Does the Mayan Indians calendar herald 'end times'?

You have probably heard that in the culture of the Mayan Indians of South America, their long count calendar ends on December 21st 2012 and this heralds 'end times'.

The Maya were incredibly astute studiers of the stars and the seasons, and the cycles of planets in the starry heavens. There are all sorts of interpretations of this 'end times' prophecy including Armageddon and the end of human civilization. In this scenario the planet Earth is returned to it's own dominion through Nature, the human cancer gone, banished through consuming it's host and potentially starving itself into extinction, or polluting the biosphere and water supplies to the point of critical toxicity, fighting for domination over the edge to oblivion through nuclear annihilation, bioterrorism…and any number of other hideous endings for us - species deleted. Not the most pleasant thought!

None of those scenarios is positive and all lead to our extinction, and quite possibly the extinction of many other life forms too. Over time, with us gone, the Earth would continue to evolve and so would the creatures that could adapt to the conditions left behind after we are gone. As life forms responded to the environment in ways that gave them advantage, (the potential for continuance), consciousness would keep seeking ways to discover more of itself. Who knows? What could look like a 'set back' could also facilitate transformation that was impossible with us being here. Maybe we are destined to be a transient species, an experiment of Nature that fails.

I don't buy that idea at all. Although the doomsdayers' visions of the human future sow the seeds of fear that can grow inside us and inhibit our freedoms, there are other visions we can imagine too - positive visions of our positive potential. Imagine a species that understands itself and the incredible powers it has to manifest a quality of life on earth that is in harmony with the environment that enables it to exist in the first place. Imagine a species that knows how to mature itself - consciously.

We can each play a part in co-creating a vision of the human future that is highly compelling to move towards. Don't most of us deeply yearn for our version of heaven on earth anyway? Some sort of world in which we are free to be, we are safe and loved, we take care of each other and we live harmoniously with our environment? Peace. Love. Adventure? I know I do.

Whatever the state of the world on December 22nd, we can use the idea of there being a 'before Dec 21' and an 'after Dec 21' to put some pegs in the ground. And because it's the sort of person I am, just in case there some surplus energies whizzing around that I can tap into, I have a plan. I thought I'd share it with you in case you are like me - unsure it means anything at all - and - willing to keep an open mind about things you know you don't fully understand. I believe its called covering your bases.

AMANDA'S DEC 2012 CONSCIOUS COOPERATION PLAN

In the lead up to Dec 21 and right through and into January I will be consciously sorting through what I want to let go of and leave behind, the 'stuff' I don't need to carry anymore. This will be a physical clear out of places like my bedroom, clothes, cupboards, papers, the garage and so on. I will be writing a list of everything I want to let go of including attitudes and ideas, beliefs and feelings, and habits and addictions that don't serve me anymore. I will burn that list with the intention of transforming all those things into something good. That ritual 'zen funeral' (burning the list) will happen sometime close to but before the 21st.

I will also examine my values and align myself with and rechoose what is important to me going forward in my life at this time in it. I will also start reflecting consciously and on purpose, about what kind of world I want to live in, and what kind of species I want to be part of. The ideas that emerge will continue to guide my life. This is all about tapping into 'intuitive imagination' and envisioning whatever you dare might be possible.

This kind of 'consciousness cleansing and planting' is what many people say they will do around new year, but it often doesn't happen…our wily self would rather preserve the status quo at times so we procrastinate until it doesn't feel worth doing anymore. If it's been a while since you did a conscious personal 'stock take and upgrade', why not use the end of the Mayan long count calendar as a symbolic moment to direct some of your energies towards the big picture context of your life?

Who knows, maybe some of our ideas about Humanity's positive potential might take root if enough people start exploring how we could live more consciously and motivated by love instead of fear. “First things seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and pretty soon they become inevitable” - so said Christopher Reeves. What would you love to see as inevitable?

And that's it from my view for 2012.

With goodness and beauty all around may you walk (Navajo Indian saying)

Cheers,
Amanda

Let’s redefine ‘social climbing’.

It used to mean strategic alliances, blending families so that power was accumulated and multiplied. It used to mean looking better, having more, controlling more and climbing the ladder of perceived human success, measured by money, status and power (and appearing in the women’s mags and society pages. It meant going from ‘lower’ to ‘higher’ up the socially defined ladder.

In my view social climbing could be all about learning social skills, growing emotional intelligence and the capability to navigate through conflict without the need to dominate another. It could be about climbing out of (read ‘growing out of’) our often unconscious, ego-driven motivations that are self-serving, and tuning in and connecting with our ‘essence’ dominated motivations instead. Social climbing could become a personal pursuit, the ‘climb’ happening on the inside. Social climbing could mean relationship mastery, fully flowered as a self-regulating mature human.

Self-awareness and awareness in general, is growing and expanding all over the world. Our marvelous technology allows us to educate ourselves beyond borders and across divisions that have kept us separate in the past.

We live in extraordinary times and we have such incredible resources at our disposal. In my view it is time we paid attention to maturing – beyond the physical, and intentionally educating ourselves more, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. We need to catch up with ourselves and climb out of mind-sets and world-views that set us against each other, motivated by fear, (much of which is manufactured).

‘Currency’ between humans hasn’t always been about money. In essence it is really about trust. The quality of trust between humans is indicative of the health of that relationship. Trust is seeded when we are. Healthy bonds between babies and their carers build brains that are ‘wired for life’. Unhealthy human relationships are the cause of many of our local and global issues and they have their roots in our early conditioning.

Can you imagine how much resource would be available for more productive things if we mastered human relations? What could our potential be? The more resourced we are to thrive, the more opportunity we have to express the best of ourselves throughout life and make a useful contribution.

So where do we begin? Bottom line, in my view it’s time, high time, to re-value parenting and the raising of baby humans. I tend to harp on about this but only because I must. We cannot afford to pay lip service to the most important role on the planet. We must widen our lenses and pay attention to supporting all parents and caregivers in being personally resourced in ways that help create solid foundations for developing children. Great societies are built on the roots and wings of children – all children.

We must use what we know, both intuitively and through science, to raise awareness and skill levels of those who are growing the future of Humanity. This is totally doable and we are already on the way – but it’s time to move things along. Women and carers of children have been demonstrably under-valued for far too long. For the health of our future we must change the oppressive economic models that dis-empower those who nurture the human future.

Let’s make social climbing about the very personal education it takes to become aware of just how much we can influence our own lives – and our future and play to our uniquely human strengths, and we have plenty! It all begins with the way we grow our babies. Empower the carers – they do the most important work on our planet. They shape human destiny.

And that’s it... from my view.

Amanda

Navigating other people’s personalities...

Navigating other people’s personalities, learning them and managing ourselves in relationship with others is challenging.  Beliefs and values butt up against each other like tectonic plates at times and the aftermath is often as devastating as any ‘natural disaster’ on a mental, emotional and spiritual level - those unseen lands many of us are still so unfamiliar with.  ‘People’ issues suck time, effort and energy from a business if they are dominating agendas.  Personal grievances, staff turnover and general discontent can significantly affect productivity and day-to-day quality of life.

If we all had the skills to navigate relationships well there would be many lawyers freed up to fulfill other needs in the community – imagine…  If it was easy there would be far more of us that were highly competent, adept in the art of people management and leadership.  Far more frequent are reactions, blame and righteousness, indignation and judgements, all with roots in egos.  We can learn relationship navigation skills even as we must learn to accept we are not going to change anyone else’s personality any more than anyone else is going to change ours; that power lies with us, even as how we use it is influenced by others. 

Human relationships are said to be God’s greatest creative expression.  Each one is different, some good, some exceptional, some not so.  In my view we must learn to navigate human affairs, truthfully and openly, ethically and with great care.  We have the power to choose the quality of our human relationships.  We know it starts with our relationship with self, the place that is perhaps most challenging to understand.  We are capable of so much, if only we could accept and embrace another’s imperfections as we embrace the same in ourselves.  Our imperfections can fuel our brilliance – a handy thing to remember.

If you have been noticing relationship ‘stuff’ coming up lately, seek to learn what you can about yourself, your responses and reactions and observe the results your human relations produce.  If they are not want you want - look in the mirror for answers.  Everyone does the best they can - with the resources they have.  If someone doesn’t have resources we think they should have, judging them is not helpful.  Help them develop the resources they need and your world will be a better place.  You can do this by staying conscious that you are ‘telling’ the people around you how to treat you in every moment by the way YOU are.

And that’s it, from my view,

Amanda

It is our consciousness that must evolve.

The death throws of the overt dominator mindset in leadership playing out in various parts of the world today show us just how far the human ego will go to preserve an illusion. The human cost is so very high and now evident for all the world to see where it was previously easier to hide. Local and global dynamics are throwing up some really new challenges we haven’t had to face before and we are needing new ways to approach them, especially in a country like New Zealand where dictatorial leaders who would use their will to bend ours would not get away with it – unless we all allowed it. In my view it is our consciousness that must evolve to meet these needs. In spite of the growing transparency (apparently) of world affairs and breaking news we must be vigilant with who and what we delegate our authority to and recognise the responsibility we all have for shaping the world we all live in. We really do reap what we sow…and we all sow…and we all reap. We are all responsible for the world we inhabit. One way we can all help is to pay at least some attention to our own growth, to take care of our own patch of consciousness. One way I do my best with this is to use the Christian Easter tradition. As the Easter story reflects the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, my personal habit at this time of year is to make time to consciously reflect on my personal relationship with life, death and renewal. I use Easter the way some people use New Year. I look to what it is time to release and allow to evolve, how I can cooperate with my natural process. I seek my own habits of thinking and doing that are in their ‘death throes’ and need to be acknowledged and released or otherwise put out of their misery. This time of year always evokes this kind of enquiry and ‘trims the sails’ of my own direction. If you want to join me in your own way, what I do is very simple. About now I start consciously considering how life is and where I am at in relation to my personal relationship with myself, my relationships with others and my connectedness to the world at large. Sometimes I make lists of what I want less of and what I want more of. These can be habits, beliefs, attitudes, things and stuff. On Good Friday I do something practical to release things or do a little ritual like burning my list of things I don’t want to take forward. I clean out a drawer, the garage, shed or cupboard, papers or anything that reflects letting go and clearing out. For me this year my focus is on habits I want to change. On Easter Saturday I start reflecting and listing clearly what I want to ‘call forward’ in myself as well as consciously reflecting what I have intended to let go of and feeling into the space they leave behind from the process the day before. For me this will mean doing some circuit breaker activities and changing my routines. On Easter Sunday I do something that reflects what I want to call forward. It could be anything but the ritual of it signifies renewal and new beginnings. This year I will be surrendering to the evolution of my life and work in the technology context – aaaarrrggghhhh! Where will I find the time? Even as I write I can feel how daunting this idea feels like even as at the same time I know myself well enough to trust that as a willing participant I CAN LEARN! Fear not – I won’t be blogging my process or bombarding you with my new learning (for now) – wish me luck! And that’s it from my view, Amanda

THE NEW BEGINNING MIGHT FEEL LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD

...(excerpt from my new book "Activating (Y)our Human Superpowers") The South American Maya saw December 2012 as the end of their long count calendar and a time of great change and turbulence. Some interpret this as the end of the world aligning with Biblical accounts in Revelations regarding Armageddon. Other cultures also foresee 'end times' followed by 1000 golden years of peace. I prefer to see us as heading towards whole species transformation - the end of a world and the beginning of new ways of being with each other whilst thriving in respectful relationship with our planetary home - partners as all other life is, conscious partners as no other life is (that we know of so far) - a blessed indeed. The Reign of Our EGO would be over as we renew ourselves with the emergence of The Reign of Our HUMANITY. Species continuance might well depend on enough of us finding our truth and finding our voice in time for it to matter enough to turn the ship before Ego sails us off over the edge of a flat Earth. We need the inner voice that speaks not from greed and self-interest but from service and shared interest to come forward. This is the path to ultimate Self-Interest given we all contribute to the world we inhabit. We reap what we sow - we all sow, we all reap. Yes a world may die, as the cycle of Life says it must but along with death always come the seeds of renewal and we are the generations that get to nurture them into the spiritual food of the future. If we could see old ideas falling like leaves from a tree we might not suffer so much. Can you imagine how GOOD we could make it for ourselves and each other if we plant new ideas - on purpose?" "The world is getting better and better and worse and worse faster and faster, and we're all in it together." - Paul Ray (All things going well my new book will be published in or before June 2012 ) And that’s it... from my view. Amanda