This morning I awoke to a Phil Collins song from the 80’s playing on the alarm clock radio. I was immediately brought back to the experience of waking up to this song on the alarm clock when it was “new” and I was a child.

The whole feeling of that time came back to me in an instant of a few recognizable chords at the start of the song. In my emerging from sleep state I was aware of time as an elusive and permeable substance that holds cohesiveness together and is yet totally irrelevant when triggered by scent or a melody from long ago.

Our bodies and brains are amazing in their systems of complexity and communication. Unfortunately humans think that we know so much that we loose our awe and wonder of how truly amazing life is with our ability to label, categorize and set ourselves apart from the majesty of Nature.

Yet, this illusive concept of “mind” and “awareness”, not localized in the brain specifically, but suffused in every cell of your body as well as around your body, alludes many for the simple reason that the amazement of life or the spiritual reality of life is not where some are placing their attention.

Many times while working in public places I’ve had people comment about my “exceptional skills”, be it multi-tasking or listening to someone’s concern, complaint or need and creatively problem solving. I say, “thank you” and go about paying attention to whatever is at hand.

And so I am sharing one of the most important things in life – period. Pay attention, please!

I don’t believe most people are stupid at all, but I do think most people are not paying attention to the full ability of their capacity. They are distracted… And have not learned or been taught how to fully “pay attention”.

I’ve explained in “Let’s Contemplate Our Bodies…” that consciousness is free to roam in this Free Will Zone of the Universe. Just because your body is in one place, it does not mean that your attention is there too. Only if you are paying attention to the feeling of being inside your body and the perceptions of your senses in the moment as you are also aware of your surrounding environment…

Because of this, in order to actually “pay attention” you have to develop this ability with some effort to stay in the present moment and expand your capacity of Full Body Awareness instead of skipping around in your projected experience of time, totally oblivious of your body.

Unfortunately, since technology has progressed, there are innumerable opportunities for distraction. And with children growing up plugged into electronic devices; TV, movies, video games… Short attention spans appear to have been created intentionally along with the dumbing down of our education system, which tragically doesn’t inspire a love of learning, the ability to think critically for oneself or attend to children with different learning styles who get neglected.

Why would children need good attention anyway?

Well, Children… They are only the future of our species and world!

Here is a fact that I learned in my high school Psychology class – “Your subconscious remembers everything you see even if your conscious mind does not.”

The implications of this simple fact are harrowing. This is the foundation that advertising is built on.

Have you ever heard this before, about your subconscious remembering everything you see? If not, how might have this fact impacted your choices as to what you’ve allowed yourself to see over the last however many years?

This fact has not only informed my choices over the last 20 years, but has also impacted my family and anyone who has been open to hearing this and allowed it to inform their choices.

The bottom line is… If you are not paying attention then how can you care?

Caring for and about our lives, our self, our family, our work, our play, the environment we call home… this care is one of the most important qualities of being human. Our ability to care, our integrity, our honesty – these are the Noble Qualities of the Human Spirit!

When everything in this material world is stripped away, when we face the threshold of the transition in to death, it is the love you create and give, through your life, your care, your nobility and honorable Spirit and Soul is all that you have and all that you are.

We live and dance in this material world yet, where do we come from and where do we go? When our body dies we loose from 1.5-5oz of weight, which is our essential self. That is all we are, all we have and all we take with us from this life, beyond.

Ultimately we are born, live and die alone. We are gifted and interdependent with the beings around us through life yet, only you live within you and will live your birth, life and death. And only you can access the realm of the Divine from within yourself.

Sure guides and helpers can point in the direction, but only you can walk your path and go within yourself and seek your inner truth.

Unfortunately and quite intentionally the world of media draws us out of our inner experience and pushes and feeds externalization, materialism and consumerism… And self-identification with objects, possessions, the roles we play in our lives… all the external ways we self identify; the wife, the mother, the executive, the soldier, the caregiver… whatever cog in the wheel that we occupy.

Who are you when all the ways you identify yourself fall away? Can you put your attention on asking yourself that? And look, feel and listen to what bubbles up from within?

When we come to terms with the fact that we are vibrating energy; everything, everyone are all vibrating energy, then the awareness that there is something more than the illusion of the physical/material reality can take root and we can begin to live fuller, deeper, authentic; more noble, caring lives. We realize that how we be, does matter.

Contrary to what you may have been taught – You are important! And your attention does matter!

Be careful what you give your attention to. Your focus, your attention is an expression of your life force, your soul and spirit.

I invite you to put your attention on your inner truth of your heart and pay attention to what is going on within as well as all around you.

I guarantee if you Pay Attention even more, your own exceptional care qualities with shine through!

But, may I ask… Who taught you to live in yours?

I suspect that you, like the majority of people learned to move, walk, climb stairs, etc. by mimicking those models that were around you, namely your parents.

Is it really such a surprise that as we age, our parent’s likeness begins to emerge more and more from within us? Have we even noticed those old body patterns and habits that we didn’t know we had? We couldn’t think to un-learn something that isn’t brought to our attention.

That is until now.

Now, you’ll have to take heed that your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual or energetic bodies are all interconnected, interwoven like fibers.

Your whole experience of “you” that you inhabit is within and surrounding your body.

Now we can all contemplate how, because of this inter-connection, shifting our physical patterns also shifts our mental, psycho-emotional and energetic patterns.

Have you ever contemplated this?

Quite possibly you’re not really present in your body unless you are truly, consciously focusing on being present within your body and with your breath.

Consciousness is free to roam and travel in this free will section of the galaxy.

Just because one “has a body” doesn’t mean that one is fully present and living within one’s body.

I know that may sound a little far fetched, but observe some people moving through their lives, walking from here to there or standing in the grocery line.

Check out how they stand and move through space and see if you can notice if they seem conscious of themselves moving through space, walking down the street or standing in line, simply breathing and being, conscious and aware of their surroundings.

Not self-conscious in the traditional sense of “Are people watching me and thinking things about me?” More self-aware like, “Feeling my feet on the floor, I breathe in… the present moment, I savor the moment and dwell in the present moment”.

I suspect, if you’re paying attention, you will notice most people are ahead of themselves. They lead with their chin like their head must arrive faster than the rest of their body.

It’s not their fault that they have been taught and shown to live this way.

I don’t suggest this is intentional; in fact it is totally unconscious. I see these body habits and patterns as deeply embedded in our physical structure and thus affecting our mind, emotions and spirit. “Our body is our sub-conscious mind”, to quote Candice Pert.

How I came to this awareness and what I purpose we do to shift these patterns…

Because I was a wiggly mover from the start, even in the womb, my parents had the bright notion to enroll me in dance classes as soon as they possibly could, which gave me an outlet to channel and discipline my tremendous energy.

For many years… ballet, jazz, improvisational dance and acting.

When I arrived at college, fresh out of a successful academic high school career, I enrolled in a broad spectrum liberal arts program, which I quickly decided wasn’t for me, partly because there was just too much sitting! I told you, I’m wiggly.

So I began dancing in the small modern/post-modern dance department and you know what I discovered?

I had all of these body habits and patterns from all my years of ballet and training.

There is a reason someone can tell that one is a “dancer”, because they have recognizable posturing.

In this progressive dance department with a focus on efficiency of movement, I learned many techniques and practices for tuning into our bodies natural alignment and clearing out old body patterns, which is an ongoing process.

You don’t just clean out your body and be done with it.

As each day is a mini-lifetime… being and becoming present within ourselves/cells is an ongoing process of unfolding discovery, which takes time, attention and intention.

The pay-off is tremendous because as one commits themselves to being present within themcells and their life, the experience of living shifts and changes.

That’s right, as you align and integrate within you, your life and whole “reality” can’t help but follow suit. And what lies beyond the experience of the known habits and patterns is a more authentic, feeling, knowing, sensing, open to observing and more deeply interacting self, a truer, brighter more empowered version of your self that is more of who you are and in alignment with who you probably want to become if you’re tuned into the spiritual reality of life, which is the foundational basis of all existence!

Pluto is the bright fire under the deep waters. It is the phoenix rising from the ashes and the snake shedding it’s skin. Pluto is also ruler of the underworld, Hades.

In Evolutionary Astrology, which I’ve been studying since I moved to Ashland, Pluto represents Soul.

Pluto is the slowest moving planet in our solar system. It takes 248 years to complete one highly elliptical orbit around the sun. And it spends about 12 years in Scorpio and 31 years in Taurus.

It is very much a generational planet.

Pluto rules the sign of Scorpio (fixed water sign), which is the only sign that has three symbolic representations – the snake, with it’s belly on the earth, living in dark underground places and shedding it’s skin. The scorpion, with it’s pinchers and stinger, overshadowing representations with the drama and effectiveness of it’s attack and defense. And third, the Eagle soars above all, holding the vision and perspective, integrating Pluto’s awareness to encompass from underground to highest height!

For the last 13 years Pluto has been in the buoyant sign of Sagittarius. Sagittarius likes to expand and explore. It’s ruling planet is Jupiter, so it is optimistic and philosophical. In these years we had the .com bubble and the house buying bubble, just to name a couple.

At the end of January 2008, Pluto ventured into the serious and industrious sign of Capricorn (ruled by Saturn), for just a few months. Then in mid June 2008 Pluto went retrograde back into Sagittarius, and in November 2008 it ventured into Capricorn where it will remain until the end of March 2023, tad-dum! Indeed!

This will be a time of major restructuring. That new earth that we’ve been feeling gestating… this period will be the time to birth and grow it.

Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign, and is all about structure – making things and re-structuring. It doesn’t “pull punches” and it gets down to “brass tax”, to share a couple of phrases that come to mind. Capricorn wants to get things done and achieve something tangible to show for it’s efforts and it will summon much strength and endurance.

Pluto is about power, personal and collective. When Pluto transits through our natal (birth) chart and changes houses or engages in aspects with other natal planets, a major transformation of self can occur.

It may not be evident in the middle of it, it could just feel like nothing is what it was and it’s hard to tell which way is up, but as one comes through (the gates of hell – Pluto does rule the underworld) a new self is there, one with more depth, ability, integration and resources to draw from.

I like this little story to illustrate Pluto – You are a garbanzo bean in a boiling pot. Pluto is there with the wooden spoon, smacking you back down into the spicy broth saying, “Not yet, you’re not seasoned enough!”

Pluto doesn’t stop and it doesn’t give up. In an arm wrestling contest he’ll win every time. There is a certainty to Pluto’s power that is un-shakable. We all need Pluto power driving our faith right now!

Both Sagittarius and Capricorn are associated with law. Sagittarius more philosophically in the idea of law and it is really aligned with “natural law” and “tribal law”, the innate sense of what is true that comes from connection to earth and nature (god).

Capricorn is more aligned with human law. Man’s laws, which are laid down to keep order and maintain the structure.

Pluto takes what is hidden underneath in shadow and brings it to light. If it’s not serving true self (soul), then it must be changed and it will be, either willingly or kicking and screaming.

So, what this means for us individually and collectively is that we have to face it, our shadow (personal and collective). We have to face it to learn from it, to grow and integrate anything useful back into the community of our being.

That which doesn’t serve true self needs to be composted!

This requires us to be ruthlessly honest with ourselves, not mean or harsh, just no bullshit!

What do we really need? Not just physically to survive, but that too.

What are the bare bones of our integrity that hold us up?

How can we be more real with ourselves and each other?

How can you claim your power and stand up for yourself and what you know in your deepest self to be true?

And if you need to keep doing those things that you know don’t help you – how long will you do them for until you say “enough”?

I am really not into predictive astrology. There are so many ways that these archetypes and symbols can play themselves out that I can not begin to wrap my little human brain around all the possibilities…

What I do feel coming through as I type is that this Pluto in Capricorn period is about growing up and making things “real” – all those hopes and dreams of the future…

We’re in the future and we have to claim our own authority, inner author-ability and write the script!

What has brought us to “now” is humans – not being a mature, wise species, making poor, short-sighted choices and fighting. Like big un-parented babies in adult bodies making a mess, we have to grow up as a species.

We can’t expect some knight in shining armor to make everything in the world better for us.

We have to jump on the horse ourselves and ride to what we know is true, to feed the fire of why you are on the planet – to live your unique life and bring your burning fire truth power forth!

It is time to begin.

All those things that you have wanted to do and accomplish in your lifetime – do more of what you can now! Don’t wait for 5 more years.

I also want to share that my girlfriends who are Capricorns or have strong Capricorn in their charts, they are the ones who travel around the world by themselves! Why wouldn’t they? They wouldn’t doubt or question that they can.

So please take that away, that Capricorn can do and Pluto will make sure of it!