Blank Slate 2013

Personally, I don't know anyone who thought the world was going to end in December 2012, when the Mayan calendar did. I'm not sure if anyone really believed this, or if it was just a fun idea to repeat in the media.

I did know a lot of people who thought the world was going to transform in some fundamental way. And perhaps on some level it did - if through no other mechanism than the focus of millions of people on preparing for and being ready to participate in that shift.

Sunrise image by Wing-Chi Poon

But we can also look out the window today, and see that the world goes on. The sun rises; weather happens; we have work to do, families to love, friends to see. We may have personal struggles and dramas that are still with us. Politics and economics are still happening; I hear we went over the fiscal cliff, but that there's a plan in place to more or less fix things in a couple days.

And yet, there's something different. Now that we're through the New Year, we no longer have "the end of 2012" to look forward to, either in fear or in hope. What do we have now? A blank slate. We had a thousand voices telling us what 2012 was going to mean, and what our various crises and arising spiritual movements had to do with it, but who said anything about 2013? There's information, but there isn't an expectation in the collective consciousness that it's going to be this or that.

Great! We get to make it up as we go!

And now that there's nothing we're waiting for, we can return to what we know. We know we have problems, and we know we're creative enough to find the solutions. We always have. We know that we make more progress if we roll up our sleeves and get to work than if we lose ourselves in distraction. We know that ultimately, whether or not we're being helped by angels or Jesus or lightworkers from the Pleiades, the work of making this world right, of making this garden grow, is up to us.

Let's lose the millennial distractions, and recommit to the long, slow, uncertain process of cultivating our own lives, our relationships, and our communities. Let's keep our vision with the long-term goals, and our hands focused on the practical work in front of us. Let's have faith that our day to day commitment will bring us to where we want to go, even if we have difficulty imagining the whole road that will take us there.

It's up to us. Let's create a 2013 that we can be proud of - not for the grand accomplishments, but for the structure and dedication that paves the way for true advance.

Happy New Year.