July 2012 Wisdom Tips for Maintaining Balance

July 2012 is a month of growing pains, things going upside down, good surprises and great opportunities, challenging disappointments, and chances at every turn to adjust and readjust just about everything in your life. It is a great month to continue letting go consciously and proactively of anything that longer serves you. Expect the unexpected, take advantage of what shows up suddenly, and stay out of judgment when things don’t turn out exactly how you thought they would or should.

Think of yourself as shedding the skin of limitations connected to your beliefs and way of life. We are entering a new phase where the world is moving into a different set of patterns. If you expect the unexpected and welcome the differences, you will be less resistant to change and less at the effect of what occurs around you. You will need a great deal of patience as well as understanding and compassion, for yourself and for others this month. People will tend to get grumpy and irritated and not deal well with their disappointments and things going upside down. Everything that happens is for a reason. If your plumbing goes out or your car breaks down, instead of being angry and upset about it, do what you need to do with the attitude that the event represents something larger than just the breaking of the object. Consciously make an adjustment around the event eliminating resistance when possible. It won’t be easy, but if you stay awake and present, you will be rewarded.

The same attitude goes for opportunities that suddenly drop in your lap. Your immediate reaction may be, “I’m not ready, it’s too soon, I can’t, I don’t have the time, I can’t afford it, it’s too good to be true, etc.”. You may need to step up to the plate and adjust to this new opportunity. Perhaps something else will have to be eliminated out of your life so that you can take advantage of what is being offered. Your decision may create sudden change in someone else’s life. So be it. It is a mark of the times.

We always suggest trying to work with the energy instead of against it. This month that means truly paying attention to what you have created and what you continue to create and taking responsibility for it. It is a serious month, not meaning that you should be overly serious, but rather more responsible for yourself and your process. In fact it will be necessary to schedule some fun and recreation and to be disciplined about taking time for rest and community. Otherwise you may find it will be all too easy to get caught up in the seriousness of it all and you will get grumpy yourself.

The seriousness of the month has to do with responsibility. You will be called upon to revisit your sense of personal responsibility physically, emotionally and spiritually. Watch Martyrdom and the temptation to blame others. Watch Impatience especially with others that irritate you because they are not on the same wavelength. Don’t overly concern yourself with others and what they should be doing. Concern yourself with what you are doing and your own business. You and only you have worked yourself into your own situation and you will learn this month that you have the power to get yourself out of it and create something else if you really want to. Always ask yourself why you are doing something. Is it for you or is it for someone else? Is it necessary or not? Is it something you have committed to that feels like a necessary responsibility or is it just a pattern that you have become habitual with? Your insights will be illuminating and will prompt you to make adjustments and changes to some of your situations.

The main letting go of the month will have to do with your perceptions. Almost any belief or perception can be adjusted and will need constant adjusting this month in order to keep up with change. If you think you know something or know how it will turn out, toss that knowing out and make yourself available for a different experience. A good mantra for the month is “I do not know but I trust it will all be perfect”.

There is an aspect to this month that points to a movement towards more power if you can face the shadow. Each one of us will be called upon to readjust our relationship to power and what we consider dark or heavy or shadowed. Remember that the shamanic interpretation of what is dark or shadowed relates to what is hidden and unseen. What is unseen is also connected to power and a more potent source of it than what is seen. There will be more on this theme in the months to come.

At times this month you may experience a heavy or oppressive energy that feels burdensome. What you are sensing is the burden of the collective creation of the condition of the world we live in. The good news is that if you so successfully created this world with all of its experiences, you can certainly create another version. We are quickly outgrowing the present experience of life and as a snake that outgrows its skin, it is necessary for us to shed the skin of our creation so that we can grow into a larger experience. A shedding snake is irritable and grumpy. You may feel the same way. Be patient. It is a process.

Patience will be necessary especially after you have done a piece of personal growth work and have an expectation that you should feel great. Personal growth this month will inevitably put you into what is called a growth period where you could experience emotional, physical and spiritual growing pains. You could feel out of sorts, not like yourself, lethargic, emotional, angry, irritated, frustrated, spaced out, ungrounded, confused, heavy and chaotic. If you are on the right track and have been doing your personal work you need to trust that this too shall pass and tangible progress will occur.

Expect the unexpected, practice resiliency, flexibility and acceptance. Almost nothing this month is going to unfold how you originally thought, so surrender and adjust as needed and have fun anyway.

The above is an excerpt from the monthly forecast.

The author of this commentary, Lena Stevens, is the co-founder of an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and wisdom.  Lena Stevens has co-authored books with Jose Stevens, Ph.D., such as Secrets of Shamanism:Tapping the Spirit Power Within You.

Click here to access the full forecast on their website to help you strengthen your relationships, protect your health, relieve stress and learn about specific power days of the month.