People often think I'm really busy.
But I don't feel that way at all. 

I do work hard, and I am very focused. But "busy" isn't part of my lifestyle.

In fact, one of the commitments I have to myself is to live a spacious life. A life with no rush, no panic, no anxiety. A life lived slow.

Ten years ago, I wasn't this way: I craved adrenaline, the rush of distraction. 
My schedue was jam-packed. 
I got bored if I wasn't doing something every second.

But over time, I found that when we start to live slow—when you get clear on what's really, truly important—your dreams, your passions, the people you love—and you let go of anything that isn't that...then time really expands.

When you focus on what you're here for, and let go of the rest, you have all the time you need. 

When we finally move through a soul lesson, there comes a day when we notice that whatever we’ve been working on, isn’t with us any more.
 
The anger we had toward a certain person has dissolved.
The fear we had about a situation had left us.
The worry we had about something in the future isn’t there.
The shame we had about something has disbanded.
 
We were one way, wrapped up in our thoughts and emotional drama and hurt and blame… and then, suddenly it’s all just gone away.
 
We’re just not there any more: we’re not in relationship to that person or situation or thought like that any more.
 
Sometimes we release it.
Sometimes we are cleared.
Sometimes we have been working on it so long, we grow past it.
 
As you move through your life, you’ll find yourself facing these sticky things: anger, fear, worry, shame… around people and events and situations in your life.
 
Until one day, you’ll be moseying around doing something ordinary, and you’ll think of this sticky thing, and you’ll find… it’s not there any more.
 
It’s gone.
You’ve worked through it.
You’ve moved past.
You’ve let go.
 
There is not longer any trigger! It’s not there any more! And sing sweet halleluiah, for yet another soul lesson moved through!
 
We can get very far with our expansion when we try. 

When we have just finished working through a soul lesson, the Universe will often show up with a series of “tests” to make sure we’re really, really done.
 
For example, if you’ve had difficulty saying “no” to people in the past, but now you’re pretty sure you’ve mastered this lesson… well, right around the time you’re feeling confident, the Universe is going to jump in and send you several people in quick succession that you will have to say “no” to.

“Why are all these people showing up that I have to say “no" to all of a sudden?” you'll wonder.
 
It will seem so odd, so coincidental, so not random: these people streaming in from all over, all of who require “no” from you.
 
If you’ve truly mastered this lesson, you’ll be able to say “no” in detached way, and this will be the end of the matter.

If you’re still shaky, if you haven’t quite mastered the lesson, you will find yourself having trouble, agonizing over your decision, maybe saying “yes” by mistake… and the Universe will be clear that you need a bit more work on this particular lesson.
 
We are tested and tested until we can test out.
 
If you notice a lot of “repeats” in your life, pay attention. The Universe is testing you to see what soul lessons you’ve mastered, and which ones you’re still working on.
 
No rush.
No worry.
Certainly, no failure.
 
We’re all in this together, each of us doing the best we can. 

After years of warning my kids “don’t smoke pot,” I find myself driving my daughter to school each day past one of the biggest pot grows in the city.
 
I don’t have much to say about whether I think marijuana should or shouldn’t be legal in Oregon. The reality is, it’s legal now.

Change has come. 
 
Canna businesses have sprung up overnight. There are greenhouses in the rural areas. And in urban areas? Cannibas cafes and dispensaries are as ubiquitous as coffee shops.
 
Pot is now legal in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Maine, Nevada, Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington DC. More states are following suit. 

The politics of the day (and today especially) lead us to believe that we are going backwards.

Yet when we start to pay attention to what is really happening, instead of what we're fed by the media, a different reality emerges. 

Used to be, women couldn't vote... until one day they could. 
Used to be, people of color couldn't sit on a bus... until one day they could. 
Used to be, same sex marriages weren't allowed... until one day they were.
Used to be, pot wasn't legal...until one day it was.

These are just a few of the "used to be's" we've seen change.

It's true:,some political factions are trying to stop change right now. 

But from a soul perspective, we are always evolving toward Oneness.

Even on days it doesn't seem that way, it's just what souls do. 

Many of you have followed traditional Law of Attraction systems, with a variety of results. 

As an energetic system,  Law of Attraction is correct: this is how the Universe works.

But when we don't  understand the very subtle nature of the process, it's easy to use it incorrectly:

• We manifest from our thoughts, instead of our heart.
• We manifest from lower vibration, for what we think we "deserve." 
• We manifest from lower vibration, for what we think we "should" have. 
• We manifest from ego, without Divine guidance. 

This style of manifesting will work for you, but it can't give you what you really want. 

That's because aside from all our material wants and "should" haves, what we really, really want is not material or physical at all. It's not even goal or ambition based.

What we really want is connection, consciouness and love—a sense that we are living our lives to the fullest in every moment. 

Many of you have written that you have received animals signs. 

I've found that animal communication happens in three ways:

• As telepathy with an animal. You have direct understanding between the animal and you. 
• As animal totem: the animal you see has a symbolic meaning, such as a frog meaning vulnerability or an owl meaning clairvoyance, or your see your spirit animal. 
• As animal sign. You see an animal right at the exact moment when you are thinking about a particular person or situation. The animal (it could be any animal) shows up and helps you pay attention to your thoughts

All of these are ways the Universe communicates with us using animals. And sometimes, the Universe is pretty insistent! 

Becuase I live close to nature, I see more animals that I might if I lived in an urban area. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the three very clear animal contats in the last three days. 

Recently, I disobeyed a sign that said "Road Closed" and found myself biking along the Willamette River, where an American Bald Eagle flew directly above, his head and tail flashing white.

The very next day, I was out for a walk along the same river, but several miles upshore, when there was a commotion to my right, and I looked up and there was an American Bald Eagle (Same one? Different?) circling above me. 

And on the third day, I was at home and just stepped outside for no reason at all. And suddenly I heard a loud squawking and there was an American Bald Eagle, 40 feet from the house, passing in front of me. 

Three days. Three eagles. 

The Universe was trying to tell me something. 

For me, eagles always are a sign from my father, who passed 16 years ago. He's been in my thoughts lately, as the  New Year begins. These eagle sightings, three in three days, helped me connect to his spirit. I don't know yet what he is trying to tell me, but I know he is there. 

If you've had animal signs lately, think about what they mean. Are they direct telepathy, are they sybmolic, totem or spirit animals, or are they meant to bring your attention to something in your life.  

Nothing is random. 

​Some of you know I read surfer magazines.
 
I love them, because they’re all about the hero’s quest: the surfer as seeker, traveling all over the world in search of the perfect wave;  the surfer’s experience with the wave itself, and the immense humility that every surfer reach at some point in his or her life: the understanding that there is no room for ego, because the ocean in charge.
 
The ocean.
The waves.
All creatures of the sea.
 
And this most curious phenomenon of all, the phenomenon of schooling fish, which is when all the fish swim together one way, and then suddenly begin to swimming together another way, all at once.
 
All at once.
All together.
Over and over again.
Perfectly attuned to each other.
Acting as One.
 
Psychic Migration is a name of a popular surf movie, and I guess that sums it up. It’s what happens when we all move together, because we are all in tune with each other.
 
 “Hey, guy… let’s go this way”.
“Okay, great”
“Me too.”
“Right with you, guys”.
“Here I come!”
 
The thing is, we’re always in tune with each other. As humans, as animals, as beings on this planet, as Souls in the Universe.
 
There’s no time we’re not deeply affecting each other, following each other, leading each other, being a part of each other’s lives, feeling each other’s feelings, living life on multidimensions, past and present and future all the same big ocean of Now.
 
We’re always in psychic migration.

The Catholics have two periods of time in their calendar called “ordinary time”: two periods in the year when there is no feasting and no penance.
 
It’s the time of everyday life, ordinary stuff: no big highs, no big lows. 
 
If you’re Catholic, you started ordinary time today yesterday. If you’re not Catholic, or not Catholic anymore,, it’s likely that after all the holdays we've just finished, your life also suddenly seeming more ordinary.
 
We’re back in the groove, although f you’re paying attention, you will notice that the groove we're in now is not the same groove we were in before.

These past few months have opened us up, helped us learn, given us experiences that have altered us completely, given us ways to identify what we care about and what is important to us as a whole .

Right now,  these changes are subtle, like tiny flowers just beginning to open.
 
Ordinary time is a useful time to relax, get back to routine again, and in this very simple way of living life—of taking care of all the things and people you need to take care of—we are integration what we have learned.
 
Not in the intensive integration of working at it. But in the softer integration of letting it all move through you, as you inhabit your life in an everyday kind of way. 
 
There is nothing ordinary about this time, or about you. 

Right around now, people are already burnt out on the kale and the gym and the futile resistance to chocolate/booze/shopping/internet... whatever it is for you.
 
We are all in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions: “I hereby solemnly proclaim I will lose X pounds, eat clean, live within my budget”… whatever it is for you.
 
The thing is… making a New Year’s resolution seems so lofty.
But from soul persepective, it's a proclamation that you don’t love yourself as you are.
 
It’s saying “I’m not enough”.
 
I’m not enough with my extra twenty pounds.
I’m not enough with my addictions.
I’m not enough with my distractions.
 
Yes of course, it is useful to live a more clear and balanced life.
But overall, the Universe doesn’t care about your habits.
The Universe cares about your expansion.
 
If you (and I) were to stop trying to control the symptoms (the addictions, the distractions) and instead sink deep into spiritual practice where we have daily connection to our soul… well, eventually, over time, all the symptoms would go away.
 
We would love ourselves as we are.
We would understand that we are works in progress.
We would be gentle and kind and compassionate to our selfs: beautiful humans, far from perfect, walking the path. 
 
Instead of making a bunch of resolutions this year, consider making un-resolutions.
 
Resolve that you’ll first attend to your soul.
 
The inner work always shifts the outer.
That’s the place to start. 

We took down our tree early. There’s never been a year I can wait very long.
 
There are all kinds of ways people do Christmas trees: small, big, bushy, skinny, no tree, living tree.
 
For me, a tree is a marker of the all the celebrations bundled up at year’s end: Thanksgiving, Solstice, Christmas, New Years. 
 
I love the tree: I find it magical. Those twinkly lights and green help get us through all of winter’s dark.
 
Yet even though I would like to be the kind of person who can keep the tree up all the way through New Year’s, I can’t.
 
I get antsy. I’m ready to move on. I’ve had my fill of holidays… the bleak, pale possibilities of the New Year beckon.
 
We took the tree down in just a few minutes this year, dragged it outside to where it will go back to the earth very soon.
 
The room, once magical and festive, settled back into its regular sparseness with a sign of relief.
 
With the tree gone, we suddenly notice the barren branches outside, the greyness of the sky, the lichen on the trees.  We find ourselves in the middle of winter, and we return again to our long hibernation.
 
The tree was put up. The tree was taken down. The twinkly lights and ornaments are stored away for another year.
 
It is very still, and we are waiting. Here in the stark, cold beauty of January, we are waiting for what is next to come. 

Years ago, a friend stayed with us. A deeply spiritual man, he’d lived in devotional communities almost his whole life, and we had many lively discussions about what it meant to live a spiritual life.
 
At the time I was very busy trying to meditate and write and record, and I was also really busy trying to doeveryday family things like drive kids to dance rehearsal and music and oversee homework and pack lunches and make dinner and do the laundry and all the other bazillion things every person on the Householder path does all day long.
 
Our friend noticed all this, and suggested: "You know, you should become a guru, he said. "That way you’d have lots of people to help you."

"If you started an ashram," he continued, "you’d have people to do the yard work. You’d have people to cook. You’d have people to help you every moment of the day."
 
I looked at him, not sure if he was joking or not. Then I started laughing, because if there’s one thing I know, I'm not anybody's guru!
 
I’m not anti-guru: If it works for you to follow a teacher, to live in community, then go do that.
 
But for me to hold this role? For one thing, I’m not suited to the task.
 
For another, I believe we’re all gurus.

I believe, we each have the ability to create our own direct connection with the Divine, no middle man required.

If your spiritual practice has been lax, reaffirm it now. Connect to Light. Be led by nothing else. Direct connection: you in communion with the Universe, no middle man reuqired, is your master key. 

Every year, I write a forecast for the new year.

2017 is especially interesting, as we are not only entering a new year, but a new nine-year cycle.
 
As you remember, 2016 was a "nine" year, The Year of Completion. Hopefully, you spent 2016 tying up loose ends, letting go of what didn't work, cleaning up your act… all the ways we complete what is finished.
 
Take a moment now, and recall what you were doing from 2007 to 2016. Anything that is still left over from that time is now finished. Let it go. 
 
In 2017, we Begin Again. 2017 is numerologically  a "one" year, which brings us all of the qualities of the number "one" (the demanding "me" of the child, the need for individuation) that we are seeing in current politics.
 
2017 is the start of the next nine-year cycle. But we do not start from scratch. Instead, we do another pass through of what we've been working on: same lessons, at a more advanced level.
 
For example: when you transition from elementary school to high school, you don't just stop doing math and english. You keep studying math and english, but at a more advanced level. 

Thus, in this new nine-year cycle, the Universe is going to test us on each lesson and see if we've mastered it. For example, in the last nine years:
 
• Was your money stable or instable? 
• Were you working, not working? 
• Were you living in the same place, moving or relocating? 
• Were you in a relationship, starting one or ending one? 
• Were you in school, graduating? What were you studying?
• Did you travel? Where? What happened? 
• Was your health good, or did you have challenges? 
• Were there changes in yoru family? New additions or empty nest? 
• What were you afraid of our anxious about? 
• What were you angry or bitter about? 
• What else? 
 
Expect to a repeat of what we’ve aready been working on, both individually and collectively. The goal is learn fast and "test out" of a lesson!

Please note: There is no punishment or failure. This is what we're here for as souls: to learn and grow! 
 
As for world predictions? The writing is on the wall. There arehard lessons ahead with the new administration. In times like these:
 
• Listen to your meditation, instead of to the media. 
• Now more than ever, commit to your spiritual practice.
• Let go of fear. It might seem like the sky is falling. But things find balance quickly.
• Don’t underestimate the power of the Universe to correct man's mistakes. Corrective forces are already in motion. The Universe is still here.  Universal laws still apply.
• The lesson for 2017 is We are One. What affects one, affects all. The lesson for the nine-year cycle is: United we stand, divided we fall. Not just for America, but the whole world. 
• The small group that is trying to take us backwards? They don’t know it is only possible to go forward. What has been opened and expanded cannot be closed or shut.
 
Put your intention to peace, harmony and the happiness of all beings.
Work on your stuff. 
Live from your soul... and begin again.