"Good" as built by Nature

Building something as amazing as "good" is a natural phenomenon that we cannot control. You can understand your own development in retrospect, just as you can see the slow development of a baby moving toward adulthood. The twelve phases of human development is how you can know your own progress.

"Good" is not subjective. Life and time judge what's good, not me. However, I can feel the good that is added to my life.

Watching the twelve phases in my life, I saw the conclusion over and over: Through the constant changes in everyday life, through the ups and downs, you constantly return to the highest order possible for you. As living organisms, we are wired to survive, and the twelve phases is a regular, step by step process that moves you forward.

Good grows at the pace of time. Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, called it the law of the farm: you can't hurry Nature. The sooner you accept that fact, that principle of life, the sooner you will learn the lessons life has for you. I have found that, as I follow my development by the phases, they are in sync with the bigger forces of Life and Time.

Consider how amazing that is!

The twelve phases are part of your whole development. They keep you on the best course of advancement - for you and you alone. If we were to talk about your life experiences, I could calculate where you were in your life cycle during significant events in your life. You would see the meaning for your development; meaning rises over the busyness that holds your attention.

Without meaning, life can drain you of motivation. The root of lively motivation is in your heart. Once you realize that you possess this power - naturally - you can feel it at work when you are happy and energized.

What is "right"?

Right is true and lasting. It matches principles in Nature, and time tests and proves what is right.. You know what's right when it sticks to life, over time.

As you start the new year, notice what's new, what is added to your norm. When something new comes into your life, you react to the impact in your core being. Your mind has no pre-planned way to deal with it, no 'box' to put it in. When your mind doesn't recognize a new thing, your inborn resourcefulness rises up. Like a gyroscope, your internal compass keeps "you" upright.

Handle surprise with intuition

Life will surprise you, and then your heart's mind takes hold of something in the situation that will increase your resilience. Holding steady to the sequence of your development is more difficult than going with the flow around you. But it is more fulfilling to live from the meaning in life, something within your own perspective.

For example, in December, my ability to love was increased in me. Now I wonder what changes will grow out of the new way I understand love. When confronted with the absolute positivity of love, how it threads through life as a silver lining, I shudder at the thought of the responsibility love carries.

I look for my new ability to show love. But rather than trying to change my behavior, the way my mind assumes love is recognized, I know that I am different. I'm straightforward, matter of fact. That’s what’s natural for me. Outwardly caring about what concerns others, extending myself to help others, speaking comfort in soft-spoken words... No, I don't show love and I don't feel loving.

I know I can't change my nature. How can I know what is truly 'right' as an expression of love for me?

And then the answer seems obvious: I know that, just as I have been changed deep inside, love will simply flow out of that change. This is what I have learned about the twelve phases. Phase by phase, life will change me, building roots of genuine, heartfelt ways. Last year was good that way; this year will be a new good.

We can work with Life.

Many changes I experienced were unexpected: losing a large home; trimming down to renting just a room with access to facilities; now in a similar situation but within my family. As I have been following my development by the Phases, I knew the change was in order: I was being placed closer to people after many years of working at home in isolation.

I observed my emotions, how I reacted to the changes, but it took me a while to accept what happened deep within. I could not have engineered the soul change needed for me to arrive at the end - a place of peace among my family. My body showed the change in my heart.

When my exterior shifted around me, putting me in close contact with others, I was willing to adjust. I thought my mind was in control, based on my understanding of the Phases. But everything about my new home was completely different. Eventually, my heart could not yield completely to someone else's happy life. I needed something different. To be satisfied, to have a heart for living, your perspective must survive in its own way.

Real Good

Because I knew I was done with isolation, I entered the changes willing to adjust. What I didn't know was how each small difference from my old habits would add up to an 'earthquake' in my subconscious. I was not in control.

The first move gave way to the second move, caused by my sister's sudden death. I was needed to watch over her house and then moved in as my niece managed her mother's property. Suddenly, I was living alone again, but family members were in and out constantly. The 'control' was taken out of everyone's hands and I was in the middle of it.

Each of us have different inner experiences in the same external situation. In disruption, some things fall away and some things rise. Your whole being goes through phases of realizations that bring about new knowledge. You grow.

My Life Cycle

I was born in September, so my birth year begins every September. I paid attention; my sister was having chemo treatments and I committed to taking her to her appointments. Early in October, she flew out to stay with her daughter temporarily. She died on October 20, sooner than anyone expected. This all happened within the first month of my new year. Impact.

I was strained, emotionally, but the fact that it was an experience I could not understand, my body absorbed the disruption. I became exhausted without realizing it until my health practitioner told me. I realized then that I had let go of my natural pace, that I was caught up in the pace around me.

When I reflect on the tumultuous two months of 2025, this new form of isolation enabled me to become stable, emotionally. I was calm as different relatives came to the house, feeling their grief. But they kept coming: sisters, nieces and nephews... we're a large family. Again, I kept close to my development process, accepting the way life delivered change for a purpose.

The Power of Good

Living by your natural pace is critical to having peace of mind. It is a way to rise above the seeming chaos in the world around you. Working in isolation had allowed me to live by my natural pace. I reoriented myself to my position in development. I am connected to the life-giving pace of growth over time.

Discovering the twelve phases phenomenon is an unbelievable gift to me. Studying it, seeing its natural power, and letting it change my life - it all still boggles my mind. Now, after 20 years, I am still learning its effect on life, as a whole. It has taught me to respect the ways other people choose to live their lives as a reflection of their unique selves.

Looking closely into the twelve phases phenomenon and watching it work around us, I am still astonished at the miracle: it manufactures good. The natural "machinery" is impersonal in its operation, but as it creates good in your life, you feel loved and your ability to love grows, unseen. And then it pops up, seeming random, but that’s when you know life is worth living.