Preparing For "The End"

I come from a long line of believers of the kingdom of God on earth (or where I come from, the concept is called Zion). My father, who is highly versed in scripture, talked about it for hours on end with various friends and relatives over the years. My grandmother (his mom) held onto a huge Victorian style house long after her own children had flown the nest in order to use it as a weigh station of sorts for people who needed a place to stay when they were "fleeing to Zion for safety." She hid all sorts of extra canned goods so she would have plenty of food for them, and filled her house with items of interest so no one would become bored during the wait. Yes, I come from a family of "believers".

With 2012 approaching (and the end of the Mayan calendar), the world seems poised to come to a screeching halt. Doomsday scenario books and movies are the rage, and many religious fanatics are prophesying the end of the world (often suckering naive people out of their life savings). People are "preparing", but are they really? Will it be enough to stockpile food and other essentials in the event of some cataclysm? (Some people are going to the extreme of stockpiling guns to "protect their stuff". Really?!!! If you are willing to use guns against another human being, you have some serious issues.)

After being part of a cult with very definite "end times" beliefs (for full story, link here), I came to one simple conclusion. It is much more important to focus on your internal connection to God as opposed to trying to get the inside scoop from another person (or a group of people). The way I see it, if I work on developing my relationship with the Divine, I will know what I need to do to prepare (if anything).

The interesting thing is, what I am being called to do now is not stockpile food or move to the country. In my quiet meditation time, I am being called to more fully develop my spiritual gifts. I feel led to use my sensitivities to understand the more subtle energies around me--to learn to differentiate them and understand how they work. I am exploring my psychic and healing abilities, and I am learning to trust them. It seems that almost every day I am uncovering some new skill I possess but never fully recognized before.

The fear we are experiencing with the thought of "the end of the world" comes from not understanding the nature of all that needs to come to an end. I do believe the world we know is self-destructing. We have allowed this world we've constructed from our minds (our ego selves) to take over, leaving the spiritual sides of ourselves to wither and die. We think this construct is "safe" because it is what we know, but this is far from the truth. We were meant for joy! We were meant for spirituality! We were meant for miracles! We were not meant for the poverty and the slavery of the world today! This is what is meant to end!

Preparing for the "the end" is not meant to be a physical thing. It is meant to be a spiritual thing. Listen to the Voice that speaks in your heart. It will tell you all things that you should do.

From Fear to Authenticity

I have walked this same path so many times I have lost count. I dream of a life much bigger than the one I currently live, yet each time I attempt to get there fear seems to take over and I find myself back in the same old rut. Every time I fall back into this rut, I fall back into a deeper state of depression, knowing that out there somewhere is the life I should be living. My fear keeps me from becoming the person I was meant to be--my authentic self.

This point was driven home this morning while listening to another of Jennifer McLean's wonderful Healing With the Masters interviews (to listen to this resource for FREE go to http://www.healingwiththemasters.com/ and sign up!). Sonia Choquette(Traveling at the Speed of Love), an insightful intuition teacher, talked about the battle between our earthbound egos and our spiritbound authentic selves. The earthbound ego places limits on the choices we make and consequently keeps our authentic selves boxed up if we let our egos rule us. Our egos tell us things like, "you don't deserve it" or "it's just not practical". If we believe these things, we don't listen to our dreams. Our dreams are what the authentic self uses to guide us to the lives we were meant to live.

I have prayed for months for help in finding my authentic self and living my dreams. As usual, I am stubborn and not listening and have finally been brought to a state containing enough pain that I felt I had no option but to quit the life my ego has been telling me to live! Let me explain: my authentic self has told me for years that I need to work for myself in order to achieve the life I want. Still, I continue to make a sure buck working a low paying, high stress job. Last week, between the stresses of the job and stresses at home, my boss suggested I take a week off to get myself together. I was upset at first, but then I realized that this was indeed my time to assess my current situation. My dream job has the following elements: time to think, plan, study and grow and involves teaching others how to evolve themselves. My current job will never get me there! Also, I know my current job will only bring me more stress and trouble, and that is not a state I wish to continue in. As a result, I quit the "sure money" in order to pursue something more in line with my dreams.

I have an old high school friend I admire greatly--probably because he is so authentic. He has lived a unique, exciting and successful life in many ways, and it is precisely because he is not afraid to listen to his dreams and does not let his ego limit him. He makes mistakes, but he learns from them and goes on. Intuitively, he knows that mistakes are important for growth.

I'd like to say I am currently on my way to living the life of my dreams. The battle now, as it has always been, is which part of myself to listen to--fear or authenticity. As I learn to tune out the fear and follow my dreams, my purpose in life becomes fulfilled.