The reappearance of a pattern is often a sign that we have come full circle and we are close to a new level of mastery.
Life is a circular journey through our issues and processes, and this is why things that are technically new often seem very familiar. It is also why, whenever we work to release a habit, change a pattern, or overcome a fear, we often encounter that issue one last time, even after we thought we had conquered it. Often, when this happens, we feel defeated or frustrated that after all our hard work we are still dealing with the same problem. However, the reappearance of a pattern, habit, or fear, is often a sign that we have come full circle, and that if we can maintain our resolve through one last test, we will achieve a new level of mastery in our lives.
When we come full circle, there is often the feeling that we have arrived in a familiar place, but that we ourselves are somehow different. We know that we can handle challenges that seemed insurmountable when we began our journey, and there is the feeling that we might be ready to take on a new problem, or some new aspect of the old problem. We feel empowered and courageous to have taken on the challenge of stopping a pattern, releasing a habit, or overcoming a fear, and to have succeeded. At times like these, we deserve a moment of rest and self-congratulation before we move on to the next challenge.
Coming full circle is like stepping into a clearing where, for a moment, we can see where we came from and where we are standing at the same time. Remembering that we will be tested again is important, but it’s also important to pause and take a look at the ground we’ve covered, honoring our courage, our persistence, and our achievement. Then we can begin the next leg of our circular journey with a fuller understanding of where we are coming from.
Become a Fan (2 fans)Nothing new under the sun?
When people say, "There's nothing new under the sun," it is often considered as a sign of shortsightedness or a melancholic idiom. However, it doesn't have to be seen as such, because while we have experienced a number of immense changes in the past years, the core perspectives on how to establish a good quality of life have not changed since ancient times. To illustrate this, I am presenting ten quotes that date back anywhere from 40 to 2,500 years. If there's one thing we cannot say about these quotes, it is that they have become obsolete.
1. If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid -" Epictetus (AD 55 -"AD 135)
It happens every day, and many of us can attest to it: there are always people who will try to convince us that our plans to improve are irresponsible or silly. Their reasons for doing this vary widely, from jealousy to insecurity, and from lack of confidence in our abilities to fear of losing us. Oftentimes the motives for trying to discourage our engagement in a new venture are unclear, and that may even be the case for the person expressing them. I remember many years ago, when I was planning to move to California, how my mother tried to explain to me that it would be a bad idea, and that I should be content with my current circumstances. I knew then, as I know now, that her reasoning was not derived from reluctance toward my potential growth, but rather from her fear of what might go wrong, and of me leaving my comfort zone. I am not sorry for pursuing my plans, but realize all the more that Epictetus' 1900 year old statement is still very accurate!
2. Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life -" Confucius ( 551 BC -" 479 BC)
Everyday reality teaches us that our 21st century mentality toward work has not changed since the days of Confucius either. It is unfortunate that so many of us settle for work that is less gratifying, and therefore becomes drudgery. It has been proven that people who don't like their jobs are more dissatisfied, thus experience more stress, burnout, and are more prone to lapse into recurring absenteeism. The fact that about 50% of the US workforce feels dissatisfied at work today has a lot to do with the mismatch between what people like and what they do. The understandable question that might surface here is, "So why do people engage in work that they don't like?" There are many answers to that, starting with the issue of time, peer, and family pressure. Some jobs are considered more prestigious than others, and there may be a family tradition in a particular profession, or a cluster of friends going for this specific source of living. The problem, as many business researchers have found, is that workforce members often discover after a number of years that they don't like what they do. However, they have created families by then and have a number of financial obligations to mee, so it would take far more courage to change directions. Aside from the above, we also face multiple and rapid changes, which most likely cause a volatile work climate, and greater fluctuations in availabilities and needs. There are many ways to address this issue, but that may be material for another article.
3. We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less -" Diogenes (412 BC -" 323 BC).
Diogenes' statement illustrates that the problem of excessive talkers who think that they can overpower others with a flood of words is not a new one either. He, too, felt the need to make a point of stressing the priority that listening should have over talking. In today's world of work, there are many people who love to hear themselves talk, and then fail to realize that they don't learn anything new by expressing their own opinions all the time. This new decade, which we are entering, is one where the skill of empathetic listening is rapidly moving to the forefront of managerial attention. With a large part of the earlier mentioned dissatisfaction among workforce members also to be ascribed to lack of being heard, there is now a heightening degree of encouragement to contemporary leaders to talk less and listen more. Today's workers, especially in the US economy, are predominantly knowledge workers. They have college degrees, or are returning to school to get one. These people hold important insights that could make a constructive difference in the workplace.
4. When the best leader's work is done the people say: We did it ourselves -" Lao Tzu (6th or 4th Century BC)
In the afterglow of the blatant corporate greed that we witnessed in the past decade, this statement forms a conscious call for tapping into the internal wealth of our greater self. Lao Tzu invites those of us in managerial or leadership positions to allow others to shine, and lead from behind. Many leaders of today are afraid that they will be considered redundant and lose their job if they don't keep emphasizing their achievements and articulate their importance as a leader. It doesn't need tremendous psycho-analytical skills to understand that this tendency originates from fear of losing power, prestige and/or position. Yet, as mentioned above: today's workforce members are intelligent people. They know very well how things work, and are very well aware of quiet leaders who enable them to grow. It is no use, anyway, to remain excessively fearful of being let go. If you're good at what you do, opportunities will find you. Awakened leaders always serve a purpose.
5. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become -" the Buddha (approx. 563 BCE to 483 BCE)
This powerful statement reminds us that the world, as we see it, is a reflection of our thoughts. When you consider others enemies, you establish an impression in your mind that only you can alter. You can therefore make your life miserable or cheerful, simply by the perspective you choose to maintain. This is crucial in work settings. A friend of mine approached me a few weeks ago with this very problem: one of her supervisors seemed to utterly dislike her, no matter how hard she tried to do well. I explained to her that the problem was not hers, and that she should not make it hers either. She could try compassion based on the understanding that there might be issues with this person, which she is not aware of. It is important to understand that you will not be able to please everybody, and that there will be people who will dislike you for the very fact that you breathe. Yet, that does not have to become your problem. You can choose to still treat those who seem to dislike you with courtesy. This way, you keep your mind free from unnecessary burdens.
6. I don't like that man. I must get to know him better -" Abraham Lincoln (1809 -" 1865)
President Lincoln's above statement is included here to support the Buddha's earlier quote. We often dislike people based on basis of the impressions we have created of them. Oftentimes these impressions are built from one or a few instances, but they can taint our relationship with these people forever. Lincoln's awareness about getting to know the person he didn't like better is a wise one. Not only does it reflect his awareness that his opinion may have been wrongly clouded, but it also points to the need to expand our internal locus of control: instead of feeling sorry for yourself when others seem to dislike you, you can make an effort to get to know them better, or at least understand that you only know a small side of them, which makes it unwarranted to judge them.
7. There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle -" Albert Einstein (1879 -" 1955)
Einstein's wisdom exuded the concept of relativity in many dimensions. The statement above depicts the relativity of your life's quality, which depends on a simple issue: your perspective. You can choose to maintain a negative paradigm and ridicule everything, or take everything for granted; or you can work on yourself to start appreciating the numerous beauties and advantages in your life. Doing the latter requires heightened awareness. It therefore links very closely to the Buddha's quote and Lincoln's remark as well. Your mind determines your reality, and once you know that, you can do something about the pieces of that reality that are not very fulfilling. There are many ways to become more mindful and therefore attain greater awareness of our actions and our surroundings. Meditation and yoga are two often discussed ways to work on increased awareness. However, they are not the only ones. Regardless of the strategy you choose, it is essential to know that awareness enriches your life tremendously, due to the fact that it redefines your priorities and helps you detect the real purpose of your life.
2011 is the year to be authentic… to find our personal unique
expression and bring it forward. Past years, had us
asking ourselves…
How do I merge the dynamics of higher consciousness and
physicality in my life?
2011 is the year where many of us will shift from “seeking” to “manifesting”,
and we’ll grasp new understandings and insights. We’ll experience an
increase in our personal intuition and a greater inner knowing.
Become a Fan (47 fans)Capricorn Solar Eclipse, January 4, 2011
Solar Eclipse
With Mercury once more moving in direct motion as of Thursday, December 30th, all of the planets are moving forward until the end of January. You might feel like you can tackle anything with all this extraverted energy, but I would wait until this new Moon solar eclipse on January 4th to make any decisions about the coming year.
A Solar Eclipse is a new Moon where the Sun and Moon are on the same plane as the Earth. All three heavenly bodies line up, and we see the Moon's passage over the face of the Sun. The Moon, which symbolizes our emotional body, blocks our rational solar consciousness and we are allowed to "see' the truth of our emotions. What are you feeling that you've been told is inappropriate? What have you been ashamed to admit to? Now is the perfect time to feel it and become conscious of your real needs, not those false needs that our culture pushes on us to make sure the "economy' grows. Hopefully, we'll begin to see that the great experiment of capitalism is no longer viable in a world where our resources are running out and our environment is dying.
The January 4, 2011 solar eclipse occurs at 14* Capricorn at 9:03am GMT /4:03am EST/1:03am PST, and will be visible over much of Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Since it occurs during the season of Winter Solstice and the 12 Days of Christmas, it is still concerned with shaping the chaotic energy for the New Year. The lunar eclipse that occurred on Winter Solstice hopefully helped us release old negative beliefs about life as well as shifting our perspective so that our knowledge becomes a source of wisdom and meaning rather than just information. This solar eclipse plants the seeds of rebirth, based on that new perspective, within our society at large.
Let's see what deeper understanding we can discover about this Solar Eclipse in Capricorn. Capricorn is the sign associated with our professional position in the world as well as our life purpose; it is about the use and abuse of power and privilege by the Fathers. Capricorn has been the sign of Patriarchy for thousands of years. And so our "place' or "purpose' in the world has been to follow the rules set down for us; we've gone out and found what work was deemed acceptable according to the needs of society. What would happen if we all decided that our purpose didn't fit the purpose of our economy or our present culture? What would happen if we stopped supporting the capitalist agenda and honed our particular gifts to create a new society? What if we toppled the Father from his place of prominence and proceeded to live life according to our own inner direction and purpose?
What will The Father look like in the future? Will he remain the tyrant, the political leader, the boss? Once the Father's rule is over, what role will the Father have? Perhaps the Father archetype will revert back to the "one who orders the world' for us without imposing his order on us. Perhaps, like the father in the movie "Fly Away Home' he will show us how to live out our unique potential. With this solar eclipse in Capricorn, in the first days of this year of immense change, we have the opportunity to re-invent the Father archetype within. Wherever Capricorn lies in your chart, I think you'll find the rules will change.
Capricorn Solar Eclipse 2011 by Cathy Pagano
One rule that is cosmic law and therefore won't change is: Everything comes in threes. Three is the number of process, of actualizing what was only potential. Four grounds three's energies and is the number of wholeness. C.G. Jung believed that we had to solve the mystery of the three and the four to achieve Individuation. What he meant was that we have to put our knowledge to the test and live it if we want to be whole.
Astrology is based on the energies of three and four. There are the four elements -" fire, air, earth & water; and there are the three types of energies -" cardinal/initiating, fixed/concentrating & mutable/disseminating. Each of the twelve signs of the zodiac are also divided into three sections, mirroring the three energies within each element, just as "gas, solid and liquid' are the three forms of matter. The unique layering that makes Astrology so fascinating deepens our understanding of Life.
The three divisions in a sign are 10* each, so this eclipse occurs in the 2nd 10 degrees of Capricorn, which have an affinity with Taurus. Taurus, the Bull of the Great Mother, symbolizes the natural energy that generates new life. Taurus is the Builder and the Teacher of the zodiac, the energy that incarnates natural law, just as nature blossoms again in the spring. When we add the concerns of Capricorn, the rules and collective structures that keep society working, we can see that we've entered a new stage in our collective transformation where we will have to start rebuilding our lives and our society from the ground up. Hopefully, we will listen to our instincts and build what is true and necessary for life, not profit.
Pluto, the great leveler, has been in the sign of Capricorn since November 2008, the very same week that we began to see the extent of the current financial collapse. When Pluto first enters a sign, it exposes those things that are no longer viable to the concerns of the sign - it turns up the muck so we can see what's rotten and understand what is really going on. After the past two years, we can all agree that our financial systems and governments are in need of regeneration, due to corruption and a culture of greed, as well as an imbalance between the rights of people and the rights of big corporations.
Instead of trying to shore up systems that are no longer viable, we need to begin to imagine and implement new and better systems that work fairly for everyone. And people are already doing this all over the world.
Capricorn is the sign that rules large collectives, like countries and corporations and now, the whole world. We are just in the beginning of this re-structuring, which will last at least through 2024 when Pluto leaves Capricorn for Aquarius. This Capricorn solar eclipse is a new Birth, a new beginning. Just as every new birth requires patience and care, the solar eclipse is the time to plant the seeds of that new Birth and tend it this year with great patience and care.
The future is calling to us.
The Taurus vibration of this Capricorn degree makes this a perfect time to "build' something, and any good builder knows that you begin with the foundation. Since this solar eclipse is hitting points in my chart (trines my natal Sun and opposes my progressed Sun), my interpretation of it will be colored by my experiences. As a Taurus, I believe that we base our lives on our values. And we imagine that our society reflects those values. But I think we are finally clearly seeing the disconnect between our personal and communal values and the realities of how we "do business'.
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