We're moving closer to the Ascension, and the old ways aren't working. Livelihoods are dropping away. Things that once came easy now come with great struggle, if at all.

Yet as we look around, for some it appears that they are spared the pain and dislocation of having to watch their world crumble around their shoulders.

Why the disparity? Why are some seemingly on top of the world, while others are thrashing about, struggling mightily just to keep their heads above water?

I ran into a friend while walking this morning at a local park who asked what revelations I had for him today.

Pointing to the spectacular golden orb rising above the clouds on the horizon to the east, I said the sun came up again. He quickly corrected me that it was the earth turning toward it.

My reply? I asked him if he ever gave any thought to how the earth turns to face the sun each day before it once again turns away, much like we draw nearer to the light and then pull away from it.

Consider the possibility we come into this life with a plan for the experiences we intend to gather. What happens if we decide to change it in mid-stream?

Fate goes about its job to line up the random events to meet that original plan, and then we throw in a monkey wrench that mucks everything up. All our carefully-laid pre-life plans must be changed. Not just for us, but for everyone who was intended to contribute to that life, as well as for all those whose lives we were to impact.

What does it mean to know your own way? It sounds simple enough, to choose a life path that take us where we want to go while hopefully bringing the experiences we need. But who in the world knows what those are?

We're led around by our desires and dropped into situations that challenge our ability to survive, much less extricate ourselves from them with grace and style and still get where we want to go.

While our inner voice may lead us to whatever experiences our souls need, at an egoic level we're left with more practical concerns, like building a life that works for us.

Most of you know I'm focused on building the foundations for the world we dream of. After all, if we don't do it, who will?

The first of those is building community. There's been a lot said about how this is a time when our individualistic ways will give way to a group focus.

I don't think so.

Life is, to me at least, all about the evolution of consciousness. The consciousness of the one, by which we know ourselves and process life. And the collective consciousness of the whole of humanity, that shows in how we treat each other and our relationship to all of creation.

Both come about by the same process -- by each individual soul evolving as it goes through life, and as it does adding its contribution, large or small, to the whole.

So many people seem to think that all you have to do is change your thoughts and align your actions with them and everything will magically change in your life.

Maybe I'm just a naysayer. But I've found that sometimes you can do everything right, and things still turn out "wrong."

Captain Penny used to say, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. But you can't fool mom." So perhaps we should go talk to mom.

Had enough yet? I know I have.

The energy is mounting toward Ascension, and carrying many of us along with it. It doesn't feel like a good thing, though, because the pressure is ratcheting up and it's hard to know what to do with it.

Often we're caught in situations that appear to have no end, and no way out. Worse, storm clouds are gathering on the horizon.

It's enough to make the best of us wonder why we started down this road in the first place. Then again, it's too late to turn back, because the old ways won't work for us any more.

You are what you think you are. So look at yourself. How do you see yourself? What are the beliefs you hold about who you are, what you can do, and cannot? Can you see how those play out within your life, and in that picture you see looking back at you from the mirror?

Your life is the expression of that image you hold. What you see is what you get, so to speak. If you see yourself with limitations, your life will play out that way.

Now, the question is, how can you expand your concept of what you think you are?