2017: The Power of One

In numerology, the year 2017 is a 1 year, which means that it will be a year of new beginnings. And these new beginnings can take many forms, either as a radical departure from the recent past or perhaps taking up new interests or creating new relationships that move us in a new direction. New beginnings are often intertwined with periods of expansion in our lives. New beginnings create new openings. As we strive to make things different, we are also making our lives larger because we feel that expansion giving us new freedom as well as new focus. When we decide to focus on a new beginning, we are freeing ourselves from the things we are done with in order to make room for what is next. Remember that nature abhors a vacuum, so we need to move new energy in when we take old energy out if we are focused on changing our patterns.

New beginnings can also serve to expand our consciousness and elevate our interactions with others while we are making other changes. It is natural that as we evolve, our circle of friends evolves too. And so do our other perspectives on life. For example, now that I have used the services of various health care providers such as massage, chiropractic, herbalism, aromatherapy, Chinese Medicine, energy healing, and other methods, I could no longer go back to thinking about health only in terms of allopathic medicine.

And now that I have a great deal of experience with various psychic methods of insight, intuition, visualization, tarot, runes, past lives, dream interpretations, dowsing tools, clairvoyance and more, I can not go about my days as if I do not know about these things.

The famous quote by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes speaks to this point perfectly. "Once a mind has expanded to embrace a new concept, it can never shrink back to its original size."

In my life, I have lived through several periods of expansion, and each of these has brought about major shifts in my life. I grew up in Chicago, which experienced constant robust growth during that time. As I completed college and began working for a large corporation, I was transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina, just as it began its boom. I watched old buildings downtown being imploded so that the banking giants could build new skyscrapers. I had no friends or relatives there, just the job, so I joined Sierra club, went on a lot of hikes with them and made new friends that way. There were tennis courts in the apartments where I lived and so we played a lot of tennis and made new friends that way too.

Then I was transferred to Los Angeles when orange groves and vineyards were being bulldozed to make way for new subdivisions and the LA metro area was expanding to include adjacent counties. There were hikes not only on weekends but weekday evenings, and I was within 15 minutes of trail heads in the mountains, and could be down at Venice Beach within an hour. Some weekends, we went cross country skiing on Saturday and down the beach on Sunday. Or maybe we would bicycle through orange groves on Saturday and sail over to Catalina Island on Sunday. A single hike could include hot and sunny weather at the base and snow once we got up higher. Or we could hike in the desert on Saturday and ski on Sunday. All of that variety gave me a deeper appreciation of nature, and like many others being out there brought a very spiritual appreciation of the environment.

From there I went to Atlanta, and during the time I lived there, the metro area grew from 2 million to 7 million people. There I also did some hiking but the major transition I witnessed was in the urban structure. When I arrived there, the most exotic restaurants were Chinese, but as the city grew, you could find almost every kind of ethic restaurant, art galleries, nightclubs and theaters blossomed from old factories, warehouses and schools. Farmland was gobbled up by new housing subdivisions, shopping centers and office buildings. New highways were built and maxed out. What used to be little country towns or mountain towns became suburbs. Companies moved there from all over the country and other countries and with them came more diverse populations, cultural festivals and expansions into new mindsets.

During that time, I got interested in metaphysics by the simplest method possible. Each time I arrived in a new city, I had to reinvent myself, make new friends, find new things to do. One day I was looking for something to do and in the paper I noticed a little ad for a psychic fair. I had no idea what that was, but I had nothing else to do, so I went. And getting readings in that environment opened my mind in bigger ways than going to art festivals, music festivals or other events. Later on, I first became a writer for a metaphysical monthly, and then went on to become the founding editor of two more, and that process introduced me to all manner of things that I had never even heard of before, as well as introducing me to some of the leading lights in that field. Once again, my life changed radically. As a freelance writer, before I began metaphysical writing, my clients were often real estate developers, builders, architects and interior designers, some of the real drivers of external growth. Then I began writing about people who were the drivers were internal growth, the psychics, shamans, witches, healers, artists, musicians, ministers, monks, gurus, and free spirits who engaged with the world in ways that were new to me. 

Now here I am in the Denver metro area of the Front Range, and once again, the boom area is all around me. I no longer work for corporations but work full time as a metaphysical reader, healer and teacher. Once again, I am watching rapid population growth, new industries emerging, and small outlying towns becoming suburbs. This stage of evolution is in my life once again has expanded my own development. My business is now about helping other people cope with changes in their lives, to find some healing, peace of mind, see the world in new ways and exploring ways to live their vision. Our vision is evolving, our way of living is evolving, our way of seeing ourselves and our relationships, our work, our goals, is all evolving.

The boom in real estate out here forced me to move this past September, and at the time, it was very stressful. I really liked where I used to live but when the new owners took over I had to move fast. It was a lot of work, a lot of extra expense, and I had to spend a lot of time looking at properties to find a new place to live. I kept my focus on finding a good deal in this town, and I did. Now that I am settled in, I like my new place even better. Sometimes the things that make for a new beginning are difficult at first, but then the problem becomes a blessing. Challenges often open up to new opportunities.

Each move into an expansive area challenged me to grow. Twice I moved to small towns, thinking that it would be a refreshing change and twice I only lasted there a few months. I need the energies of bigger populations and growing environments.

In addition to the things I have mentioned here, there were many turning points at which I could have chosen differently and taken my life in a different direction. We always have opportunities. It is our free will that is instrumental in making those choices. Knowing what I know now, I would have to add that it is always our spirit guides who help us make those choices. The more we develop our relationships with them, the more help we can get when we need it.

In drumming circles, there is a saying that if you somehow get lost in the sound, to find your way back, go back to the one. The one is the first beat of any rhythm. Where does a cycle start? If you listen, you can always find it. One of the drumming teachers I studied with says that anyone who has trouble with drumming has trouble with listening.

As we listen to our own lives, and our own stories, where is our one? Where is our source of inspiration? Where is our source of power? Who are the people we are making music with? What is the rhythm we are comfortable living in?

In this year of new beginnings, we must listen for our one. In what ways do we need healing or growth? What knowledge, insight or perspective will help us enjoy our life more? What will help us cope with all the changes in our environment?

Will it be something totally new and different? Or will it simply be building on some interest that has kind of been on the back burner but just never goes away? Will it be leaving some old interest to make room for a new one, whether that is a new course of study, acquiring new skills, spending less time with old friends and more time with new ones? Will it be stripping down to a simpler life so that we can put more focus on what we now decide is most important to us?

There is a strength in finding our one. At one time, my job was managing a department in a major corporation with 60 employees and a million dollar budget for my department. At another time, I managed  monthly publications with a small staff that served over 100,000 readers and sponsored events and expos. At one time, I was teaching creative writing to classes of adults three nights a week. At one time, I led drumming circles every week for large gatherings of people. At one time I went from my office job to very athletic activities. At one time, I lived in a house where I had a fertile garden with more than 100 kinds of plants blooming in the yard. At one time, my career took up most of my days and metaphysics was a part time hobby. Now metaphysics is my full time engagement.

Now, I only manage myself and I have my hands full. I still enjoy nature and I still engage in physical activities, yet the metaphysical evolution, the cultivation of my spirit is my one. Sharing that with others is part of my one. Most of the time now my private sessions are focused on working with people one on one, rather than teaching large classes like I did in the past.

The power to make change always starts with the one. We are our one. in this one year, we will be feeling it even more. How we respond will set the tone for the years to follow.

So if your spirit is giving you signs that it is time to change, you are picking up on the energy of the year. How you respond will depend on your return to your one. Tune in to what is important and that will create the new rhythm of your life. It is not always easy, but it is always worth it. In this year of expansion and new beginnings, how can we use this energy to make our life better? We are the ones who define our one. What shape will our vision take? And then how will we grow into it? I wish that all of us have a wonderful new year. If there is any way I can help, please ask.