We ended 2015 with lots of people experiencing some major sliding doors moments, our family included. Potential or actual accidents that could have ended up much worse but for a few centimetres or seconds. In the aftermath of those events, I was so aware that here we were in this reality where everything worked out okay, but there was a very different parallel reality that had been averted where life was drastically changed.

This got me thinking. How many times has this happened for us as a collective here on Planet Earth? More specifically, how many times has it happened in recent years with particular regard to the ‘Shift’? We look around and think things could be a lot better, but when you experience a near-miss you realise things could be a lot worse to the point of it being lights out, game over (when it comes to life here).

What if life here, right now, is a reality much like the one in a movie where global disaster was averted at the last moment, meanwhile humanity have gone on blissfully unaware that things could have turned out very differently had that asteroid been a bit closer, or had that solar super storm shifted in our direction.

What if our celebratory ‘we made it!’ party was not about waiting for the day when the world is suddenly perfect? What if it is about the day when we realise we have all been given a second chance (or millionth chance) to appreciate how much paradise is here right now, to know how much power we have right now, to make things better however we can, to help whoever we can.

Too often we underestimate what we as individuals can do to make a difference. We think, “I am one person, what difference does it really make what I do or don’t do?” Look at a jigsaw puzzle. Now see it is made up of 7 billion pieces. What if everyone thought their piece didn’t count? What if everyone thought their piece did count?

You make a difference whether you believe you do or not. Your piece contributes to what that overall picture looks like, whether you feel it does or doesn’t. You don’t have to do anything big. As my aunt reminded me yesterday “It’s the little things, and it is all little things.” It’s that one sentence, that one signature, that one smile, that one step, that one hug. A little thing to you can be everything to someone else.

We amp up our gratitude and appreciation for life when we experience tragedies and near-misses. We amp up our desire to live more fiercely, to love more deeply, to stress less and stop judging ourselves so harshly. What about those near-misses we don’t know about? It is reasonable to assume we have all had many. It is reasonable to assume the planet has had many. Are those near-misses worthy of that same gratitude and appreciation response? The same passion, love, self-care and compassion response? Of course they are.

As I write I’m thinking of that saying held by those with a good attitude who are getting older. Asked how they feel about aging they reply: “It’s better than the alternative.” As we look around the planet today with all its issues, we can see it’s not perfect. But it is still here. We are still here. And there is so much beauty. In people, in nature, in animals, in causes, in creative offerings, in life itself. So much beauty despite our many personal and global issues. Our issues do not define us, nor should they be ignored. They are not markers of failure, they are highlighters of that within us and around us seeking transformation. We can use them as catalysts for change, as guideposts indicating what needs shifting, what needs addressing, what needs our support, love and attention.

When a tragedy happens, your whole world changes including your perspective regarding what is and isn’t important in life. A ‘near-miss’ situation gives you a jolt asking: What are you doing with your life? Are you happy with everything? Are you appreciating what you have?

It is obviously preferable to get a ‘near-miss’ wake-up call than have to live through the alternative. What if that’s what we have received but haven’t quite realised? What if we woke up one morning, feeling a new appreciation for being here on Earth but unsure why? A lot of you have felt like this over the past one, two, three years. What if it’s because life on Earth could have gone one way but didn’t, and here we all are in this reality? Would we feel it on some level?

The conditions present among humanity, among societies, within communities and within our own selves are far from perfect, far from a world that most of us have in our visions as more ideal. Our shift in consciousness isn’t, and never has been, a ‘get out of jail free’ card. It is an opportunity, an invitation, a calling, a booster even, asking us and compelling us to create the ‘something better’ that we know is possible. It also acts as a windscreen wiper for the lens through which we view everything. We can see more clearly, to act more wisely. We can feel more heartfully, to act more compassionately.

People wonder: how does a shift in consciousness change the real world. What affect does it have on, for example, companies that put profit and power ahead of ethics and consumer health?  Here’s the thing: consciousness, when experienced by physical humans on a physical planet, leads to inspired thought and action.

As an example, our farming practices and the food that has been consumed by much of the Western world was, and is, unsustainable on many levels particularly environmentally and health-wise. Millions of people are being prompted, be it by inner urges or outer Instagram feeds, toward a more natural way of eating that is in greater harmony with our bodies and planet. More of us are wanting to grow our own foods, cook with natural, ancient and superfood ingredients, and buy from local farmers who produce organic fruit, vegetables and meats.

A lot of us have foreseen the shift occurring now within food, health and wellness, yet the unknown was, what would trigger such a mass shift? An alternate parallel reality could have had some situation causing power grids to be knocked out world-wide, and that would definitely have forced everyone to start living in a simpler way, re-connecting to the community support around us. The fact that something other than a three year global power blackout, a potential scenario considered by seers and scientists alike, is triggering so many tells us something.

If there was always this destined goalpost, and here we are moving toward it on path A instead of path B, isn’t that a good sign? Rather than shifting due to a dramatic global event, it seems that other influences are jolting our consciousness – seen and unseen, physical and non-physical. It’s still a bumpy ride, there are still dire circumstances for too many, but every day more and more have the ‘all hands on deck’ mentality, pitching in and helping wherever they can.  Our Earthship hasn’t sunk, and for anyone thinking we are on a sinking ship well, grab a bucket and haul some water!

Here is what is sinking: the old world matrix will collapse, and is collapsing, not so much because those within it will have a sudden crisis of consciousness or some miracle or global disaster will happen overnight. More likely it will collapse because one by one people are unplugging from the old in big and small ways. This doesn’t mean that we get to leave behind the more difficult aspects of life and sail off into the sunset. It more means that we no longer buy into being told how to think, how to live, who to be afraid of, who to help and who to ignore. We are unplugging from a massive control system, and re-plugging into our own power source within connected to our greater Source above.

The enormity of that which needs changing around us can seem overwhelming, but if you are reading this you have to have felt what it is to be connected to your heart, to your truth, to the voice of your soul. It changes how you live, on a day to day basis. It changes your choices and decisions. It gives you tremendous power over what you choose to do with your puzzle piece. Imagine that power times millions and eventually billions. Your light helps the puzzle piece next to you see their own, and on it goes like dominoes in reverse, lifting each other up, one by one, faster and faster.

Self-care and Community Compassion

2016 feels like it will build on the self-care and community compassion theme we have started to see more of.

We are seeing mass shifts toward people eating and living healthier, cleaner and greener.

We are seeing more campaigns and movements seeking to end bullying and domestic violence, understand and support mental health issues, create equality for all regardless of gender, sexuality, race or religion, bring to justice perpetrators of sexual abuse, provide immediate assistance to refugees, increase awareness on scores of animal rights and environmental rights issues, among a zillion other initiatives occurring right now all over the world.

All of the above has been going on for years among individuals and pockets of the communities. The difference now however is that all of this self-care and community compassion is going mainstream much like a video goes viral. It is becoming our new normal.

What are 3 (or more) things that you are being nudged to do with regards to self-care, things that you know always make you feel good?

Write these things down on a bit of paper and stick them up on your wall or inside the front of your diary, somewhere you will come across the list regularly. This isn’t a New Year’s Resolution exercise. It’s more an ongoing gentle reminder to yourself, something to notice every now and again as you walk out of your bedroom or open your diary cover. It’s a little quiet prompt from your Soul every time you see your list to remember what your Self needs.

What are 3 social or global issues you would love to make a positive contribution toward?

Write them down. Set an intention to look out for ways this year that you can make a difference in those areas. One of my sisters is passionate about animals, with one of her favourites being orangutans. She makes a dedicated effort not to buy products with palm oil in them, as the production of it is directly contributing to the rapid decline of our orangutan population. It’s the little things. On our own we can’t cover every issue, but we can all pick a few things that we feel passionate about and do our little thing toward it.

Year 9 in a 9 Year cycle

2016 is a 9 year, which is often associated with the ending of a numerological cycle, but in a 9 year we also see the beginnings of what the next 9 year cycle will be all about.  If we were to take a birds eye view of 2017-2025, we will likely see a continuation and increase in people unplugging from the system, becoming more sovereign, free, empowered and self-sustainable/locally-sustainable.

The increasing push toward ‘random’ martial law trials and city lockdowns, under the guise of protection, in response to a threat funded and fuelled by ‘our protectors’ is predictable, energetically and otherwise. What does old energy within you do when you commit to a new habit? It flares up! It rebels! It resists! It gets pretty angry. No-one likes losing control, not any aspect within us and certainly no mega body outside us. And this is where we are at. Control over us on the one hand, and re-claiming our power and freedom on the other.

The evolution of humanity has always played this game. We look back on history and see controllers controlling and being brought down. Society being repressed, then fighting for their freedom. Round and round we’ve gone. Different eras. Different countries and cultures. Same dance. Only it’s time to lift the needle off that record. We are so used to living without our power and freedom, we have come to believe that that is what it means to live life on Earth as a human.

Imagine once upon a time that this planet had full access to all the channels of the universe, so that everyone here knew exactly who we were as a race, knew where we came from, knew that there were other beings on other planets in other star systems, knew what we ourselves were capable of as multi-dimensional beings.

Imagine that once upon a time something was put over this planet. A kind of glass dome, or net, so that we had limited access, or even no access, to those other channels. Imagine switching on your tv and there’s only one channel, and that’s all you’ve ever known. You think that is how it is, and how it can ever be.

Imagine that over time, this glass dome, this net, started to dissolve. A few people here and there started getting access to more channels. Then more people did. And more channels opened up.

People with no channels or access to certain channels look at people who claim to have other channels and think they are crazy. We can only know what we know, and what we don’t know can feel impossible. Or it can inspire us. “Well if he has the sports channel, maybe there is a sports channel, and if there is, I want that channel too!”

As we travel through 2016, we will start tasting the energies of the next 9 year theme across 2017-2025. What would a world look like without that dome or net, or where it is so very, very thin as to be barely there? What would a world look like where the majority have access to scores of higher-frequency channels allowing us to remember who we are, and to live as we intended to live here: with freedom and power?

We are going to see what this looks like – not as an intangible concept of consciousness, but as increasing amounts of tangible examples of what consciousness in action looks like.

Live fiercely

Love deeply

Claim your power and freedom

Appreciate what you have

Act compassionately

Practice self-care

Wishing you all a year in which you are kind to yourself and others, one in which you turn the light dial of your puzzle piece up to high.

Much love,

Dana