As the clocked turned from 11:59, to 12:00, people all over the planet acknowledged a turning in their lives. Although I believe that time is a mental construct, I too honor transitional periods.  This year, in particular, is infused with meaning for folks, as for years earlier, the media and fear mongers have foretold (based on the misinterpreted teachings of the Mayan calendar) of apocalyptic happenings in 2012.  Yes, earth changes are occurring, and true that people are facing greater financial challenges than before. Seems to me that these are loud and powerfully insistent calls for more love, more healing, more dedicated endeavoring for each of us to step up and fulfill our purpose. First, we need to recognize what that is.

Do you wonder what yours is?  I have long known that mine is to be a channel for love and healing as a communicator in written and spoken word. How was I sure? All I can tell you is that I feel most fully alive when I am doing those things. It is ‘what I was born to do.’ I don’t get stage fright; ok, the occasional ‘flutterby’s’ in the stomach…but mostly very much at home when speaking. It is  like being an athlete in the ‘zone’ where nothing else exists but you and the game, sport or race. In my case, nothing else exists but me and this page, or me and the audience. What lights you up from the inside and turns you into a human sparkler? What can’t you just wait to do the moment your eyes open (besides using the potty:)? What feels more like play than work?

One thing many people do as they enter into a New Year is create resolutions to keep them on track. My friend Joan Schaublin wrote this recently, that speaks volumes about the ways we attempt to make ourselves feel flawed as motivation to change:

“We spend the 1st of January thinking over the past and making promises to fix all the things about ourselves we think are flawed, to get all the things we think we must have in order to be happy and to fill our empty spaces. Maybe this year, for a change, we can make a list of all the things that are right and good about ourselves, be grateful for what we already have and only promise to live authentically so the empty spaces fill themselves. ”

What if, instead, we set an intention? I do that every day, even before my feet touch the floor, opening the door to “amazing people and extraordinary experiences.”  I ask to be mindful and heart-full that in every moment I have a choice as to how I perceive and respond to any situation that comes my way. I have become the ‘queen of reframe’, as things that would have knocked me on my butt, are now an opportunity to ask, not “why is this happening?”, but “what can I learn from it? How can I use it to serve me and others, and how can I turn it into grist for the mill for my writing and teaching? ” The answers are always there waiting for me to scoop them up. It literally feels like unwrapping gifts that are constantly being laid at my feet. Some of them show up as “precious unexpected surprises”, according to another friend named Denise Moser. Others arrive as if I placed a specific order with the Celestial Shipping Department and were sent Special Delivery. All are welcome.

So, my intentions for 2012 and beyond…

Being in integrity, saying what I mean and meaning what I say. Living so that at the end of each day, I can face the woman in the mirror, head held high.

Putting my heart and soul into all that I do.

Looking any fears/hesitation/limiting thoughts square in the face, ask what it is here to teach me and then blowing them away like so much dandelion fluff~

Listening to and following Divine Guidance, since it has never steered me wrong.

Letting go of how I alone think things should go and embracing the partnership that I have with Spirit (see above:)

Speaking my truth, with love and compassion, even if other folks may not want to hear it.

Taking care of myself body, mind and spirit.

Emotional bungee jumping…taking risks that I might have feared embracing.

Honoring my gifts to the world.

Open heartedly living each day.

Being a greater force for good in the world.

Letting my creativity flow unabated.

Asking for what I desire and opening to receive it.

Listening with the ears of the heart and being fully present to the people in my life.

Being a miracle manna-fester.

What are YOUR New Years Revolutions?