Power is building throughout ourworld. The age-old choice is upon us once again. Do we establish a new world order based on integrity and our goodness or do we collapse under the pressures of aggression and destruction? Do we use our power to threaten and control in the name of protection or do we use it to develop our capacity to build peace? Like many of you, I live in a funny juxtaposition. My personal world is magical. The dance of Light and Dark move through me daily, bringing me ever closer to my Higher Self. I live in a land of plenty, with all of my needs met, surrounded by beauty and love. I feel the building of accelerated consciousness as never before. In contrast, the projections of the world look dark, as the old hierarchies are also building power, the power to destroy under the guise of security. I witness both the light and dark sides busy at work. We must not leave our fate in the hands of the old authority matrix. Our challenge now is to discover a new voice of authority that comes from the acknowledgement of our personal responsibility and our connection to our Higher Self.

To live in wholeness demands that we bring truth and clarity to every situation, owning our deeper motives.

Are we able to tell the truth and take action on what we know to be right? My heart tells me that we are in critical decision-making times and that each of us must decide the world in which we wish to live. In the past, we have looked through the eyes of our wounded ego. If we want real peace, we have to look with new eyes beyond the power struggle and our fears. We must be willing to overhaul our addiction to struggle and conflict. The increase of darkness that we are witnessing requires the building of the power of Light. Our love is needed now more than ever before. If you ever felt you were being prepared by Spirit to do the work, now is the time for clear deliberation and right action. Whatever your course of action, it is imperative that it come from your heart.

Wise thinkers remind us that the strength and clarity of the question brings the power of the answer.

We must search for the right questions to ask in order to discover our next steps. Questions such as: What does my vision show me and am I ready to truly trust my light? What is my responsibility to my spirit and to the empowerment of peace? As we ask these questions from our hearts, not only do we gain insight; our heart provides the focus to form the answer into a solution. Ask these questions to the higher self and follow the strength of the answer.

It takes tremendous courage to ask real questions, which is exactly what we must do at this time.

What is our responsibility to our Higher Self? How can we discover and utilize our spiritual gifts? What does peace feel like in our hearts? How can we share the peace in our hearts with the world? As we ask these questions, opportunities will arise to help us explore the answers.

As with any spiritual quest, when we pose a situation to the Higher Self, it opens a pathway of consciousness directly into the heart.

Since the heart is both the receiver and transmitter, its purity is essential to the clarity of the message. The tremendous purification and accelerated growth we are experiencing is asking us to go beyond hurt and establish awareness in the heart while staying connected to the Higher Self. I feel constant encouragement these days from my Higher Self, insisting that I build power, accept my strengths and weaknesses and develop my integrity. Our old patterns of hurt only have the ability to re-experience themselves. The wounded ego does not have the power to believe that love is possible. Its ignorance places a block to the answer. As I face these old patterns and automatic reactions, new awareness brings new choices. As my spirit matures, the hurt spaces heal. I feel more empowered and able to hold the feeling and the energetic space of peace and compassion.

As we hear the answer to our questions, we must notice the difference between ego evaluations and the voice of our spirit.

The ability to distinguish between wounded ego and spirit is essential. Spirit is neutral, compassionate and empowering. The injured ego statements are fixed, often fatalistic and driven by fear and hidden agendas. If our decisions in life are coming from the wounded ego, we are bound to suffering.

While the primary goal of our personality is to feel safe and secure, our spirit’s job is to claim ultimate freedom and authority.

If we really listen to the stories we tell, it is easy to recognize where we are coming from. The first step in awakening is to claim our spirit over our painful memories of self. Practice breathing into the heart space. The true mechanism of faith is the willingness to believe in something that our conditioned mind cannot accept as real.

We are not out to destroy the ego. Rather our focus is to build a healthy ego that radiates wholeness, vitality and clear vision. The mind serves the heart, holding a focus of love and a listening ear to the Higher Self. Be aware of any weakness in the personality and learn to lead from strength. We have to be careful not to judge and punish our self, accepting that we are on a learning curve, developing healthy thoughts and appropriate actions. The places that have felt stuck and helpless are places where our personality has never learned the correct approach. Rather than cutting off and judging ourselves, we need to remember to use a warm healing touch to nurture ignorance into a new state of awareness.

The lesson is personal empowerment; there is no ‘out there’ to save us.

As we heal the polarities within ourselves, we demonstrate that love truly does have the power to heal. The greatest contribution to make now is to radiate this power of peace from our hearts and do our own work.

The nature of the heart center is balance. It embraces the light and dark sides of our personality with compassion. Heart wisdom encourages us to learn from our mistakes and accept our imperfections. This ability to integrate both the plight of our personal ego and our universal connection is the mastery of the heart center.

Never underestimate the power of pure love. We know when we are in the heart because our mind becomes quiet and we see the bigger picture. Our personal story becomes less important and we deeply feel the condition of all concerned. When we are centered in the wisdom of our heart, we feel strength in our words and the power of our convictions.

The Higher Self will outlive any crisis.

In every era, inspired beings such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa, to name a few, found their voice of Truth and used the oppression and pressures of their day to establish themselves in goodness and integrity. They used their hearts as a tool to build lasting peace. In this time, we must not look for one exalted person to step out for all. Each of us must accept the responsibility of finding the truth of our hearts and learn to stand in unity, with a deep connection with Spirit. As we concentrate on compassion, generosity, and mercy, this empowerment will radiate from our spirit, simply and clearly as a voice of Love and Truth beyond words.

This time of creative process allows our understanding to develop into true wisdom. Use every situation as a practice ground, connecting the heart with the greater empowerment of the Spirit. In this way, we will claim that love rules over fear and truth liberates through faith. This is not an easy time we live in, but the outcome will be worth all our efforts.

It is our personal destiny to be here in this time of history. We encourage you to live each day to the fullest and find happiness in simple things. Keep giving with all your heart . The light we are building now holds the solution and as we live it, our heart generates peace and new beginnings.