The free telesession on December 16th, which featured Georgia Dow as our guest speaker was amazing. The topic, “What Does It Mean To Be Your Authentic Self?” proved to be a rich arena for exploration. One of Georgia’s first questions was “why do you want to become authentic?”

Hmm . . . good question!

For me, my belief was that when I am operating as my authentic self I am in alignment with my Source; I am centered in the present moment and living my life On Purpose in a joyful, struggle-free way.

What I learned from Georgia is that, yes, that has truth . . . and there is so much more. There are many layers and levels of authenticity. It is way more than “telling the truth” in every situation. My aha! was that being my Authentic Self has as much (if not more) to do with my relationship with myself as it does with my relationship with other people.

As I was editing out the extraneous bits of background noise from the call recording, it was as if I was listening to the call for the first time. The “light bulb moments” just kept coming! Its was like my concept of what it means to be my Authentic Self was a black and white photo that morphed into brilliant color right before my eyes!

BOTTOM LINE: Rather than go on and on about what I learned, it seems more useful to give you a chance to hear the call yourself. It is approximately 60 minutes long so you might want to burn a CD or download it to your iPod so you can listen to it on the run. And I guarantee if becoming your authentic self is of interest to you, you will want to listen to this more than once. I know I will.

For the entire call:

TIP: Let your holiday interactions with friends, family and the general public be an opportunity to pay attention to what is true for you. No judgment. Just notice how you feel about what you are doing and who you are with. Awareness is a basic element of becoming your Authentic Self.

P.S. If you’d like to contact Georgia, go to www.GeorgiaDow.com.

P.P.S. Have a Blessed Holiday and a Happy New Year!

The big topic of discussion among my friends who are tuned into the spiritual implications of the current financial meltdown is how important it is to remain a steady “pillar of light” as humanity experiences the labor pains and birth trauma of entering the new paradigm.

Whether it has been the predictions of Nostradamus, or the speculations surrounding the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, or other sources I am not aware of, there has been a general consensus that we are on the brink of entering a new golden age. The “rub” is that the structures of the old paradigm must first collapse in order for the new to arise. What the ultimate collapse will look like no one knows, but it is pretty clear we are in the throes of it right now.

Interestingly, my peers in the spiritual community, each with their different perspectives have one thing in common, and that is the determination to not let fear take over, but to be prepared to help people make the transition from fear of lose to seeing the freedom the new will offer.

So . . . with that in mind, I want to share with you some ideas that came to me this week when I was bringing a few friends up to date on the imminent “virtual” Grand Opening of the Spiritual Growth Community on December 29th.

I was telling them that I had to agree with Thomas Edison who said that his inventions were 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration! It has been more than a year since I first visioned the online Spiritual Growth Community (and 3 months past my intended launch date).

In implementing the vision I have learned more than you can imagine about commerce on the internet. In this process I “saw” how internet commerce is the wave of the future. I “saw” how it will level the playing field for people making a living. No longer will it be the educational degrees you have, or your good looks, or who you know, or your age, or your physical condition, or where you live that play a role in getting a “good job” (meaning one that pays well).

No.

In internet commerce the only thing that matters is that you have something for sale that people want and are willing to pay for (online with a credit card and the money is deposited directly to your bank account . . . nice, huh?).

I could “see” how people all over the world could be liberated from either low paying jobs, or 8 to 5 regimented work, or not having a job at all, or mothers having to leave their babies at six weeks old to go back to work, or . . . you name it . . . fill in the blank of how working to make a living interferes with joyful, struggle-free living!

I could “see” how one good idea, translated into a low cost downloadable information product made available to the 6 billion people on the planet would allow people to make a living doing what they love, sharing what they know, being profitable, all the while having a life that has more joy and less struggle.

Instead of a “trickle down” economy, we will have a “circulate around” economy with prosperity for all.

Now if this sounds too Pollyanna, I am the first to admit that the distance between vision and implementation is no walk in the park. There are new things to learn, failures to correct, marketing missteps, and the most important . . . a change in how we think (also known as a shift in consciousness). So?

Working 8 to 5 for someone else, taking orders from upper management that is disconnected from day-to-day operations, being at the effect of layoffs, mergers, downsizing and outsourcing, and believing that there is security in working for someone else, and then . . . poof! . . . no more job . . . is  no picnic either!

What has this got to do with Spiritual Growth?

Everything.

As you evolve into being your Authentic Self, and living On Purpose, you are increasingly aware of when you are On Purpose and when you are not. You increasingly understand that the state of your consciousness (how you think) is the cause of what happens in your outer life. In order to live an inner-directed life you need the freedom to follow your heart, to have the time to frequently tune into your Source to hear the whispers of guidance and inspiration. The more you are operating as your Authentic Self the more difficult it becomes to function with integrity (where the outer matches the inner) when your work life is centered around meeting demands of outside authorities.

So back to the financial meltdown and the looming massive job losses. What we are going through is a transition to something new. Things will never get back to “normal.” Every system is going to be rebuilt from the ground up—healthcare, education, government, business, finance, transportation . . . you name it. This is the golden opportunity for people to reconnect with their passion that may have been set aside early on to get a “good job” and start making a living doing what they love.

Here is something else I have learned. Everyday life is becoming more complex. No one can know everything about everything. Who can fix their own car these days? And their computer? And prepare their own tax returns? And produce home-cooked meals everyday? And create a website? And create a comprehensive, effective exercise program? And, and , and . . . The point is there are so many things that need to be done that are too complex, or too time consuming to figure out that we can no longer rely only on ourselves to do it all. The wave of the future is to have a team of people and a range of services to draw on from time to time to handle essential things for us. Each of needs a team, and each of us is needed as someone else’s team. How business is being done is changing at warp speed. As in any evolutionary leap, those who adapt will thrive, those who don’t . . . well they might survive, but there won’t be much thriving going on.

BOTTOM LINE: While there will most likely be businesses in the future that employ others, for those on a spiritual path who want the freedom of self employment the opportunities are definitely here. Whether it is information that can be sold on the internet, or a service that can be provided in person, each of us has a gift that can be developed to create a niche of service that utilizes our gifts and our passions and provides us with prosperity.

TIP: Unless you are ecstatically happy with what you do every day, (in which case, high 5 to you!) know that this tumultuous change we are experiencing is your opportunity to re-invent how you make a living in a way that supports you having more joy and less struggle in your life. Begin by asking yourself the question: “If I could spend my days doing anything I wanted, and money were no object, what would that be?” That is the hardest part . . . knowing what you want. The second hardest thing is changing your thinking from being outer-directed to being inner-directed, and increasingly developing the skill of hearing (and trusting) your guidance. Once you know what your want, and stay connected to your guidance, the Universe will fall all over itself to bring to you what you focus on.

P.S. My friend, Patrice Noli, an international channel since the 1980s, says “If you don’t know what you want, the Universe gives you leftovers!” Ugh, don’t let that happen to you.

P.P.S. Only entertain thoughts that support the success of your ideas. Do not allow yourself to ponder why an idea will not work. “What you think about, you bring about!” (Another of Patrice’s sayings!)

For those of you who read my book, Becoming Conscious: One Woman’s Story of Spiritual Awakening, published in February, 2006, you may remember in Chapter 26, titled “Discovering the Path to the Higher Mind” where I shared my insight about how we are living in the midst of a huge evolutionary leap.  So I was really pleased to have my insight validated by a respected business writer, Daniel Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.

While I was focused on the end result of how we would process information differently when we were operating from our higher mind, Daniel Pink gives a logical, business explanation of why our survival depends on making the leap from lower mind rational thinking to higher mind conceptual thinking. He points out that with the increasing population of educated people in countries like India and China who are able to do the work of $70,000 a year US employees for $15,000 a year, jobs that are formulaic and based on logic, like computer programming, accounting, law, etc. ,  are leaving the US.

So it seems that spiritual growth (expanding consciousness) is going to be a necessary experience for people who want to be employable in the future. The high paying jobs left in the US will be for people who can think creatively and that means retooling our educational system to strengthen the right brain creative capabilities through music, art, etc. . . things that are conceptual rather than logical. It means giving value and importance to our “non-physical” nature (our spiritual nature).

It is so exciting to be living in the midst of so much change as we move into a time of more freedom to be fully who we truly are, our Authentic Selves.

Bottom line: The lower mind is restricted to logical thinking and performs analytically. It sorts through elements and discards what doesn’t fit. Where the lower mind analyzes, the higher mind synthesizes information gathered from rational thinking along with information gathered from feelings, emotions,  physical sensations, and intuition.  The result is being able to make decisions in the moment that serve the highest good of all.  Instead of a “majority rules” mentality, the precept is “let’s get everybody’s needs met with no need for anyone to sacrifice.”

I’d like to hear from you. If you are in a career that is impacted by outsourcing what have you thought of doing to transition into a new form of livelihood? Here is a hint: this is a fantastic time to reconnect with what you love to do and find a way to make a living that incorporates that passion using current technology like the internet.