For four months, the automatic switch to my garage door did not work. Was it really broken? Yes and no. My garage door was appearing to be broken as a metaphor for a life lesson I needed to learn: All of creation communicates — if only we would listen. The experience of the broken garage door was a mirror of my personal journey.

At the beginning of the new 26,000- year cycle, which began on the winter solstice (12–21–12), I felt as if I had moved into a void. What I had previously focused my energy on was coming to completion, and a new experience was emerging. I was stuck in limbo. The symbols of security around me began to fall away: I lost my cell phone, my accountant retired, and I (temporarily) lost all of my email contacts. Then the main entrance to my house, my sanctuary, closed down when my garage door would not open automatically. Something was definitely cooking.

The now state of being — surrendering, trusting, allowing, and receiving — is how I now choose to live my life, so how was I to think and feel about all of these events? Fascinating! What was I creating? I upgraded my cell phone. I upgraded to a new accountant. I upgraded my computer systems. But my garage door continued to stump the experts I called for assistance. It would have been natural to scream at someone or something, since my car was covered in snow and ice early in the winter mornings when I wanted to race off to the gym before the morning traffic. I chose, however, to be the fascinated observer.