Changes

CHANGES
​One Life Tutorial for January 2025
             Part of the dynamic of a new calendar year is the realization that you are in the midst of a big change--an internal reorganization of everything that you think you are and how you relate to your world. The new calendar year syncs everyone up to a new reality. In more of a cosmic sense, a new year represents a new stage of the transformation that is impermanence—unfolding One Life expressing All That Is. To many it feels almost as if you've scattered bits of Self in the wind. It's not so much that the old picture of your Self needs to be updated, it's more like this old picture of Self doesn't resemble what you know to be inside. The whole world seems to be in greater and greater chaos with little reason to suspect that anything is going to go back to a previously known sanctity. It is a truly fascinating time because all of the pieces of Self are tossed into the air, and where they will land and how they will create the new picture of your Self is unknown so there's a lot of creative potential. The question becomes “how do you make this potential a life that you can live, engaging and interesting but not overwhelming?
              The answer lies in first realizing the impermanence of everything. You also must let go of notions of polarization and separation, especially as it pertains to what is seems to be “next” in your life. There can be no “right” and “wrong” judgments about anything. Everything must be free to change. If you try to maintain a position that is not flexible, you will feel stuck and immobilized. Even the most cherished beliefs you hold to be absolute and unchangeable will come up for re-evaluation. These beliefs can sometimes appear to be realities, but they are actually thought projections. It is important to remain patient and comfortable while all of the pieces of you are “up in the air” --even though the tendency is to hold on tighter when you perceive that life might be changing in a way that is unfamiliar. What you desire most is for the bits and pieces of Self to be integrated into a whole that allows you to have tremendous freedom. You need to find the freedom to create. This creative freedom is different than an unconscious projection of a thought/idea of who you are as your manifestation in the world. This creative freedom is One Life unfolding.
             The potential of this time is unfathomable, unpredictable, and intangible without allowing even the most trivial things to change. You must get a sense of your Self while not limiting anything. You must know that you are loved throughout every challenge, and completely trust the random encounters with your true Self that can reassure you that the Great Perfection operates at all times with all living creation.
Living the creative freedom of now means not living in any habituation. Habituated thoughts create an habituated life. When you take responsibility for your Self and understand that you can create your Self in every moment, you also give yourself permission to unravel yourself and your life. Even though that may seem frightening, it is actually very freeing. It requires a lot of introspection, requires a lot of self inquiry, requires looking inside and finding what lies in all the nooks and crannies of your being. When you discover you are holding on to ideas about who you are, you will realize that you cannot evaluate whether they are “right” or “wrong”. They are just ideas. Therefore it becomes important to see that if you hold anything with an intense desire or repulsion you're basically reinforcing the intensity of the original separation or division of the pieces and parts of Self. To use the potential of this experience, you must prioritize acceptance of the disintegration of Self over any fascination with why or how this is happening.
             When you ask “why” questions of your Self, you are likely to notice that fear arises with these questions. Remember that your fear is really just information of change. When you feel fear, a biochemical change in the body can alert you to the change that is underway. If you know that everything is impermanent, then you know everything changes, and the fear lessens in its intensity. What matters is the understanding that it's just change and change can then become recognized as healthy, as happy, fueled by an abundant life force. If things are changing, things are alive. If things are not changing, you are stuck. Be able to experience change in a very easy, peaceful, graceful way. Don't decide that perceived change in your life threatens your security. Change is the aliveness of your life.
             It's never about the characteristics of the outside maya, it's always about the changing perception that you carry about everything-- about it all. It's that you bring your perception to the experience and the bigger your perception is, and the more it can contain everything, the more alive it is and the more it changes. In other words, the less you have the blinders on, the less you're looking for just one aspect in something, the more creative you can be. There are just many more options viewable and available. 
             It's  a very fruitful positive time for you to come into a rich place inside yourself where you're willing to explore and experience change. Acknowledging that security actually lies deep within your knowing that because everything changes you, can always get what you want. Knowing this requires just this tiny little shift of the ordinary view to the extraordinary view. The extraordinary view is pure and simple, not complex and elaborate. If you know that everything is changing and you maintain the broadest view possible, you will see your security is everywhere and in everything. This security can help you to maximize the potential of the moment and weave together all the seeming bits and pieces of now.
             So just relax and let the changes occur. Don't resist, don't deny, don't fear. It's just life, One Life, alive and well.