In the Mayan calendar, it is the end. The Piscean Astrological Age is ending and the Aquarian begins. For years Yogi Bhajan, the Master of Kundalini Yoga, spoke about this transition. He gave us a specific sadhana, spiritual practice, for this called the Aquarian sadhana, which has been done for the past twenty years until 2012. Well, here we are. Now what are we supposed to be experiencing? This age is said to be a shift in consciousness. Each age is. This one is about shifting away from group consciousness, such as organized religions, that tell us how to live and what to do, into an age where we realize these things for ourselves and realize our connection to all instead of our separateness. The other person is you. Can humanity ever get this? At a time of Occupy Wall Street and other places like Occupy Augusta in Maine we seem more separate than ever. Could the unrest and uncertainty worldwide be a part of this transition?

Read more: One Door Closes, Another Opens… The Hallway Can Be A Bitch!

Where is there? For all of our own unique hopes, dreams and ambitions we may have our own definition of “getting there.” The Dalai Lama says karma is what determines it all. Logic certainly doesn’t, when we see someone who does all things possible, taking the right steps, but still not achieving what they set out to do, whether it is to find a relationship, create their own business or find their desired job. If karma determines this should we just stop trying? I think we can choose to simply keep learning and growing from it all. Even if we do get there, a new there is created. When we attain one goal or success in life it is most ungratifying to not reach for another challenge, another opportunity to grow. In your yoga practice it can be a new pose or a more advanced level pranayama. There is always somewhere new to be.

Read more: Are We Ever There?

The word awareness can be called consciousness. When we see someone doing something that we think is sad or bad, it would behoove us to take notice that this person may not be aware of the thing they are doing to harm themselves or someone else. We would say they are unconscious. When I first started being involved deeply in yoga in the 1980’s, having dabbled in the 70’s, Yoga Journal was called The Journal of Conscious Living. I had the great good fortune to discover my teacher Yogi Bhajan during that era of yoga. In the early 1990’s Rodney Yee and Yoga Journal videos came on the scene. More people slowly came to yoga. As Yogi Bhajan predicted back then, things started moving very quickly in to the information age. 

Read more: Kundalini Yoga: The Yoga of Awareness

The Buddhists say the one thing that is constant is change. There is one thing that is constantly with us, the breath. I attended an evening with a Swami from India a few nights ago, a man they called a living Saint. He had gone in to the Himalayas as a young boy and emerged a yogi. His assistant was a woman from California with a PhD from Stanford in Psychology, a spiritual seeker who had followed the Swami since 1996. She spoke before him. One thing she said struck a deep chord in me. I have written, and teach often about the breath and its importance. How we become more aware of it in our yoga practice, and then learn to use it as a tool for health and healing.

Read more: To Emerge Like A Butterfly

We have a 1000 thoughts per blink of an eye according to Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga. The yoga sutras state that we practice yoga to cease the fluctuations of the mind. With 1000 thoughts per second to choose from we can see why it is easy to change the mind constantly. The mind is our control center for how we act in life. Each choice is created within our mind. Whatever our age we might self reflect, self inquire and ask ourselves how the choices we have made have worked for us thus far. However, we judge that we can be sure that through our choices we create the direction of our life.

Read more: Mastering Your Mind ~ How To Change?

As I ponder the topic “It’s A Wonderful Life,” messages came while my mind searched for “material.” If we think of any classic story of inspiration and wonderment, it is never filled with ever and only blissful moments. By living we can usually see that something is to be learned, if not gained, in the moments that don’t feel so wonderful.

Read more: Every Master Was A Disaster!