Look back on your own past and think about a peak experience.  We have all had them, although they might have been fleeting.  In the moment, during these experiences, the Great Inquisitor in your head was sent out for coffee.  So absorbed and intrigued with what you were doing, you didn’t have time or attention to give yourself any feedback containing the word “should”.  I have had these experiences when I was playing with my kids, when I was doing watercolors, when I was writing.  In every case, I would be surprised to look at a clock and see that hours had passed in what seemed like minutes.  I couldn’t begin to tell you what was going on around me.  Did the phone ring?  Was it raining?  Who knows?  Who cares?  It was bliss while it lasted.  I could describe the look of delight in my child’s eye, or how great that one stroke of the brush felt as it laid down a perfect wash, or how satisfied I was to capture a phrase that sang like poetry in the middle of a paragraph.

Tolle instructs us to approach these experiences first by getting rid of labels so that we can truly see the object we are focused on.  To see it without judgment, fully and in the complete appreciation of the mystery of its existence.  Don’t call that flower a tulip.  Don’t call it anything, let it be nameless, and drink in its beauty.  Really notice.  Do the same thing with your child or grandchild.  Really notice them.  Suspend your idea of who and what they are, and just see them without trying to name anything.  Do the same thing with your friends, with your work, with your entertainment.  If you can excuse your Great Inquisitor and release thoughts about the past and the future while you are doing this, you have begun paving the road to the Joy of Being. 

 Letting Go
 Listening to Messages from The Universe

 Kathie Brodie

The Universe is sending messages.  What matters is how well we listen, and that sometimes depends on who is in control.  When we insist on being in control, we don't always hear what Universe is saying to us.  So Universe, or Spirit or however you want to label a higher power, will send gentle nudges.  When the nudges are ignored, the nudges become stronger hits.  When the hits are ignored, they become socks, which become blows, and so on.  Escalation.  Sometimes the messages are clear, other times you have to figure it out using metaphors.  In December Kathy Baxter had a major health issue.  She tried to control the situation and she eventually ended up in the hospital with emergency surgery.  What's the message there?  You aren't in control.  My message was different, it was more physical than metaphorical.  (I think Universe knows I don't "get it" so I need a clear demonstration.)   I had water damage in the house.  Once I could step back I realized it was again about control I let go,  stopped trying to control.  What do I need to do?  Clear out "stuff", lighten up.  So this water incident literally washed out the old.  Be done with the old energy and be ready for the new energy.  

A colleague just told me about a Tarot reading she had received the night before.  It was a long reading finishing with a three card Past/Present/Future spread.  The past and present cards made all kinds of sense to her.  When the future card was turned over, it was blank.  No image at all.  So how is that for a message that she just has to let go of control and trust in the majestically unfolding Universe? The energy is changing, as many of us realize.  How we embrace that change is the key to an easy transition.  It happens in different ways for different people, but it is happening. 

 If you start paying attention to synchronicity, or your gut feelings or intuition, you will begin to see that messages come in all forms.  When you let go of control it is so much easier to notice the messages.  I'm not talking about letting go of control by abdicating responsibility.  There is still a place for mindful action. Shirking your responsibility isn't a healthy balance of control.  Points off for that attitude! 

 If you don't think there is synchronicity going on, keep an empty book and start filling it up with examples.  These are just little things, like getting a sudden "hit" to take my vitamins one morning while on vacation.  I had to go into my bedroom to get my vitamins and there on the bed was my cell phone, which I needed that particular day. Universe was guiding, giving me nudges, showing me that I could let go of control and simply trust.  Yes, perhaps I would have remembered to check for my cell phone before I left, but by having the universe whisper in my ear to take my vitamins I was led to a place where my cell phone was in plain sight, so taking the vitamins was just a little segue to my cell phone.  That seems trivial, yes, but after I thanked Universe I thought about it and realized I could have ignored the whisper to take my vitamins.  After all, I hadn't taken them for a week by then.  But by paying attention I came upon my cell phone, which made my vacation much more enjoyable that day.   If I were in my usual busy-ness mode, busy controlling my day, I wouldn't have heard the nudge from Spirit, I wouldn't' have trusted my intuition.

 Lots of people are having experiences that, in the big scheme of things, are very similar.  The shift is happening. The energy is changing.  Relationships, business associates, careers, marriages, goals, attitudes are all changing.  Aren't you curious about what is happening?  Aren't you excited about where it is all leading us?  What a ride!  Is it easy to let go of control?  Absolutely not.  Is it essential that we learn to go with the flow?  Probably not.  We can fight it, but...for what?  We are being set up to be a part of the big plan, whatever that is, and I, for one, am finally ready to let go of control and just hang on for the ride.  And coming from a former Type A business person, that is saying something!

Give The Very Best You Have

Kathy Baxter

Two months ago I wrote about having left the solid ground of cause and effect for the mysterious flow of the river.  (Into the River)  I'm still working on the "how" of being in this flow, but am being supported by an abiding presence that keeps saying to me "Give the very best that you have to give, and take what you need."  So, being a literal type, I ask, "What am I supposed to be giving?"  I'm coping with the enigmatic answer.  "You are to give whatever you are asked.  You see, you don't need to plan this."

Oh.  I see.  I am not in the position of deciding here.  I am in the position of responding to opportunities.  And the way I respond has everything to do with evolution.  I am to respond with an open heart, enthusiasm, and a desire to give it my all.  I am being asked to INVEST in the smallest thing, to approach each moment in the NOW reality as though this was my best chance to demonstrate my intentions to the Universe.  And of course, it is my best chance.  This is true of every moment.  If I can let go of my need to know where all of this is going and just be totally enthusiastic about every single thing I do, well, I'll get there, and I will be alive and vibrant the whole way there. Wherever that might be. 

The concept of contributing the best that you have to give is the foundation of a new economy that can eventually move beyond money exchange.  It is a brave step away from our belief system in that it requires us to leave behind the idea that we are in competition for scarce and insufficient resources.  We have so many defenses in place to protect our position, to guard our egos and our resources.  We spend so much time counting and comparing that we have little time left to enjoy our lives.  But imagine a world where every single one of us did give our very best at every opportunity.  Imagine a world of unlimited generosity.  Imagine a world where your contribution is received with gratitude and joy.  Imagine the magnificent exchange of energies - and hold that thought.  We are going in that direction. 

Suspend all of your self-judgments.  Let go of your conditions.  Open your heart to your greatest inspirations and give your best - all the time.  Whatever might be called for.  As you do, you will touch more people with your example than you can possibly imagine.  And as you drop your protective guard, you will be saying to the Universe that you trust that you are ready for excellent opportunities. 

Now what about taking what you need?  This is a tricky one because so many of us don't feel worthy of taking.  Receiving a return from the Universe completes the giving cycle.  When you receive, you allow the cycle to complete so that it can begin again.  If you resist receiving, you are blocking the energetic flow of the whole cycle. 

Life is really a fantastically intricate barter system.  Right now we depend heavily on money as an intermediary between what we have to give and what we need to live and thrive.  But there are other energetic trades that bybass exchange of money.  These trades aren't always as obviously paired to action.  When you extend your best effort into the Universe, resources begin to appear.  A surprisingly inexpensive apartment will become available.  Someone will be letting go of exactly the laptop you wanted.  Friends will appear to take you out to dinner.  As the balance shifts away from competition towards the unifying energy of collaboration, this kind of exchange will become the predominant one, and money will begin to lose it's power over us.  In the meantime, work on ridding yourself of the belief that what comes to you deprives someone else.  This is not true.  Each individual is creating their scenario and can create a flow of resources of their own.  Your lack dos not support others in lack.  Holding this belief in lack contributes to the impoverishment of all.

We are reaching the end of a most challenging 2007, and we are in the season of ritual and tradition as we return to our center and wait for the return of the light at the solstice.  According to numerology, 2007 is a “9” year, a year of completion.  So many things are winding down and playing out.  For many of us, this has meant some wrenching challenges and losses, accelerating change, a sense that time is rushing by.  What no longer serves us is being left behind, and even though the short term is sometimes agony, in the long term this is good.  It feels to me like we are wringing the sponge out, extracting the very last drops of those things we need to leave behind.

 By the middle of 2008, I predict that we will be experiencing a radically different kind of interface with life itself.  Cause and effect aren’t working the same way any more, we are moving away from the constraints of time and space, and we are also losing our relationship to the way we act on the world to make things happen.

I feel a deep sense that I have left the land and have entered the river.  The current is carrying me past events and manifestations, but I don’t yet have an idea of where the current is taking me.  As events pass, there is no possibility of attachment – they flow by, and others follow in a constantly changing array.  The one thing it demands most of me is trust that the current, which is much bigger than me, is purposeful, and that my work in the world will be presented to me as I continue in the flow. 

The tools to work in this new interface are so different that they are sometimes hard to recognize, but one old favorite is still most useful.  Ritual that connects us to larger themes now has the power to connect you to a multidimensional reality full of richness and grace.  The magic of ritual is that it encourages you to identify with a consciousness beyond your ego.  As you participate in the comforting traditions and practices that  connect you to profound philosophical and spiritual truths, you lose your self identification and become one with the All That Is.  At the moment of unity realization, you are open to your higher self and spirit more powerfully than at any other time.  When you reach that place, slow down, notice, and listen.  You will be richly rewarded.

Traditions and rituals can come in many packages, and need not be attached to organized religion or cultural expressions.  The important things is that they speak authentically to your soul.  One tradition I treasure is a labyrinth walk on New Year’s Eve.  It is a powerful time to lay down the old year and open to the possibilities of the new.  Your own rituals and traditions will be as unique as you are.  If you are served well by them, honor them with more focused attention this year.  If you feel a desire to create more meaning in this season’s activities, ask yourself what you are missing.  Is it a connection to the earth and the energy of creation?  Are you longing for a different sense of family?  Would you like to feel deeper roots in your cultural heritage?  Do you feel a calling to service?  Take some time during this darkest month of the year, this very busy month, to listen to your own heart and give yourself the gift of connecting to ritual and tradition, new or old, that serves you and lifts you up.  2008 is a “1” year of new beginnings.  Now is the time to charge up those batteries and get ready for action!

Candor and the New Energy: 
My Inside Voice Editor Just Quit
by Kathy Baxter

One of the warning signs of middle age seems to be an odd and disquieting inability to keep the Inside Voice (thoughts) from becoming the Outside Voice (faux pas.)  I have a dear friend who opened my eyes to this trend a good ten years ago when she said she was voluntarily taking herself out of a lot of social and political activities because she just couldn’t keep her mouth shut at crucial times, and she feared the consequences of her sometimes brutal candor.  It was a great loss to many of us, because along with her sometimes razor sharp honesty, we also lost her humor and insight.  Ten years later I am most definitely in her candor category.  It may just be my age, it may be that I have had some big jolts in my life that made me wake up to the reality that it was time to pursue authenticity to a deeper degree.  But I have a much lower tolerance for letting things slide than I used to.  End result:  sometimes it’s dicey to have me in a group discussion!  It seems my Inside Voice editor was sick and tired of her job, and she has walked out.

 I would be a lot more disturbed by this defection if I didn’t know something about the acceleration of human evolution and the increasing frequencies of the earth’s vibration.  One of the artifacts of this increase in rate is that truth becomes much easier to discern.  Put in another way, we are becoming more transparent and our ability to read others is increasing.  We are coming into an age where it is no longer possible to lie to ourselves or others.  So perhaps my candid friends and I, and a whole lot of other plain-speaking people, have been trailblazers for this new Consciousness of Candor.  We are learning through experience that pursuing what is true for us and speaking that truth may have a short term cost, but it has long term benefits that far exceed the price.  For one, we can live in the light of our truth with the ease of pure integrity.  For another, as we live in the truth, and others find it safe to do that with us, we realize that the judgments of others are rarely as harsh as we imagined them to be.  Imagine a world where there were no lies!  “Yes, you do look fat* in that dress.  These sentence doesn’t flow very well.  Can you think of another example that a person could say in the same sentence?  On the other hand, there were no weapons of mass destruction.”  (From the little white lies to the big, fat ones!)  Aren’t we more destabilized by discovering a lie than we would be if we heard the truth in the first place?

 When I sat down to write this article, I pulled a card from my Animal Tarot deck to guide my writing.  The card I pulled was Dragonfly.  I am always delighted to be accompanied by Dragonfly, but today it was particularly auspicious.  The Dragonfly’s primary message is that it is time to trust in the power of the light.  Dragonflies perceive the tiniest shift and expression of the light – they can see light in very dark places.  Truth is a pure expression of the light.  Pursuit of truth is pursuit of light, and it is en-lightening intellectually as well as spiritually.  Putting the Dragonfly to work with the conundrum of the defection of the Inside Editor helps to sort out some of the stickier problems with speaking your mind.

 The trick with candor is to find the most refined and light-filled path out of the web of the thousand little deceptions we have created for our social selves.  We create these deceptions (or hold our silence) to protect ourselves from danger.  The Piscean age which we have recently left behind was a period characterized by the male energy of dominance and control. Fear was used to great effect to control the masses and impose the authority of One Truth. Throughout the Piscean age, the will of the One Truth has been used as a defense for wars and tyranny the world over.   Of the many ways that fear can be processed, for most of us, the first impulse is anger.  We feel threatened, we angrily put up a defense.  Or we make up a protective lie and resent having to lie.  Or we hold our silence and let the anger build.  The problem with responding to oppression or threats with anger is that you have now chosen a path that can do little but return anger to you.  Just what I wanted!  A White Hot Piss Off marked Return to Sender!  OK, that really doesn’t work for me!  Not only have I failed to educate the Monkey Brain of my oppressor, I now get to deal with their returned anger (or my own repressed anger) as well!

The way out of anger that works best for me is to accept the responsibility for having created every experience that I have.  My soul brought me an experience so that I could obtain the benefit of a lesson.  If I can take the energy of my anger and turn it toward seeing the lesson I am learning, and thus capture the gift of the encounter, I can then, from a place of integrity and compassion, speak my truth in en-lighten-ment.  From this vantage point, I am more likely to be able to see the fear in my oppressor and to find compassion and understanding for their position.  Taking this reflective step requires the discipline of pausing and choosing a reaction rather than being guided by my own Monkey Brain.  I like to imagine that I have a menu at these times and that I can order my reaction from that menu.  I can choose a path that leads me to a higher awareness. 

 The Piscean Age has given way to the Age of Aquarius. The Aquarian energy evokes co-creation.  It is reawakening the divine feminine.  Feminine creation energy finds common ground.  It builds from the bottom up using the contributions of many to arrive at the creation.  Feminine energy makes the base assumption that every soul has an authentic contribution to make. We each have precious pieces that are meant to be sewn into the quilt of collective expression. Respect both expressed and received allows the gift of authenticity to be shared. Honestly presenting our truth with compassion and courage – that is a powerful contribution to the quilt!  Opening a space to compassionately receive the gift of another soul’s honest expression – this creates a quilt with magic powers!

 All you have to do is read the headlines in any newspaper today and you will see the evidence that truth is working its way out of the darkness.  As candor becomes an imperative rather than a choice, it becomes safe for people like my friend to come out of self-imposed exile. (Indeed, it is much harder to hide!) She and I can now mine the decades of experience we have gathered and find the grace to stop and reflect before reacting.  I invite you to embrace your own candor – to see this sometimes shocking lack of tact as a messenger – a Dragonfly. Follow that Dragonfly to the light by pausing a moment before reacting and choosing the most light-filled response that you can find.   If you are at a point in your life where you want, need and deserve to get deeply in touch with whom your soul knows you to be, seek the light when you have a choice between the demure little social fib, and a great big angry reaction.  Look for the expanded menu, and consider choosing a path of authenticity and truth with compassion.