Today we would ask that you give yourself some time in a soft place.

What does this mean?

It means that as “grown-ups” you have difficulty giving yourself the simple pleasures that you so naturally give to children.  Nap time.  Cuddle time.  Snuggle up with a blanket time.

Most of you are in desperate need of such softness and warmth, but you deny it to yourselves.  Your need for this is no less great than the need of a child — but you consider it undignified, foolish, childish.  This is really quite silly.  Humans are humans, and at heart a two-year-old is not so different from a fifty-two year old.

So we would ask that today you allow yourself time in a soft place.  Whatever comes to mind when you think “soft place.”

Maybe it is the warmth of your bed — only during the daytime, when you are not going about the serious business of getting sleep so that you can be productive tomorrow.  Maybe you have a special soft blanket that you enjoy cuddling with. Maybe you live with a warm, soft animal.  Whatever conjures the feeling of being very safe, warm and soft.

Just take a little break from your activities, and rest in this soft space for a few moments.  Perhaps set a timer for three minutes.  And while you are there, let go.  Let go like a little child.  Feel whatever you feel in these moments.  

The adult body needs this time just as much as any child’s.  Your body thanks you for giving it this special time.

Today we would ask you to bring to mind something that is troubling you.  Perhaps it is some dilemma that you are in, some decision you have to make.  Perhaps it is something that is a chronic underlying cause of worry.

Whatever it is, we would ask that you sit for a moment, and imagine a visual symbol for this troubling thought.  Maybe it is a shape, a color, and has a texture.  Maybe it has the face of a particular person.  Whatever comes to mind.

Now: imagine you are tying this “trouble” to a ribbon attached to a beautiful balloon.  It is a gorgeous balloon, big and round and gleaming.  Imagine a color for this balloon.

Now: imagine releasing this balloon into the sky.  It soars away with your “trouble” attached, dangling from the ribbon.  Imagine watching this balloon float up, up and away, getting smaller, and finally disappearing into the light.

We would invite you, for the span of a day — at least until the next morning — to give your “trouble” over to a higher power.  It is with the balloon.  It has floated away.  You will not think on it or obsess over it until tomorrow.  For today, until tomorrow — let your mind and heart be free from this burden.  It has floated into the light.

Today we would ask that you sit for a few moments and connect with the energy of your heart center.

Three minutes is all that is needed.  We would ask that you set a timer, and for three minutes focus your consciousness into the space of your heart.  Whatever this means to you — the physical organ, your chest, the energy center of the heart. Simply focus your consciousness into that place.  Notice how you feel.  If thoughts arise, gently return your consciousness to the heart center.

It is a very simple thing.  Here, in your heart, is a place of peace.  Even if you connect with it only for a few moments, it can do a world of good.

Today we would ask that you continue the practice from yesterday — but today be a genie with yourself.

You may find it much harder to be giving with yourself than with someone else.  This is why we would ask that you keep the gift small with yourself, to begin with.  Imagining generosity with one’s self has a way of stirring up guilt, discomfort, and feelings of unworthiness.  That is why it is best to keep it small as a beginner’s exercise.

So: imagine you are granting yourself a wish.  Make it something that you could actually imagine happening in “real life.” Something that would be a cause for great delight, but would not require a miracle.  

Maybe it is a vacation to somewhere you would love to go.  Or a week spent in a beautiful retreat, where you could relax and restore yourself.  

Maybe it is some material object you desire, something you would love to play with and enjoy, something you consider a bit “frivolous” — but if someone else gave it to you, you would be ecstatic.  

Most of you have your little wish lists.  So today, be a genie and grant yourself a little wish.

Really let loose your powers of imagination.  If you imagine going some special place, be there.  Imagine little details — where you are staying, what the weather is like, something you might do or see.  

If you imagine going somewhere restful, let yourself feel this restful state.  Imagine yourself relaxing.

If it is a material gift, then imagine yourself playing with this new toy.  Imagine your delight, like a child on Christmas morning, as you receive this gift.  Play with it!  Enjoy.

There is nothing wrong with your desires, and no harm in daydreaming.  Please know whatever you dream up for yourself: you deserve it.  You deserve to feel good, and enjoy life.  Feel this in your heart.  Be your own genie today.

Today we would ask you to imagine something good happening to someone who you feel loving feelings toward.

It is a mental exercise, and a very simple one at that.  Just think of a friend or loved one.  And imagine something very good happening to this person.

Pretend you are a genie, and can grant this person a wish.  There is no limit to your magic powers.  Give this person a gift that you feel in your heart would make this person very happy.  The gift can be small or very big.  Just imagine what would make this person very happy.

Now imagine seeing your dear friend or loved one receiving this gift.  See their joy, their surprise, the light in their eyes, the gasp of excitement and wonder.  Perhaps they shriek with joy.  Perhaps they are stunned into wide-eyed silence.  Let your imagination run wild.

Notice how you feel in your body as you imagine this.  How pleasant it feels to give in this way.  It is good to give, isn’t it?

You can play this imagination game with as many people as you’d like.  It is a fun way to lift the spirits.

Today, as many of you begin to return to your ordinary daily routines, we would ask that you cultivate a practice of “waking yourselves up” for brief periods.

What do we mean by this?

We mean that ordinary daily rhythms, while soothing in the sense of structure they provide, can also have a hypnotic or somnolescent effect on the consciousness.  This is why you may notice that you have more vivid memories of time spent vacationing, traveling, or engaging in new experiences, as opposed to humdrum daily life, which tends to blur and be forgotten.

In such a way does “time fly,” even if you feel quite bored as it is happening — watching the clock at work, wasting time on the internet.  You are bored, and yet each Christmas time you ask yourselves “Where did the year go?  How did it pass so quickly?”

It passed quickly because to some degree you were asleep.  Just as the time you spend in bed sleeping and dreaming appears to pass quickly.

So we would ask you today to make a conscious effort to spend a few minutes staying awake.

By awake, we mean “paying attention.”  Paying full attention to where you are, your surroundings, your feelings, your physical body.  Just as you have heightened awareness when you are traveling to a new place on vacation, so too it is possible to have heightened awareness in your daily life.

Here is something you might try:

Set a timer for three minutes.  Three minutes is all that is required.  

Then go stand in front of a window, and look outside, as the timer runs.  During that three minutes, pay attention to what you see outside your window.

It does not have to be an attractive landscape.  You might be looking at a street with buildings and parked cars.  It might be a gray, gloomy day.  It doesn’t matter.  

For three minutes, pay close attention to what you see outside that window.  Notice what’s there.  Notice the minute details.  Leaves on trees.  Details on houses and buildings.  The colors of things.  If a car drives past, pay attention to the car.  If a person walks past, pay attention to the person.  If a bird flies by, pay attention to the bird.

Only three minutes are asked.  Not very much time.  But if you can pay attention to the world outside your window for three minutes, this is a lovely way to “wake up” in your day.  And you will find that the rest of humdrum life becomes just a little more rich, vivid and memorable as you do so.

A New Year’s Message:

Many of you enter this New Year with trepidation about changes and instability.  At the same time there is a sense of excitement, an awareness that something new is coming.

We ask you now not to fear this coming year.  There is much going on behind the scenes of your reality.  Many beings transitioned out of their physical bodies this past year, that they might play a part in these changes.

We will define the change in your world as a transformation from the “old fuel” to the “new fuel.”

What do we mean by this?

We are sure that images come to mind when you think of “old fuel.”  In your world, this is represented by “fossil fuel” — old energy sources taken from decomposed organic life, infused with the energy of the old dinosaur world from which it comes.  This fuel has served its purpose, but it is apparent to most of you that the time has come for humans to find new ways to power their world.

There are other kinds of “old fuel.”  Just as your oil comes from the dinosaur kingdom, many humans are still caught up in ways of thinking and acting that are based in ancient genetic modes of behavior.  It is what some of you describe as “Darwinian” — survival of the fittest, dog eat dog, and so forth.  This mode of behavior is dedicated to the consumption of resources at any cost so as to pass down advantage to one’s direct genetic descendants — or, at best, members of one’s tribe.

Though an individual operating in this consciousness may be capable of loving behavior to members of his family or immediate tribe, anyone outside of this circle is perceived as a potential threat.  If such a being declares the other as a threat, this being can justify almost any action, no matter how dehumanizing or even violent, in order to protect the members of his tribe.  Such patterns of behavior are, of course, very ancient.  So this too we define as “old fuel.”

What, then is the “new fuel.”

The new fuel has these qualities: it is light.  It is inexhaustible.  It causes no harm.  If the old way is fossil fuel, the new way is solar.  It is available in the great rhythms of the earth: wind and water, heat from the volcanism of the deep, shifting tides, magnetism.  New sources that are not yet known to man — for men must grow in their capacity to love before such vast and potent sources can be tapped.  Yet all this is coming.

The young ones, coming up, are charged with this new energy.  They grow weary of the ways of their fathers, the ancient ways of corruption, greed, violence, tribal loyalty, lives spent in meaningless drudgery to bring benefit to one’s genetic offspring.  The young ones are waking up.  Or rather, they are not falling asleep as easily as those who came before.  They have not yet come into their power.  Most of them are still very young.  It is up to those of you in the vanguard — those of you open to this message — to prepare the way for them.

Love is the new fuel.  It is light.  It is inexhaustible.  It is the inconceivably powerful dynamo at the heart of all creation.  It is everywhere.  It drives your physical universe.  In your reality it may seem hidden and obscured.  Yet it is everywhere.  It is in the green growing things, it is in the life that is all around you — life fueled by light, life that gives itself to you in love, absolute love, the air you breathe, the matter that nourishes your bodies.  All fueled by love.

This is the new way.  It is, of course, older than time itself.  It has always been, and always will be.  But you have been caught up in your fears, and blind to it.

You have nothing to fear in this year, majestic ones.  Those of you who can understand this message have nothing to fear. No one has cause to fear these changes.  They are purely good.  Please understand, they are purely good.

We know that many of you have been experiencing extreme discomfort in the past few years.  This has all been part of the awakening process.

Here is a way to understand it: almost all of you were, in the process of your upbringing, socialized to operate on the “old fuel.”  For most of you, this caused great discomfort during your childhood and adolescence, for you sensed this was not the true way.  And yet you had no choice but to do as you were told.

So you learned to operate on the old fuel.  It never worked well, but it worked to some degree.  And you functioned as best you could, and followed the rules of acquisition and labor.  Many of you worked at jobs that you did not particularly believe in, so as to accrue material possessions and pass them on to your descendants or tribe.

This is no longer going to work for you.  What has been happening in the past few years is that the old, fear-driven fuel is actually shutting down the systems of the sensitive ones.  Imagine putting gasoline into a solar-powered vehicle.  It will not work.  It shuts down the system.  So many of you have been “crashing” and experiencing severe discomfort.

We are here to tell you now that these things have been happening not because something is wrong with you, but because everything is right with you.  You are not meant to run on the old fuel.

Wake up.  Wake up.  Notice what causes you to “crash.”  Notice the messages that you take in on the television and in the news, that broadcast the old fuel, the old ways, the dinosaur ways.  Stop listening to these messages.  Turn away from the old darkness into the light, like flowers turning your heads toward the sun.

See the beauty around you.  Be with your friends and loved ones.  Appreciate all that is good.  This is the new fuel, the new way.  Ask: how can my loving heart contribute to this world?  How might I appreciate and share love this day?  This is the new fuel, the new way.

Nothing is wrong with you.  Everything is right with you.  The discomfort you feel is your soul, your spirit, pulling you toward the light.  Resist no longer.  Come into the light, and be a beacon for the new generation that is coming.  Step into the light.  You have not, and will not, be led astray.

Today we would ask that you plant a seed.

What do we mean by this?  

A seed is a life form, a new creation, that you desire to grow.  So this seed, this golden seed, is something that you wish to water and nurture in this great transformative year that is now at hand.

We cannot tell you what your seed is.  We ask you now to look into your own heart to discover the seed.  Not your mind.  Your heart.  Focus your attention on your heart, and ask what it is.  Listen.  Whatever comes to mind, whatever begins to form there — that is your seed.

It does not have to be a great life-changing thing.  Seeds can produce little flowers as well as trees.  Nor does the acorn have more value than the dandelion.  So whatever your seed is — it is good.

It is just something that you’d like to grow this year.  It is as simple as that.  Some desire in your heart that yearns to be planted and nurtured.  We cannot tell you what it is.  Most people have many such seeds.  Start with one for now.  One seed.

Hold this golden seed in your consciousness.  Imagine planting it.  Wherever you’d like to plant it — in a beautiful pot, outside in the garden, perhaps in your favorite spot from childhood — make sure the soil there is rich and nourishing.  Plant the seed with love.  Water it with love.

Now all you need do, as we move into this great year, is keep your seed in mind.  As you would with any seed.  Water it with your attention.  Even if you focus on this seed only once a week, that is enough.  Remain patient, and loving.  And we promise you, dear ones — in time this little seed will germinate, and it will grow.  If you give it light, and water it — it cannot help but grow.  It is a law of nature.

No new message today.  But for those of you who are checking in, feel free to play with any of this past week’s ideas.

Me, I think I’m going to look at something beautiful, and listen to some music.

Thanks to everyone who has been visiting!

Today we would ask that you consider some small deed you might do that would be of benefit to either yourself or someone else.

What do we mean by this?  It is very simple.  We just ask you to take a moment to think of some small kindness you would like to do.  For many people it is much easier to be giving with someone else rather than with themselves.  From our perspective, it is equally beneficial to be kind to someone or else, or be kind to yourself.  We suggest that you do whatever is most comfortable.  You can also do both, of course — create benefit for someone else, and create benefit for yourself, if you are so inclined.

It is essential that it be a small thing.  Like making a very small donation to a charity.  Or calling someone you know would like to hear your voice, who you would not otherwise call today.  Emailing a friend you have not connected with in some time, to express your caring for this person and your curiosity about his or her life.  It could be a continuation of yesterday’s idea, and saying “thank you” to someone.  

Really, it is whatever strikes you as a very simple, easily achievable “good deed” that requires little effort or thought.  It should not feel burdensome or obligatory in any way.  It should feel pleasurable to you.  Something that brings warmth to the heart.

That is why we consider it equally beneficial to do a good deed for the self.  And this can be as simple as looking in the mirror and saying “thank you” to you.  Do you see how this can be harder than saying “thank you” to someone else?  Yet it is equally powerful.  

Perhaps take some time to thank yourself for things you have done this week.  By this we do not mean achievements in the worldly sense.  We mean little things.  Like showing patience with your children.  Like preparing a meal with care.  Like taking your dog for a walk.  Or even paying the bills.  Or just letting yourself rest when you needed to.

Do you remember when you were children, teachers would hand out “gold stars”?  And how good it felt to be given a “gold star”?

Today, give a “gold star” to someone.  Or give a “gold star” to yourself.  And notice how you feel when you do.