We at Sounds True recently asked a number of our authors two questions about the phenomena of 2012:
1) What is your view of the year 2012 being identified as a time of unprecedented collective change and transformation? and
2) In your view, what is the best way to respond to these challenging times? What can we do to align with the shift in a way that is most supportive of personal and collective transformation?

We are pleased to present shamanic teacher and author Sandra Ingerman’s responses. For more information about Sandra Ingerman, please see www.sandraingerman.com.

What is your view of the year 2012 being identified as a time of unprecedented collective change and transformation?

It is important to understand that our future is being created in the present. In this respect we are already seeing transformation in the collective. We can track where we are going by looking at what is currently occurring in consciousness. People around the globe are starting to work as a community. When a disaster happens communities of people are gathering to provide help and relief where needed. This will only continue in the coming times and will support more of a unified global community.

We are already seeing a need to create a way of life that is harmony with the environment. For the earth, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the sun all give us life. Many people are moving in a consciousness known to the indigenous peoples of living a life of honor and respect. More is being written and talked about the web of life that connects us all. As this knowledge of the web of life continues to be shared we will move into an understanding that we are part of a greater whole and a unified field which we must honor. Each shift in consciousness we make ripples through the entire web of life. As people wake up the unified field talked about by quantum physicists (which is called the web of life by indigenous people) consciousness wakes up to a new level of truth changing the planet and all of life.

People are starting to realize that amassing more on the material level—buying more and more—does not make us happy. I do believe that by 2012 people will be looking within themselves into the richness of what lies within for true joy, true wealth, and true health.

Many people are waking up to what all spiritual traditions teach—that we are more than our bodies and minds. We are waking up to our spiritual nature which is divine light. And by 2012 I do believe that living a spiritual way of life will dominate over the rational and material world we live in now. For people need meaning to keep evolving and living a healthy life. We will find that there are many spiritual riches that lie within each of us and we will experience shining our light in the world.

We are now seeing and will continue to see and experience the great change that comes from people working spiritually together—whether it be through prayer, shamanic journeying, meditation, etc. As we move into a spiritual state of consciousness we will transcend our limiting beliefs that we collectively feel is possible. We will see that when we transcend our mental limitations positive change will happen on the planet very quickly.

In your view, what is the best way to respond to these challenging times? What can we do to align with the shift in a way that is most supportive of personal and collective evolution?

I think the most important work anyone can do right now is to find a spiritual practice to engage in. One spiritual practice is not more powerful or evolved than another. It is important to find a spiritual path that feels good to you and stick with it. All spiritual paths lead to a life filled with love, light, harmony, peace, and joy.

Learn spiritual practices to help you stay centered during the midst of change. All change and all evolution requires a death to happen. In life we experience “the big” death at the end of our lives. But throughout life growth comes from “the little deaths” that help us to grow and evolve. As we evolve we might lose a relationship, or a job, or our home in a disaster. As we let go of the old and learn to welcome the new we gain a new understanding and perspective on life that leads us to a healthier way of living. Spiritual practices help us to look beyond what is simply happening in our material and physical world and helps us to gain a larger perspective. This keeps us centered.

Review your priorities and make sure you’re finding time to relax and to spend some time in nature. As we are part of nature we are part of “the river of life.” In today’s stressful world many of us disconnect from nature and its cycles. Walking against the flow of the river of life is creating both emotional and physical illness.

Throughout time all spiritual traditions have been teaching that everything begins in the spiritual realms before manifesting in the physical. This means it is important for you to learn to focus your thoughts and imagination in ways that create a positive, personal collective change.

Work together in community and gather your spiritual energies in a positive way. We are the creators of the world we live in. As we use all of our senses to see, hear, feel, and smell the world we want to live in as a global community we can create a world filled with love, light, harmony, peace, joy, and abundance for all.

Realize that each and every one of us is born with creative potential. We are all creative geniuses. Trust your intuition and your inner guidance. Everyone of us has “pieces of the puzzle” to create positive change. We just have to learn how to trust ourselves and our knowing and creative potential.

Stay positive. If as a collective we believe that the future is going into a downward spiral that is what will happen. If as a global community we hold the vision of positive change and a healthy, abundant world for all, we can manifest that vision.

I often write and advise in times of great change:
-Stay focused
-Stay positive
-Stay centered

Find spiritual practices that will help you surf the waves of change and evolution. For change is happening very quickly. And it is important to find ways to let go of the old and welcome in the new. You came into this life to be a conscious changemaker for the coming times.

For more information about Sandra Ingerman, please see www.sandraingerman.com.

Learn more about Sandra’s book and audio learning courses on shamanism and journeying into non-ordinary reality.