With expectant eyes we now look ahead into the coming year, peering closely in an attempt to catch a glimpse of … greatness? Pain? Growth? Forward movement?

What will you find in the coming year? For a huge hint, try this: look backward into the year just completed. What themes emerge? What did you learn? What lies left unfinished but still beckoning? Looking backward, deeply looking, affords you insight into where you head now. A bright future calls to you, if only you can see through the dark mire behind you to find the door.

But never fear. The door to brightness is always within you. You have only to open it and step through.

2011 begins with a bit of a bang, Number One of six eclipses during the year. January 4 brings a partial solar eclipse, fiery energy with which to move right into and begin creating. Don’t delay in using this energy to start Step One, whatever that may be for you, of your own personal What Comes Next. Not sure where you are going? You can only begin from where you are, so use the time between now and this first eclipse to take stock of where you are Right This Moment.

Looking at where you are may be more difficult than you bargained for. It does require a certain amount of ruthlessness in your backward glance at the year just finished. Be kind but look deep. Hold a mirror to your soul and be strictly observant – not judgmental – about what you see. Is it a person lacking perfection? Making mistakes? Okay, then. Congratulations, you are human. But you have something in mind about the person you wish to be, the True You, yes? Wonderful. 2011 is your year to make it happen. Be honest and be specific. Use this time to create the template of where you are going. Then be kind and realize it will take you the whole year to do it.

On a global level, 2011 is when we deepen into the mysteries that abound within and around us. New scientific developments shed light on the nature of the world and ourselves. New ways of interreacting develop through experimentation and play. New realizations about our connections and our role within the greater being that is the collective whole we all are a part of are made. New connections to our collective past and the ancestral memories we all share come to light. We are creating a new reality with each breath, so make yours count.

What to expect in 2011

Personal

Deeper knowledge of Self. For many, this means that long-buried treasures will rise to the surface. Some of this resurfacing of things long-buried will be painful. Be kind to yourself in the process; realize it’s about your own growth and that you are ALWAYS empowered to choose differently. You may choose to tell a new story. You may choose a different outcome. You may choose to rebury the past. It is always your choice. Choose wisely. Choose with mindfulness. Choose with an eye toward your True Self. And choose with your heart.

On a more mundane level, you will likely find that signs, omens, and synchronicities grace your awareness with increasing abundance. Use these as your guideposts for the choices you make in your life. They are not a coincidence and are being chosen on a global level to help raise conscious awareness of the personal inner growth process. Use these signs as your reminder that you are 1) connected, 2) plugged in, and 3) on your right path.

In addition, you may find yourself being increasingly drawn to ancient traditions. Honor this and do what you need to do to incorporate your ancestral past into your chosen future.

Relationships

As people become increasingly aware of and connected into who they are, their relationships change. Interactions become more intentional. You may find that people fall out of your life this year that have been with you a long time. Honor their place in your life and send them on their way with your good wishes and love. Recognize that you are drawing a circle to a close and that endings aren’t necessarily, well ... endings. Often endings lead to new beginnings. Use the hurt that comes from these feelings of loss for the people you mourn to create an open door for the What Comes Next in your life in terms of the people you spend your time with. What qualities nourish you? What qualities light you up? What qualities comfort you? Perhaps it is these qualities you wish to surround yourself with.

Overall, then, people are beginning to become more aware of the connections they share with others and how other people support (or do not support) an overall vision of the world to come. Take your blinders off and look deeply also at the people in your life. Who are they, really? What are they wishing for themselves and for the world? How do you fit into that? These are the questions that bubble under the surface this year. Listen and choose with your heart.

Communities

Community work is all over the map this year. While on the one hand there is a massive drive toward forming and sustaining community, on the other the upheaval among personal relationships means that communities formed this year will likely be in periods of flux or even disband before year’s end. No matter. There is still great learning to be had from the exercise of coming together and then falling apart again, and it doesn’t mean there has been a failure in the process.

Cities, towns and governmental units of all sizes qualify as communities in this regard. Governments will be attempting to band together in new ways, often enlisting or recruiting from the “other side” (depending on which side you’re on, of course), and some of this enlisting and recruiting will look, for lack of a better term, underhanded.

Smaller communities lack cohesiveness this year, even though, again, the drive to create them is strong. Allow your failures, if you experience them in this regard, to lubricate the gears of what is to come. Much of the upheaval is from redefining the meaning of “family” and is taking that into larger context. Naturally, to do so and apply the word that once meant strictly biology to a larger group formed by qualities of the heart and alignment of purpose, there will be some fallout. Issues surface that were once long-buried. The same flow and process described in the personal journey applies here, for of course it is connected, all part of the same growth patterns emerging worldwide.

Global Politics

Look for polarization widening the gap between:

• Digging in the heels and increased stubbornness at holding the line on the status quo. Examples: United States, France, UK. Iceland.
• Sweeping changes and reforms possible, especially in smaller, less globally-connected countries. Examples: Portugal, Greece, Estonia.

Things could seem bleak this year for those hoping that the planet work toward a unified world government. It isn’t time for that now. You are still examining issues of separateness, in a big way. There is nothing wrong with this and it’s simply part of your path overall as a global community. It is as if you are just now beginning to discover that you’ve been playing in a sandbox and for the first time you realize you’re not alone in the sandbox, that there are other playmates in there with you. What to do with them? Time will tell. Eventually you’ll all play together but not yet.

Earth Changes

Gaia rears her gorgeous head this year and begins to make her presence known in unusual and tangible ways. We’ve talked about underground earth changes for a long time, but this year things begin to get really interesting. Look for wider swings of the pendulum in areas like volcanic/earthquake activity, climate abnormalities, and “unexplained” phenomena. You are co-creating your new reality this year in a big way, which means that science hurries to catch up and explain what you all already know on another level.

Global Spiritual Changes

A doorway opens this year, over and over again, leading to deeper and deeper layers of awareness of Self and of the growing trend toward acknowledgement of the connection we all share. The global collective consciousness is powerful and pervades our every waking action, but seldom do we realize that our every step, thought and breath are connected to every step, thought and breath taken worldwide and beyond. Thoughts flow like waterfalls, cascading over mountaintops and into your dreams, taking you higher and deeper if only you choose to open the doorway a little wider to do so. This is your year, then. If you choose, step this year into your place in the beautiful tapestry being woven in each breath, and create deeper and wilder colors that take you yourself more deeply into the You that you are creating. This is an exciting time to be on this planet. Every day affords you new horizons, new glimpses, and new opportunities to be as much of yourself as you can be. If you choose to, wake each morning with the thought that there is a gift awaiting you that day, something special to be revealed when the time is right. With every day a gift, you cannot help but to create what is right for you.