no.” Oh sure, I’m doing a lot of practice, and I’m pleased with this. I also love: I am partnered with the love of my life. I am part of a loving family. My kids really do love me (at least they’ve done an awesome job of showing it!). But there’s a deeper level here I am reaching toward.

My exploration begins with the word “unconditional.” This is the quality of Love I’m reaching to attain. And this would then truly be the goal of Practice –> Love, my core values. I am not practicing unconditional love at every opportunity and therefore, my life is not reflecting this value.

That said I am working on it. This is my new level of Practice I’m striving to achieve. I suspect it is a life-long pursuit! But I have begun. Last evening, after Rosemary and I had returned from our retreat, our daughter stated, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that she had been craving pancakes for breakfast and would I please get up to make her some next morning! Hmmm, on Wednesdays she leaves for work at 7:15; hey, I’m retired, and while I am working harder than ever before and enjoying it a whole lot more, my hours don’t include 7:15 am! I did not commit! But this morning I was awake at 6:30, wanting more sleep. I debated with myself for about 30 seconds, and then asked “what would I do if I held the value of unconditional love? Yeah, you guessed it; I got up and fixed daughter and two grandsons pancakes (two different kinds). And the surprise and smiles were well worth the few extra winks!

With this good experience as a launch point I have been challenging myself to come from unconditional love all day. I’ve failed multiple times! I had several errands to run which meant driving and encountering other drivers; always a stumbling block for me to keep my cool while driving, but at least I continued to pull myself back to my core value. I’m practicing!

How are you practicing your values this year?

ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Is Your Life Reflecting Your Values?

We’re getting down to the nitty gritty here and I hope you’ll seriously consider what’s in this article.  How do you decide which activities will receive your attention today?  What values are you using to allocate your precious hours today, the hours that you will never be able to recapture after they have been spent?

This is where living a conscious life meets living the hectic 21st Century busyness that seduces us all into thinking that things have to be the way they are.

You have 24 hours in each day.  Your human body requires 7-9 hours of sleep – good, peaceful, restful, restorative sleep.  The rest of your hours are yours to spend as you choose.

‘Wait!’ you say.  ‘I have to go to work, get the kids off to school, teach my class, meet with my clients, go to the grocery store, and ______________ [fill in the blank]!   I don’t have control over those hours!’

To which I answer, ‘Yes.  You do.’

Every moment of every day we are at choice as to how we will spend that moment.  You choose to work at that particular job.  The kids might be able to get themselves off to school or a nanny could do it.  You scheduled your class or your clients.  Groceries can be delivered or a personal assistant or a spouse can do the shopping.  And so the choices go.  You might think that you can’t afford things but you can afford certain things because you choose them.

I’m not being simplistic here.  We all make choices and ‘I can’t afford it’ really translates to ‘I choose to spend my money elsewhere’ or, even, ‘I CHOSE to spend my money elsewhere and now I have to pay the bills.’  Still, it is all based on choice.

So knowing that you choose how to spend your time, how can you make sure that you are choosing according to your values?

First, you must know what your values are and you must know them in priority order.  I frequently see a client who feels conflicted and the answer to clarity lies in examining the values that are bumping into each other.  Here are two questions to ask yourself:

Who do I really want to spend time with today?

AND  What is the most fulfilling activity that I can put on my calendar today?

If the answers match the schedule, good for you!  And if not, then ask yourself, Why not?

You have the power to make choices about how you spend the precious hours you have each day.  Are you LIVING your life or are you SPENDING your life?

Choose to schedule your day based on what is important to you, what really matters.  Don’t let anyone else control your schedule.  If your boss wants you to be in a meeting at a certain time, then, by all means, attend the meeting.  But instead of spending emotional capital resenting it, accept that you choose to remain in this job [even if it feels as if you have no choice to remain in this job.  You could choose to quit and maybe live on the street so you might be making the right choice for the moment!]  If your family is making a demand on your time that causes you to resent saying ‘yes’ then say ‘no.’  And release feeling guilty about it!

Notice how often you make choices that don’t feel right to you.  Making the choice to take an injured kid to the ER feels right, doesn’t it?  Making the choice to escape into TV when there might be something else you could do might be escaping your life instead of living it.  AND watching TV might be your active choice to relax and rest your mind for a bit, so release the feeling of guilt about making that choice!

CHOOSE.  Match your schedule to your values.  Raise your consciousness about your moments and you’ll feel happier!

“Think New Thoughts for 2013” – Richard’s Commentary

“Thoughts become things” according to Mike Dooley. They are things according to many current authors linking quantum fields and our brains (or should I say “minds”?).  Our thoughts are certainly energy that is detectable, measurable and effective! The so called “new age” construct that we create our own reality through how we think and act, imagine and project our thoughts, ideas, visions into the world is becoming main stream science for those who are open and willing to explore these not-necessarily-self-evident concepts.

Then whether we believe this approach or not would seem not to matter; it’s not a matter of faith but a matter of science. We don’t believe in gravity; it’s a fact that objects near the earth respond to a force by falling to the earth. “Thoughts are things” is not a belief system but as real as gravity. There’s a lot of empirical evidence to back this up.

Therefore we really do have to be very aware of our thoughts, to monitor them, to assess and characterize them and to channel them in the direction we choose if we want to live a certain way. And this is particularly true if we want to change, improve the way we are living – evolve!

The way I look at this we need to be of “two minds.” We need our “active mind” to get us through the day. Part of this mind keeps us alive, running our physical bodies and responding to external stimulations as they pop up. And part of this mind is making decisions on a myriad of inputs; some decisions are almost automatic, based on habits and some are actual choices we are motivated to make based on priorities and plans. Then there is the second mind, the observer mind that assesses our life from another level. This could be called the “meta-mind” because it operates at the meta-level lifting out of the routine operations to passively monitor how we are doing. This could also be called the “mindful mind.”

Another common expression these days is “change your mind and change your life.” This could be the corollary to “thoughts become things.” These are easily expressed phrases, quickly becoming platitudes. But underlying their seemingly obvious simplicity things get a bit dicey. How many of you are sticking to your resolutions for 2013? That mind that runs on autopilot and habit consumes a huge percentage of our waking mental activity. It is not until we begin to assess how we are spending this “mind time” that we realize how much thought-energy is wasted. Don’t feel bad if you are already falling short on those resolutions. The routines you were living through in 2012, while not “hard-wired” into your brain, are a set of well worn pathways through neural networks laid down years ago. They are difficult to rewire!

The endless loops that play and replay in our minds are wasted energy. The knee-jerk emotional energy we expend on all the little, and sometimes big, annoyances in our lives is pretty much wasted – this emotional energy seldom accomplishes anything!

This is where the second, meta-mind comes in. We cannot change our minds, change our habits, change our responses unless we monitor, assess and evaluate the rightness and usefulness of those responses in the first place, when they occur.

A perfect example happened to me today. I was practicing qigong. My meta-mind should have been in high-gear, right? I was present, mindful, deeply into the practice. There were some people in the neighbor’s backyard talking and I could ignore them. Then our Lhasa Apso, Tara, came on the scene. At first she was attentive but quiet. Then as she detected the outside disturbance she let out a piercing bark. I almost jumped out of my skin! Then I scolded her for disrupting my practice. It took me several moments to re-collect myself and get back in my rhythm. Later as I was reviewing this I realized my reaction was not only out of habit but also unfair. Tara’s breed is from Tibet where Lhasas were raised as temple watchdogs. Their job was to alert meditating monks and masters if there was an intrusion into the monastery! Well, Tara was doing exactly what she was bred and raised to do! And she doesn’t have a meta-mind (at least as far as I can tell) so I had no right or reason to scold her! I’m the one with the meta-mind but it didn’t wake up until after my unfairness.

Exercising this meta-mind is no easy thing. This is why it is called “practice.” And it is through this practice that we can begin to “think new thoughts.”

How’s your 2013 practice coming along?

EXPLORATION: Think New Thoughts for 2013

It seems important for us to look at the state of the world and the way that humans are treating humans today.

This is not about politics although the politics of each country reflect what is happening in the psyches of the inhabitants.  What are you projecting from your psyche?

Since thoughts are energetic projects and have an effect on the environment we must take responsibility for the thoughts that we hold in our energy fields.  Ask yourself about the thoughts you projected today.  Did they come from a place within you that is sourced in Love?  Were your thoughts uplifting ones that, if written down and shared with others, they would make someone smile and feel good about themselves?  Or were you angry or upset and projecting that energy outward?

Think about the effect on a city when anger and hatred are stirred up and people are focused on disenfranchising others or hating and separating others.  Think about what could happen in a place where the people are fearful or wanting to kill others or angry at their neighbors.

Now think about the effect on a city when the inhabitants come together around a common cause to support each other.  Think about a community where kids can play safely because neighbors look out for neighbors.  Think about the energy in a place where neighbors spend the evening sitting together outside sharing chitchat and watching kids play together.

What do you feel as you imagine these scenarios?  Can you picture the column of energy that rises up from a place when the energy is what you pictured?  Which energy column would you rather sit next to?

This is what we each have a responsibility to create and to monitor.  Your energy is magnified when attached to the energy of others.  What do you chat about with your friends? Your co-workers?  Are you spinning each other up with thoughts of hatred and anger and separation?  Or are you finding common ground in which to discuss ways that you are similar and can agree?  When you spout off do you move the conversation to solutions or do you stay in the emotion of the problems?  Are you more comfortable discussing issues than seeking strategies for moving beyond the problems?

Each of us has responsibility for the thought energies we project.  When we gather with others, we intensify the energy of the ideas expressed and discussed.  Conversations do not have to be confrontational.  There can be real, honest agreements to disagree, but there must be respect for the person even if the ideas expressed cannot be embraced.

Somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten that we are all connected.  We are all members of the human race.  We have differing perspectives based on what we have been taught or what we have experienced or what we have embraced as our values.  Yet each person is on Planet Earth to learn lessons, to grow, to advance human consciousness, whether or not they have embraced that responsibility.

Accept that you cannot control the thoughts of others, but you can control your own.  Catch yourself building a column of energy that doesn’t feel supporting and light and stop it.  Shift your thinking to thoughts of Light and Hope and Community. Make sure you are projecting energy that you wouldn’t mind having projected onto you!

And surround yourself with people who are willing co-creators of columns of Light rather than anger and hatred.  We will all thank you!

PS: To guide your thoughts for 2013 with incredible inspiration from The Divine Feminine you can get the 8 recordings I made at the end of 2012 during my Wisdom of the Week (WOW) calls. Get them here.

EXPLORATION: “The I’s Have It” – Richard’s Commentary

Speaking of taking care of yourself first so you have the energy and resources to serve others, I’ve been thinking a lot about veganism and vegetarianism lately. I know a number of people who are and have been for years. In fact my son has been mostly vegetarian since his college days after reading “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.”

And recently I have begun to know people who are not only very strict in their discipline around a vegan diet but are also strong advocates of such, recommending it as a way to eat to save ourselves and the planet in the process. In fact some folks become so enthusiastic about their lifestyle and dietary choices that they almost become zealots, fundamentalists in their beliefs and political views on the subject.

I could say that some people even push my buttons on this subject. And I ask myself, “what are they mirroring for me that I need to examine closely?”

Examining this question took me all the way back to my childhood. I grew up on a small family farm in Wisconsin; and yes, it was a dairy farm. But we raised pigs, chickens, and sheep as well. For the most part we were a self-sufficient farm growing and raising much of our own food. Milk was the primary cash commodity and it all, but what we saved out for our personal use, went to a local factory that made cheese. Everything was pretty local in those days. We traded the eggs to the local grocery store for credit toward the things we didn’t raise or grow ourselves. We ate the extra roosters. We ate our own meat from pigs and steers we raised. So, I grew up with a lot of meat, milk, cheese, eggs; and when the local hunters helped thin out deer herds during hunting season we had venison as well.

I look back on this childhood with a great deal of fondness; I feel blessed to have been raised in the country with what then would have been the nearest thing to non-GMO, organic food we could have had from any source at any price – and it came from our “back-yard”!. We knew exactly where it all came from and what went into it.

Fast-forward about 60 years and it is hard to believe how things have changed! While some of the family farm remains right there in Wisconsin where I left it, much of the land has been sold to a “giant farm” following the trend everywhere to big-agri-business; the family farms of my youth are mostly gone. And I now live on the east coast with just enough garden for a few tomato plants. The nearest thing to small farming is the Community Supported  Agriculture (CSA) approach we have supported for the past few years. At least this way we are sourcing some of our produce locally; it’s fresh and organic and supporting a healthy way of life and a healthy planet!

My diet has changed too: for several years I have made my breakfasts and lunches in my Vitamix “super-blender” by creating a concoction of nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables; it’s all raw, as organic as I can find and it certainly qualities as vegan. I have lost a bit of excess weight, very gradually, while on this regimen, I have lots of energy, feel great and I believe I’m pretty healthy. And for dinner I often have a meat dish. I love cheese (here I don’t think I had a chance since from childhood I had more milk in my veins than blood!). And, while I’ve given up on chicken in my diet I still enjoy, now and then, a bacon-and-egg breakfast on a random weekend.

I am far from vegetarian, let alone vegan! And I am not sure I ever want or need to become a strict anything. I tend to avoid becoming a zealot about things in life.

That said I have asked myself if I need to look more closely into this mirror held up to me by those who are more zealous! Are we on an evolutionary path toward a meatless diet? Will this path, in part, be driven by realities of limited resources and over-pollution by the current approach by big-agri-business? Are we killing ourselves with GMOs? Can we rely on science and technology to continuously increase production of already strained resources?

And the real nagging question, because I want to think of myself as an evolutionary and cultural creative: “Is the New Human vegan?” I’d love to have your thoughts.

EXPLORATION: The I’s Have It

Most messages are about serving, about how connected we all are, how helping others is helping ourselves.  Today’s message is different. This one is about YOU and taking care of YOU.

Society teaches us to serve others until we are depleted.  At least, that’s what I learned as I was growing up, especially as a woman.  ‘It’s better to give than to receive.’  ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’

The problem with those sayings is that we didn’t get the nuance that we ALSO need to take care of ourselves or we won’t have anything to give to others!

If we give, give, give until there is nothing left to give, then the next person who needs us is out of luck.  I learned from Lisa Nichols the best image of appropriate service.  She used the metaphor of a cup and saucer, where the cup represents you and you fill it up until it overflows, then you serve from the saucer.  If you are always filling up your cup, there is always overflow from which to serve and you are never depleted.  This means that you don’t have to stop serving to restore yourself – you keep filling yourself up and you can keep serving from the saucer.

And if it’s so wonderful to give, what about those of us who have learned to give but have never learned how to receive?  Aren’t we depriving others of the opportunity to give to us?  Think about that nuance.  Maybe it is better to give someone else the opportunity to give to us than to always receive the pleasure of giving without letting anyone else have that fun.

Now, I’m not referring here to the political debates about the ‘givers’ and the ‘takers.’  Those labels are being used maliciously to justify certain positions and we’re not getting into politics here.

But most of us know what giving to others means and our generous, conscious, compassionate humanity leads us to give what and when we can.

It’s okay to consider yourself and your own needs.  Sometimes we need permission to do that.  You have that permission now.  Focusing on what you need is vital to supporting your efforts to help others in need.  Fill up your cup so you can serve from the saucer.

Reframe the word ‘selfish’ to ‘self-focused’ so you can release the pejorative judgments that go along with the idea of thinking of self.  YOU are the one on Planet Earth at this time to live YOUR Soul Purpose.  Taking care of yourself is essential to showing up for your Purpose.

Recently I’ve been doing Scientific Hand Analysis sessions for clients who are in the School of Service, one of the four schools in this system.  The lesson in this Life School is to become a Master of Service Consciousness, understanding the difference between Service and Servitude.  Service comes from a place of joy in the service and the act of serving is its own reward, with no concerns about ‘thank you’ or reciprocation.  Servitude is saying ‘yes’ and then resenting that choice, wishing we’d said ‘no’ and wanting to get out of the obligation, or, worse, resenting the person to whom we made the commitment.

All of us are here to serve, not just those whose handprints indicate that their Life School is Service [this is just their Major at Earth University!], but we all need to learn to take care of ourselves so that we are available to help others.

What does this mean for you?  Are you able to say ‘no’ when you need to, without feeling guilty about it?  Are you filling up your cup so you can serve from the saucer or do you wait until you’re depleted so you can give yourself permission to stop and refresh?

Be conscious about putting ‘I’ on your to do list!  Take care of YOU first and you’ll be able to take care of everyone who needs you!

After all, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself’ doesn’t mean much if you don’t love yourself enough to take care of YOU!

PS: Are you curious about how your hand and fingerprints reveal your Life Pupose? Explore this more here.

EXPLORATION: Money Wisdom for 2013 – Richard’s Commentary

Rosemary’s exploration article this week (yesterday’s post)  is profoundly simple; and it is profoundly deep and challenging.

This money consciousness, the advice of the Sirius Mystery Temple teachers, is not really new. The basic tenants here are “be wise with your money, be generous, ‘neither a borrower nor lender be’, and don’t forget to have some fun.”  This is time-tested wisdom; even Shakespeare offered some of this advice!

This one simple rule about borrowing/lending was violated by our granddaughter recently; the holiday gift giving, receiving, buying was the root cause of her borrowing money from her brother (“The Banker”). Then she became very upset with him when he reminded her of the debt and his interest in collecting. Their exchange created quite a row at the dinner table.

Then there is the National debate and negotiations around the debt ceiling and the gigantic deficit this country operates under. Wow, where is Shakespeare (or Bill Clinton) when we need him!

Loans, deficits, collections aside, the real challenge here is the belief part.

We live in a consumer driven world (how often do we hear the phrase “global economy” these days?). And despite some hints that this drive may be slowing, we continue to consume at a powerful pace that threatens our very existence. And we need money to consume, even to provide the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and some entertainment (to have fun, right?). But isn’t this whole consumer/economic model in which we operate based on a “belief system”? We believe that it is a reasonable economic model to work hard to gain money to buy the things we need and want. Money is the simple exchange mechanism to score the work and reward with the consumables.

But, what if we challenge the most basic tenet here: “money is a scoring system used to judge success”? Beliefs are choices we make. The world has chosen to agree that money is an exchange medium which brokers the deal between work and reward, and to believe in this system. OK, we are probably not going to change this approach any time soon, but my point is even the very underpinnings of our money philosophy are resting on a belief!

A more practical step here is to move up to a slightly higher belief and examine the concept of money as energy. The energy of our work translates to an energy of money (exchange) translates to energy of the things we buy: food, shelter, gasoline, etc. It’s all energy! And this slight shift in our belief about money can break the vicious cycle that money is “reward”, “measure”, “judgment”, “score”, and all the other negative associations we can apply to this energy exchange medium. In fact money is nothing more than an equal sign between operands of the equation with work on one side and return on the other.

(Of course the real meaning and measure of “work” does need to be considered on the left side of the equation. But this is a subject for a different discussion!)

What does it mean to shift our belief to “money is energy”? All energy in the Universe has a cycle to it. There is a vibration involved in everything that moves from the smallest particle to the Universe itself. Rotation and expansion, a throb is the core of existence. When we look at money this way, as having a vibration, a glow, like gold, then we realize it has to move. If it’s static it does nothing; it becomes dead, even a drain. Money wants life; as an exchange it is useless if not operating between work and return.

And this exchange is alive with negotiation, with the give and take (the vibration) of determining value. Again, the money has no intrinsic value. The value is in the “work” and the “return.” The key is in the evaluation of the two sides of the equation; the equal sign, the money, is only the operating agent in the middle.

The challenge for me and the change I am attempting to embrace for 2013 is to discard my belief that money is the object rather than the operator. Sure we all want money, more money. But why is this so? Aren’t we really more interested in negotiating the values of our “work” and our “return.” I’m shifting my beliefs to the two ends of the equation and interjecting some objectivity into my beliefs. Maybe then some of the emotional responses I too often exhibit can be shifted!

Money is only energy! Can you believe that?

PS: If you want more wisdom from The Divine Feminine, The Sirius Mystery Temple Teachers and other sources Rosemary draws upon, you might be interested in Eight Recordings of channeled teaching, guidance for 2013, given to Rosemary at the end of 2012. Explore this opportunity here.

EXPLORATION: Money Wisdom for 2013

Here is a message from 2011 that is great guidance for starting the New Year with a reminder about the Consciousness of Money. Do you need to change your consciousness regarding this topic? Do you feel emotional when you think about your financial situation? Are you worried? Are you playing ostrich (head in the sand)? Here are some wise words to help you make 2013 your best money year ever.

Mystic Message for March 4 2011:

This message comes from the teachers at The Sirius Mystery Temple who are giving me teachings about the Fifth Dimension of Consciousness. I am researching the Twelve Dimensions and these teachers are in a dimension around the star Sirius. This channeled teaching is about the Consciousness of Money.

“Money is an exchange of energy between two parties who have agreed upon its value. That is it. Money has no value outside the transaction that establishes its value by the agreement of two parties. Just as a house has a set value only when two parties contract to exchange the house for money at an agreed-upon amount.

Those who hoard money do not understand or appreciate that money is intended to be in circulation in a society. Money is an energy flow and, as such, must be kept flowing. Because its value is determined by an agreement between humans (or entities) then there must be a flow of energy. Those who spend more money than they have are also interrupting the flow of energy because the agreed-upon value of a transaction does not have the energy it needs to flow.

Monetary systems create artificial value that does not have the appropriate energy in it. This is why they can collapse.

Those who are working to expand their consciousness must examine their relationship with money. If they are afraid to spend it then they must examine that fear. If they spend too much then they must examine why that is so.

The rules of a Conscious Relationship with Money are as follows:

  1. Do not allow the energy of money to stagnate with you. Hold onto what you need to feel secure. Designate different funds with a purpose for the money in them so that a use, an energy, is attached to that fund.
  2. Share money with those who are not conscious enough yet to create wealth for themselves.
  3. Do not owe money to others. Pay your debts. Create a spending plan and stick to it as well as you can; i.e., do not overspend.
  4. Do not allow others to take your money from you. Collect what is owed to you. Make conscious choices about giving away money.
  5. Share what you have. Tip generously. Choose charities wisely and support the causes you believe in.
  6. Examine your beliefs around money, especially the source of those beliefs. If you are growing in consciousness then what your parents and grandparents believed may no longer be relevant.
  7. It is all right to use money for fun. It is also all right to save some money. Make conscious choices about both.

The Consciousness of Money boils down to this: Money is Energy. It needs to flow. Two people determine the value of money in every transaction. Money has no intrinsic value.

It is important, then, not to imbue it with any. Do not worship at the altar of money. Rather, see money as part of the flow of energy in the Universe. Treat it as such.”

“Shift or Stay Behind” – Richard’s Commentary

The Great Shift

Are you with us? It takes a community. We can’t do this alone; no one can. It may be trite now but I am still fond of that catchy phrase: “it takes a village.” I’ve known what this means for most of my life. I grew up in a small rural village in Wisconsin. At that time I felt throttled, held back; but I was also protected, very safely held in that community.

I reached well beyond that community when I went off to Ethiopia to be a Peace Corps volunteer. And I found myself in a small community in the southern province of Gamu Gofa. Again I was isolated, held within narrow limits of both behavior and opportunity; and I was protected, held in a community that took good care of me when I was injured in an accident.

One of my favorite village experiences has been in Gavilan, Northern New Mexico, in Martín Prechtel’s “Bolad’s Kitchen.” It is a small village with ample opportunity. We are held there and hold each other in great love and respect. We learn, share, trade, offer and are given all that we need.

And now the Great Transformation is beginning to unfold. The world may not have ended on the Winter Solstice 2012, but the change began. We are changing. Life around us is changing. Can you feel it? Rosemary has been writing and channeling about this time for years now. Many others have as well. And people are waking up in this changing time. It is very exciting!

So, what do we do? We pay attention. The signs are all around us. We listen. The voices, especially that inner voice, speak the words of truth that we test in our hearts. And we ask, what is mine to do in this time of change? What is my purpose? How do I live into my Soul Purpose that I have been called to now?

If you don’t know your purpose or if you are troubled when someone asks you this question, it may be time to explore this deep issue. Another way to ask this is “what is your big WHY?” In the greater scheme we are all asked to wake up! We are asked to join in community with everyone in our soul groups, to form the villages that it will take to make the shift. And we each have a role or roles to play within those villages. Identify your role; hone the skills you need to perform that role. We need you to be at your best!

There are many paths inward to discover your “Big WHY.” There are gradual ways and fast tracks. For example Rosemary offers Scientific Hand Analysis, a body of proven techniques to reveal much about whom you came here to be through the examination of your finger prints and the lines in your hands. In one session she can reveal your Life School, Life Lesson and Life Purpose. Another way is to become aware of your intentions: when you first awaken set your intentions for the day; and when you are going to sleep examine your day through a “nightly review” to see how well your intentions were met, not in a judgmental way but through an analytical approach to help discern areas for improvement.

Awareness and intention are the basic tools of an awakened mind. An awakened mind is an essential component of the New Community. We are on a trajectory for major change in the way we are living on Planet Earth. This is The Great Shift.

Are you with us?

PS: You can learn more about Scientific Hand Analysis on Rosemary’s site!