Aha

I had an "aha" moment today.  I've been feeling pressure to post something here to mark the end of the year, feeling pressure to make art just to have something to show here.  Holiday pressure.  Family pressure. Pressure.  Pressure. Pressure.  But I've also been thinking a lot about this quote I found on tumblr recently:

"The imagination should be allowed a certain amount of time to browse around."

~ Thomas Merton

So I've been taking the time to browse around.  And I keep looking at this SoulCollage I made several months ago:

I've been having this feeling that I'm on the verge of something, but what?  I couldn't figure it out.  Then today, thanks to a facebook post from my blogging friend Julie-ann Bowden, I finally had the the opportunity to watch a film that I've been meaning to see, a film that has deeply moved me.  I barely even started watching the film, when I had that amazing "aha" moment.   Now I finally *GET* it!

Thanks to the internet, we are all exposed to so many different ideas, but one that keeps nudging at me is the idea that humanity is approaching a shift in consciousness.  It's something I've been wanting to believe, but every time I get cut-off in traffic or hear the news about one more tragic event, I think, "No, humanity will never change."

Then today it struck me.  I've been looking at it all wrong.  Living in this gotta-have-it NOW society, I've been expecting (and wanting) a shift to happen quickly.  Overnight, if possible.  Well, that's not possible.

Out of nowhere, I remembered how my beloved Cologne Cathedral (which was a big part of my early life, when I lived in Germany with my Grandmother), was built over a period of 632 years. 632 years!  If it took that long to build a church, it certainly is going to take more than a day, a week, a year, or even a generation, for humanity to change.  Aha!

I can't tell you how much hope this gives me!  To realize that things will change over time.  Humanity will get it right.  Just because I won't live to see it, doesn't mean I should give up hope and not even try to be part of the change.  It is a gigantic task, after all.  But with the internet and modern communications, it shouldn't take 632 years.

You may have guessed by now that the film is "The Shift" with the wonderful and wise Dr. Wayne Dyer.

"Whatever your age,

you are only one thought away

from changing your life."

~ Wayne Dyer

The entire film is available to see for free, in 13 somewhat choppy segments, on YouTube.  Here are two segments (#7 and #8) that really spoke to me today:

Thanks to the internet and blogging, I have met some truly amazing people who have changed my life and made it much richer and better.  I am so grateful for that and for you.  Thank you, everyone who visits here, everyone who comments here, everyone who writes me e-mails and engages me in conversations I would never be fortunate enough to have in my "real" life.

So, watch "The Shift" if you're ready.  Find what makes you "sing" and do it.  Be the best you can be.

"Don't die with your music still in you."

~ Wayne Dyer

I look forward to continuing this amazing journey with you in 2012.  And I wish you a blessed holiday season.

xo