Know What You Know

In my work with entrepreneurs who are creating a business as a means of expressing their life purpose as well as to generate a living, oftentimes it becomes evident that people aren鈥檛 listening to what they already know.

One young woman feels the pull of creating cards and calendars and customized art for people to feel good about their world 鈥� but is too focused on her job as a teacher to see that the potential of aligning with her art as a business will yield far more returns than her teaching job. She 鈥渒nows鈥� it but she鈥檚 not owning that.

A man who is a business partner wants to teach the world a new approach to living a better quality of life 鈥� it鈥檚 where he finds his joy and it鈥檚 effortless for him AND he already has students! 鈥� but he continues to turn down his light because he鈥檚 in this partnership that generates revenue. He 鈥榢nows鈥� but he鈥檚 choosing to slow down his right path because of the pull of the physical world.

A consulting firm owner who is doing everything right, from motivating her staff to asking for referrals to generating proposals, but isn鈥檛 excited about it because her calling is to start a new movement about innovative leadership and help cultivate emerging leaders vs. solving the need in established agencies with daily operational issues. She 鈥渒nows鈥� but she has trepidations about jumping from her boring but reliable bread and butter to something new, unknown and as-yet-unproven.

And yet, with each of them, they are getting their 鈥渟igns鈥� of knowingness鈥� if they listen to their messages and act accordingly, they would make progress a lot faster because things would be smoother and would occur without resistance. Somehow, each of them perceives that it is a big change and will take a lot to make it, and yet, I would argue that the big energy is really in holding themselves back from what they know to be true for them in their heart of hearts.

My question for you: what do you know and what can you do right now to take action on it?

A Hopi Elder Speaks

鈥淵ou have been telling people that this is the eleventh hour, now you must go back and tell the people that. 聽This is the hour. And there are things to be considered:

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relationship?
Where is your garden?

It is the time to speak your truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside of yourself for the leaders.鈥�

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled and said 鈥淭his could be a good time!鈥�

鈥淭here is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.

And I say, see who is there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves for the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourself! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we鈥檝e been waiting for.鈥�

For Lasting Self-Possession

1. When you don鈥檛 know what to do with yourself, someone will always be happy to tell you.

2. Why seek approval from someone who doesn鈥檛 even approve of himself?

3. Fawning before an angry person is like asking a rabid wolf for its approval.

4. The more approval you get, the more you have to have.

5. Keeping any person or circumstance in your life that demands you surrender your right to be a whole and happy human being is wrong for everyone involved.

6. When you are standing in a storm, don鈥檛 blame the weather.

7. Real strength always follows uncovering one of the roots of weakness.

8. Don鈥檛 seek yourself. Dare to be yourself.

9. If you were really doing the right thing with your life, you wouldn鈥檛 need anyone to tell you that you were.

10.鈥淧ermitting your life to be taken over by another person is like letting the waiter eat your dinner.鈥� (Vernon Howard)

How To Know What You Know

Knowing is probably one of the most elusive concepts I teach in working with my clients (and myself!). It鈥檚 kind of ironic, don鈥檛 you think? (That 鈥榢nowing鈥� is so uncertain鈥�)

My theory is that we are socialized out of trusting our own knowingness, and taught to depend on external credibility for alot of things 鈥� validation, approval, permission, proof, measurement, and more. It鈥檚 natural that something as intangible and, well, 鈥榳oo鈥� is so difficult to pin down and say it鈥檚 a certainty. Even more interesting is that there are still societies living in remote parts of the world that only rely on knowingness to live their lives. Intuition, instinct, trust, faith and perception are the keys to their world. What would it be like if we could do that too, surrounded by all the other gifts of the Western world but not dominated by them?

There are a few things that I have discovered that really help anchor how to know what you know. In random order, here goes:

1. Trust that you are always getting your messages, in right timing, to the degree that you can interpret, take them in and do something with them. (If they鈥檙e too far ahead of where you are in the moment, you won鈥檛 have a frame of reference for them 鈥� but they鈥檒l come back again when you鈥檙e ready鈥�)

2. Have faith that you retain the power of free will in acting on what you know. And you can always choose different if your results aren鈥檛 what you want / expected.

3. Be responsible and accountable for what you 鈥榢now鈥� 鈥� just as you can鈥檛 unring a bell, you now have access to information you didn鈥檛 before and that becomes part of the fabric of your life. Denial isn鈥檛 really an option.

4. Let your body help by feeling your knowing; give yourself the experience of understanding your physical language of knowing. (Hint: play with that by holding something in your hand and asking if it鈥檚 optimal for you 鈥� if your body leans in, that鈥檚 a yes.)

5. Nobody else can 鈥榢now鈥� for you better than you can鈥� this is all about internal authority over your domain, regardless of what you see with your eyes (circumstances, relationships, opportunities, resources, environment).

6. Knowing can be contrary to what you expect / want.

7. Your 鈥榢nowing鈥� will always add to your life experience in the long run, and generally doesn鈥檛 hurt someone else. (However, if your 鈥榢nowing鈥� says it鈥檚 time for a relationship to end, that may hurt as this situation gets resolved, but it鈥檚 necessary for growth 鈥� and usually, for both of you.)

I 鈥榢now鈥� this has some good information for you 鈥� I鈥檇 love to hear your thoughts about it!

Judgment or Observation?

I鈥檝e decided that I have to stop confusing the simple act of observation with negativity.

Some people, in an effort to not 鈥減ut any negative energy into the space,鈥� refuse to say anything about anybody or anything that could be construed as being negative in any way. And if anyone else says anything about any person, place, or thing that is not wholly positive, many people will criticize the speaker for 鈥渟preading negative energy.鈥�

Soon, a certain dogmatism springs up around all this, and suddenly it becomes unacceptable in some 鈥渘ew age鈥� circles to do anything but smile 16 hours a day and say nothing but positive things about everything. In these circles, when someone offers the least little comment, prediction, or description that is less than totally positive, someone else is sure to say, 鈥淎re you wanting to create that?鈥�, or 鈥淲hy are you creating that?鈥�

(Example: 鈥淕osh, I have a real headache this morning.鈥� 鈥淲ell, why are you creating that?鈥�)

After a while, people feel so hogtied, they feel so straight-jacketed, that they鈥檙e afraid to say anything about anythinganything unless they can glow from head to toe with positivity.

I call this a New Age Bypass. It鈥檚 psychic surgery, on the psyche itself. It can also turn into a game of 鈥渕ake-crazy,鈥� where people can鈥檛 even objectively describe something they鈥檙e seeing right in front of their face without running the risk of being labeled a 鈥渄owner,鈥� or a 鈥渘egative thinker.鈥�

(鈥淭he stock market certainly had a bad day.鈥� 鈥淲ell, aren鈥檛 you the downer鈥︹��)

Yet an Observation is not a Judgment, and a Description is not a Condemnation. We would benefit a great deal from noticing the difference.

It is perfectly okay to say 鈥淭he rain is coming鈥� when, in fact, you can smell it in the air. I remember a day a few years ago where I was at a huge picnic, with about 40 or 50 people attending, when one of the guests happened to say, 鈥淟ooks like it鈥檚 going to rain.鈥� His wife nearly had a conniption fit. 鈥淒on鈥檛 SAY that!鈥� she snapped. 鈥淎re you trying to MAKE it rain?鈥�

Now I understand perfectly well that we create our own reality, and I have read all the messages of Conversations with God and virtually every other New Spirituality text that is out there that says we do so with the triplet tools of thought, word, and deed. I know all about the As-You-Speak-It, So-Shall-It-Be school of thought on this subject. I belong to that school. But does that mean that we cannot even offer a simple observation, bereft of any judgment or announcement of preference, about what we are experiencing in our lives?

Of course not. Saying 鈥渙h-oh, it looks like rain鈥� does not mean that you are at cause-and thus, at fault-when the rains come. It simply means that you are observing what is going on around you. It means that you are aware. And awareness is one of the greatest attributes that any person could develop.

The message here is: do not substitute passivity for discernment; do not鈥搃n the name of 鈥減ositivity鈥濃�搃nsert total blindness where once there was keen observation. Covering your ears does not make the wind howl any less, and putting your head in the sand does not make danger disappear.

The ability to observe the environment around us, the ability to discern one thing from another, is what comes with evolving to a higher level of consciousness. Observation is the act of seeing something; it is the simple act of witnessing without assessing. Discernment is the act of differentiation; it is the simple act of telling one thing from another.

Observation is a statement that says 鈥渨hat鈥檚 so.鈥� Judgment is a statement that says 鈥渟o what鈥�? As sentient beings, humans have a desire to notice what is going on around them. Indeed, they have a responsibility to do so.

When you consciously and deliberately stop noticing something because you 鈥渄on鈥檛 want to put negative energy into the space,鈥� you forfeit your most precious gift as a creative being: the gift of deciding. You cannot decide what you want, you cannot consciously choose your own future, if you are refusing to look at what is true so far.

I鈥檓 going to keep on working to remove judgment and condemnation from my experience, but I shall never remove observation and discernment. The teaching is, 鈥淛udge not, and neither condemn,鈥� it is not, 鈥淥bserve not, and neither discern.鈥�

How To Focus On Your ‘Right’ Priorities

The word 鈥榬ight鈥� for me means right-brain, which translates to intuitively honoring the optimal choice or investment of time and energy. The right priorities are not always the obvious priorities.

In fact, you may think you need to focus on something but find yourself drawn to something else 鈥� afterward, you realize that you weren鈥檛 in the mood to do the first one which would have meant you were pushing for it and that makes everything hard.

Humans have a basic need for variety, but they also have a need for stability. The way that I recommend we balance these two needs for our best focus is to have a 鈥榮hopping list鈥� of things to get done, and then when you have time, look at your list. The first priorities are any that have deadlines (or life lines, as I prefer to call them). If there is a time commitment, that is what needs to be handled first.

From there, if you have time that you can put into something you choose, make sure you have your list handy and then do what鈥檚 called 鈥榚ye dowsing鈥� 鈥� see what jumps out at you first. Whatever you see or notice first is generally where the natural energy is most intense or flowing, so that will be the priority that will be your next 鈥榬ight鈥� choice to take action on.

By honoring the energy of what is 鈥榬ight鈥� for you in right sequence and right timing, you can create a systematic flow that may defy the mind鈥檚 literal organization and that opens up to enhanced opportunities.

Now for the best way to focus on your 鈥榬ight鈥� priorities: the word 鈥榬ight鈥� for me means right-brain 鈥� so intuitively honoring the optimal choice or investment of time and energy. The right priorities are not always the obvious priorities.

In fact, you may think you need to focus on something but find yourself drawn to something else 鈥� afterward, you realize that you weren鈥檛 in the mood to do the first one which would have meant you were pushing for it and that makes everything hard.

Humans have a basic need for variety, but they also have a need for stability. The way that I recommend we balance these two needs for our best focus is to have a 鈥榮hopping list鈥� of things to get done, and then when you have time, look at your list. The first priorities are any that have deadlines (or life lines, as I prefer to call them). If there is a time commitment, that is what needs to be handled first.

From there, if you have time that you can put into something you choose, make sure you have your list handy and then do what鈥檚 called 鈥榚ye dowsing鈥� 鈥� see what jumps out at you first. Whatever you see or notice first is generally where the natural energy is most intense or flowing, so that will be the priority that will be your next 鈥榬ight鈥� choice to take action on.

By honoring the energy of what is 鈥榬ight鈥� for you in right sequence and right timing, you can create a systematic flow that may defy the mind鈥檚 literal organization and that opens up the most important asset you have in your business 鈥� your energy.

Please leave me a comment and let me know how this helps you prioritize all that you have working for you on your desk and in your business right now 鈥� I鈥檇 love to hear!

Be Lucky – It’s An Easy Skill To Learn

A decade ago, I set out to investigate luck. I wanted to examine the impact on people鈥檚 lives of chance opportunities, lucky breaks and being in the right place at the right time. After many experiments, I believe that I now understand why some people are luckier than others and that it is possible to become luckier.

To launch my study, I placed advertisements in national newspapers and magazines, asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Over the years, 400 extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research from all walks of life: the youngest is an 18-year-old student, the oldest an 84-year-old retired accountant.

Jessica, a 42-year-old forensic scientist, is typical of the lucky group. As she explained: 鈥淚 have my dream job, two wonderful children and a great guy whom I love very much. It鈥檚 amazing; when I look back at my life, I realise I have been lucky in just about every area.鈥�

In contrast, Carolyn, a 34-year-old care assistant, is typical of the unlucky group. She is accident-prone. In one week, she twisted her ankle in a pothole, injured her back in another fall and reversed her car into a tree during a driving lesson. She was also unlucky in love and felt she was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Over the years, I interviewed these volunteers, asked them to complete diaries, questionnaires and intelligence tests, and invited them to participate in experiments. The findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.

Take the case of chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not. I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities.

I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs, whereas the lucky people took just seconds. Why? Because the second page of the newspaper contained the message: 鈥淪top counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.鈥� This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than 2in high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

For fun, I placed a second large message halfway through the newspaper: 鈥淪top counting. Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win 拢250.鈥� Again, the unlucky people missed the opportunity because they were still too busy looking for photographs.

Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people鈥檚 ability to notice the unexpected. In one experiment, people were asked to watch a moving dot in the centre of a computer screen. Without warning, large dots would occasionally be flashed at the edges of the screen. Nearly all participants noticed these large dots.

The experiment was then repeated with a second group of people, who were offered a large financial reward for accurately watching the centre dot, creating more anxiety. They became focused on the centre dot and more than a third of them missed the large dots when they appeared on the screen. The harder they looked, the less they saw.

And so it is with luck 鈥� unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and as a result miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

I wondered whether these four principles could be used to increase the amount of good luck that people encounter in their lives. To find out, I created a 鈥渓uck school鈥� 鈥� a simple experiment that examined whether people鈥檚 luck can be enhanced by getting them to think and behave like a lucky person.

I asked a group of lucky and unlucky volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier. While lucky people became luckier, the unlucky had become lucky. Take Carolyn, whom I introduced at the start of this article. After graduating from 鈥渓uck school鈥�, she has passed her driving test after three years of trying, was no longer accident-prone and became more confident.

In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:

1. 聽Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell 鈥� a reason to consider a decision carefully.

2. 聽Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.

3. 聽Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

Intuition is Connection

鈥淭o see life from the perspective of intuition is to have vision. To see life from the perspective of intuition is to see life from the perspective of wholeness. It is to understand that life is basically one and that we are part of life. While the intellect can only see the details, intuition sees the whole. To see life from the perspective of intuition is like looking at life from the summit of the mountain, whereas seeing life only from the perspective of intellect is like looking at life from the foot of the mountain. Through learning to listen to our intuition, we learn to be in contact with the Whole.鈥� ~ Swami Dhyan Giten

Intuition is that quiet, powerful inner knowing of your truths. Connection is a relationship to a larger whole. By definition, they are the same. That is, intuition is your inner connection to a larger truth, and connection is your intuitive relationship to a bigger picture.

Conversely, when you are not feeling particularly connected, it鈥檚 likely you can be easily distracted, un-engaged and even bored with whatever the event, conversation or person you are involved with in the moment. When you are not accessing your intuition, you are likely to experience not only distractions and boredom, but also confusion, a sense of overwhelm and a certain monotony of your own life on a day to day level. If you find yourself in that experience, and you want it to be different, it鈥檚 time to view your inner and outer connections.

Universal laws show us that the outer connections are really only a symptom of our inner connections. That is, our world is a reflection of what鈥檚 happening inside us. Our satisfaction with our relationships, opportunities, finances, home, etc. have a direct correlation to how we are feeling about them, focusing on them and working with our intuition in creating them.

So the most important inner connection we can have is the one with ourselves through our intuition. Remember, intuition is a quiet inner voice 鈥� it won鈥檛 shout to be heard, judge your choices or stop your free will in acting in the physical world. Intuition is what鈥檚 waiting and always accessible to help you handle your world.

So, how do we know we鈥檙e connecting with our intuition? Look around yourself right now. See what鈥檚 happening in your world 鈥� this may take courage 鈥� but really look at what you鈥檝e created in your body, significant other, friends, home, and beyond. If you like what you see, you are working with your intuition. And if not, it鈥檚 time to introduce yourself to, and connect with, your inner guide.

10 Signs of Authentic Intuition

1. Intuition is a whisper 鈥� not a shout.

True intuition will not compete to be heard 鈥� it simply is. It is a feeling, a nuance, an inkling, a subtle knowingness that is always accessible but not always acknowledged. The speed of life has a lot to do with your ability to understand and work with your inner wisdom. Chances are that if your intuition is shouting at you, it鈥檚 time to acknowledge that that light really is the oncoming train.

2. There is a sense of calmness and certainty in the intuitive awareness.

While it isn鈥檛 always easy to trust intuition at first (mostly because that isn鈥檛 a generally accepted practice of socialization in our formative years), there is a feeling of confidence in the intuitive insight. Authentic intuition just feels right when it is.

3. Your body experiences 鈥渂reathing鈥� in all ways.

When we are in a state of fear, stress, confusion or indecision, our bodies are tight, our breathing is shallow, and we can be distracted. Experiencing our authentic intuition leads to a release of that heavy or constricted sensation. When our intuition gives us the information or answer that is needed, we feel a particular lightness, a freshness, a sense of breathing again 鈥� literally.

4. It seems like your 鈥渓ife glass鈥� just got cleaned.

The world is brighter and cleaner, shapes are sharper, even smells seem sweeter. Your intuitive insight has gifted you with clarity; the distractions to appreciating your world are gone. Your vision and your senses are connected again to the world outside of you due to your intuitive direction.

5. The solution feels easy and natural.

When your intuition gives you a genuine answer, there is a gentle and relaxed energy. This guidance can feel like permission or maybe even forgiveness. The insight is personal and you know it to be true like you know being your own gender 鈥� completely natural in sync with who you are at your essence. When it is authentic intuition, the message is effortlessly just for you.

6. True intuition will not harm you (or anyone else for that matter!).

Your inner wisdom is a compass guiding you toward what is in your best interest at all times. It is impossible for authentic intuition to share space with negativity or malicious intention. Intuition serves only your best and highest good. Your intuition may direct you to do something that you may not want to do, but that is ultimately helping you. For example, it may be time to release a relationship, which may hurt either party, but overall, it is a disservice to prolong a relationship that has served its purpose. The healthy cycle of life (birth, living, dying) is inherent in every part of life, and is inexorably linked with every phase of our lives 鈥� including intuition. The bottom line 鈥� bad things don鈥檛 come from good intuition!

7. The intuitive insight conveys creativity in being.

Sometimes intuition is baffling in what it communicates, which could be a symptom of not knowing your internal intuitive language, or it could be that you aren鈥檛 quite ready to assimilate that information. Intuition is amazingly creative, and yet perfectly simple. If something pops in seemingly from out of nowhere, but addresses exactly what is needed in a kind, gracious, undiluted and perhaps unfamiliar way, it is a message to be taken seriously.

8. Authentic intuition speaks in repetition.

Intuition often shows up as consistent messages, such as hearing a word or phrase, seeing it in a magazine, then passing a picture of that on a billboard. There are no coincidences, only synchronicities. Many intuitive insights appear in dreams, when our conscious mind cannot censor the messages. Intuition will pass if you don鈥檛 listen, as it has no enforceable interest in being heard. Additionally, exercising free will in making choices overrides even the best intuition. However, if something shows up often for you, it is time to take notice. If you ignore an important intuitive message, it will show up again bigger and louder until you can鈥檛 miss it. (Much like the movie, Ground Hog Day鈥t鈥檚 a do-over until you get it right and graduate from the message!)

9. There is a sense of 鈥渇low鈥� opening up in other ways.

The purpose of authentic intuition is to help pull you forward in being your best. It creates space for your life to move in a dynamic, positive way. Things will start lining up easily and effortlessly. There is a new sense of open energy, ready to receive what is being attracted to you. Authentic intuition is to your life what water is to an ocean 鈥� it is an integral, changing element that creates, reinvents and connects all parts of itself by being and 鈥渇lowing鈥�. When intuition is flowing, it鈥檚 likely that your life is too.

10. Manifestation blooms around you.

We are the creators of our life experiences. Intuition is a vital tool that illuminates all that is available to us in our relationship between our inner and outer worlds. Authentic intuition helps us to distill the bigger picture into something meaningful and accessible in our everyday lives. As a conscious creation instrument, intuition helps us manifest what we need and desire; upon connecting with authentic inner wisdom, you will know the power when you see (and acknowledge) the richness of what is manifesting around you.

6 Ways to Pay Attention to Intuition

1. Pay attention to spontaneous, unsolicited 鈥渕essages鈥�.

These can be anything from a particular but different feeling to an unusual hankering to do something to hearing something that strikes a nerve somehow to an opportunity that comes in out of the blue. Hunches aren鈥檛 always 鈥渇eel good鈥� actions, but they usually will lead to outcomes that get you or the situation to a better place.

2. Look for the 鈥渃ounter-intuitive鈥� in a given situation.

If where you are isn鈥檛 where you want to be, go looking for a hunch by considering what is counter-intuitive to where you are now. For example, if you know your business is not growing the way you want, look for exactly where and in what ways it is not growing, where the customers are not coming from or where you are not providing services to open up the possibilities that might be there all along. One of my clients did this and discovered that she needed to create her own distinct program, based on her life principles for success (by her own definition, incidentally), as opposed to working with, modeling and selling other people鈥檚 products / programs.

3. Consider the unrelated but important things.

That is, the things that are seemingly unrelated but significant vs. what鈥檚 actually urgently in your face screaming to get your attention will usually wait or go unnoticed. For example, let鈥檚 say you have client issues that have deadlines and need immediate resolution but, out of nowhere, you get an invitation to join a week-long retreat that has no agenda but you will be with your peers. This actually happened for one of my clients 鈥� and when she decided to take that time off, her business was handled by an assistant for the short-term and she was rejuvenated with new information and new connections to take her business to a completely new level.

4. Pay attention to your attention.

That is, follow your attention and observe what is pulling you because that is a clue to a message that is trying to come in to you. Consider what is showing up in the media, who you meet and who is calling to connect with you, and what you want to learn more about in the moment. This is NOT about analysis 鈥� this about taking 5 minutes at the end of the day to consider what new interests you have or where you have or would like to focus more time or energy. Keep it simple鈥�

5. Pay attention to synchronicities and/or coincidences.

I believe that we are continuously creating that which we need to get to our next level. One way that we can know that is to pay attention to the confluence of events; that is, what seemingly unrelated thing that we were just thinking about suddenly shows up somehow? What billboard do we see? What chance encounter do we have that has the message about changing our future?

6. Ask for information and listen.

As simple as this one is, it is often overlooked because it seems too easy. Ask for guidance, a sign, a directive to come to you 鈥� you can ask for it to be specific, such as validation of a message by seeing an angel (then watch for the greeting card / commercial / store window for your angel) or through your dreams. Once you ask the question, be sure you鈥檙e ready to receive the answer 鈥� and trust it when you get it. Remember that we can鈥檛 make the message be something other than it is, so if you really don鈥檛 want to hear it somewhere in your being, you鈥檒l either block it, sabotage it or try to make it into something else. Make sure to KISS it鈥� (keep it short and simple).