“True security comes not from clinging to the known and predictable                                       but from trusting the process of life, welcoming change and growth at all times.”

                       ~ Read on the back of a motorhome

 

 

One of the most frequently asked questions between travelers is, “Where are you from?” This simple query leaves me honestly stumped for a reply. At times I try some smart answer, such as looking up at the stars and musing, “I can’t quite remember…”

Finally though, I am required to give the standard and lengthy explanation, “I was brought up in numerous countries, none of which felt like home, so it was easy for me to keep on moving. I have been traveling, never really settling in anywhere, for the past 25 years.”

I gathered many puzzle pieces on that long and winding road, and the picture that they form gives me a lot of trust in the wondrous process of Life. The book you are now holding in your hands is a summary of my journeys and where they have brought me to. Here is the essence of the experiences made, the awareness gained and the truly inspiring information discovered along the way.

Life bombards each of us with all the opportunities we need, to experience, to grow, and to fulfill our dreams. I feel fortunate to have had, without great funds, an unusual and varied life. One could call it lucky, for although my life was not necessarily easy I was, at least in some ways, free. I have lived for the last quarter century now with no alarm clock, no fixed schedule, and no socks.

You may imagine that a traveling life has more than its share of fun and freedom. It certainly has more than its share of changes, chances and challenges! I can promise you, as a professional nomad, it isn’t all calm waters, apple pie and cherry blossoms! Perhaps you can benefit from the insights it has given me, without having to spend days organizing trips, nights waiting at airports for delayed flights, or years living out of travel bags.

Take this book as a kind of shortcut, if you like. It saves you time, money and agro. See it as a package deal, no strings attached. You get, from the comfort of your armchair, a lifetime of hard earned experience and information, plus entertainment on top, all boiled down and conveniently packed in book format, to digest at your leisure. You get the gemstones without the digging, and the benefits without the heartaches. I’m sure you have had enough of your own! As you wander through these pages you may recognize parts of my journey as similar to yours. You will likely find some confirmation of your own feelings, and perhaps some reminders of who we are and what we came here for.

Our life stories, however different from each other, have led us all to a similar place in life. We have lived and loved, lost and learned; we are looking within, and looking out, wondering what the future holds in store. It is no coincidence that we are all on the planet at this time. None of us got here by mistake. Many of us are aware of a change in the air, of an increase in speed, and that these unsettling times hold great promise.

A lifetime of traveling has obliged me to be responsible and discerning, to be accepting and adaptable, to let go and to trust. I share here the trials and triumphs of my journey that transformed my outlook on life; how traveling pushed me to expand, and compassion opened me to love. I share my confidence and my vision, the result of my lifelong enquiry into the beyond. And I offer the knowledge and insights that can open our minds and empower our hearts for the road ahead.

From the moment I set pen to paper this book threatened to explode into a multidimensional affair! It has taken my constant focus and the combined efforts of my family and friends to hold it down, grappling to keep it in some manageable format. Following the laws of our expanding universe, it just kept on expanding!

This was, precisely, why I hadn’t attempted it earlier, despite the frequent insistence of others that I really should write a book. I had plenty of counter arguments for why I shouldn’t. I type with two fingers. I abhor computer work, sitting at a desk, pressure, decisions and deadlines. I felt that, with so many billions of people on the planet, surely I could worm my way out of it.

So I would respond with any number of lame excuses. “Why me?” was a common one. “I have no time” was perhaps the most pathetic. And “Maybe in 2013” was one of my favorites but, admittedly, really defied the point! Eventually though, someone who commanded consideration found me, pinned me down, and said “Yes. You. Now. Siriusly[1].”

Gulp. “It’s not about hearing what you want to hear,” my partner had wisely said, “It’s about hearing what comes to you.”

We were staying at a recording studio complex at the time and upstairs “The Musical Nomads” were relentlessly rehearsing a catchy tune. Only the chorus came through the ceiling, again and again and again… It was a real ear worm:

“There’s always a word that needs to be heard,
There’s always a story to tell and I hope you will share it
There’s always an ear that wants to hear
It’s a brand new day.”

“Okay, okay,” I resigned, “I do get the hint!”

I knew better, by then, than to argue with destiny. It is bigger than we are. Having turned down numerous signposts in life there are some messages you just can’t ignore. Whether we feel up to the task at hand or not, life always knows when we are ready.

This epic story is not so much about my own travels as it is about that awesome journey we all embarked upon when we enrolled into life on this planet: our collective journey through sorrow, struggle and victimhood, to seeing that the world simply mirrors the accumulated pain our souls brought to heal. We came to realize that we actually create our own reality and that the hurt we attract is a reflection of our own unloved shadows. It is through understanding, acceptance, and compassion, by opening our hearts to embrace all we are, that we open the door to a new world.

What we see around us is the world we have created, the world that mirrors all that we believe. It is the world we are now changing, simply by expanding ourselves. For humankind has always strived to reach further ~ it is written in our genes and in our souls.

We are now rapidly discovering how much more we, and our lives, can be. We are beginning to understand the energetic laws that govern our world, the degree of interconnectivity and the power of our own influence. We are just beginning to glimpse our human and planetary potential. We are being offered an unparalleled chance to recreate our world reality, to go to a totally new level of awareness, a new level of existence, which is beyond victimhood, abuse and suffering. It is already in the making.

~

My experiences from life on the road greatly broadened my perspective of people and the planet. They led me from intolerance to acceptance, from judgment to compassion and from insecurity to trust. They guided me from worry to peace of mind, and from hurt to understanding, gratitude and self love ~ a never ending road. While others keep reminding me that my life has been far from the norm, I have never felt that I have done anything exceptional or extraordinary. I am simply being led, as we all are, through a great journey of remembering; motivated, as we all are, by the innate search for peace, happiness and love.

Between the covers of this book I have brought together many facets of humanity’s growing awareness. I am not pretending to know the whole truth, or your truth. I am simply painting the pictures that make sense to me, which have given my life clarity, direction and greater peace. Perhaps you will find some pictures that suit you, or use the colors I provide to make your own.

Amongst other material I share my experience of the law of attraction, my understanding of the role of suffering, and the keys to dropping victimhood. I describe my openings to unconditional love, and instances of finding myself “in the gap” ~ the timeless zone between our thoughts ~ and some portals that take us there. I speak too of the changing ages and how they affect our daily lives. I describe “the Quickening” foreseen by the Maya thousands of years ago. I give numerous examples of the interconnected nature of our world and of our multidimensional existence. And I portray my discoveries of my energetic being and the energy world: that which lies beyond, or rather within, our physical reality.

Now if some of these concepts are new to you, don’t worry. Some were new to me until recently and indeed to most of us. This knowledge is part of the awakening of the human race from its unconsciousness. We are like kids with a new toy, figuring out how our world really works. Many of us can feel an undercurrent of change on our planet and that something extraordinary is in the making. It is a most wonderful time to be alive!

Indeed, Earth and its inhabitants are undergoing a boost in evolution. Old issues are being forced out and new information is coming in fast and furious. Our personalities, relationships and beliefs are changing rapidly, being both dissolved and expanded. Everything that is unloved is being pushed to the surface.

Many have found themselves in the last years going through a zone of turbulence, feeling out of balance or plainly unhappy. Many may feel insecure as the media threatens us with stormy waters ahead. The planet is expressing our instability. Knowing what we are going through, and where we are headed, encourages us on our way and makes the bumpy journey a lot smoother. Looking around for clues, fulfillment and peace of mind, we find ourselves beautifully supported by all those who have cared to share their knowledge. And as we open the door to welcome it, we open the door to our own inner wisdom.

Now there is plenty of far-reaching information available these days and I must admit I love that and I will get into some of it in the latter chapters. But I have met plenty of people on my travels who were pretty advanced in some areas but not so very steady on their feet. Western civilization tends to encourage our intellect but ignore our emotional base. And it is tempting, for sure, to take refuge in our “higher” parts. Yet I have found it to be most essential, before we climb too high, to check out our basement first. Life is speeding up technologically, intellectually, biologically and energetically. To prepare and steady ourselves emotionally we need a solid foundation: a strong core of self worth and deep seated trust.

Traveling has shown me how grounded the more intuitive races on the planet are. They have largely retained their intrinsic connection ~ to themselves, each other, and the planet we live on. Many have a distinct softness which portrays this centeredness. This quality is essential in these times. We need not learn it but simply uncover it within ourselves. Where will we find it? It lies in every human heart. To grow in love, to deepen this sacred connection, is the one reason we are all, all together, on this planet. We are all here to heal our hurts and our hearts, in preparation for, and participating in, a great shift ahead.

Any reluctance to embrace the future comes from the hurt and fear we still carry ~ due to not realizing that life has always been, and will always be, our friend. Hence, more conceptual information can hardly help us, until we have regained trust in ourselves and in the loving process of Life. Eventually, through linking the pieces together and understanding our pasts, we come to see the interactive nature of our world, and how everything is geared towards our individual and global evolution.

Whoever we are, wherever we live, we are all driven by one single motivating factor: our search for happiness. And this search, this irresistible lure, brings us again and again to look at ourselves as the source of our own reality. Thus life rather cleverly leads us from trying to figure out, “So what went wrong this time?” to our own self-discovery and our own expansion. The greatest relief is when we finally realize that nothing ever went wrong. Every experience, enjoyable or not, brought us one step further on our way. This lifetime is a journey of awakening, a journey of expansion and refinement; a journey from separation to oneness.

There are three words you are going to find repeatedly throughout these pages: life, experience, and journey. There are just no other words that portray their core meaning. This is rather symbolic, because there really is no substitute for this human life, our experiences, and our journeys.

We are a truly wonderful species, trying bravely since eons, through trial and error, to make sense of the game. And after some dead ends, some U turns and some one way streets, we are finally finding our way out of the maze, without any guide book but the human heart.

 

∞

We cannot deny that change and growth are an inevitable part of our human existence. Yet many have had more than enough of being told how we can endlessly improve ourselves, enough of fighting with their demons. The idea that we are hiding bad traits and monsters makes most of us not want to look within!

What if the answer to finding peace in life lies not in a wearisome class focused on improving one’s character, but rather in full acceptance of who we already are? There are no faults in the design. Both our egos and our minds have been vital tools in our evolution, isolating us from each other and from our whole selves, encouraging our individual development as living seeds. Similarly, the strife we endured also played its role in bringing us to where we are now:  mature human beings ready for the next step in our collective evolution. This step is nothing less than the flowering of the human soul.

So it is not about improving who we are; it’s about finding who we are, and being more than just okay with it: loving it. It’s about our own self discovery, our own reunion with ourselves, and our return to wholeness. We need to air our love here; to see that we are, and always have been, okay. It is only our own judgment, and that of society, our mirror, that has split us.

Therefore it is now only with self love that we can really face our shadow parts without condemning, and thus dividing, ourselves further. And as we look around with newly found compassion, we find that within each of us lies no wrongdoer, but rather a split and hurt soul protecting itself from anticipated pain.

Through complete acceptance of ourselves, others and the world, we reclaim our wholeness. In our wholeness we regain the trust and joy of our early childhood: powerful, playful, and open. It is the state of original innocence we never lost, but just misplaced for a while.

Freed from the bonds of victimhood, from blame and from the survivalist mindset, we unleash the power and playfulness of our creative energy. We embrace our fullness: the parts that have been locked away ~ and no, it need not hurt to find them ~ and the parts we have not yet dared to be ~ and yes, it is okay to dream! This fun adventure of self discovery is what life is all about. And as we awaken ever more to all that we are, we become ready for the unveiling.

Through one means or another, many people on our planet have come to recognize that we are not only physical bodies but interrelated energetic beings of eternal and infinite nature. These worlds have long been separated as we are asked, first and foremost, to embrace our humaneness. Yet as our hearts open the veil thins, enabling us to acquire a vast inner understanding of our world, our interconnectedness and our oneness. This holistic viewpoint changes our lives and our societies.

We hardly ever feel ready for change, yet life has an uncanny knack of knowing exactly when we are. We are being offered, and handed the keys to, a fully new paradigm. A new world, if we can take it.

All we need is to come to terms with life, to recognize that it is not a random mistake and that the world is not unfair. For if we are closed through insecurity, how can we dare to trust in anything new? Until we are at peace with the past, we cannot embrace the future. Until we overcome victimhood, we cannot trust that life will not hurt. Until we love ourselves, we do not believe we are good enough. Until we release judgment we fear failure, and may even fear punishment.

We finally come to see that all our sorrows and struggles have never been due to mishap or misdemeanor, but have simply been guiding our individual growth in an ever evolving world. We will examine the role of suffering and its untold benefits: how it has kept us in balance, strengthened our vision, and opened our hearts; how it has awakened in us the awareness of choice and that we are, indeed, creators. We shall see that our suffering has been part of the perfect plan and the mirror for our own belief in hurt. And as we are now uplifting ourselves out of this current mindset, not only do we outgrow the need for further pain, we thus change what the world reflects back at us.

It is, daily, our true feelings that influence what we attract. As we shift our own feelings at the very base by developing our self love, we open increasingly to recognize the holistic and supportive nature of life. This outlook greatly affects both our understanding of events and what we receive. Indeed it is the depth of our self worth ~ our self trust and hence our trust in life ~ that is the gauge of our ability to believe in, and thus create, a better world for ourselves.

These times are calling for a massive healing of hearts, for which we are each here to do our part, for ourselves and for all humanity. When the puzzle pieces of our lives are brought together, this shift of feeling can occur rapidly, even overnight. It is then, in understanding and deep gratitude, that we both look forward to and help create the amazing future that awaits us as soon as we accept the invitation.

And when this change of mind and heart occurs, from resistance to acceptance, from judgment to compassion, and from fear to love, we discover that our freedom lies in trust, transcendence and celebration.

For it is in knowing ourselves to be innocent, seeing that life has always served our evolution, and feeling that the world is our benevolent loving guide, that we can welcome change and go with the flow. It is in making this very shift in our core beliefs that we transform the vibration on this planet to a new frequency, thus ~ through the power of our hearts ~ creating a new world.

 

This is our sacred journey.

 

[1] Not a spelling mistake

 

 

Change of heart Amber Dawn

Ubud, Bali

2010