Moving Beyond 2016: The Year of Humility

We often mistakenly look to the outside world, especially political leaders, to save us. Whenever there's a presidential election, like the one here in the United States on November 8th, people get very fired up about being for or against particular issues. We expect that the candidate that got elected to work for us and make the changes we want to see. We become outraged when the person that doesn't represent our beliefs, morals, and ideas gets elected. We fear the worst case scenario and become overwhelmed with panic and anticipatory anxiety.

It's so easy for us to forget that government doesn't control our destiny, we do! 2016 really humbled the majority of us, because we got so caught up in the political and social climate around us, expecting a different outcome. In the process, we simply forgot that we are the change. Matt Kahn said it well when he stated that "The ego fights for change or against change. Consciousness is change." The more we wake up, the more we realize that we have to make the needed changes we want to see. We have to change ourselves first, and that has a ripple effect on every other individual that we come across. If we want better healthcare, we have to start taking better care of ourselves and eating healthier foods. If we want to live in a clean environment, we have to do our part in recycling and avoiding the use of harmful products (including pesticides). If we want to make our community more friendly, we have to take the time to say "hello" to strangers and show that we care about each other. We can't set back and expect our broken system to create change, we have to be the change. We would live in a utopian society, if our government really worked for the people and was a change agent, but sadly it isn't!

So how do we become the change? We are the change when are consciously evolving into the greatest and grandest version of ourselves. This happens when we are living in the present moment, not lamenting about the past or getting anxious about the future. It is in the here and now that we are connected to and in alignment with the infinite consciousness. When we are connected to this creative source following through us and around us, we surrender. In this surrender, we get out of our egos, no longer imprisoned to this perception that the answers to our needs and wishes are outside of ourselves. We can no longer blame our feelings and circumstances in life on somebody else. We are forced to examine every choice we make. When we are truly in alignment, we no longer feel separate from each other. We are all a part of a larger whole, and the choices we make that effect another person, effect us too. When we are in alignment, then we understand that we are ONE.

Benjamin's awakening in "Adventures of Benjamin the Bus" demonstrated how powerful of a change agent he became when he tapped into the infinite creative consciousness. He understood that the best way to treat other vehicles was to view them as parts of himself. Each time he got bullied on the road, he experienced it as a mirror reflection of how he treated himself. This realization of oneness opened up Benjamin's flood gates of compassion and self-love.

These changing times elicit us to wake up and stop looking to our president and to world leaders to save us. The death of the old paradigm pushes us to be the change we want to see. 2017 is a call to be the best and grandest versions of ourself. We can only truly do this when we awaken to the most important understanding that we are all parts of the ONE consciousness expressing itself on this planet. We must start to be a stewart of each other and the environment we share if we want to save ourselves. In 2016, our self-created illusion of separation drove us to destruction. We have an opportunity now to take back control of our destiny by doing what we can to heal this world, and by so doing, we heal ourselves.