July 2012 Wisdom Tips for Maintaining Balance

July 2012 is a month of growing pains, things going upside down, good surprises and great opportunities, challenging disappointments, and chances at every turn to adjust and readjust just about everything in your life. It is a great month to continue letting go consciously and proactively of anything that longer serves you. Expect the unexpected, take advantage of what shows up suddenly, and stay out of judgment when things don’t turn out exactly how you thought they would or should.

Think of yourself as shedding the skin of limitations connected to your beliefs and way of life. We are entering a new phase where the world is moving into a different set of patterns. If you expect the unexpected and welcome the differences, you will be less resistant to change and less at the effect of what occurs around you. You will need a great deal of patience as well as understanding and compassion, for yourself and for others this month. People will tend to get grumpy and irritated and not deal well with their disappointments and things going upside down. Everything that happens is for a reason. If your plumbing goes out or your car breaks down, instead of being angry and upset about it, do what you need to do with the attitude that the event represents something larger than just the breaking of the object. Consciously make an adjustment around the event eliminating resistance when possible. It won’t be easy, but if you stay awake and present, you will be rewarded.

The same attitude goes for opportunities that suddenly drop in your lap. Your immediate reaction may be, “I’m not ready, it’s too soon, I can’t, I don’t have the time, I can’t afford it, it’s too good to be true, etc.”. You may need to step up to the plate and adjust to this new opportunity. Perhaps something else will have to be eliminated out of your life so that you can take advantage of what is being offered. Your decision may create sudden change in someone else’s life. So be it. It is a mark of the times.

We always suggest trying to work with the energy instead of against it. This month that means truly paying attention to what you have created and what you continue to create and taking responsibility for it. It is a serious month, not meaning that you should be overly serious, but rather more responsible for yourself and your process. In fact it will be necessary to schedule some fun and recreation and to be disciplined about taking time for rest and community. Otherwise you may find it will be all too easy to get caught up in the seriousness of it all and you will get grumpy yourself.

The seriousness of the month has to do with responsibility. You will be called upon to revisit your sense of personal responsibility physically, emotionally and spiritually. Watch Martyrdom and the temptation to blame others. Watch Impatience especially with others that irritate you because they are not on the same wavelength. Don’t overly concern yourself with others and what they should be doing. Concern yourself with what you are doing and your own business. You and only you have worked yourself into your own situation and you will learn this month that you have the power to get yourself out of it and create something else if you really want to. Always ask yourself why you are doing something. Is it for you or is it for someone else? Is it necessary or not? Is it something you have committed to that feels like a necessary responsibility or is it just a pattern that you have become habitual with? Your insights will be illuminating and will prompt you to make adjustments and changes to some of your situations.

The main letting go of the month will have to do with your perceptions. Almost any belief or perception can be adjusted and will need constant adjusting this month in order to keep up with change. If you think you know something or know how it will turn out, toss that knowing out and make yourself available for a different experience. A good mantra for the month is “I do not know but I trust it will all be perfect”.

There is an aspect to this month that points to a movement towards more power if you can face the shadow. Each one of us will be called upon to readjust our relationship to power and what we consider dark or heavy or shadowed. Remember that the shamanic interpretation of what is dark or shadowed relates to what is hidden and unseen. What is unseen is also connected to power and a more potent source of it than what is seen. There will be more on this theme in the months to come.

At times this month you may experience a heavy or oppressive energy that feels burdensome. What you are sensing is the burden of the collective creation of the condition of the world we live in. The good news is that if you so successfully created this world with all of its experiences, you can certainly create another version. We are quickly outgrowing the present experience of life and as a snake that outgrows its skin, it is necessary for us to shed the skin of our creation so that we can grow into a larger experience. A shedding snake is irritable and grumpy. You may feel the same way. Be patient. It is a process.

Patience will be necessary especially after you have done a piece of personal growth work and have an expectation that you should feel great. Personal growth this month will inevitably put you into what is called a growth period where you could experience emotional, physical and spiritual growing pains. You could feel out of sorts, not like yourself, lethargic, emotional, angry, irritated, frustrated, spaced out, ungrounded, confused, heavy and chaotic. If you are on the right track and have been doing your personal work you need to trust that this too shall pass and tangible progress will occur.

Expect the unexpected, practice resiliency, flexibility and acceptance. Almost nothing this month is going to unfold how you originally thought, so surrender and adjust as needed and have fun anyway.

The above is an excerpt from the monthly forecast.

The author of this commentary, Lena Stevens, is the co-founder of an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and wisdom.  Lena Stevens has co-authored books with Jose Stevens, Ph.D., such as Secrets of Shamanism:Tapping the Spirit Power Within You.

Click here to access the full forecast on their website to help you strengthen your relationships, protect your health, relieve stress and learn about specific power days of the month.

April 2012 – Are You Ready To Make A Bid For Power?

The main theme for April is POWER.

This month you will get to look at all things related to power. All of your old patterns, belief systems, reactions, experiences, trust or mistrust, resistance, desire, access; all of it is up for observation, recapitulation, clearing, re-defining, clarifying and re-negotiating. This is the opportunity to free yourself from your old beliefs about power and the old paradigm in which those beliefs live. You will be able to look at your self-imposed limitations, hopefully clear them, and make some bids for power this month that will move you into your next level of expansion and evolution.

Everything this month will be powerful. From events to reactions and personal experiences, everything is potentiated with a greater energy and vitality. For many of you this will come as an exciting and welcome opportunity for moving ahead with your dreams and goals. For some of you this may be a difficult time of resistance and feeling overwhelmed, especially if you are not used to handling large amounts of energy.

The instinctive center continues to regurgitate material that needs to be looked at and in most cases discarded without giving it too much power. If you are reacting strongly in a negative or confused way, that does not seem to have any connection to what is going on currently in your life, you can be sure it is instinctive material from the past that is still somehow running the show and getting in the way of all your great possibilities. It is important that you not judge what is coming up but rather see it as a positive opportunity to do some more deep cleaning and clearing. Acknowledge it for what it is; old stuff, and let it go.

Martyrdom is also up in spades this month as people grapple with the “why” of feeling powerless. Even if martyrdom is not your personal obstacle, you may feel it some. Beneath all martyrdom is anger so you need to be aware of your reactions as well as the reactions of others. You may witness some pretty bad behavior out there this month with blame, jealousy and aggression especially among the younger souls. Have compassion, curb your own reactions and don’t take anything personally. The martyrdom will especially show up around failed bids for power.

What is a bid for power?

A bid for power is a decision and action taken towards something you want in your life. It is usually very exciting and a bit scary and it definitely pushes the envelope of your comfort zone. It always takes you into the unknown territory of doing something for the first time. It requires an element of courage and some risk. The bid can be about work, relationship, personal growth, health, knowledge, leadership, personal environment, finances, responsibility and/or many other things. Being decisive and taking action are the operative words. True bids for power do not usually rest only on words. The action is necessary.

The universe is very responsive to a true bid for power. You will quickly find out whether or not you are ready, or if the bid is important enough for your essence goals to be viable. Whenever you make a bid for power, you will always be tested. The test itself will tell you if you are on the right track. What can get in the way of a bid for power? Not being ready, or making the bid from a place of arrogance or impatience, or the bid being based on someone else’s dream.

There are many stories of people being offered what looks like the perfect situation and then backing away at the last minute because it is not what they really want. There are equally as many stories of people trying something and failing because they were not ready. It is important to hold all failures as trial runs and opportunities for learning. It is not ok to sit around and do nothing in these times. They require you to be active in working with power and to make concrete decisions and choices about how you will step forward into more power.

It is important to understand that in these times, healing will take place no matter what. So it is up to you. You can be in resistance to it, which will cause pain and suffering, or you can get on with the program. Part of the healing is the healing of the masculine that is connected with the understanding and use/abuse of power up to this point. A great forgiveness is called for to release the masculine principle from the role it has served over these past centuries. It has done its job of anchoring the physical plane and all of its concrete belief systems but now the times have changed and we need to liberate the construct if we are to move on. On a personal level, the healing is about healing your relationship to power and forgiving everything that has compromised your relationship with your own power.

We need to clarify the definition of what power is.

Power is an energy. It is an enhanced ability to manifest. It is knowledge, ability, wisdom, well-being and inner security. True power is something no one can take from you. So true power is never anything external that can be de-valued or repossessed. Power is your health, talent, service, higher mind, ability to love and to be neutral, your creativity and ability to understand and work with the quantum field. The more you understand about power this month the better advantage you will have to take of the opportunities. It is a good exercise to contemplate all of your beliefs about power; powerful people, powerful events, how you define your own power, how you interact with power, how you resist or embrace it, your fear of power or your fear of power in others. Ask yourself if you are still in an old paradigm and what may need to change.

You may have been told in the past that in order to become more powerful it is a good idea to spend time around powerful people. This is still true, but with the distinction that the more powerful person should be in their true power, their inner power. It is also helpful to spend time with and around powerful allies, places, elements and nature. If you do this with intention, acknowledgement, presence and gratitude, you will gain much in the way of more personal power. One of the best ways you can empower yourself is by spending time in nature and in contemplation. There is no competition and no ego involved. We always recommend solo time as a practice to become more powerful.

There is an element of tension this month that can manifest either negatively or positively. Tension builds energy that can either show up as irritability and aggression or be a productive manifestation of a bid for power. Because of the tension it is advisable that you have an outlet for the moving center this month. Make sure to get enough regular exercise that you can put some aggression behind. Otherwise you will find yourself not sleeping well and being agitated about unimportant things.

Pay attention to where your thoughts go this month. Remember that the universe is very receptive and will feed you back what you put out. If you are getting garbage, you are giving garbage. Watch where your thoughts get hung up, as this is a powerful time to clean up your thoughts and beliefs. If you find yourself in a funk, ask yourself what you may have been putting out that created it instead of what something out there did to you to put you in that state. Reworking the mental process and waking up the higher mind takes discipline and focus. No one said it was going to be easy but it will be incredibly rewarding. Ask and you shall receive!

The challenges this month:

Feeling and experiencing: Martyrdom, blame, feeling powerless, stuck, despairing, angry, resentful, agitated, overwhelmed, confused, and like a complete failure.

The opportunities this month:

Getting over yourself, becoming more powerful, releasing old beliefs, becoming free of other’s expectations, manifesting in a big way, learning some lessons once and for all, becoming available for all the gifts and opportunities.

Helpful practices:

Spend time with that and those of more power than you

Pay close attention to what is coming up and deal with it accordingly

Keep things moving, exercise daily

Don’t take anything personally

Make a bid for power somewhere in your life.

Print out the 2012 forecast and highlight what calls out to you.  The above is an excerpt from the monthly forecast.  The author of this commentary, Lena Stevens, is the co-founder of an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and wisdom.

Lena Stevens has co-authored books with Jose Stevens, Ph.D., such as Secrets of Shamanism:Tapping the Spirit Power Within You and has written extensively about tips to increase personal energy.

Click here to access the full forecast to help you strengthen your relationships, health, relieve stress and learn about specific power days of the month.