I don’t know about you, but from the minute I woke up on New Year’s Day, I felt a real buzz of new energy, and creativity just bursting out of me. This is not normally how I feel on New Year’s Day — normally, it’s more like, “Ho hum, just another random day that we have somehow anointed as the beginning of the new year.”

I’m no expert  numerologer, but I do know that 2008 is a “1” year. That is, 2+0+0+8 = 10, and 1+0 = 1. (Yes, that’s how they do it.) And 1 is the energy of the new — new beginnings, new directions, new projects, new ideas. It’s the energy of opportunity, of independence, of leadership, of concentration and focus. It also embodies courage, originality and decisiveness.

Perhaps that’s why, when I sat down to meditate on New Year’s Day, the following came through, with instructions to write it down, so I could pass it on:

It’s a new year. New patterns are possible. Revel in the new, whether that’s a new color, a new thought, a new dish, a new item of clothing, a new project. Pay particular attention to new thoughts that cross your mind and LISTEN to them. These are new energies, not all of which have been on earth before, trying to impress upon you a new way of being. It can start in any way at all, as a seed starts. If you let it unfold and express itself, it will lead in new directions. So the choice of a new color may lead you to pick up a stone of that color which will affect you with its energies, its properties. Or it may lead you to pick different flowers in the market, or different flowers to plant, which will teach you different things by the way they unfold or go to seed. If you have tended to go fast, slow down. If you have tended to be cautious, now is the time to take a risk and jump! Be attentive to the energy of the new and see how it leads you down a different path, one of healing. (if your current path healed everything, you’d be perfect by now! And manifesting everything you choose.)
 
Pick one new thing to do each day this year — and see how you are different by the end of the year! See how much joy it brings you. (Note: what was meant here was to do anything different, just to see what happens. Run a route different from your usual. Or literally walk part of it backwards. Or sideways. Use butter instead of mayonnaise, or mayo instead of butter.) Notice how you tend to cling to the old. Notice where that serves you and where it doesn’t.

Question the old, from the smallest detail (e.g. How you brush your teeth) to the largest aim (is that really your aim)? Pick one thing each day to question.

I’m having a blast walking backwards and sideways (so far). Let me know what you try, how it goes and how it makes you feel.

Please go to

http://www.888-4-hollis.com/pages/articles-and-blog/are-you-psychic-check-this-to-see.php

to read the article.

Please go to

http://www.888-4-hollis.com/pages/articles-and-blog/how-to-deal-with-being-psychic.php

 for this article.

I am not foolish enough, nor do I have enough hubris, to think that what follows is a complete list, or even that it is in any absolute sense, “right”. It is, though, everything I can think of at the moment (and it is how I try to live, but like everyone else, I’m imperfect). I am certainly open to suggestions for additions to the list, so please post them as comments.

1) Act from love.

Be kind, accepting, tolerant, patient -- and that includes acting that way toward yourself!
Be mindful of the divine flow.

2) Be careful what you do and what you think. You are responsible for your actions and therefore for your consequences.

 Actions have consequences.
 Thoughts are actions in energy form.
Appreciate what you have, because what you focus on, expands.

3) Live your truth/higher perception to the best of your ability.

Be who you are, not who you think you are supposed to be. The world doesn’t need another pale imitation of some commercial ideal; it needs real people, being who they are, and bringing their unique gifts and point of view to heal the problems we have.
Listen to your own higher wisdom. We all have access, even if we’ve been taught not to use it because it’s been too much of a threat to the power structure.
 Tell the truth, whenever possible (you may not know it, or it may conflict with another of these rules, in which case, see #11). Remember, spoken and written words are actions. 

4) Respect others.

Part I: The Platinum Rule: Treat people as they wish to be treated.
Part II: In the absence of the Platinum Rule (that is, when you don’t know how someone else would like to be treated), use the Golden Rule: treat others how you wish to be treated.

5) Respect nature.

This includes your own body (eat food, not chemicals).
 Use as few resources as you need to to do the job properly and comfortably.
Turn down the thermostat (or turn it up in the summer — or better yet, open the windows and let nature in!).
 Turn off the lights you don’t need.
 Walk (you’ll get to know your neighbors and neighborhood) for your errands (it’s great exercise, too!).
  Recycle.
  Share: borrow and return in good condition (neighbors and friends are a great resource) and be willing to lend, too. This builds community.
  Buy used or recycled, or better yet, ask if you really need something before you buy it.
  Don't print if you don't have to, and if you have to print, use both sides of your paper.
  Take your name off the mailing lists (so the paper isn’t wasted).
  Don’t drive if you don’t have to (carpool! Or take public transit — you might meet someone interesting).
  Grow what food you can — it’ll taste good, and feel good, too.
  You get the idea.

6) Respect limits, including the ones you reasonably set, and expect others to as well.

It’s okay to know your limits and to be clear in stating them.
‘No’ means ‘no’, whether someone else is saying it, or you are.
 If someone isn't respecting your limits, you have a right, or maybe even a responsibility, to teach them to respect your limits, or to ask them to leave, or to get away from them.
Get 7 hours of sleep a night (research shows it makes a big difference in your quality of life).

7) Honor your agreements. You can keep an agreement as is, or you can renegotiate it, but don’t change an agreement unilaterally (which includes not telling the other person for any reason, aka ‘flaking out’.)

8) If it feels good, and it doesn’t harm anyone or anything else, do more of it. This is the Universe (aka God) speaking to you through your desires.

9) Be clear about what you want — it’s probably the only way to get it. Remember, thoughts are actions in energy form.

10) You will never know everything (nor will anyone else), so stay humble.

11) When in doubt, see rule #1.