It’s Sunday January 1, 2023! Happy New Year!!
I woke up yesterday, New Year’s Eve, with a new resolve to firmly let go of some old ways of thinking and acting that have plagued me since…. Well, since forever. Something inside has shifted and changed. This dramatic shift is not something that can be contrived or forced or planned – but it can be prepared for and traveled toward, readied and teed-up. By some careful discernment, and dogged persistence we can be ready, so that when the Universe moves, we are prepared to move with it.
A revolution is both the revolving of an object. i.e., the Earth takes 24 hours to make one revolution. But it is also an upheaval, an uprising.
A revolution from the outside appears to be a quick (and sometimes violent) jarring shift from one state of affairs to another. But a closer look on the inside will show that the “surprising” revolution had been building up slowly over time, the tension mounting, the pressure building.
Like an earthquake, the sudden, violent, disruptive forces move with power and speed. But seismologists know that the slow incremental movement of the earth’s crust and its floating tectonic plates have been inching inexorably over millennia. The land creeps imperceptibly, the pressure builds until suddenly the shift is dramatic, reshaping the entire landscape.
Another image of revolution can be seen in a summer thunderstorm. All the world is still. The heat and humidity are oppressive. There’s tension in the air that seems like it will never break. You can cut it with a knife. A little distant thunder and heat lightening is weak and ineffectual. The land needs rain, but none comes.
More and more the pressure builds. Then suddenly the wind picks up with a slight coolness. The breeze becomes a gale, rushing; storm clouds move in, roiling and churning.
When the cloudburst happens, the deluge is tremendous, the air filled with rain, lightening, wind and thunder, crashing and banging, shaking the houses and trees.
After it passes, what does the land feel like then? The air is cooler and refreshing. Negative ions permeate the atmosphere and there’s a feeling of well-being and relief.
Much of my understanding of personal, psychological, spiritual and emotional changes and growth come from my long-time study of the I Ching, also known as The Book of Changes, or Transformation.
The original text, written in Chinese is approximately 3,000-3,500 years old. Rooted in Taoism, it is not a system of fortune telling, but of divination of the movement of the Tao and how it relates to human affairs. If one can discern how the Universe is moving, one can act (or more often, not act) and flow with the movement of the Tao.
My analogy to explain how to use the I Ching and the Tao and to harmonize with the times is this:
Planting seeds is a great idea. It is never bad to plant seeds.
However, planting seeds outdoors in New York in December is not going to work very well.
Good idea; bad timing.
We plant in harmony with the seasons. Similarly, if we know the seasons of the Tao, we can do things that are in accord.
Which brings me back to Revolutions.
On our spiritual journey, we may have periods when we make great progress. The insights – the lightbulbs over our heads – keep flashing on and we gain in understanding, experience and wisdom. It’s a heady time and we’re along for the ride.
But then the ride comes to an end. We miss the thrill of steady progress. We feel like we’re stuck; we’ve run out of steam. It may even seem like we’re going backwards. Old patterns stubbornly stay, keeping us doing things we don’t want to do any longer. Old habits and thoughts won’t let go.
“Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a hundred times!” goes the old saying.
This is the normal way of progress, whether in our personal lives or in society and human affairs. Periods of great advancement are followed by fallow periods where nothing seems to change. Both are important times, vital to continued growth.
Someone once told me during a “stuck” period that I wasn’t stuck at all. I needed this time of quiet and little movement to consolidate all the new knowledge, habits and wisdom I had acquired during the rich phase of rapid development. It helped me ease into the new phase.
And I learned that these times are when the tension builds up for another growth spurt! My job is to stay on the path, and not get discouraged or lose heart.
The way to foment a revolution in your life, to make and continue to make progress in all your affairs, is to persist. To move when the way is easy and to stay on the path when the going is tough.
During those tougher times, it is important not to try and force progress. This is counter-productive, wasting precious energy and likely causing more difficulty. Patience and persistence will win every time.
And suddenly the ground will shift under your feet, the skies will break open with nourishing rain, the air will clear, and new vistas will open up before your eyes!
Your New Year’s Revolution is assured, if you follow the signs of the times, and keep to the path.
Bon dimanche and Bonne année
(Good Sunday and Happy New Year)
John
I am available to do I Ching reading, dream interpretation, Prosperity Now! Individual or group sessions or general life-coaching.
Please contact me at prosperitynowlifeofdreams@yahoo.com or sign up on my website www.johnafrederick.com
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