Our Current State of Affairs -- Reality or Illusion?

Our world is going through a hard shift. On that, I believe, everyone is likely to agree. Not only does it seem that our planet is being traumatized by increasingly frequent disasters, but also the people inhabiting it are struggling to just make it to the next day. All one has to do is open any newspaper, or listen to any random newscast – conflicts are on the rise, the economy is at its lowest since the depression of ’29, and tension is growing in many parts of the world. It is not uncommon to hear a collective sense of panic in the voices of the people, and to detect a quickly-spreading sense of doom in the very air that we breathe.

So, what’s happening to our old world? Are the prophets of doom right, and are our days counted? Has evil in our world reached such levels that it is no longer manageable? Or is it possible that we, as individual pieces of the greater puzzle, are making mountains out of mole hills?

Our world is indeed changing, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We tend to be extremely defensive when it comes to change, and cling to the ways of the past as the answer to dealing with fears for our future, but in reality everything must continue changing, even us. Our bodies and minds change every year, every day, every single minute we move through life, and as these changes take place, we become fearful; not necessarily because changes can bring upon anything unpleasant, but because change and the passage of time necessary for changes to take place are related to our mortality. Change is not the evil many believe it to be, but rather it is a necessary process of renewal which runs right along the path of evolution of body and spirit.

Clinging to the past is more common than many bother to acknowledge. We perceive old music as more melodious, old movies seem better directed and acted out, old ways of life appear more wholesome and void of hardship. In reality, the past was not any easier than today is. Our grandparents looked at the new generations of the forties and fifties with the same apprehension that our parents exhibited when glimpsing at the ways of their children, us. Now we are doing the same with our children, and unless we come to grips that change is a good thing, our children will do the same with their own.

So, has a world without hardship ever existed? We can fool ourselves by thinking that yesterday was filled with roses and pink unicorns, but if we open our eyes to the cold, hard facts of reality, we’ll see that our history was saturated with injustice and wars, fear and famine, suffering and illness, probably to an even greater extent than we can identify in our present days. Illness itself is not an invention of progress. In fact, people used to get sick and die much more in the past than they do today. With the advent of modern medicine, improved technology and better education, we have been able to conquer milestones once thought impossible to even be considered.

Crime seems rampant, but is it really? I can think back to a time not too long ago in our history when people could murder someone without even being held accountable for their actions. Robberies and crimes of passion or abuse have always existed. Back then, people just didn’t know about anything that happened to others and only were concerned with all that was taking place in their immediate circles. If a tsunami hit Indonesia two hundred years ago, people didn’t know about it in Europe – not because it wasn’t happening, but because the communication between different countries was not in place. So, it seems that all these changes people fear are nothing more than regular happenings just displayed for the eyes of a larger crowd. There are, however, things that are shifting, and it is up to us to prepare for their arrival.

The last two thousand years was the age of religions and patriarchal institutions. Within this time window, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed were born, and initiated an incredible shift of consciousness on our planet with their teachings. Patriarchal structures replaced the fluid thinking of the previous ages, and they served the purpose of teaching the world self-discipline and the importance of using the benefits brought along by the conscious mind. The age is nearing its end, and in the last few decades it has become increasingly apparent that our world is once again preparing to shift toward the heart center and toward feminine energy. In our lifetimes we will witness the fall of patriarchal empires and all they have come to stand for. The economic crash of 2008 is only the first sign of what’s to come.

Our world is not dying, and no world-wide catastrophe is lurking in the shadows, but our realities are changing, and preparing for a shift of consciousness which will affect us as a whole. We could sit here and wonder what exactly will happen, but nobody really has that answer; and really, wasting our energies on forecasting good or bad will not change the impact of what’s coming on our realities. Our children are ready for the shift; the increasingly apparent new “attitude” our youth is expressing is not a symptom of their downfall but a manifestation of the new type of energy necessary to welcome the change from being mind-centered to being heart-centered.

What can we do, as individuals, to prepare for this shift of energies and not be swept away in the process of transition?

First of all, we must learn to let go of what no longer serves us. Fear tactics, guilt, and isolations are the ways of the fathers, and they will no longer work in our new world. We must learn to reconnect to one another and to see the divine into each manifestation around us. Some of this process is already taking place as people are trying to keep their heads above the water during the economic disaster which has befallen our communities. Families are coming together, friends are reconnecting and helping one another, necessities are shared, and in light of greater evils, some of our differences are being overlooked. Many wounds are also coming to the surface and are being healed below the skin of immediate awareness. Racism, superiority of one life form over another, and greed are being exposed through conflicts that have the healing power of uncovering old wounds so that they can be cleansed. Conflict itself is not an evil but a savior, because it is through conflicts that we step out of viscous waters to fight, and we detach from complacency and acceptance of unnecessary pain.

Our world is changing, just has it has for ages unrecorded. Our current times are not evil but they are in need of spring cleaning. Although apparently the scale has shifted its needle toward the illusion of negativity, the only thing that’s nearing its end is the age of the fathers. Balance is at close proximity, and the best way to be a part of it is simply to acknowledge the fact that we are not walking this path alone but we are all holding onto the same rope leading us to the top.

As the Wheel Turns

"Fortune sometimes turns around like a mill wheel and he who was yesterday at the top lies today at the bottom” ~ Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra


Although the air was thick with pollen, my mile-a-minute daughter decided, yesterday afternoon, that she was going outside to ride her bicycle. Glass of tea in hand, I went out on the porch and settled on one of the rockers to watch her ride.

Against the tender green of new spring growth, she appeared as an explosion of pink on wheels - her bright pink helmet and shirt were a stark contrast against the sky, and a perfect match to her rose sandals and fuchsia wheel spinners. I sipped the tea, and absent-mindedly allowed myself to take in the full picture of a little girl happy in her world, until my eyes honed in on the Cinderella spinner going up and down as one of the wheels moved. Instantly, the rest of the panorama was cropped, and Cinderella was all I could see. Here was a smiling princess, sitting proudly on top of the wheel for a second, and falling to the bottom the next. Over and over. And yet, each time she fell at the bottom of the wheel, Cinderella could only rise back up.

Nothing in life is constant. We are born, live and die; relationships are formed and dissolved; empires are built and destroyed. Yet, one thing is certain – after touching the bottom, we can only look up. Being at the top is only an illusion of stability, and he who thinks he can’t fall has many lessons to learn. Similarly, he who’s at the bottom should consider that all is interchangeable, and even the worst of luck won’t last forever.

Tragedies do happen in clusters, and have the power to knock us down momentarily, but as the wheel continues to spin, we will soon be sitting on the top again, eager to savor the moments of glory, and enriched by the knowledge that what we survived is part of what pushed us back to the top.

A Faulty Design

“Unless you start doing something different, you’re in for more of the same.” ~Author unknown.

Have you ever met someone who will complain daily about life, but won’t do anything to change the dynamics of it? They are genuinely distressed about the dramas repeatedly unfolding in their lives, but if one ever suggests changing some of the causing factors, they instantly become defensive, and are immediately ready to wear self-pity as armor.

Believing we are victims of an unkind destiny is much easier than accepting that we are largely responsible for our own failures through our choices. Life deals undesirable cards at times, but what will ultimately cause us to win or lose is how we choose to play the game.

Let’s imagine that a man is planning to build a home. If he’s unaware of the strong storms that habitually hit the area, he might choose the wrong materials, the wrong design, or might even build in a risky area. When the first storm hits, the home will likely suffer substantial damage. After the storm is over, if he rebuilds with the same type of materials, same design and in the same zone, the house is going to be destroyed or heavily damaged again. Over and over he repeats the same mistakes, and, all along, he complains about the weather and the unfairness of destiny. If a Good Samaritan comes along, and points out the faults in the design - or barely attempts to suggest alternative materials - the man indignantly turns away from the stranger and goes back to work; he replaces the boards with more of the same, and follows the same building plan. All along he curses God and angels for putting him through all the work, and the stranger is also not spared a few colorful words for daring to judge and come forth with suggestions.

In reality, the man never meant to improve the home; rather, he used the adverse conditions to justify his shortcomings. Mostly, he was happy to have a place in the spotlight, wearing a victim’s costume.

The man has two choices: he can accept his stubbornness - and continue living under precarious conditions - or he can make changes and improve his situation; simply being angry or weepy about the disasters he facilitated through his own poor choices only serves him to lose more energy and funds, and does nothing to relieve his misery.

If we keep building the same faulty house and complain about it, maybe we should take a step back and really look at what we have created. If we are not happy with what we see, it is okay to admit to our mistakes and seek a new path to walk. Once we do, our friends will be happy to talk and listen to us, for they will be eager to hear a new story told for the first time.

The Smooth Seashells

“Constant dripping hollows out a stone.” ~ Lucretius


While I was cooking dinner last night, my daughter brought in the kitchen a small bag of seashells we found at the beach the past summer. She emptied the sack on the table and lined up the shells, largest to smallest. When I looked at the display, I noticed she had three large shells and several smaller ones, but while the little shells were mostly intact and still quite sharp at the edges, the larger shells were smooth and worn out, some of them missing parts.

I asked my daughter her opinion as to why the bigger shells were either broken or smooth at the edges, and her reply was instantaneous – the larger ones were thrown around with more force by the waves. Intrigued by her reply, I asked her why the waves would be harder on the larger shells, and her response to this question was that when something is small the wave takes it away, while “big things” stay where they are and the waves crash against them. That said, something else caught her attention and she left the kitchen. Of course, she also left me with a little food for thought.

Was she correct? Did the big shells get damaged more because they resisted the waves? Maybe, going along with the random and brilliant thinking trail only children can follow, Morgan had hit on something real.

To test her theory, I went into the backyard to the little stream that runs behind our house and looked at the rocks on the bed – the small ones had sharp edges, while the larger ones were smooth and hollow in spots where the water constantly trickles.

The rocks small enough to move with the water during a storm were only scattered around and not damaged, while the larger ones – too heavy to be moved but by a great volume of water – rested in place and could not escape the damage.

When we move with the flow, although we might feel scattered to the four winds and unable to maintain a steady ground, we are likely to come out of the storm unscathed – flexibility allows us to come through in one piece. On the contrary, when we are too stubborn to move, and we stand our ground even when the current pushes against us, we cannot avoid coming out of the storm with at least some visible damage.

Structures and mindsets that don’t allow room for change are doomed to fail, and it will be only a matter of time before even an apparently harmless trickle of opposing energy will carve a hole in their foundations.

I went back inside and carried a couple of those rocks with me to show my daughter, but mostly to remind myself that fluid thinking and wave-riding can be priceless tools we can’t afford to walk into the future without.

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying.” ~ Robert Herrick


A few days ago I went to the post office with my five-year-old daughter. While we stood in line, she talked non-stop, her little voice filling in the pockets of silence so common in an adult setting. A gentleman in front of us seemed particularly amused by her constant chatter, and turned several times to kindly smile at her; his approval infused her with even more energy – if that’s indeed possible – and she talked about everything, from Santa Claus to the playground at the park, and even about her doll that doesn’t cry anymore because she fed it too much water. She patiently waited by my side, but could not stand still for more than a couple of seconds; one or more parts of her tiny body were constantly moving, energized by the quick silver of youth.

In contrast, the gentleman in front of us appeared tired. He stood without complaining, but it was painfully obvious that he was uncomfortable. Yet, his face was kind and his smile gentle, acceptance and appreciation gracefully etched in the lines of his face.

My gaze darted back and forth from my daughter to the old gentleman several times. In front of me was the human equivalent of a day in time – my daughter was the passion and fire of sunrise, the boundless energy and hope of a new day; the kind gentleman was the sunset, with his composed and gentle energy, able to paint everything with the breathtaking colors of knowledge and wisdom accumulated throughout the day. He lacked the powerful energy of sunrise, but his gift was one of acceptance of all that can’t be changed.

And here I stood in the middle, my own presence that of midday. I realized then that I don’t have the unspoiled energy of sunrise, nor do I have the peaceful wisdom of a beautiful sunset, but I do stand on a platform between the two – I still have the energy to change things I don’t appreciate in my world, and the ability to focus on goals that are important to me. Standing in the middle of the path, I have learned that some things should just be embraced for what they are, positive or negative, while some others are still worth fighting for. I have accepted that I can’t change the world, but I am in charge of fostering my own happiness. I no longer care much about petty behaviors and superficial rewards, yet I start each day with the unbridled hope of a child on Christmas Eve.

I wondered if the old gentleman’s thoughts floated anywhere along the same lines as he watched us, two generations eagerly walking the footsteps he left behind. I wondered if he had any regrets, or any dreams he hadn’t been able to fulfill which he had stored into a drawer of his soul. Watching him filled me with resolve – why wait until tomorrow to do something about today? As Mother Teresa so wisely said: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

Embracing Change (R)

We are afraid of change. It's human nature. The fear of change—the fear of the unknown—is so great that we continue to live within the constraints of our own invisible walls.

Force of habit is a considerable influence in our culture; habit is synonymous with stability while change is disconcerting. It stirs unrest, like a storm stirs the sediment in the sea; until the waters calm down and the sediment settles back to the bottom, the water appears cloudy. We are very much creatures of habit.

We eat, work and sleep at specific times, and have squeezed in multiple other activities, with little to no room for change. In the midst of this structured life, most of us inevitably arrive at a point where change is necessary for survival. Because we never learned to easily accept change, we panic when we feel forced to make important decisions. Instead of embracing change as a new opportunity filled with adventure, we become almost paralyzed with fear.

Controlled by fear, we dig in and stay put, even if the walls are closing in. We stay in miserable life situations, feeling we don't have the strength to change anything, until something pushes us to our limit and we must make a choice.

Many times our fears aren't readily apparent. Sometimes we know what we want and pursue it with confidence, with no doubts. Or so we think. No matter how sure we are in our minds about a goal or desire, fears often lurk beneath the surface. As scary as change can be, it doesn't have to be undertaken all at once. Sometimes small steps in the right direction are more beneficial than an explosive life-altering effort. Taking small steps, one day at a time, is less traumatic than rebuilding our entire world from scratch. If we can learn to tap into our innate wisdom and intuition, we will gradually become able to discern the difference between our fears based on insecurities versus our soul trying to steer us into the flow of least resistance.

Change, and the strength to surrender to it, are an important part of our lives and should be viewed as an opportunity to experience wonderful things yet unseen.

Embracing Change

We are afraid of change. It's human nature.
The fear of change—the fear of the unknown—is so great that we continue to live within the constraints of our own invisible walls.
Force of habit is a considerable influence in our culture; habit is synonymous with stability while change is disconcerting. It stirs unrest, like a storm stirs the sediment in the sea; until the waters calm down and the sediment settles back to the bottom, the water appears cloudy.
We are very much creatures of habit. We eat, work and sleep at specific times, and have squeezed in multiple other activities, with little to no room for change.
In the midst of this structured life, most of us inevitably arrive at a point where change is necessary for survival. Because we never learned to easily accept change, we panic when we feel forced to make important decisions. Instead of embracing change as a new opportunity filled with adventure, we become almost paralyzed with fear.
Controlled by fear, we dig in and stay put, even if the walls are closing in. We stay in miserable life situations, feeling we don't have the strength to change anything, until something pushes us to our limit and we must make a choice.
Many times our fears aren't readily apparent. Sometimes we know what we want and pursue it with confidence, with no doubts. Or so we think. No matter how sure we are in our minds about a goal or desire, fears often lurk beneath the surface.
As scary as change can be, it doesn't have to be undertaken all at once. Sometimes small steps in the right direction are more beneficial than an explosive life-altering effort. Taking small steps, one day at a time, is less traumatic than rebuilding our entire world from scratch.
If we can learn to tap into our innate wisdom and intuition, we will gradually become able to discern the difference between our fears based on insecurities versus our soul trying to steer us into the flow of least resistance.
Change, and the strength to surrender to it, are an important part of our lives and should be viewed as an opportunity to experience wonderful things yet unseen.