Today we ask that you pay attention to the way your feelings change around different people and places.

You all know that some people and places tend to make you feel good, and other people and places tend to make you feel bad.

If you are a sensitive person, this can sometimes be quite distressing, and debilitating.  Bad feeling people and places may make you feel so very bad indeed that there is a natural tendency to withdraw, or become reclusive.  Often, sensitive people must take medication just to function in the world at all.

So what is to be done about this?

There is unfortunately no “quick  fix” or overnight solution.

The best thing is to increase your exposure to those people and places that you do notice make you feel good, calm, or peaceful.  

That is why spending time outdoors in nature is so healing.  Participating in group activities that are physically and spiritually uplifting is good.  Listening to music, or reading books, or watching films that actively create a sense of well-being — this is essential.

At the same time, as much as is practical, it is good to avoid those people, places, and stimuli that you know make you feel bad and agitated.

Of course, sometimes it simply is not possible for sensitive people to avoid the people and places that create negative feelings.  What then?

For this, one must cultivate a calm, still center.  This is a place that you carry within you that you can consciously access and touch even when you are surrounded by darkness.  It is like carrying a light in your heart, that you take with you wherever you go.

The most effective way of creating this light is through a committed meditative practice.

The more you learn to quiet the mind and feel calm when you are not being assaulted by external stimuli, the more you will be able to access a still center within even when you are out in the world.

Meditation, it should be said, requires some effort.  It is not just sitting on a pillow for ten or twenty minutes daydreaming.  Meditation is the active process of cultivating a quiet, non-thinking mind, usually by focusing the attention on the breath, or a mantra.  

There is no easy shortcut.  As with any practice, the only way to reap the benefits is to actually do it, in a committed way.

There is no question that it is challenging for sensitive people to cope in a world full of negative people, places, and stimuli.

You must carry a light within you, that you can access even in the darkest places.

Meditation will give you that light.

Today we ask that you be gentle with yourselves in this time.

Much has been made, in certain circles, of the end of 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar.

The world is not ending, rest assured.

However, there is an influx of energy in your world in this time.  This process has already begun, and will continue for a little while.

Some of you may be experiencing unusual symptoms: nausea, instability, depression, anxiety, lethargy.  You may be having strange or vivid dreams.  You may have emotional outbursts.

You may also be experiencing hypersensitivity.  Urban environments may be challenging.  Taking in the news on TV or the internet may be challenging.

Really, this time has an energy of sacredness around it.  Historically, people instinctively understood the sacredness of certain times, and behaved accordingly.  They withdrew from mundane and worldly behaviors, went on pilgrimages to sacred sites, and found a peaceful way to connect with and absorb the incoming energies.

It would be very wise for all of you to do this, in your own ways.

You are entering a sacred time.  It is not the end of the world, but it marks the beginning of a new time.

This is not a good time to be “business as usual.”

The more you can honor and acknowledge this sacred time, the easier it will be for you to experience it.

It is essential that you allow yourself plenty of rest and sleep in this time.

For those of you who engage in meditative practices, now more than ever it is important for you to engage in these practices.

If you do experience negative feelings, sensations, and thoughts arising in this time, please know that it is normal, and it will pass.

If you can, please find a way to imbue the solstice period with the energy of sacredness, and love.  It is a time to reflect on what you wish to carry forward with you, and what you are ready to leave behind.

There is absolutely nothing to fear about any of this.

Just know that if you are experiencing symptoms or sensitivity in this time period, you are not alone.

The more you can ground yourself and be present within your bodies on earth, the better you will feel.

Today we ask that you take all advice with a grain of salt.

That includes the messages that are written here.

There is one way to know whether or not advice is good or bad for you.

Does it make you feel lighter?

Or does it make you feel heavier?

You all know what this means.

To feel light is to feel light-hearted.  There is a loosening, an easing of tension, on a deep level.  You feel integrated.  You feel good.

To feel heavy is to feel heavy-hearted.  There is a tightening.  You feel tense.  You feel conflicted.  This is not a good feeling.

So that is how to know what is true and what is false for you.

Sometimes very well-meaning, intelligent people who care about you will give you advice that is totally wrong for you.

You will know this because of how it makes you feel.

It is not a mental thing.  It is a heart thing.

It is essential that you learn to listen to these feelings.

It is not about fear.  Sometimes genuinely good advice may trigger fear.  But the fear comes from the mind — not the heart.

There is a big difference between a frightened mind, and a heavy heart.

It is entirely possible to have a light heart, and a fearful mind.

It is also possible to have a heavy heart, and a mind that says: “This is sensible, this is the safe path.”

Do you understand?

That is why it is so important that you learn how to assess what you are told from the heart.

If people really listened to their hearts, it would be impossible for liars to prevail.  No one would be “scammed.”

And there would be far fewer mismatched relationships.

So please, when anyone tells you what to do, or how to live — please, listen to your heart.  Notice whether there is lightness, or heaviness.  Sometimes it is subtle, but the more attuned you become, the more apparent this sensation shall be.

Today we ask that you release your fears about the future.

Humans are in a time of great change, it is true.  But please do not believe that these changes mean an end to human civilization, for this is not so.

You are reaching an ending, and coming into a beginning.

What is ending is a very long phase of human history defined by tribalism, separation, violence, and greed.

What is beginning is a time that will require humans to come together as a global community, to drop their separate tribal identities, and work together in peace for the common good.

This path will eventually lead mankind to the exploration of the stars, and open contact with “alien” beings.

If it sounds a bit like “Star Trek,” that is not so far off the mark.

All over the world, the younger generations are choosing love and community over divisiveness, tribalism, and separation.

This is a very significant moment, and a truly wonderful time to be alive — particularly if you are in alignment with the new energy.

The unfolding climate changes will require and demand that humans come together as a collective to heal their world.  This will not be without challenge, but there is every indication that humans can and will do this.

So please do not fear.  Do not fear.

This is really a very good time to be alive.  And for those of you who are sensitive and open, the time that is coming is much more of an energetic match for you than the older, more divisive energies of human history prior to the coming times.

Anyone reading these words or open to these words, please take heart.  Have courage.  Do not fear.

You are all absolutely beloved, and absolutely needed in these times.  Just by being yourselves, even “doing nothing,” the sensitive ones raise the collective energy of all mankind.

Today we ask that you let go of the attachment to drama.

Many of you enjoy films and TV shows that are highly dramatic, in which characters are swept up in great dramas.  In fact, great drama cannot exist without suffering, stressed-out, conflicted characters.

And yet in life, do you want to be a suffering, conflicted, stressed-out character caught up in drama?

You may be such a person.  But chances are, you do not want such a life for yourself, no matter how much you enjoy dramatic TV shows.

One of the pleasures one feels in watching a film or TV drama is that you often feel like you are smarter than the characters, or know better than they.

This is because you are witnessing the fictional characters, so you have a larger perspective.  You may know things they don’t know.  Certainly, sitting on your sofa, you are in a calmer place to make decisions than they are.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could witness your own life the same way you witness fictional characters on TV?

The truth is, you can.

This is, in fact, one of the great benefits of meditative practices.  By learning to calm the mind, you become more of a witness, or observer, of your life drama.  It is like sitting in a couch watching the TV show of your life, instead of being the unhappy, stressed-out character caught up in the drama.

With meditative practice, you start to see your life as a drama much like what is on TV — and begin to step outside of it.

There is you, the Character in the drama.

And there is you, the Observer of the drama.

The more you identify with the “Observer” role, the more calm and stable your experience of life will be.

But this requires a true desire and commitment to being a less dramatic person.  Drama is actually very addictive, and some people are quite addicted to constant drama and upheaval.

If you earnestly desire a calmer life, know that it is possible.  Learn to meditate.  Engage in practices that relax and stabilize your mind.

Then you will be more and more the witness — the person on the couch watching your life drama unfold — instead of the unhappy soap opera character.

It is your choice.

Today we ask that you stop believing that there is something wrong with you.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Many of you were taught from a very early age that there was something wrong with you.

Your parents may have expressed this in many ways.  There was something wrong with you.  You were not quite the child they wanted.  You were not normal.  You didn’t do things the right way.

This continued in school.  Unless you did everything perfectly, there was something wrong with you.

Then, as adults, there is always something wrong with you.  You are not living the right way.  You are not living up to your potential.  There is something wrong with your career, your relationships.  There is something wrong with your health.  There is something wrong with your children.  

Not only is there something wrong with you, but something is wrong with other people.  Always, they are doing things the wrong way.  They are hostile and insensitive to your needs.  They are ruining everything.  There is something wrong with people!

Not only is there something wrong with you, and other people, but there is something wrong with the world.  There is something wrong with reality itself.  This is the only explanation for why the world seems so cruel and hostile.  There must be something fundamentally wrong with it.  It is broken.

None of this is true.

There is nothing wrong with you.

There is nothing wrong with other people.

There is nothing wrong with the world.

There is nothing wrong with reality.

Even if you are physically or mentally ill, there is nothing wrong with you.

Even if other people do destructive things, there is nothing wrong with them.

Even if there is suffering in the world, there is nothing wrong with the world.

Neither you, other people, or the world are broken or defective in any way.

There is nothing wrong with you.

And if you believed this, in every cell of your being, your entire experience of life would transform.

For you would then perceive that there is nothing wrong with you, other people, or the world.

Life would then be experienced as what it already is: pure joy.

There is nothing wrong with you.

There is nothing wrong with other people.

There is nothing wrong with reality.

The more you try to fix yourself, other people, and the world, the more you perpetuate your own suffering.

Today we ask that you sing your own song.

Every living thing has its own unique energy signature.  This can be perceived as a “song.”  It is like a song in many ways, for it has a specific vibrational resonance.

No two songs are alike.  Even the rocks have songs, and no two rocks are alike.  This is certainly true of humans.  No two humans anywhere are identical.

Sometimes when humans come together, there is is harmony.  This is felt as a good feeling — warmth, love, friendship.  It is a simpatico feeling.

Other times, there is discord.  The songs are in conflict.  There is an unpleasant feeling.  It can be so severe sometimes as to leave a feeling of sickness, and dis-ease.

A healthy human being knows what is his song is, and just sings it.  Children are like this.  They are just themselves, playing and living and singing their song.

Pain and confusion arises when someone attempts to impose their song on someone else, or insists that all songs ought to be the same.

Parents often incorrectly believe that their children ought to sing the same song they do.  If they notice their child singing a different song, they proceed to force the child into “music lessons,” with the intent of modifying the child’s song.  The same thing can happen in schools.

This is terribly destructive.  Any being who attempts to suppress or change his unique song will experience great pain and sickness.  Sometimes people die from this.

It is a terrible thing when people begin to believe that their songs are bad.  That they are somehow singing the wrong song, and are defective.

You were born with your song.  It is the song of your True Self.  It cannot be suppressed or altered.  The attempt to do so will cause terrible damage.

Your song is who you are when you feel calm, relaxed, and at peace.  In the stillness, your song becomes audible.  A lot of mental noise has a way of covering up and drowning out your song.

You cannot sing someone else’s song.  It is not possible.  To attempt to do so will create terrible discord.

It is okay, also, if sometimes you feel disharmony with people.  Instead of judging them, just understand that they sing different songs.  Just as people gravitate toward enjoying different forms of music, so too does everyone project their own individual song.  You don’t have to find everyone’s song appealing.

But it is good to listen, even if you do not like the song.

To listen is to allow.  It is to allow something to just be, without trying to suppress or change it.

Sometimes you will harmonize, sometimes you will not.  But please just listen, without trying to suppress or change someone else’s song — or your own.

The more you learn to quiet down your mind, the better a listener you shall be.

And a really great listener can find beauty in anyone’s song, even if the song isn’t their sort of thing.

Sing your song.  Let other beings sing theirs.

If everybody just sang, unimpeded, a natural harmony would arise.  This could heal your world instantly.

Today we ask that you focus on grounding yourselves.

Most people today are not grounded.  And this is a cause for much distress, including all manner of physical and mental illness.

For the majority of human history, people were basically in touch with the earth.  By necessity, they were aware of the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the phases of the moon, the seasons, the solstices and equinoxes, the stars.  The nights were dark, lit by candles and fires.  Because the nights were dark, people slept long and deeply — especially in the winter.

Many people grew food, and were intimately connected to the earth.

Now, all that has changed.  Humans are largely an indoor species now.  People spend their days in front of computers and TVs, experiencing continual mental stimuli from the moment they wake, to the moment they go to bed.  

Food comes in supermarkets and restaurants, pre-packaged.  Most people do not know when the sun rises and sets, and do not stop to look at the moon or the stars.  One cannot see the stars, in cities.

And there is nothing wrong with this, for it is simply the way of modern life.  There is no judgment about this.

However, it is a simple fact that the human nervous system is not equipped to function in this way.  It is evolving very rapidly, but people are really asking a lot of their nervous systems.

So many people experience mental and physical illness.  Many people must take drugs just to function in the modern world.

You cannot change the modern world, and it is not practical for most people to move to rural environments.

But there are things one can do to be more grounded.

Physical exercise is very important — particularly away from machines and TVs.  Walks and hikes outdoors are good.  Group exercise classes with a more meditative focus, like yoga and tai chi, are good.

It is good to spend time every day away from computers, phones, and TVs.

It is good to stop and pay attention to the sun, the moon, the stars, and the rhythms of nature.

It is good to walk barefoot, or in socks, on the open ground — to connect with the earth, and discharge nervous energy.

It is good to be around animals, and small children.

It is good to garden.  It is good to cook food with consciousness.

Whatever you can do to be present in your body with your feet on the ground, not in continual thinking with the head disconnected from the body — whatever gets you back in your body, do that.

This is really the first thing one should do in the face of mental or physical sickness.

Ask: am I grounded right now?  How can I better ground myself?

Almost everyone can benefit from being more grounded.

Today we ask that you let go of your attachment to thinking.

This, for many, is an absurd notion.  How can you let go of thinking?  What would you be without thought?  Some sort of drooling vegetable.

“I think, therefore I am” — that is the belief.

But what this really means is: “I think, therefore I am my ego identity.”

Your ego identity is what you think of as “You.”  Your name, your age, your gender, your socioeconomic status, your religion or non-religion, your relationships, your likes and dislikes, your resume, your problems — taken together, this makes up your ego identity.

And your thoughts are the glue that holds this identity together.  

If you woke up tomorrow with a severe case of amnesia, and no longer remembered your identity, who would you be?

You would still be you.  There is an intrinsic You-ness that would continue, even if you forgot who you were.

This intrinsic You, this underlying You, exists independently, beneath your accumulated ego identity.  It is the You that you came in with when you were born, and it is the You that will persist after your physical death.

That You does not think, in the way that you think about thinking.

It does not analyze, or cogitate.

Rather, it is.  It observes.  

When you quiet down the thinking mind, this underlying self becomes more accessible.  In stillness.  In silence.

From that place arises flashes of insight.  Insight is not “thinking.”  It does not come through cogitation, calculation, or analysis.  Insight arises from a deeper place.  It is the “a-ha” moment.  It is perception.  It is not thought.

The less you think, the more you perceive.

The less stuck you are in your ego identity, the more aligned you are with your true self.

And here is a truth:

Whenever someone insists they really know something, that is a sign that you should not believe them.

When someone admits how little they know, or says they don’t know for sure or don’t know at all — that is the person to believe, and trust.  

That applies to the thoughts inside your head.

When a thought claims it really knows something — don’t believe it.

When you are in a state of open not-knowing, that is when you can really trust your own mind.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it is true.