“Insufficient Reward Syndrome”

Say WHAT???

(It resonated so loud with me on behalf of all entrepreneurs
everywhere that I may just have to have my hearing
tested…!) ;=)

Naturally, I had to do a little more research.

The DVD that clanged this concept into my brain was referencing a
biological neurotransmitter deficiency that prevents people from
feeling happy.

But listen to this… according to “Behavior Therapy in Dealing With
Depression” (the only source in non-medical geek speak resource I
could find), there are four factors that apply in a behavior to
positive reinforcement ratio.

The idea is that you can predict behavior based on positive
reinforcement (or lack of it). (Can you feel your entrepreneurial
cells reaching for the light yet?)

The four factors are:
1. Frequency of positive rewards
2. Amount of positive rewards
3. The duration and continuation of the rewards once started
4. The amount of effort required to produce expected behavior

In other words, if your rewards are infrequent, too conservative
and/or prone to stopping even though the behavioral demands
continue, you’re going to suffer ‘insufficient rewards syndrome’.

Even more, if the effort to perform increases, the behavior to
reinforcement ratio also increases and, if not met, also results in a
deficient rewards syndrome state.

The bottom line is that the quality of your life and health depends
on your ability to reward yourself consistently in proportion to the
effort you’re putting out. It helps you to stay motivated and in joy.

That being said, as an entrepreneur, chances are you’re focusing
on your bottom line rather than your body when you’re deciding
whether to give yourself a reward like time off, a new toy or a
frivolous expenditure.

Rewards don’t have to be expensive… but they are vital to your
well-being.

So the teaching is that you must work and play in proportion.

Because the cost of NOT giving yourself rewards as you go is far
greater to your emotional, psychological and biological health than
the cost of the reward itself in time or money.

(And at the very least, I figure it’s important that I lead by
example and I haaave had my eye on that awesome crystal singing
bowl…)  ;=)

To Rewards As Vital Keys to Your Health and Success… ~~~

Lynn

P.S.: If you want to listen to one of the rewards I like to play
during my breaks for blissful little 26 minute mini-vacations, check
out this song, Sound Is Divine, by Sheila Chandra:

http://youtu.be/K2_EkiWp1FM

Enjoy! :+)

There’s a quickening that happens as people get ready to settle
in for our ‘regularly scheduled’ year. It’s soon back to school
and back to work.

By the way, this means there are only 138 days left in the year
in which to complete your annual goals (we’re two-thirds
through 2011).

One other fun fact – Deepak Chopra says that 40% of our
happiness depends on engaging in activities that express our
creativity and/or make other people happy through voluntary,
intentional choices.

(To round out the happiness formula, 50% depends on whether you
see problems or opportunities in your world, and the other 10% of
your happiness is based on your living conditions.)

To see his short video on that, click here:

http://youtu.be/qKwZXhOXSa8

My intention in sharing the happiness formula is simple…

You can choose to be fully present in your life and proactively work
your goals or not – both the choice and the consequence is yours.

However, it’s a lot easier to do when the energy can help carry you
along to get your groove back… so take advantage of the quickening
energy to get a jumpstart on completing your priorities this year.

And bonus – you’ll be happier because you’re actively choosing it!

So, in order to make the most of the energy of this incoming
season, it’s important to focus on what’s important.

In fact, here are three things you can do right now:

1. Take the time to go through your priorities as you outlined
them in January to see what’s left for you to do – then
follow-through with actualizing and implementing a plan.

2. Use the longer days of daylight that we still have to get in
an extra hour on your to do list to get some new momentum going.

3. Go to www.HiddenAwareness.com and let me know your focus and
action commitment for the next 7 days – that ensures your
clarity and engages your energy to make it happen.

I look forward to getting your focus / action
commitments asap… :+)

www.HiddenAwareness.com

To Your Quickening AND Your Happiness ~

Lynn

Today in the U.S. is the day we dedicate to remembering those
who have served ‘we the people’ and our country… and, hopefully,
this is a pinnacle day for that but not the only day we do it.

In that light, what have these men and women exchanged their life
force energy for if we don’t step up to make our best contribution?

Freedom doesn’t only mean having no external rulers or all the
material stuff you choose to afford… it actually means taking on
the mantle of responsibility that comes with exercising true
independence in service to the greater good.

When you are free, your soul flies. You claim purposeful sovereignty
in your life and you willingly accept that you must show up in
congruent accountability for who you came here to be – in all areas
of your life.

The myth is that freedom means a free ride on roads paved with gold.

The truth is that freedom is actually something you earn every day
through your thoughts, words and actions.

To find your freedom, here’s a simple formula:

Stop doing what doesn’t serve you and start doing what does.

That is what sets the stage for your most meaningful contribution
during the 100 or so years you have here altogether on the planet
in your current lifetime.

According to Lori Barr, M.D., most people believe that making that
kind of change starts with action; however, that actually sabotages
people from achieving what they desire and so they slink away from
their goals in dejected failure.

That’s because doing something different, like finding your freedom,
actually begins by asking your spirit what it is that you are here to
do… to discover what makes your soul sing, what you are uniquely
qualified to do, teach or share simply by being and think about that
until you begin feeling it as an emotion.

An emotion is a noun… a feeling is a verb. The sensation of spirit
moving through you will be captured by your mind as it tries to
quantify the experience and give it words (ideally, using conscious
language – present tense, positive, powerful).

Only when you’ve been through these stages – connecting to spirit,
feeling the sensation and assigning it conscious language – can you
begin to take effective action.

NOW your body can move in expression of what has come through
inspiration (or, ‘in spirit action’).

As you can see, action without the ‘back-up’ of spiritual and mental
clarity is like walking out the door to head to a foreign country
without knowing why you’re going or what to take with you, much
less having a map or a language translator.

So, as you begin to take action, which is going to be different than
it’s been before in your life (because it’s a new thing – you’ve
stopped what didn’t work and are following guidance in a new way),
allow your awareness to assign meaning to what it is that you’re
doing because that is what anchors spiritual consciousness in your
physical world.

And THAT is freedom…

When you’re in that place of sacred liberty, everything else – even
things that you would typically think of as obstacles or learning
points – well, it all pales in comparison.

It doesn’t matter that you have to learn how to do bookkeeping, or
study marketing, or go beyond your comfort zone in learning
technology… those are all ‘necessary evils’ that allow you to be
the shepherd of what has been assigned to you through spirit for
its birth and tangible expression here and now.

When you are prepared, you are ‘lucky’… things fall into place
because you seem to magnetize, recognize and optimize opportunities.

That really means cultivating your strengths, building your skills
and having resilience in whatever happens… trusting the bigger
picture that you’ve been invited to convey as a conduit for
universal energy… being willing to do what needs to be done as
it pulls you forward.

Again, that is freedom… and it’s not the ‘oh, I can do anything
I want’ kind of freedom that many people think of (especially the
people who have jobs and don’t understand what you’re doing in
your business…).

Instead, when you are honoring freedom and being of sincere
contribution, you are rewarded with moments of absolute rapture.

Yes, you get to do things that other people can’t do… but it’s
because you were willing to do what most people won’t do
(whatever their reason).

So, ironically enough, to experience freedom means being willing
to start at the beginning, to show up again and again for the
wisdom teaching of the day and grow yourself on every level
because you have chosen to hear the message to honor your gifts
and make a difference in your inimitable way.

Honoring freedom is about discipline and following through on what’s
‘right’ for you – and the rest of us who benefit from your clarity,
commitment and contribution.

Never before in history have we had this level of not only permission
but responsibility – and even calling – to honor freedom in its
highest form.

Thank you to all who have allowed us to be here now –
today and beyond.

To Finding Your True Freedom ~

Lynn

P.S.: Please share your thoughts about freedom and how it’s expressing
through you in a comment below… thank you in advance. :+)

What is my life purpose and how can I do it to make a good living at
the same time?

Underneath this question is the hope that it’s possible to live well
while doing what you love (although it’s a hidden wish rather than a
credible goal because our cultural norms tell you it’s not
impossible!).

Just look at traditional business to know that it can be soul-sucking
when the work you’re doing is not for you.

There are only three basic things needed to live well and do what
you love:

* You have to desire it.
* You have to be clear in your focus.
* You have to be committed to taking action.

Sounds easy, right?

Here’s the secret…

It IS easy… when you know exactly what to do!

After helping more than 5,000 entrepreneurs over the last fourteen
years to gain clarity on their path to personal and business success,
I’m doing something I’ve NEVER done before…

I’m partnering with a colleague to provide a service for those who
are ready for it.

(Read on to learn if this is for you…)

–>> The Program <<–

Independently, my project partner and I have each walked the path
of practical spirituality as a way of being.

In the language of spirit, we each help our clients to get out there
and shine their light brighter.

In the language of business, we each help our clients build their
unique and authentic platforms from which to unite their life
with their livelihood.

We’ve each brought our own tools and unique approach to the
process, helping change the world one person, one purpose,
one business at a time.

–>> The Partnership <<–

A quick introduction to my project partner here:

For those of you who know David Favor here in Austin, you know
just how big this opportunity is… he’s the guy who you want to do a
mind meld with because he’s probably forgotten more than most people
learn about vitality in life and business.

David has owned a successful software firm, consulted with big tech
companies and built a super foods mega-empire.

He’s a business mogul for sure, with a results-orientation and the
ability to leverage technology to the limits.

He’s also pushed the edge of understanding self-awareness in ways
that stretch the imagination.

As a result, he’s tapped into levels of consciousness in a profound
way that few people are willing to experience.

(Now you begin to see the connection, right?)

–>> The Invitation <<–

So, for the first time EVER, I invite you to work with both of us
in an innovative 30-day jumpstart program designed to help you live
well by doing what you love.

During this program, you will have unlimited access to mentoring and
business consultation from one, the other or even both of us
simultaneously if it’s needed to create momentum in your business.

This program is intentionally about helping you take the right action
to create new results in your business.

As you take action, you let us know that you’re ready for the next
step that is personalized exactly to you and your business. It’s
all about accountability and getting ‘it’ handled.

By the way, taking action is what brings up issues that you have yet
to discover that hold you back because it is only through motion that
we experience new vistas and, therefore, grow.

Growth is uncomfortable exactly because you are going beyond what’s
known, familiar and expected. You will be uncomfortable; however,
this discomfort can be minimized with expert guidance along with
clear, directed and focused action.

Humans choose our path to growth as we step into being of service
as expressed through business. Business is not for the faint of heart
because you see the results of your beliefs manifested externally in
your livelihood.

Without support or direction, people flounder as business owners as
they are embroiled in the gunk of their beliefs but can’t see what
that actually means or actively creates.

The same energy that created a problem cannot solve it – human
beings require fresh input to gain new perspective and, as a natural
by-product, create new results.

This innovative new program can support you on many levels of
growth that occur simultaneously in your daily commitment to living
well while doing what you love.

Whether you are not yet in business, new to business or are
established in business, we will move forward from where you are –
it doesn’t matter where you start from in order for this to be
relevant because it is customized to you and your clarity.

Essentially, it is the ultimate in an ‘adaptive’ program, meaning
that it adapts to you anywhere you are in the continuum of
personal and business development.

–>> The Twist <<–

So, here’s the twist – you are accountable to yourself for the
progress you make within this program. We will simply match you in
your readiness.

If you do twenty action items, you’ll have twenty connection
points with us; if you do two things, you’ll have two.

Your pace will be determined by you during the thirty days we
work together.

Your progress will be assured by working with two experts in
creating conscious business results.

Your purpose will be expressing as profits increase in your business.

–>> The Caveats <<–

A few caveats for the 30-Day Live Well By Doing What You Love
Intensive Program:

1. We don’t know if we’ll offer it again. (Truly… you know
that transparency is a key value for me – I want you to know
everything about this opportunity from the beginning.)

2. We have limited room in our schedules to accommodate people
so we’re planning to support just twelve people at this level.

3. It’s first-come, first-considered.

4. It is not a cookie-cutter program so you can’t ‘hide’ in
a group teleclass. This is all about you. :+)

–>> The Next Step <<–

There is an application process for this program that, if you’re
interested, you’ll need to invest a few minutes in… once we receive
that, we’ll be determining both the degree of potential congruence
as a 30-day team together and your level of readiness to create
dramatic change in the results you’ve had up until now.

One last note: each of charges several hundred dollars an hour for
our private consultation services; in fact, David hasn’t worked with
private clients in the last five years (his super foods empire is
providing a very comfortable living).

We’re doing this now because:

a) we’ve developed a great working relationship, and,
b) have been guided to know the mutual value in supporting you in
living well by doing what you love because you’re in my world.

So, our fee for this leading-edge, just-for-you 30-day intensive
consulting program?

Just $497.

Kate, if you’re interested in participating,
complete the application below to let us know that you are ready
to take your life and business love to the next level…
and we’ll be in touch with you within the next 24 hours
(at the outside) to let you know what comes next.

http://tinyurl.com/5shj7dd

To Your Clear Success In Every Way ~

Lynn

According to numerology, three is the number which represents the Universe – think man/ heaven/ earth or mind/body/spirit or past/present/future. Good things come in threes, right?

Three is also the number of communication, words / images and creativity. Using powerful communication in creative ways is a path to freedom in life and business.

The shadow side is that when we withhold either our creativity OR our communication, it creates a negative energy that can become trapped emotion or create dysfunctional patterns that result in stress for ourselves and others. It is through words that we know others to form relationships and create trust. And from an entrepreneurial standpoint, it is through our creative communication that we persuade people to take action for their best good which may be counter-intuitive to their natural resistance to change.

The energy of three (and especially THREE three’s!) is to reach our potential through optimism, enthusiasm and life artistry in living our personal truths. This is deceptively simple because it actually requires cutting through the noise, persona, distractions, opinions, judgments (from ourselves and others) to embrace every part of who we are – even those parts we don’t want to acknowledge.

When there is a part of us that lives in shadow, there is energy that is being not only underutilized but that is taking energy from our present moment to ignore it. The more we do not acknowledge in the shadows, the greater the psychic debt and the more energy it drains living in the present. These shadow areas are the invitation for healing and doing ‘the work’.

Part of the energy of three is innovation, fresh ideas and new ways of understanding, which can result in a sense of being scattered or distracted. This combined with communication energy can set the stage for rumor, gossip, hearsay, trivial conversation and a focus on the superficial words or rushing through dialogue as opposed to relating to the powerful energy creating them. That creates a shallow perspective where it’s easy to connect to the obvious when the substance that we crave is actually deeper. Today (and this year!) is an opportunity to practice conscious language. 

Conscious language is spirit made audible through vibration. In using language consciously, be aware of the words you choose because that is what you are focusing on and choosing to give life force energy in creating. For example, do you say “before I forget” or “while I remember”? Which feels better? Do you laugh and say “that kills me” or on a day that isn’t going well, do you say “I wish today was over with already”? In either case, you are wishing away your life. Remember, by using language as the powerful tool it is you call into being what you desire to manifest.  (Note: the word want implies lack while desire is much deeper – notice where you are wanting and where you are desiring in your life and business.)

Three is the number of children (1 is father, 2 is mother and 3 is child); this again relates to your own potential healing as many of your most limiting patterns are the ones you inherited or imprinted as a child. Release the patterns that no longer serve you, or aren’t even yours, in order to consciously open new energy pathways in life and business. Metaphorically, this also relates to the projects that you create in your business as your symbolic offspring so pay attention to what you’ve already created to see if it requires nurturing or if it’s time to let it go. And if you have not yet created a signature product or program in your business, now is a good time to ‘birth’ it.

3 is also the number of appearances which, in the case of business, is about your branding. Make sure the image that you are presenting to your potential and current clients is accurate and the one you want them to have of you; if it’s anything less than authentic, it creates a situation where you either have to live an inauthentic persona or have inauthentic relationships that will not produce the results you desire.

Lastly, as referenced earlier, three is the energy of mind, body and spirit. This is the time to create clarity within and conscious alignment between these vital parts of your being: your intelligence and intellect, your physical body and your soul, or radiant energy that is your inner light. Pay attention to each individually to discover where to honor what needs nurturing and attention as well as expressing gratitude for what is… then pay attention to how each relates to the other.

When all three of your bodies are in harmonic alignment, you can feel it and your life flows easier.  The convergence point between the physical and ethereal worlds is the heart. Love is the second most powerful energy there is – the first is your choice in expressing, receiving and savoring it.

So make the powerful choice to be your best self through aware love for yourself and others, create a new relationship with those parts of you that have been in the shadows, use conscious language in manifesting your desires and take advantage of the creativity and communication that is available to you today and throughout the year as your path to freedom in life and business. 

Please leave me your comments about how your 3/3/2010 is going below!” And that may work for FB too? “Please let me know how your 3/3/2010 is going – I’d love to hear!

Lynn Scheurell works with people who want to accelerate their personal evolution through focused clarity. Going beyond what they expect, know and find familiar can be chaotic and overwhelming; Lynn’s unique way of facilitating conscious awareness helps people naturally quantum leap their growth for powerful life transformation. Download a free e-guide “Own the Wisdom Within: Five Keys to Using Life’s Turning Points for Transformational Success” at www.MyCreativeCatalyst.com.

Richard Wiseman
Published: 12:01AM GMT 09 Jan 2003

A decade ago, I set out to investigate luck. I wanted to examine the impact on people’s lives of chance opportunities, lucky breaks and being in the right place at the right time. After many experiments, I believe that I now understand why some people are luckier than others and that it is possible to become luckier.

To launch my study, I placed advertisements in national newspapers and magazines, asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Over the years, 400 extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research from all walks of life: the youngest is an 18-year-old student, the oldest an 84-year-old retired accountant.

Jessica, a 42-year-old forensic scientist, is typical of the lucky group. As she explained: “I have my dream job, two wonderful children and a great guy whom I love very much. It’s amazing; when I look back at my life, I realise I have been lucky in just about every area.”

In contrast, Carolyn, a 34-year-old care assistant, is typical of the unlucky group. She is accident-prone. In one week, she twisted her ankle in a pothole, injured her back in another fall and reversed her car into a tree during a driving lesson. She was also unlucky in love and felt she was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Over the years, I interviewed these volunteers, asked them to complete diaries, questionnaires and intelligence tests, and invited them to participate in experiments. The findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.

Take the case of chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not. I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities.

I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs, whereas the lucky people took just seconds. Why? Because the second page of the newspaper contained the message: “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.” This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than 2in high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

For fun, I placed a second large message halfway through the newspaper: “Stop counting. Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250.” Again, the unlucky people missed the opportunity because they were still too busy looking for photographs.

Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people’s ability to notice the unexpected. In one experiment, people were asked to watch a moving dot in the centre of a computer screen. Without warning, large dots would occasionally be flashed at the edges of the screen. Nearly all participants noticed these large dots.

The experiment was then repeated with a second group of people, who were offered a large financial reward for accurately watching the centre dot, creating more anxiety. They became focused on the centre dot and more than a third of them missed the large dots when they appeared on the screen. The harder they looked, the less they saw.

And so it is with luck – unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and as a result miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

I wondered whether these four principles could be used to increase the amount of good luck that people encounter in their lives. To find out, I created a “luck school” – a simple experiment that examined whether people’s luck can be enhanced by getting them to think and behave like a lucky person.

I asked a group of lucky and unlucky volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier. While lucky people became luckier, the unlucky had become lucky. Take Carolyn, whom I introduced at the start of this article. After graduating from “luck school”, she has passed her driving test after three years of trying, was no longer accident-prone and became more confident.

In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:

• Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell – a reason to consider a decision carefully.

• Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.

• Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

Richard Wiseman is a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire. His book, The Luck Factor (Century), is available for £9.99 + £1.99 p&p. To order, please call Telegraph Books Direct on 0870 155 7222.

Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq’ij (a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide) of the Eagle Clan. Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars circulating. Carlos along with his brother Gerardo studied with many teachers and interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.
 
Carlos found out quickly there were several conflicting interpretations of Mayan hieroglyphs, petroglyphs, Sacred Books of ‘Chilam Balam’ and various ancient text. Carlos found some strong words for those who may have contributed to the confusion —

Carlos Barrios: “Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It’s just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed.”

“We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth Changes.”

He continues: “Humanity will continue, but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human. We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action.”

Carlos tells us: “The indigenous have the calendars and know how to accurately interpret it — not others. The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars such as the Tzolk’in or Cholq’ij, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years.

“All was predicted by the mathematical cycles of the Mayan calendars. — It will change –everything will change. Mayan Day-keepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator and the Earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy.”

At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world’s spiritual traditions. Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the Earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration. Carlos reminds us: “This process has already begun. Change is accelerating now and it will continue to accelerate. If the people of the Earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape without having destroyed too much of the Earth, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way.”

The date specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year 2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize this date, but they do not know. The ones who know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping the tradition.

Carlos tells us: “The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992 was the beginning of the destruction of the material world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the transition phase by now, and many of the so-called sources of financial stability are in fact hollow. The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for them. They could crash globally, if we don’t pay attention.  Now, people are paying attention.”

The North and South Poles are both breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean, especially near Cuba, is also going to rise. Carlos tells a story about the most recent Mayan New Year ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected Mam elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the people at the ceremony. The elder delivered a simple, direct message. He called for human beings to come together in support of life and light.

“Right now each person and group is going his or her own way. The elder of the mountains said there is hope if the people of the light can come together and unite in some way. We live in a world of polarity — day and night, man and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness need each other. They are a balance.”

“Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want. They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012.”

“On the light side everyone thinks they are the most important, that their own understandings, or their group’s understandings, are the key. There’s a diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is competition, diffusion, and no single focus.”

Carlos believes the dark side works to block unity through denial and materialism. It also works to destroy those who are working with the light to get the Earth to a higher level. They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth World, the materialism. They do not want it to change. They do not want unity. They want to stay at this level, and are afraid of the next level.

The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It’s too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness. This is what leads to unity, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun.

Carlos said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element. Whereas the four traditional elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water have dominated various epochs in the past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun — that element is ‘ETHER’.

The dictionary defines Ether as a “hypothetical substance supposed to occupy all space, postulated to account for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through space.” Perhaps it could be defined as the “space between space”. I would suggest it could be manifest as the alignment of charged particles from our solar system (Sun), and our galaxy (Milky Way) surge.  The Ether element represents spiritual energy.

“The element of the Fifth Sun is celestial. Within the context of Ether there can be a joining of the polarities. No more darkness or light in the people, but an uplifted unity. But right now the realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are organized to block it. They seek to unbalance the Earth and its environment so we will be unready for the alignment in 2012.”

“We need to work together for peace, and balance with the other side. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing unity and unity now, to confront the other side and preserve life.”

“We are disturbed — we can’t play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action. Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history.”

Carlos says: “The prophesied changes are going to happen, but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are. We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people to represent us who understand and who will take political action to respect the Earth.”

“Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It’s very important to be clear about who you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely — a lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots.”

“We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything — people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun, for it is associated with the element ‘ether’ — the realm where energy lives and weaves. Go to the sacred places of the Earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work.”

“One simple but effective prayer technique is to light white or baby-blue colored candles. Think of a moment in peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the light of it on to the leaders who have the power to make war or peace.”

Carlos reminds us this is a crucially important moment for humanity and for Earth. Each person is important. He said the elders have opened the doors so that other races can come to the Mayan world to receive the tradition. “The Maya have long appreciated and respected that there are other colors, other races, and other spiritual systems. They know that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the whole world.”

“The greatest wisdom is in simplicity. Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It’s not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It’s encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way.”
Sir Chandan a.k.a. Sir CeeGee
www.tantraguru.ning.com
www.newspiritservices.com/vedic.astrology.html

The Institute of Noetic Sciences (an amazing organization, by the by) has started a fabulous series of one-minute videos called One Minute Shifts that are designed to inspire you with unique messages.

There are several videos already released that feature luminaries of our time: Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Lynne McTaggart, Barbara Marx Hubbard and more. These enlightening bite-sized bits can help you shift in a minute by opening you to new wisdom.

Here is a list of just five of their videos:

Deepak Chopra – The Wonder of You

Marianne Williamson – Are You Part of the 11%?

Lynne McTaggart – Can Intention Change the World?

Barbara Marx Hubbard – Supra-Sexual Co-Creation

Swami Beyondananda – Let the Upwising Begin

May your five minutes be evolutionary… (and please pass these on to help spread the soul-driven shift!) ;+)

To Your Soul-Driven Success ~

Lynn

Consider driving in highway traffic when you want to pass someone – how do you know when to pull out? Which “hole” is yours to take? And what happens if you don’t take it? Your driving experience and inner wisdom help you to make that decision on a routine basis. You identify your opportunities to pass based on current conditions. And the same is true of any other opportunity in life and/or business.

An opportunity is an opening to get to your next place of being. Often an opportunity involves some degree of growth in order to be able to take advantage of and/or sustain it. And if you have a karmic agreement to grow in a particular area, you will have continuous opportunities appear over your lifetime to help you learn what you need for your next level. And once you “get” whatever it is that you needed to learn, you graduate to your next set of opportunities.

Here are three ways to know if an opportunity is yours:

1. The growth / benefit potential exceeds required input. If you can see that the reward is positive in the end despite the effort and whatever else is needed for you to take advantage of the opportunity, chances are it’s a good one for you. If the magnitude of what is required from you is daunting or overwhelming, but you have even a glimmer of something better as a result of the opportunity, it’s worth taking the risk. After all, it’s about experiencing the range of your personal possibilities for your best growth!

2. It keeps showing up for you. If it seems that the same types of opportunities keep presenting, such as you are attracting the same difficult client with a different name or your energy fades out at the same time of day or your money issues don’t change over time, these are patterns of opportunities that are inviting you to get to your next level. (The only thing worse than this type of opportunity showing up is NOT having it show up for you – or not being able to see it to move forward in a bigger way!) If you see a pattern to your opportunities, it’s time to do something different – take advantage of it and see where it takes you!

3. You will regret not taking it. There are times when you may not know an opportunity is the right one or at the right time, but you can feel that you would experience loss, sadness or regret if you don’t take advantage of it when it’s right there. Sometimes it comes down to a split decision in the moment – that is your spirit demanding that you show up for yourself beyond your comfort zone and in trust that you will have the experience and outcomes that you need in your best and highest good. Ideally, at any point in your life, you can look at where you are and where you’ve been without regret. Just do it!

In my opinion, suffering is at least partially attributable to missed opportunities. We see them in hindsight or we are bound by some external “thing” (people’s opinions, perceptions of our own lack of resources or whatever) to not see them or not take advantage of them when they show up. The only solace we can take from that awareness is that we will get another chance if it is truly our opportunity. It will come again, maybe in different form and at another time, but once we see it on any level, we can know it as our next best opportunity.

At any rate, take a look at the opportunities that are present in your world right now that you may not have recognized up until now and take advantage of them. New results and your best life are waiting for you!

If you stop and think about it, life moves in cycles. There are seasons to pretty much everything. Sometimes they are predictable in their shifts, like the seasons or waves coming to shore or the migration of geese but usually the biggest shifts happen when we least expect it, even – or maybe especially – when we know they are going to happen.

For example, you know that endings, which might be the death of a situation, circumstance, or relationship, are essential for a number of reasons. The reasons you give those endings might range from “it’s run its course” to “it’s time for change” to “there is a bigger picture here”, or a myriad of other substantiations for the ending that is occurring. And while all are some sort of rationale for the experience, each of them gives a sense that there is something new coming in…a new beginning of some sort. It is only through the ending of what was that the new can come into being; however, knowing that doesn’t always make the transition any easier.

What may people may not realize is that the change that is occurring through the endings and beginnings in the physical world is actually a reflection of their own inner state. That is, change that occurs within has no other consequence than to express in an outer form, in a physical representation of what occurred inside that person.

Consider how that has shown up for you in your life…maybe you were waiting to hear from someone who owed you money but it was only when you stopped thinking about that with anger that the check showed up in the mail. Maybe you had a misunderstanding with a family member and it was when you felt the forgiveness in your heart that the phone rang with their call. Maybe things didn’t flow in your world how you wanted them to and you channeled the frustration energy into cleaning your office and suddenly the world started working with you for a change…

All of these examples represent that your inner experience impacts your outer world. You didn’t do anything different on the outside to create a new result – it was your inner relationship with awareness that made the new situation possible in the outer world. And for a soul-driven entrepreneur, knowing that can make all the difference in the degree of success you enjoy with and through your business.

Three Things You Can Do Today:
1. Everything counts. And nothing is the same when you understand that concept. Another way I’ve heard it is “how do you do anything is how you do everything” – wow. Talk about being accountable…the universe is noticing who you’re being when nobody is looking and THAT is the foundation that you are creating from in your business. We soul-driven types have taken on the higher vibration path of distilling who we are and the innate gifts we have in service to the world – no small charge – and that gives everything we do a little extra “ka-pow” factor in every way. There is just no escaping that…(hmmm…some “ka-pow karma” anyone???) :+)

2. You are responsible for your creations. You are the only one inside you, as an expression of universal energy on the physical level; you are the only one who CAN be responsible for what you’re creating. In The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, there is a memorable passage: ‘Men have forgotten this truth,’ said the fox. ‘But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.’ And it is only by ‘owning’ what you have already created that you give yourself the power to create something new going forward.

3. Bigger physical results require even bigger inner changes. By asking for or wanting bigger results in the physical world, you are asking your spirit to bring you the inner experiences necessary to achieve that. The old adage ‘be careful what you ask for’ is something to consider, because you are setting yourself up to clear out whatever is in the way energetically to have what you want.

Remember that the biggest changes can only occur from the inside out…so when it’s time to create something new, go to where it really matters to make it happen.