Universal Holiday Greeting

Daniel Pinchbeck writes in the current issue of Whole Life Times, "As we approach the holiday season and the Gregorian New Year, we can give thanks for having been born into this extraordinary, precious time. Our actions over the next few years could have tremendous consequences for humanity’s future on this planet. At such a juncture, the best present we can give to the people around us is our authentic presence--our willingness to listen, learn and remain open to transformation, as the pace of change quickens around us."

My suggestion: focus on the wondrous. In the big picture--on a universal scale--it's all absolutely and sublimely perfect: infinite beauty, love, wonder and possibility. The following are photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch (and lens correction) in 1990. "They illustrate that our universe is," as reporter Michael Hanlon of the Daily Mail describes, "not only deeply strange, but also impossibly beautiful."

check out NASA's website for these extraordinary photos:

The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth - was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.

The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes... The nebula lies within our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from Earth.

Nebula NGC 2392 is called "Eskimo" because it looks like a face surrounded by a furry hood. The hood is, in fact, a ring of comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is 5,000 light years from Earth.

The Cat's Eye Nebula.

The Hourglass Nebula, 8,000 light years away, has a "pinched-in-the-middle" look because the winds that shape it are weaker at the center.

The Cone Nebula. The part pictured here is 2.5 light years in length (the equivalent of 23 million return trips to the Moon).

The Perfect Storm, a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years away, described as 'a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of oxygen, sulphur and other elements'.

Starry Night, so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh painting. It is a halo of light around a star in the Milky Way.

These glowering eyes from 114 million light years away are the swirling cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207 and IC 2163 in the distant Canis Major constellation.

The Trifid Nebula. A 'stellar nursery' 9,000 light years from here, where new stars are being born.

My friends, truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The "new paradigm" I described earlier is actually ancient and eternal. We're just awakening to its presence and its truths. We live in a stunning, bizarre and wondrous energy matrix we call The Universe, The Universe has a collective consciousness, and the core of consciousness is infinite and eternal bliss. We all play our part, and we are all a part, as we are all one. The Hopi indians have an ancient and prophetic saying: "We are the ones we've been waiting for."

Blessings, warm greetings & happy holidays...

Michelle