Today is Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. We’re here. We made it – some of us against formidable odds – to a new year. But not just any new year; this is the new year of popular western culture, fabled and fantasized about like no other year in recent memory. Not even the famed Y2K, with its computer-failure mythology, really comes close to the anticipation and expectation piled onto 2012.
So, um, now what?
Don’t answer that.
Really – I mean it. Resist the temptation to fill in the blank of what this year will be / must be / can be / ought to be. I’m not saying you shouldn’t set intentions or hold a vision or outline steps toward your goals in life. Rather, in the wake (really, still the midst) of apocalyptic doom saying and great-awakening prophesying about 2012, we might do well to hold the middle ground of a third option. It just happens that third option is to surrender to not knowing.
Accepting that we don’t know can be hard enough with mundane things like whether or not the person we just called to ask on a date will call back. What do we do with bigger mysteries if we don’t busy ourselves creating stories or consuming stories or weighing conflicting theories? Can we hold space for this span of time that has been so over-hyped, without panicking? What do we do if we don’t rush to fill the void in our understanding as a means of staving off fear? It’s true enough that nature abhors a vacuum. But is living with a mystery like “what is 2012” really a vacuum?
There is a famous bumper sticker I’m sure you’ve seen: “Minds are like parachutes; they only function when open.” The same could be said for hearts. That gives an image and ideal for what it might be like to stay open and mindful about 2012. It’s less like a vacuum and more like letting the year unfold in whatever way that allows for our own best functioning. And that includes living with mystery each moment as we go from one to the next, and from one major astrological event to the next.
Speaking of astrology (since this is an astrology blog): astrologers don’t know what 2012 is or means, either. Sure, Eric and the rest can look at the charts, see some amazing, rare and powerful events, and then interpret the symbols and energy. Astrology can show us some signposts and indicate possible narratives. But done ethically, it’s more like a weather forecast than a prediction or gospel or prophecy.
If the meteorologist says a low-pressure front is coming through, you know to bring your umbrella with you. You know it might sprinkle or pour, or simply be overcast with no precipitation. But the weatherman can’t tell you that your windshield wipers will fail on the commute to work, forcing you to drive extra-slowly, which will then allow you to stop safely instead of hydroplaning when the car ahead of you cuts across your lane on the highway – and that you will learn a lesson about keeping your car in good repair, as well as change your driving habits in the rain from then on. No one could possibly know.
We’re fond of projecting all kinds of things onto a new year, for all kinds of reasons. If we feel like the last year has been hard, we want to wash our hands of it and convince ourselves that the new year will be better, because it has to be, we want it to be, our morale needs it to be. If the last year has been predominantly positive for us, it can feel like the momentum will just continue, that the world is our oyster and that no matter what crops up, we’ll be facing it from a place of strength. Neither of those approaches is wrong or bad, and the law of attraction suggests that, overall, they’re good approaches. But right now, with so many things creating so much pressure on us – psychic, economic, social, technological, emotional – let’s stop and take a breath.
We can afford to give the meaning of 2012 some space. Most people talking about ‘what is 2012’ are not Mayan scholars, and neither am I. The Mayans apparently tracked time in a much less linear and restrictive way than we do, giving space for coinciding cycles that are rather mysterious. We’re in a phase significant to those cycles without a clue to what is signified. Can we allow mystery to be its own form of presence, rather than an absence – something that gives us room to actually grow? Let’s live with the mystery of 2012 for a while, knowing that the more we can hold that space open for this to unfold and become itself, the better it – and we – are likely to function.
Yours & truly,
Amanda Painter
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Jannkinz “Amanda and Eric, and all of PW – writers, contributors, astrologers, ->philosopers,<- bloggers – the whole community… "
You left out a letter! It's 'philosoapers’ [trans: ‘soap-lovers’].
Right, Patty?
Bathy New Year…
*8D
M
I read this lovely piece earlier today Amanda and nodded in agreement at your sage advice to hold the space and allow this year to unfold, no matter the hype or the expectations we have of it. I let my day work forward from that premise and I feel good about that as I write this entry. One day at a time with that attitude and perspective and I hope to string them all together and make it a good year. Many thanks!
Ah Amanda….very well written.
Speaking of time; I have been saying to everyone around me that I value time more than money. I keep saying that I can always go out and make more money but what time I have on this earth is a finite amount and not to be squandered on “making money” for the sake of the money itself.
This is why I chose not to begin the Master’s program at the university. This means giving up around $12000 of student loan money (per year) to live off of (and help support my family or save for needful times) in order to spend more time mothering and teaching my homeschooled son. This means a pinch in our finances but all the kids (both the grown ones and the not grown ones) have begged me to not start up again but instead spend some time with my son.
So I embark on this change in how I use my time and right now, it will be an adjustment because this will be a slower way of using time that I am not used to. Five years on the school treadmill have made me stressed and feeling like I should be DOING something all the time. Now I will slow down and be interacting with a boy who is 9, soon to be 10. I am already looking forward to that.
So I see 2012 as the year I use time differently; the year I spend my valuable time on my son and the rest of my family. This shift also forces me to trust the Universe to take care of us in a sense because instead of having some extra money (in case) we will be just able to meet our expenses. It was going to be the first year we could actually put back some money (in savings) because Dave is finally making enough money at his teaching job to pay the living expenses.
Extended family members have said I am crazy to stop school just when we could finally save the money but I had to do it because my son’s education has been lacking and the family needs me (especially my son because he is still young). What is having extra money compared to my son’s needs? There is no contest at all; he comes first.
Amanda – thank you, this is a wonderful piece. Kind of a pep talk in a way, one that highlights the ambiguity of it all, but in a positive way. Kind of like “Yes, we have no bananas today” {classical reference there}, but maybe tomorrow we will. Then we will make banana smoothies and banana bread… 😉
But seriously, I’m in a good mood today, I was yesterday, and most likely tomorrow I will be. Even my students today were in a good mood for the most part (it was not a holiday for us!), with the barest minimum, pro forma grouching going on. Of course, they’re still at school, I’m not!
thanks all — but especially gratitude to eric for the conversations that helped to guide and form this post for today. he proposed an idea, and i took it where i could.
i particularly appreciate the remarks about time… how we view it in terms of economics and how that shapes our relationship to it; the idea of taking baby steps to continually balance and re-balance how time is allotted in our lives; and what time can do to plans and expectations as we move through it.
so glad you all show up here!
Amanda, I appreciate the wisdom in your words.
And Maeve, too, I think “gentle” would be the perfect antidote for my 2011.
You all seem to be in good spirits today and that’s a good start to any year. Open minds and open hearts; couldn’t agree more. Janet talks about time and it does seem we get pretty inflexible about how it is parcelled out. I think/ feel like time is the new money. Sometimes. If I had a resolution for the new year, it would be to work at being more balanced with how I spend my time. I don’t mean balanced as in equal portions, but more like divided as to my own needs. It is a recipe, you know? Does it need more salt or does it have too much sugar?
I have a need for solitude and a need for companionship. They aren’t equal in measure. I have a need for time to do housework and and time to be free of responsibilities. That seems to be way out of balance. What about time we give to others compared to the time just for ourselves. What do we do with that time? Janet is right, it’s a never-ending battle.
Perhaps we need to look at our personal values to see how they determine our use of time. We are beholden to our families, our jobs, our friends, our communities, our spirituality, and not necessarily in that order. We are also duty-bound to the care of our bodies and minds. Not necesarily in that order. The time has come to become conscious of ” who and/or what” gets “how much” of our time and does it need to change? Have our priorities changed?
Like our money, there seems to be less and less time available to get it all done. As long as we are still under the law of linear time, we need to use it to our best advantage. Balance is still my goal or resolution, but it must also allow for the ever changing demands on my time. Unforeseen circumstances can cause a change in plans regarding time and money, therefore flexibility and forgiveness must be part of the balancing. It isn’t easy to change anything about your life when others are depending on your staying the same. Adjustments can be made though, incrementally would be my suggestion. Assessing your own needs, and then, like a budget for the paycheck, allow what time is needed where, but put your own needs front and center.
No, it’s not all about “me”, but me is part of the equation. Put your values in an order that works for you. Then practice taking baby steps toward changing what needs to be brought into balance. It’s a big theme of the mythology of 2012, and change can be good, especially if it is your decision and your choice. It’s a Uranus in Aries kind of thing.
be
Excellent Amanda! Thanks for the reminder.
And ya – what Len and Alexander said! 🙂
Amanda,
Thank for artfully coalescing the thoughts of many into a cogent theme that we can carry with us on this Monday of Mondays. Also, what Alexander said.
Bravo!
… that should carry the whole mountain of my feelings about the post, amanda…
🙂
love/b.
I’m really glad that you mention that the Mayans, perhaps, dealt with time in a wholly different way than we westerners in the 21st century deal with time. It’s interesting that we think we can understand this culture and its meaning by looking at its calendar when we can’t even understand other contemporary cultures that are using the same clock that we are. We see time as linear and quantifiable. Our language around time is economic, we save, lose, spend, invest, waste time in a never ending battle with it. We are all familiar with the elusiveness of time as well, the moments that seem to last forever and the years that fly by but we insist on our imposed measure (and imposing that measure) because that’s simply how our modern world works. If we want to participate in this world we must adhere to this time-table that we have created. But that doesn’t negate the unquantifiable time, because that time, that other time, is what makes this life worth living. Astrology is a different kind of time-table but one that gives us a glimpse, if only momentarily, that we indeed live on a plant, revolving around a sun, on the out skirts of a vast universe, that is hanging in an incomprehensible space. In a world that the new is old the second it is thought we must take a kind of solace in this ancient Mayan technology. It would be great if we could just dwell on the wonder of human ingenuity instead of imposing our nano-second hype and thrill of disaster to this archive of the speculation of time.
Let me clarify, with more GOOD health. 🙂
To be honest, it hadn’t even occurred to me that 2012 needed to be anything other than 2012. I am hoping for a gentler year, with more health, healing and happiness. But that’s about all I’m pinning on it.
However, with all the rest of creation freaking out about 2012, I suppose it serves to be aware of just that. Everyone else will be spinning so much into “omg, it’s 2012!” that it may well create its own… something.
Inspired by Susyc, a new mantram for me could be “Open all my senses to all around me without judgment, without fear.”
Amanda and Eric, and all of PW – writers, contributors, astrologers, philosopers, bloggers – the whole community: a humble thank you for the companionship on this journey, in this time and space. Blessings to all.
JannKinz
PS: Oh, yeah, just got a “present present”: today really is a legal holiday – banks, post offices, governments closed. Ooo rah! See Eric’s 1999 revolutions: do what I want for an entire day when I thought I should be “working.”
Every time plans are made based on something that has a risk of not manifesting, and more plans are made based on the success of the first step – chances are… the outcome isn’t going to look like the picture in the magazine. If a long term goal is visualized, and roads are taken from the options available to steer the way in that direction… with a timeframe that needs to expand and contract with each option taken towards that goal….. where was I going with this ? Darn you, Mercury ! *shakes fist 😉
Beautifully said, Amanda, and so in keeping with the themes I have been feeling. Being awake. Being present. Living as fully as ever. We are creating each and every nano second. Give to it everything you’ve got!
Hey Amanda, I totally agree with this view.
Thank you, and thanks to all the PW creators for your amazing work.
Happy 2012, for easy and joyful transmutations.
You stepped into your power! Keep doing that in 2012 😉
Love this one Amanda; my most recent mantras are, “I wonder what’s going to happen,” and “I guess we’ll see what happens,” with a sense of excitement, (is excitement equal parts of fear and joy?), and a fairly new but strangely secure sense of confidence in my ability to hang ten and ride those waves. I know a lot of that comes from your work and that of your team and I thank you. I like it that I don’t feel a need to orchestrate anything over the wants and needs of those involved and that I am willing to ask for help and advice. I gravitate toward positive projections of the future and I keep my eyes open for positive developments out of negative events. One of the prayers I used to always pray was for God to open my eyes to His hand at work in the world about me. Long ago, those days when I prayed it consistently, I did see the the potential for ‘positive developments out of negative events.’ That’s starting to happen again for me. Judging events as positive or negative is a subjective affair, but I am renewing my old faith that there is nothing on this plane of existence that cannot be redeemed and transformed by the infinitely loving hand of my Creator whether I can see it or not. Blessings, redemption and transformations be upon us all in the loving gift of this new year.