Foretellings from many cultures point to 2012 as the time when we pass from an old world and way of being to a new time on planet earth.  While we can recognize the economic, political and cultural turmoil around us as fundamental to this dynamic shift, and ultimately a good thing, it’s easy to shut down internally to try to ride out the storm. We want change, in fact for those of you reading this, you are likely one of those working for change. And now that it is happening in so many of the fundamental systems on which we have built our way of life, there’s a tendency to say, “Wait a minute. Not so fast! I haven’t learned how to keep up!”

It is no longer possible to stabilize our lives by managing time. Consider how we speak of time. Make time. Spend time. Save time. Invest time. And, of course, Time is money. The alternative is to learn to feel time and to manage our energy. When I say “feel time” I’m speaking of recognizing and respecting the internal currents that for each of us constitute a rhythm that allows us to operate from our wisdom and knowing, even in the midst of crisis and volatility and outer demands. It changes at different stages of our lives and, when we ignore the needs of our bodies, we risk showing up without a full heart.

Life takes us to those edges where we are asked to look anew. And the Mystery often provides gifts of insight that allow us to reframe our thinking about our stories.  Last year I learned the story I had bought into about business building actually removed me from the gift of presence I most want to bring to my classes. Then came the poetry of Tara Sophia Mohr whose exquisite poem The Quiet Power is helping me claim a better story about my relationship with time and gave me a vision of the elder I want to become.

I walked backwards, against time
and that’s when I caught the moon
singing at me.

I steeped downwards, into my seat,
and that’s where I caught freedom,
waiting for me like a lilac.

I ended thought, and I ended story.
I stopped designing, and arguing, and
sculpting a happy life.

I didn’t die. I didn’t turn to dust.

Instead, I chopped vegetables,
and made a calm lake
where the water was clear and sourced and still.

And when the ones I loved came to it,
I had something to give them, and
it offered them a soft road out of pain

I became beloved.

And I came to know that this was it.
The quiet power.
I could give something mighty, lasting,
that stopped the wheel of chaos.

By tending to the river inside,
keeping the water rich and deep,
keeping a bench for you to visit.

So, as I walk backwards against time for a bit, know that when you don’t hear from me, I am tending to the river inside which will inform me of the flow that is just right to show up fully for the better story 2012 is asking of us. For some of you, it will be a jet-propelled launch into something dynamic and undeniable that will change the world. For others, it will be experimentation with ideas that are forming within you, so new and fresh that they need your patience to find an expression that is aligned with the person you are becoming and will speak to those who will become your allies.  And for many, there may be a call to go within, not to check out, but to give something mighty and lasting that will stop the wheel of chaos. All callings are individual.  All callings are supported when they ask us to show up in our true purpose to engage as active participants in creating positive, exciting and transformational change.

Rumi said, “Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you.  Unfold your own myth.”

Here’s to the year 2012 and to the better story you are destined to tell.