Happy Solstice and Happy Holidays, Everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday Season, filled with love and joy! I cannot quite believe 2014 is almost over! It really went by in a flash.

 

This has been a difficult year for many people, as the ongoing Uranus/Pluto square continued to squeeze us all like a tube of toothpaste, forcing us to release everything that no longer serves us. And many of us have had to release things we didn't think we wanted to release (especially relationships and other things that provided some sense of security), and often we were forced to release them in painful ways. (But we still needed to release them!)

 

I can only say that, even though 2015 will continue the intensity, it will be better, as we really start to see and feel the cumulative effect of all the changes that have occurred. We have cleared the decks in a lot of ways, and now the NEW can come in! Despite what it looks like "out there," I think we will be pleasantly surprised by 2015!! Check out my article about 2015 on my website!

 

Right now, I'm in the middle of packing to move out of state. It's the first time I've moved in 16 years, and the first time I've moved to a new state in... well, several decades! So I am marveling at the panorama of emotions I flow through on a daily basis: panic, fear, dread, self-doubt, then excitement, optimism, and self-assurance! I've had to deal with my own conflicted feelings about leaving what has been my home area for decades, as well as the feelings and, sometimes very hurtful, reactions of friends. It's been quite a challenge, and quite a process, and I'm sure many people can relate! It's just what these times are all about!

 

One thing I know for sure is that when we take an action to step out of our comfort zone, out of our ruts and routines, and take those actions that may be very scary and uncertain—with an open heart and the intention to create more love and joy in our lives—the Universe meets us more than half-way and rewards us for our courage, determination, and action! I have had such a string of amazing synchronicities that I could not begin to list them all. I took the first step (making the decision to go), and the Universe rolled out the red carpet for me! Need a box for a 6-foot mirror? Done! Need a bunch of boxes to start packing? Done! Need the perfect new home with all the amenities you've wanted? Done! With all this help from the Universe, I am confident that I am about to sail into a new, wonderful adventure! (If I can just finish all the packing!!)

 

Since I'm in the middle of packing, I know I don't have the proper focus to create a new, meaningful article this month. So I've updated last December's article about Peace on Earth, and how we can all work on creating that. The energies now are quite Magical, and they will be throughout 2015 (with a big window in March to propel us forward), and focusing on creating Peace in our hearts, our lives, and our world, can only help us create the kind of world that we all want. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Happiest of Holidays, and all best wishes for beginning the New Year with love, joy, peace, abundance, hope, and optimism! I'll see you next month, writing from my new home!

 

Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men! 

 

It's Holiday time again! No matter which tradition or religion we follow, or which Holiday we celebrate, we are all really celebrating the Return of the Light. After the Winter Solstice, the days begin to get longer as the Sun (Son), the Light, returns. The Light brings Life. It strikes a primal and instinctive chord deep inside us. That’s why there are so many religious celebrations overlapping in late December—no matter what we call it, we all join together to celebrate the return of the Light.

 

At some point in the midst of celebrating, socializing, shopping, and generally rushing around, most of us pause to look at our lives and our world, and think about what we like and don’t like about it, and what we would like to change. It is no coincidence that the New Year's celebration follows close on the heels of the coming of the Light, and we have the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions and planning what we will do with those longer days and that new energy in the coming year.

 

As I look at everything going on "out there" in the world, I keep thinking of the phrase, “Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men.” Everyone says they want world peace. It is a noble sentiment, a desire felt almost universally. But if that’s really the case, why don’t we have it? If over 6 billion people on the planet all yearn for peace, how is it that we haven’t created it yet? How do we continually create more of what we don't want than what we do want?

 

Rather than seeing more Peace on Earth, we seem to be repeatedly smacked in the face with man's inhumanity toward each other, and increased violence. People universally decry violence and violent acts, yet we maintain a culture of violence. Violence is everywhere we look: television, the movies, video games, sports. This year, we even have a movie that advocates the assassination of a real, living—rather than fictitious—world leader!

 

 

The media gives us stories of violence 24/7, feeding our increasing desire for it. And remember the old journalistic mantra, "If it bleeds, it leads!" NEWS is all about drama and violence! We LOVE our violence, and we seem to be getting better at it! Just compare the TV shows from the 70s with the ones we have today: the violence is far grittier and far more creative and becomes more so every year!

 

As a culture, we glorify violence and we glory in it! Our language recreates it. Violence is our entertainment in so many ways. We enjoy it nonstop on TV. We play video games where we destroy people with the press of a button and congratulate ourselves for the kills! We scream for our sports teams to “annihilate” the other teams. We “trounce” the competition in the work place. We even “kill” people with kindness!

 

And yet, when we hear about a “random” or “senseless” killing, we collectively become outraged, seek vengeance and retribution. Especially when "innocents" are killed or when innocents, particularly children, enact the violence. Stunned, we demand to know why someone would do such a horrible unthinkable thing, and we demand more government control. We turn to the government for the answer, forgetting that it is the government that keeps us in perpetual war, fuels the war machine, and ensures an ongoing "need" for all those wonderful weapons of violence and destruction. 

 

We say these things are unthinkable, but that is far from the truth! In our culture we think about it every day. Somehow, we believe that this violence in our competitive practices and our sports and entertainment can be kept separate from “real life,” that somehow we and our children know it isn’t “real.”

 

But ask the neuroscientists and the psychologists: the subconscious does not know the difference between “real” and “pretend” violence. The subconscious mind just begins to believe that violence is normal. That it’s okay to kill the “bad guys” (whoever we determine them to be). It’s okay to kill “them.” We are literally training our minds to believe that violence against each other is acceptable, overriding our innate revulsion. And we start doing it at a young age. WHY WOULD WE voluntarily do this??

 

 

It is easy to blame governments, politicians, and the media, but our external reality is primarily a reflection of our internal reality. Those governments, politicians, and leaders are reflections of US! When we have tragedy, drama, violence, and lack of peace in our lives and in the world, it is because there are unhealed parts of us that resonate with and attract those situations. If we can seek out those dark pockets of stuck energy inside us, and heal and transform them, then we will stop attracting the drama and we will experience more peace.

 

Ah, but do we really want to get rid of the drama? There’s a question to ponder! So often that violence makes us feel alive. Peace or drama, it begins as an inside job!

 

How can we have peace in the world if we don’t have peace in our hearts? In our families? In our places of work? If we get home from work and kick the dog and yell at the kids, how can we expect an end to violence? If we enjoy entertainment that immerses our psyche in violence, how can we ever enjoy peace? If we haven’t created peace in our own lives, how can we even talk about Peace on Earth?

 

I am happy to say that I enjoy quite a lot of peace in my little world. It has taken a lot of effort, a lot of changes, and a lot of healing and refocusing my attention—and there is still room for improvement. I don't get thrown off center as often or as badly as I once did, although it still happens, and I am able to rebalance and return to center much faster than ever before. As I began cultivating peace, I may have missed the adrenaline surge of drama, but I find I miss that less and less.

 

It is also fascinating to me that as I have moved forward in this process, I have less and less tolerance for violent entertainment. If I watch a TV show or movie with a high body count, I end up feeling mentally, emotionally, and psychically battered!! And as I try to find shows on TV that are NOT violent, I realize how pervasive that violence is! We have all totally immersed ourselves in violence, and we believe that's normal and okay! Well, look around and you will see what this "normal" has created for us!

 

 

Whenever we want real change, we must take action and do things differently. If we continue to do the same old things, think the same old thoughts, and believe the same old beliefs, we merely trap ourselves in what we've been doing.... and continue to create all the things we say we don't want.

 

So this year, I resolve to cultivate more peace and love in my own life. I resolve to continue to remove violence from my life, including forms of entertainment. I resolve to forgive past offenses, let go of grudges, and let go of the desire for revenge, knowing those need to stay in the past and they serve no one in a good way. I resolve to let go of the need to be “right” and, instead, choose collaboration and harmony, recognizing that each person has his or her own personal truth, that might be different from mine. I resolve to really understand that we are all brothers and sisters, all wanting the same things in life, and the same opportunities. And I resolve to respect other people, especially those who seem "different" from me, because I know that those differences can enrich us all, and each of us is a part of God. I resolve to continue to become aware of my own tendencies toward violence in my thoughts, beliefs, actions, language, and entertainment, and I will make appropriate changes to cultivate love.

 

 
 

In this issue: