Many people talk about changes occurring in late 2012. Call it a celestial speed-up, a shift in mass consciousness, awakening, or evolution in consciousness, but don't get too excited about it yet. If it is happening now, it's for adults only.

The Divine cannot change what you refuse to let go. If you must hang on to your fears and negative images, your insistence on being unworthy, self-righteously right, or a victim, then the shift is not for you. Most humans are not grown up; they have just learned how to act in public. A great many have trouble with that. A spiritual adult is a person who has decided to face their fears and move the ego into second place.

You can't go to heaven and take your ego with you. Your ego is a collective thought block of images and identities based on fear that you have created. As an ego you see yourself as different, as better than, or worse than others. You compare constantly. You divide the world into the enlightened and the unenlightened, the saved and the damned, the haves and the have nots, or the spiritually cool, and the spiritually uncool. As long as the ego is in charge, you will live in a world of separation. Mistakes you see in others are reflections of what is in you.

The good news is that you are not your ego. You are the observer of your thoughts and fears, your images and identities, and your resulting behaviors. Growing up, becoming an adult takes time, but you can make significant progress by creating the intention. The intention is to face your fears and transcend them, to set aside your ego thoughts and urges and allow Spirit/Higher Self/Inner Being/God to lead you. This intention says that you have had enough of drama and conflict and you are ready for love, for joy, and for wisdom. What this means is you are ready to become love, joy, and wisdom and to see it in everyone else.

No one is coming to save you. No one will make your negative emotions and thoughts of separation disappear. You will not wake up one morning with all of your hang-ups magically gone. However, if you create the intention to grow up, the Divine will rush in to assist you. If you have the will to let go of your fearful images about yourself, to be a real grown up in a world run by oversized children, then miracles will come through you. Are you willing to be a grown up in your family, your workplace, your community? Instead of longing for love, are willing to be love? Instead of waiting for God to save you, are you willing to be an instrument for the will of God? Are you willing to discern your purpose, the will of God in you, and live it, no matter what others say? What do you want?

An adult is an aware center of influence who understands that everything s/he thinks, feels, says, and does affects others. When an adult has an interaction with another person, s/he seeks to understand the needs and concerns of the other person. A child is a center of attention. As a center of attention a person sees others in terms of what they are doing to her/him, or in terms in what they should be doing for her/him. A center of attention sees the world in terms of his/her own needs. Regardless of your perspective, you are a center of influence. How you see yourself becomes who you are being in the world. Who you are being creates your thoughts and emotions and then your behaviors. Being, thought, emotion, and behavior combine to create your reality. The world is not doing anything to you. You are are creating your experience and having influence on the world at large.

We tend to get stuck in our center of attention/victim mode because we are unwilling to confront our negative emotions. We avoid them through addictions and projections. What if you just let yourself feel them? What if you eliminated all judgment against yourself and allowed yourself to feel the pain. It is only emotion, the body's response to thought. Feel it and let it go. Affirm for yourself your strength and your love. Turn over your negative and judgmental thoughts to Spirit. Let yourself be guided toward your real purpose. The Shift is here and It's looking for spiritual adults through which to do It's work. Are you willing? Are you ready? Will you step up and lead? It doesn't happen to you. It can only happen through you. Be who you are.

Author's Bio: 

William Frank Diedrich is a speaker, executive coach, and the author of four timely books. His most recent book, Adults at Work: How Individuals and Organizations Can Grow Up, is a spiritual, psychological, emotional, and organizational call to grow up and build human organizations that are collaborative partnerships in service to others. His other books include Beyond Blaming, 30 Days to Prosperity, and The Road Home: The Journey Beyond the Spiritual Quick Fix. Learn more about Bill and his work at http://adults-at-work.com or at http://intelligentspirit.com .