The clock strikes 12, and so it begins; a new year -- nay, a new decade. Just like that. A stroke of the clock and everything gets reset. A chapter ends, the page is turned.
Indeed, a new book begins. A new decade, barely unwrapped, its pages still new, crisp and shiny. We open it slowly, taking care not to break the binding, treading gently into this new story, not yet certain of the plot or even who the main characters will be.
We hope this time the good guys win. We pray for a happy ending. We hope the storyline progresses the character of the characters. We hope they deepen, gain wisdom, discover their gifts and use them to create a better life for all.
We hope the characters develop generosity, become humble, have integrity, admit their shortcomings and accept their greatness. We hope the story blesses them with grace and ease and provides them with abundance. We hope they achieve health in body, clarity in mind, and are filled with the goodness of spirit.
Yet we also know the story will contain surprises; the plot will take unexpected turns. It won't always turn out just exactly as they'd hoped. Events will unfold that will stretch the characters, require responses in ways unfamiliar to the ones standing here, where the action has not yet begun.
They'll be required to reach for things within themselves they didn't know they had, and be surprised to discover they could go farther than they thought they could go, cross boundaries they said they couldn't cross, learn to love and forgive more than they know how from this place, here and now, at the start of things.
Along the way, they'll falter and hesitate. They'll doubt themselves and feel lost at times. They'll want to give up, or settle and make up stories in order to justify their choices. And just when it seems like the good guys don't stand a chance and are surely going to lose yet again, this time, in this story, in this new decade, something different happens. The story takes a turn that changes everything.
The chapter that just ended led to this part. The struggles and suffering from the story before taught them something. They saw what happened when they settled last time. They remembered the feelings of self-betrayal, and remember telling themselves they wished for another chance to do this right. Surely, if they had another chance, they'd do it differently. They'd be a different person. They'd be someone who knew the outcome of selling out and who vowed they'd never do it again.
And so life unfolds in this new story, in this new decade, and sure enough -- wouldn't you know it? -- another chance arrives. This new chance to be courageous and aligned with their higher selves comes disguised in a new wrapping, wearing a new dress, looking for all the world like a completely different animal. But in the end, they'll understand, it was the same unlearned lesson, come back around for another go at being gotten. And this time, they get it.
They get it this time because this time, they'll finally hear the still, small voice from within that has been there from the beginning. They'll finally hear the voice that speaks from a higher vibration than the voice from the conditioned past, the one that responded to fear as if it were real. This voice from a higher vibration speaks in a language that cannot be heard by the mind, but in one that resonates with the soul.
This voice knows why they're here and who they're destined to become. It already knows where the story leads, how it ends and it knows the path between here and there. This voice assures the characters that all plots are designed to move towards enlightenment, no matter which road is taken.
All roads in the story lead towards enlightenment. For the story itself is a story of enlightenment, like the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, our favorite Christmas villain, who each year reminds us that love always triumphs over fear and that even the most closed of hearts can learn to open and blossom.
Every story is a story of enlightenment. In every story, the characters will be tested and will sometimes triumph and sometimes fail. But failures only add spice and intrigue to the plot. They're never the final version. For new chances are always on their way, awaiting the destined time and place to meet up with the characters who populate the story.
And so begins this new chapter in the story of this new decade. It is the story of our collective awakening, yours and mine. It's the time for which we've been put here on earth. It's the ninth inning, the score is tied, there are two outs and the bases are loaded. And we're up to bat. All six billion of us. We're the ones in whose hands the future has been handed, even now as we dally at the entrance to the new portal.
The time has come for us to pick up the bat. The clock strikes 12; it's our turn to swing. This time, we swing for the fences. Preparation seeking opportunity. This time we don't settle. We don't sell out. We're ready. We've been getting ready for this for lifetimes. It's no accident that we're here, now. We know exactly why we're here. So let's stop pretending we don't know. The jig is up. We're the ones at bat.
We can take this as a burden or receive it as a gift. The old way would be to be burdened by this responsibility. Our old selves would whine and cry out "Why me, why us? Why should we have to shoulder this burden? Can't somebody else do it?"
But this is where the story changes. For we are the ones who've come to say, "Yes, we'll be the ones. We'll do this. We get it. We got this. It's already done." And so we begin the living out of that story. Right here, right now, this moment, that new story is unfolding in each and every one of us. We're here to swing for the fences.
We're interconnected in the web of the new paradigm. We now literally live in a web of connection. Even the tiniest shift in one part of the web affects all parts of the web. We're here to be that shift. We're here to cause it, support it, participate in it, live it. As one of us awakens, something in all of us shifts, perhaps at a level undetectable on this plane. Yet. But stay tuned. The story is just getting started.
May yours be a story that takes your breath away and shocks you with joy. May you be undone by the goodness that pours through your life. May you know and remember that you're never alone. May you see your own beauty reflected in all that surrounds you. May you always feel the love of friends and family and draw them close.
And when the part in the story comes where you wonder if it all was worth it, when you come to the part where you're tempted to give up or give in or not even start, think back on the lessons learned from last time, think on the wisdom gained, and remember those whose wind lifted your wings and take heart, know that all is always well. Remember, even Scrooge woke up. So can you, and so can I.
My deepest thanks for participating with me in this, our collective story. I am honored to be a part of it all. I'd love to hear how you imagine the story of the new decade. Who will you be in the collective awakening?
As always, blessings on the path.
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