The world turns when you make a contribution to the whole.

When you get excited about something, how often do you take a step to "forward the action, or put it on the back burner to slowly boil away?" When your intuition flashes a mental image across the screen of your mind, do you see it as significant, or do you let it go with an inner response such as, "I'm too busy." Or "Somebody should do that." Inspired action is inherently energizing for the person doing it, and seems to catalyze synchronistic responses that help fulfill the purpose.

My friend, Chicago bandleader, Steve Cooper is yet again an example of how to follow your heart, embark on a new path of possibility, and enjoy the jet stream of synchronicity. Last summer, Steve went to a book signing and lecture at Transitions, a bookstore in Chicago and was impressed by the author, John English, who wrote The Shift: An Awakening. According to Steve, the book is a novel about a third political party, which has the highest integrity, always tells the truth, makes the environment their number one concern, and is dedicated to ending self-serving politics. The book is based on current political characters and real situations and describes a positive potential future for America. Steve writes, "The story, similar to The Celestine Prophecy, is told in a spiritual context that involves telepathic messages, prophecy, shamans, and so forth. I thought the author's lecture was wonderful. At first, I wasn't that interested in reading a fiction book, but wound up buying a copy."

ACTION FOLLOWS INTUITION

A few weeks later, Steve read the book and became really excited by it. He said the thought came to him, "This book can change the consciousness of America and the world." After a week of thinking this, he felt the book needed to get more publicity. He says, "I thought that nothing will happen unless I do something. All my life, I've achieved what I wanted by taking action. All my success in the music business (and even finding my wife to marry) was because I went out and did things myself instead of waiting for someone to help. Right then and there, I decided to do something outrageous! I decided to send a letter to every bookstore in the country and bring the book to their attention. My wife and I don't make much money, but I knew I'd get it done."

Several weeks later, Steve's letter was done, and he printed a thousand copies. He ordered mailing lists of book stores in five states, and enlisted the envelope-stuffing aid of family friends. "My wife and I know a family where the father died and the mother has eight children. Six are still in the house, so we help them out from time to time. I knew those kids would love to earn some money and get a free piano lesson from me!

THE NEXT ACTION FALLS INTO PLACE

"We did 800 envelopes for starters. After we were done, on that same day, I looked up the John English's website. It turned out he was doing a radio interview in ONE HOUR! I couldn't believe the coincidence of looking at his website that day and at that time! The Internet connection kept cutting out, but, when they gave the call-in number, all the numbers came through loud and clear for just a moment. I had been thinking all week that I wanted to contact John English to tell him what I was doing. He had no idea that anybody was doing this!

"I called the station and I was the FIRST caller. I told the story of how I was so inspired by the book that I'm sending a letter to every bookstore in the country. I heard this long silence. English was totally floored and speechless! He confided that he felt the book wasn't getting much promotion, and that maybe he should give up on the project. He has done shamanic training, so he knows how the Universe helps people, but he was really surprised and touched by my taking the initiative to promote his work.

RECEIVING UNIVERSAL SUPPORT

Steve reports another coincidence that happened on the day he went to buy 800 stamps for the mailing. "The gold mining stocks I own had an explosive day. I don't make much money, but I study the stock market. I've owned gold mining stocks for almost two years, and on that done day, I made half my entire year's income! It paid for the cost of the first thousand stamps and also the next thousand I plan to buy. So the Universe is helping me out! Oh yes, another nice coincidence. While surfing the Internet, I found a company that sells a whole package of mailing lists for every bookstore and library in the country for only $75! Normally this would cost thousands of dollars. So now I've got all my labels for the whole country."

According to Steve The Shift: An Awakening started from an Amazon.com sales ranking in the 900,000's Amazon.com and recently shot up to the 60,000 range. "I thought it was a mistake," he says, "Not only a big improvement, it is a small miracle.

John English came to my local bookstore again in March for a lecture series. I got to see him in person for the first time since my phone call to the radio show. It was a wonderful "reunion." He told me the book distributors are reporting greatly increased sales. So, I'm sure my "save the world" project had some help in all this! John is a wonderfully calm and non-judgemental person. He trusts the ideas in the book will become popular in the mainstream when people are ready for it. He KNOWS it will happen - he's just not sure when. My feeling is that our present path could really change in a heartbeat. But the human race makes things so complicated!

You, too, can make a difference today. Sometimes what's required in the moment is to just take the extra step to really listen to family, friends, and colleagues. If you can manage to stay present and curious, without getting attached to the "drama" of what's going on, you may find your own creativity and fulfillment greatly increases.

Happy April,
Carol Adrienne

MG writes from Fort Worth, Texas: "Each day the my life's work becomes clearer. Over the past year, I've been yearning to go back to school for a Master's Degree in Spanish Literature. Through your books and training classes, I've uncovered these major passions in my life: Music - I'm definitely a musician at heart; Yoga - I practice every day and meditate consistently; Language - I have traveled all over Central and South America; and lastly - Saving the Earth I'm a vegan and detest how animals are being tortured for human consumption and vanity.

"During the class I did with you, I decided several things. I am going to follow my passion for music by learning to play the piano and write music as often as I can. I am going to look inside myself and realize that my environment is a mirror of my soul. I am going to appreciate everything around me and not take anything for granted. I know in my heart that I'm on the right path.

"Deep in my heart, I want to attend the University of California at Berkeley. Some work colleagues have told me horrifying stories of how drastically expensive California is. I'm generally not driven by money, and have saved ones year's salary so that I could go back to school and live in Northern California. I didn't seem worried about it six months ago; now I've become disillusioned by something I haven't even tried. How do I overcome this "fear" of not having enough money in order to do what I believe in the depths of my soul is part of my life's work and mission?

"My other alternative is to take the easy road out, and move to Austin Texas and attend school there, where it is more affordable. Austin has somewhat of a California-like atmosphere-but is this just a compromise because it's more affordable? How do I use this new-found wisdom that I have about my life purpose and translate it into action that is not ruled by money?"

Dear MG. These are great questions. Let's breakdown your concerns into specific parts. Whenever we have these confusing mind-conversations, we need to stop and clarify our motivation (what we really want-the most important value) and review the fears to see what we need to handle in order to move forward. One simple way is to ask yourself to rate your motivations and options on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high). For each option let a number arise in your mind for how important it is to you. Here are the competing desires and options you mentioned. In parentheses I added corollary desires/outcomes:

Let's also clarify the various components underlying what you feel about the idea of "compromising:"

It sounds to me like you are focusing on the "fear of money" raised by your colleagues as a way to avoid making a decision to move on. You mentioned that you see the outer world as a mirror to your inner world. It's interesting how your inner doubts might be being expressed by your colleagues' warnings about California. Once you get clear, you won't find naysayers in your life anymore.

Get some more information, let your intuition "cook" your findings, and if you really think UC Berkeley is what's going to make you happy in the long run, commit to doing whatever it takes to make that work. Remember, you not only have created a good standard of living as a working person, you have also managed to include your creative interests and yoga. Living in California to go to school doesn't mean you have to stay here forever if you find that you prefer a lower cost of living. You are a highly successful and motivated person that can create another great situation. Anything is possible!

So here's the summary:

(Readers ... Please feel free to submit your own questions for consideration in future columns! Apologies if I am unable to answer all requests. Carol Adrienne)

Happy March,
Carol Adrienne

Your life path is a living canvas of changing scenes and shifting colors -- a stage with an ever-flowing cast of characters. Your destiny (script) is shaped by your passions, beliefs, choices, actions, setbacks, and successes. Deep passions are core values that call us into action throughout life. Some of us have a passion for political action, sports, cooking, business, art, dancing, or music. A passion for beauty resides in each of us. When awakened, its call connects us to a higher order.

We are meant to meet certain people and take away an idea, inspiration, or piece of knowledge. I met RUTH DRAYER years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Friends had urged each of us to meet because it seemed we had so much in common-we were both divorced, interested in art, and had two small children enrolled in the same school. We finally met at a social gathering in 1974. A casual remark about wanting to change my name led Ruth to offer to do a numerology reading for me. Her reading opened the door to a subject, which was to become a fascination and, surprisingly, a central part of my life's work.

Journey of Soul Mates

Still good friends, Ruth and I keep in touch with each other's projects. Now living in New Mexico, Ruth is the author of an exciting new book, WAYFARERS: The Spiritual Journeys of Nicholas & Helena Roerich. Obviously soul-mates, the Roerichs-she a writer of spiritual philosophy and he an artist and world-wide teacher of transcendental ideas on art and beauty-were an exotic pair. Their mysterious adventures and work during the early 1900's have not, until now, been fully explored and understood. Ruth's book on their lives and teaching is the result of years of arduous work digging in old records, travel to India, and personal interviews. Both the Roerichs' story of bringing a message of truth and beauty in difficult times, and Ruth's own struggle of bringing this book to fruition can remind us that despite difficulties, our Soul's work will be done. Our life purpose functions as a thread, which tugs us through discouraging difficulties and keeps us connected to what really matters.

The Call of Color

"I have a tremendous love of color, which has propelled me for many years," says Ruth, now an age-less sixty-seven. "For years I tried to figure out what I was meant to do with color. It was color that connected me to Nicholas Roerich. I first saw his paintings at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. Never before had an artist's work affected me the way his did. His colors and visions stayed in my mind for days. I dreamed about them all night long. Who was this person who could create art that could touch me so deeply?'"

Ruth, who had belonged to a spiritual organization for over twenty years, found out that her teacher had visited the Roerichs' son in India years before. She was also given the name of a woman who had once lived for a few months with this son in Bangalore, India. "When I visited her, I remember standing in front of a print of one of Roerich's painting and thinking to myself, 'I commit to doing whatever it takes to bring this work into the consciousness of America.' I continue to wonder to this day, what possessed me to do such a thing?"

Ecstasy and Fear

The call of our destiny can often seem too big, too scary, too much-and yet the deep intuitive knowing pushes us beyond our comfort zone. Ruth remembers feeling ecstatic for a couple of days after seeing the painting in the woman's apartment. "It was like a little door of heaven had opened up. In that instant I saw myself involved with Roerich's work." Ruth wrote to the Roerichs' son in India who responded almost instantly, closing his letter with: "Let us hope we will meet in the future." Never having had any desire to visit India before, when her mother volunteered to give her the money she would need for the trip, Ruth knew it was confirmation, and made the arrangements. "When I saw how far away India was on the atlas map," she remembers, "I got so scared I had to close the book! But, in spite of my fears, there was no doubt about my going. I had never had such a strong compulsion."

The Power of Beauty to Change the World

Nicholas Roerich was born in St. Petersburg in 1874 and died in India in 1947. Early in his professional career, he was a set designer for Russian theatre and ballet. He passionately believed that beauty was the answer to the world's problems. He thought that if people would focus on beauty-if there were paintings in utilitarian places like subways and prisons-there would be no crime or illness. Ruth says, "His ideas about the importance of beauty lined up exactly with what I believed, for I had come to the same conclusion while staying in an Italian village in 1977. There, despite illness and other difficulties, I realized that beauty makes everything bearable. As a painter, Roerich was a master colorist. Extremely bold in his treatment, he'd paint red next to orange, next to green, next to purple. Color had not been used this way before."

Roerich was also a well-known and avid archeologist. While staying at the home of a colleague on the way to a dig, he met his future wife, Helena. Five years younger, Helena came from aristocracy. Roerich was captivated by her youth, beauty, and intelligence. Despite the objections of her aristocratic family, he started courting her. Eventually, the family allowed them to marry after she recounted three dreams in which her deceased father was telling her to marry him. They married in 1900 and had two sons.

Of one mind, they shared all their interests. "With Helena, Nicholas naturally began to study the world's sacred literature and teachings of Buddha, Lao-Tsu, the Indian mystics, and the Theosophical Society," says Ruth. "After they were married, Helena translated Theosophist, Madame Blavatsky's, now-famous book, The Secret Doctrine from English into Russian. Later her writing helped bring the discipline of Agni yoga to the world.

"My book, Wayfarers, is different because most of what I had read about Roerich's work as an artist seemed very narrow in focus. I wanted to know what was going on in the world around them--in music, literature, spirituality, and politics-all things which would have influenced this amazing couple. Filling out this tapestry of research led me to put together pieces of the puzzle that no one had connected before. While most biographers talked about his involvement with the Theosophical Society, few people realized how deeply influenced he was by Buddhism. Before the Bolshevik revolution, Buddhism and Communism were seen to have many similarities. Both of these philosophies appeared to be ways to help the down-trodden masses."

Shambhala

In 1912, a lama came from Tibet to St. Petersburg and received permission from the Czar to build a Buddhist temple. Roerich became involved in that project. "This lama," says Ruth, "was the first person to talk to him about Shambhala. Shambhala is considered by the Buddhists to be a place one achieves when one is sufficiently evolved. It's also considered to be a non-physical plane of existence where the plan for humanity is held. I've noticed that the mere mention of the word Shambhala seems to light a fire in our hearts. That fire is our core desire to live in peace and beauty."

Authenticity in Creativity

Always directed by their spiritual guides, the Roerichs came to the United States in 1920. Among their many goals was the desire to create a school where all the arts were taught under one roof. They believed that people would be more fully developed if they expressed themselves in several mediums, rather than focusing on just one. Their innovative school in New York City attracted an amazing array of well-connected and creative people. At that time, American art was not considered very important. It was de rigeur to study art in Paris and educate oneself in European culture. Roerich, on the other hand, traveled all over America advocating not only the importance of art and beauty, but urging artists to stay home and paint their own truths.

"Ironically," says Ruth, "Roerich's work was diminished by art critics because few other artists copied his painting techniques. However, my research in New Mexico, for example, where he taught for awhile, quickly revealed how his lectures catalyzed the formation of artistic societies in which artists supported one another in developing their own ideas. For instance, several artists in Albuquerque formed the Transcendental Painting group. Another group of artists known as Los Cinco Pintures (The 5 Painters) began the now-famous artistic enclave of galleries in Santa Fe known collectively as Canyon Road.

"Roerich taught internationally and his message was always peace and unity. He didn't like borders or visas or licenses. Ahead of their time, both he and Helena, who almost always traveled with him, but usually stayed behind the scenes and wrote while he appeared in the public eye, were active feminists."

Following their spiritual guidance they traveled to Central Asia where Roerich had dreamed of digging up hidden lost cities, crypt libraries, and tunnels leading to buried artifacts. He also wanted to paint a panoramic view of Central Asia. But their deepest desire was to search for signs of Maitreya-the prophesied Buddha to come. His appearance was predicted to signal the beginning of the prophecy of Shambhala, a time when humanity would live in peace and harmony.

Do the Work You Were Meant to Do

Ruth says, "Like the Roerichs, my guiding belief is that one person can make a difference. I don't spend time reading the newspaper or watching television I concentrate on doing my art and writing. I don't see the point of feeling helpless and talking about the problems of the world. I feel like I just have to keep doing my work, so that whatever I put out carries with it peace and beauty. I don't respond to angry emails about politics. Reading these things stops my flow, and I ask people not to send them to me anymore. When people ask me how I get so much accomplished on my various projects, I tell them it's because I don't watch TV! "I think color speaks a language that transcends words and goes right to your soul. There are lots of benefits in reading the writing of Helena Roerich, however, her words may not really speak to you. Yet when you see any of Nicholas Roerich's over 7,000 painting, nothing blocks you from getting their message."

Roerich's output was prodigious considering he traveled almost continuously by yak, camel, and horse to far-away places. During his life, he was attacked for all kinds of things, such as being only after money and was denied re-entry into the United States because of income tax evasion. During their arduous four-year expedition to Central Asia, the Roerichs were held in captivity for four months on the border of Tibet. Accused of being communists and Bolshevik spies, Roerich died without ever finding out why they were held prisoners. Ruth says she found nothing in her research that indicated they were spies.

"I think he was living on another plane of existence, focusing on spirituality, teaching, and his art," she says, "No one at that time understood what this couple was doing. This is the material I go into in the book. Though their lives were filled with adversity, they persevered in living their beliefs. The power of their philosophy is more relevant to us than ever.

Everything Has a Purpose

Everything in life is about the choices one makes. "You can choose to watch TV or you can choose to paint," says Ruth. "The choice for the Roerichs was to follow that deep spiritual call in their hearts.

"Now that my book is done, I feel as if I had been preparing for it my whole life. I see that the place I was born, where I've traveled, the books I've read, the spiritual traditions I've studied, the music I've listened to all contributed to it. I don't believe adversity means you should stop doing something you are deeply committed to. For example, when I came back from India, I was so sick, the doctors weren't sure if I were dying or not. I was allergic to everything. Still, I would drag myself out of bed and write. Then for years, I kept getting turned down by publishers, who said 'This is beautiful. This is well-written. Good luck.' People told me that biographies are the hardest books to sell, especially if the person is not well-known. I was so happy recently when someone thanked me for writing this biography because biographies are the only way to learn of people you don't already know about. Through all those years, I didn't get paid a cent to do the research or write. But, how many times in your life do you get to have the feeling that you are really doing what you are meant to do?"

Follow Intuitive Guidance to Develop Destiny

Besides being an author and numerologist, Ruth's career as a painter is now taking center stage. The change in direction emerged from the intuitive voice. "When I was in India, I wasn't sure where home was going to be for me. Spirit gave me a clear message, 'You are going to move to Las Cruces and paint.' At that time I didn't paint or want to paint. Las Cruces? I didn't want to move there, either. What about my numerology, I asked myself? The answer came, 'You will always be a numerologist, and you are going to paint.''

A few months later, a psychic fair brought Ruth to Las Cruces, New Mexico. In 1994 she wrote, The Power in Numbers: A Right & Left-Brained Approach. "It was the easiest assignment I could have had. Through it I learned that I could write and finish a book and I believe it was a necessary preparation to writing the Roerich book. Now I realize all that time I was researching and writing, I was also studying with a master colorist! How could I not paint? Just as Spirit predicted, I now live five miles away from Las Cruces, and I'm painting. I think all these things happened to get me to the painting, but I have no idea where it's going to take me."

Ruth Drayer's book Wayfarers: The Spiritual Journeys of Nicholas & Helena Roerich (Hardcover, $39.95, Paperbound $29.95) and a companion video ($19.95) containing sixty of Nicholas Roerich's paintings and narrated by Ruth, including other books, videos, paintings, and original prints are all available at www.zianet.com/ruthdrayer. Or you can call toll free in North America on (888) 541-5381.

Happy February,
Carol Adrienne

GREGG BROWN, a training consultant in Vancouver, British Columbia, is living in the dream condominium overlooking the waters of the Pacific Ocean that he once thought was out of his price range. More than a year ago, Gregg saw a listing for a beautiful condo on Beach Avenue. He cut out the ad and looked at it every day for a month, and eventually forgot about it. In July of this year, he bought a condo in this same building on Beach Ave.

“As I was packing,” says, Gregg, “I found the condo listing that I'd been looking at a year before. Guess what? Without realizing it, I ended up buying the exact same apartment that I had visualized a year before! The owners had taken it off the market a year before, because it hadn't sold. They reduced the price and had just put it back the market when we were apartment hunting. For a year, every time I'd walk along the beach, I'd look up at the building and say to myself, ‘I'm going to live there.’"

This is how life works when you do your inner work. What is inner work, you ask? It’s asking for what you want with a deep and true desire and staying open to seeing opportunities when they arise. Inner work is creating a space within for what you want to manifest. It’s choosing to feel good and choosing to look for good everywhere in your life. When you imagine good things coming to you, and you eliminate doubt and negativity in thoughts and conversation, you literally open the channel for your dreams to come true.

The Past is Over and the Present is Unfolding

At the moment, you may have an illness or financial problem that doesn’t feel all that good to you! The spiritual challenge for all of us is to stay open to possibility—even miracles. Pain is a part of human existence. Our inner work is to avoid the trap of thinking that our future will be just like our past. The pains and frustrations of the past were created out of the beliefs you were manifesting then, and the choices that you made from the information you had then.

Create a Happy New Year

To create a fertile beginning for an exciting 2004, clean up your actions, thoughts, and conversation. Here’s how:

Synchronistic Signs Signal a Higher Order

Often during transitions, the universe sends us encouragement. For example, Hiroko Takano teaches Japanese at an all-girls school in Palo Alto, California. The small enrollment in her class may mean it will be cancelled. Shortly after a discouraging meeting with her boss, Hiroko had dinner with a friend, Misao Takahara, who shared incredible synchronicities with the repeated occurrence of the number 22. When Hiroko left, she noticed that her odometer read 222.2. “Even though I realized that the last two numbers of my license plate were also 22, I didn’t take this second occurrence of 2222 seriously,” she said. “The next morning, on the way to work, I was worrying about the future of my class. I stopped at a red light and noticed a number 22 bus stopped at the side of the road. The license plate on the car behind the 22 bus was 222. Across the street was another 22 bus.

“Recently, when I was trying to decide whether or not to get a substitute teacher so I could go on a trip I was planning, I thought ‘Well, if I’m meant to go, things will work out. I must focus on the present, not the future.’ As I was thinking this, I saw a car with the license plate number 222 right in front of me! This seemed to be an affirmation for staying in the present. On the way to work this morning, I was thinking so much about my future that I missed the exit and ended up taking the next one. The number 22 bus was right there as if it were waiting for me. These incidents made me realize how important it is to live in the present, without worrying about outcomes. I know everything happens for a reason and that everything is perfect! I have a feeling that 22 is teaching me that it’s time to move out of my comfort zone.”

Hiroko’s attention to the number 22 serves as an affirmation that a higher source is always available to open doors for us and calm our fears of the unknown.

What Is Your Dream?

Have you ever dreamed of pulling up stakes and moving to another country? Do your dream of learning another language? Or raising funds for a good cause? Or developing your creativity? Or starting completely over?

The first part of manifesting a dream is to have one.

My friend Dianne Aigaki, an artist and grant writer, is a woman who has made dozens of life dreams come true. In my book, The Purpose of Your Life, she talks about deciding to live permanently in Dharamsala, India because it felt so good to be around people who practiced the principles taught by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Dianne accomplished her move over the past three years, and keeps finding ways to learn from and assist displaced Tibetans. For example, she’s organized tours for Tibetan monks, which raised several hundred thousand dollars for their monastery in India, and she and friends have fostered other small business projects in the area.

Dianne has built a Tibetan-style house constructed of rocks perched at the foot of the towering Himalayas. Her needs are simple. In the local economy, she can easily support herself by grant writing workshops once or twice a year in the United States.

Dianne’s emails to friends reflect her joie de vivre, and sometimes read like National Geographic written by staff writers of Saturday Night Live. “I am taking a three-month intensive Tibetan class. I love it, and now I want to take classes in painting and watercolors. I learned that my name means The Witch Who Can Kill With a Stare, which made me laugh, but won’t be funny if I introduce myself to Gaddhi shepherds in the hill tribes!”

Someone asked Dianne to write a speech about keeping the Bhotia [Tibetan] language alive, which will be given in front of His Holiness at a Himalayan conference. “I didn’t even know what Bhotia was, but, of course, that didn’t stop me from saying I would do it. On I go as a ghost writer for lamas….

“I have submitted a proposal to the United Nations for the parks project in McLeod Ganj [the town which houses Tibetan refugees and is the center of the Tibetan government in exile], with the hope that some day our hillsides will be pristine, and we will be known as the Garden Jewel of the Himalayas. The project is a partnership between Richard Gere’s Foundation, Rotary Dharamsala (where I am now the only woman with fifty Indian men—what a team), the McLeod Ganj Community Parks and Garden Association (my registered trust), and the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department. We have high hopes.

“At the end of December, I will be going to Thailand to think, read, get daily massages, and eat great Thai food. I will spend about six weeks just hanging around and painting, and then back to Dharamsala to build those parks. Okay that sums it up. Let me in on what’s happening with you in your corner of the world. Love, Dianne”

Whew! What flowing enthusiasm and optimism. What an ability to step into the unknown.

Rhythm and Germination

What do we learn from someone who successfully, and repeatedly, makes her dreams come true? What caught your attention? I noticed her comment about planning to take time off and be with herself, to cultivate down-time before she leaps back into her dream-making. Rest and time for germination are necessary components for bringing our goals to fruition. Usually we want our goals to be achieved the minute we think of them, but life has a way of giving us homework and time to refine or rethink.

How often do you shift gears by doing nothing? I remember a quote by a man who said something like, “You’ll never make a million dollars if you can’t spend one whole day in bed each week just reading and relaxing.” Let’s remember to turn off our “urgency mode” and relax. Remember life is even now preparing to make your dreams come true.

Perhaps you’d like to take the points of this essay that most resonated with you and write one on each month of the year to remind you of how to make your dreams come true.

Happy 2004,
Carol Adrienne