Be the change you want to see

On the 21st December 2012 I was projectile vomiting into the toilet. Exhausted after a long school term, I spent that night sleeping on the couch until I woke at 5am and noticed that I'd left the Christmas tree on. For some reason I remember that night, perhaps because there was a sense of unreality (being ill and all that) and since I'd been reading Daniel Pinchbeck's '2012 The Year of the Mayan Prophecy,' I had some creeping sense that instead of the world ending, a cycle had ended. The end of this paradigm, where as Pinchbeck puts it, we are a 'culture obsessed with acquiring wealth, goods and status....entire lives and enormous expulsions of energy could seem to be misdirected or even wasted,' and how we may have: 'endless energy to expend on the trivial and treacly, the sports statistic or shoe sale, but no time to spare for the torments of the Third World for the mass extinction of species, to perpetuate a way of life without a future...'

What could I do? Always the feeling of helplessness. I give to a few charities, sign petitions and support various campaigns but there is a sense of being a powerless spectator at times.

Instead I want to be actively involved in the truth of what this world really is. What is the reality behind this matrix we have constructed in the West? And how can I be more actively involved in the spiritual and ecological reality of this earth that we all inhabit and whether we feel it or not, are vitally interconnected with?

During these past few winter months, I've read about Mayan prophecies, Shamans, Native Americans and urban homesteaders amongst many things and feel the need to do something practical. The government isn't listening and we need to show them where we want to go rather than helplessly moaning about their perceived ignorance. As the future holds possibilities of collapse and many of our governments can offer little more than 2-3 days of food should disaster strike, it may be time for us to look to our local communities as the way to secure our future survival. Imagine how we could improve our food security, just by growing some food in our own back gardens and yards, or if we don't have much space, even a few containers and window boxes is a good start. There are new ideas such as vertical growing that maximise space, and what about digging up some of that useless lawn. You can't eat grass after all! I've been growing a small percentage of my own fruit and vegetables, but now it's time to increase that and realise the potential of an average-ish UK garden.

Red sky morning... a new beginning :O)