Other Ways to
Tune in to Your Intuition
Synchronicities happen when we listen to the soft voices.
They are life’s little way of reminding us to pay attention,
to follow the signs, and to watch the path in front of us as it unfolds.
—lyn ragan, signs from the afterlife
Sometimes your intuition speaks to you in different ways. Remember, the easier it is to understand your intuitive vibes the better. We are multifaceted people. Therefore, we need a variety of ways to tap into our metaphysical senses. Obviously, we have all the clairs, but we need to receive those messages in order to process them. I like to think of it like the electrical companies. There are two different charges on our bill: the first is the fee for the actual electrical energy we use, and the second is the fee for the supplier charge. While our intuition costs us nothing to use, it can be broken up in the same way—the actual intuitive information we receive and how it is provided to us.
We can consider ourselves extremely fortunate that we have a plethora of methods to access our intuitive guidance. The clairs are generally intangibles; we can’t physically see them or hold them. Our tools, depending upon what we are using, can be both intangible and tangible. And then, there are synchronicities and signs, both of which we recognize with our physical senses. These are external events or situations sent by the universe, our guides, and deceased loved ones to answer our questions and provide us with direction and, sometimes, just to let us know we are not alone.
Synchronicities
When you begin noticing coincidences and things that shouldn’t go together but do, those just may be synchronicities. Analytical psychologist Carl Jung used the word synchronicity in his writings to describe meaningful coincidences that seemingly have no causal connection or relationship. These synchronicities show up to assist us in recognizing our intuition, and in fact they give us insight that we may not have otherwise had.
Synchronicities are a pretty common occurrence, although we don’t always recognize them as such. It usually takes a few or even more synchronistic events to happen before we begin putting them together. Frequently, these coincidences happen daily—some are stronger than others. Unless they are obvious, we may never notice them.
For instance, if you are thinking of someone out of the blue and run into them shortly after, that is your intuition essentially showing you a flash of what’s to come. When I do readings for people, quite regularly I will get a flash of one of my other clients beforehand. As often as this happens, it makes me pause. Later that day or maybe the next I get a call or an email that they want to set up another appointment. It doesn’t matter if I haven’t talked to them in a month or five years, it always works the same way. It is inevitable that I will hear from them, and soon.
Let’s pretend you are looking for a job. You are trying to decide whether to look for your full-time forever job or just something temporary until you figure out what it is for sure that you want to do. You’ve narrowed it down to getting a job in an office where you can utilize the skills you just graduated with or a temporary server position at a restaurant where you can make some great tips. You keep thinking about it but don’t mention your dilemma later on while you are hanging out with friends.
Out of nowhere, your friend says, “I had the best lunch today at Texas Roadhouse. I walked in and there was a help wanted sign. That would be a perfect place to make some good tips if I didn’t already have a job!”
Imagine your jaw is now on the floor because you hadn’t mentioned looking for a waiting job anywhere. And then, your other friend chimes in.
“I wish I had waited and done that first. I regret that I jumped in and started full time already. I should have done waitressing or something first.”
There are your synchronistic events. Two seemingly unconnected answers to your question: first, where you might be able to find a serving job, and second, whether you should do that or work in your office career first. Bam! Pay attention! The universe is trying to tell you something, and it is not convincing you using your straight-up ESP, so it is proving it with using a more in-your-face method. There is really no denying that.
Signs
You’ve been introduced to symbolism, which essentially is internal signs. Symbols are often the way we are able to perceive our intuitive guidance. Our guides, the universe, and even our deceased loved ones will use any method they possibly can to get you information and frequently symbols are the easiest and quickest method. Essentially, these visual stimuli are a way to receive information, and it’s about time you are introduced to the more palpable form, signs. Signs are the things that show up, externally, to emphasize or validate your intuition. Our intuition uses a mix of methods to get through to us—signs are one of the few tangibles that help us recognize our intuitive hits. Having something tangible gives us evidence we can hold or physically see. That proof helps validate our intuition.
Signs are often noticed through synchronicities. Simply explained, this means that you’ll notice something externally that answers a question or seems to be a direct response to something you have been thinking about. When we are trying to process information, we may ask for a sign to validate what we intuitively or even literally believe to be the solution or answer. For example, if you are debating whether to go back to school as you are zoning out watching television and suddenly a commercial comes on for a college, that can be a sign that, yes, it may be a good time to put your scholarly hat back on. If you change the channel and an ad is playing about a textbook rental site, then bingo. The universe is trying to let you know, for sure, to get your butt back to school!
Signs come in so many forms and are very common ways for our deceased loved ones to let us know they are around. This just came up today in a reading I did with Betty Sue. We were wrapping up the session, during which her sister who had just passed had come through and acknowledged a bunch of things in Betty Sue’s life. All of a sudden, I saw an image of a red bird. I asked her if a bird meant anything to her. In the moment, she said no, she had no idea, but right as we were getting ready to hang up, she realized what it was:
“A couple of days ago, I had been thinking of my sister all morning, wishing she was with me or that she could send me a sign. A few minutes later, I noticed two birds on the ground, cardinals. Then one flew away. The other was just staring at me. I was nervous because there was a cat watching it. I walked over to it, expecting it to fly away, but it didn’t move. So I got right up next to it and it still didn’t move. It didn’t look hurt, it just watched me. I gently picked it up and put it up higher on a hanging planter because I was worried that cat would get it if it stayed on the ground. Still, it didn’t move or get stressed or try and fly away. It just kept watching me. I went inside to get bird seed. When I went back out to check on her and feed her, she was gone.”
I confirmed for her what she already knew. The bird was a sign from her sister, Carolyn. She was letting her know she heard her and that she’d always be there for her. It was a pretty clear sign and one that, although it took her a minute to remember, was pretty evident. Signs can and will show up to help you identify that your loved ones are around to answer questions you may have or even to guide you in the direction you may need to go.
So how can you use signs to your advantage for work? Easy. Ask the question. Wait for a sign. Can’t get any easier, right? However, you must be present and pay attention to what shows up. It can slip right past you, otherwise. Let’s say you do custom auto fabrications. You want to know whether to put money into sales and marketing or hire a new technician. Ask the universe which direction would be best for you. Sometimes you only need one sign to get the message. Other times you may wait for additional signs to verify the first one was truly a sign.
Then, let’s say you are headed down the highway, on your way home, and you notice a billboard you’ve never seen before. It is blank, but it says, your business belongs on here! to increase your sales, advertise! Now you have a choice. You can ignore the huge freaking sign you just saw, or you can be smart and understand the universe is helping you any way it possibly can to steer you in the right direction. The only downside to this incredible sign is that others will see it too—so pay attention! Don’t wait too long to make your decision and go for it!
Combining Synchronicities,
Signs, and Intuitive Guidance
Synchronistic events and signs don’t always show up when we expect them. Rather, they rarely come when we want them to—they appear when you are ready to perceive them. You might ask the universe to validate something and it might not show up for a while. However, you might not realize that circumstances can come full circle to show you that what you are doing is exactly what you are supposed to. In other words, you receive signs along the way, but you might not get total corroboration that you’ve done the right thing until you actually do it!
This is why it is so crucial to trust in all the different modes of intuitive awareness. If you are trying to figure out something at work, you have a multitude of options to use to get some metaphysical answers.
Dr. Tammy Nelson, an international sex therapist, author, and presenter, shared one of her many life-changing stories of intuition with me. She was trying to think of a way she could make some income without doing just individual counseling. Otherwise, she knew she needed more hours in the day! She was already stretched way too thin. She got it in her head that she would try to figure out some options during her weeklong stay at a yearly conference called the Networker Symposium in Washington, DC. This is a training conference run and organized by the Psychotherapy Networker, which is a full-service facilitator for training programs and a monthly self-titled magazine. Tammy was there not only to participate in the workshops, but also to lead and teach her own pre-conference workshop about sex therapy.
While there, she was approached by many people, all suggesting she teach her own workshop class in Washington, DC, because there was virtually no sex therapy training available in the area at all. However, Tammy lived in Connecticut. She did not feel drawn to DC at all. As a matter of fact, she felt more of an aversion to the area because of the political climate. She was also already super busy and really didn’t have the time, but people continued to insist she would be really well received and she should try it.
“Just come on down and do it! They will love you here!” was what they asserted.
So she made her decision. If she could get space—without spending a ton of money on travel, setup, and the venue—and if the whole situation easily fell into place, she would do it.
While she was thinking about it, she got a phone call from a friend she had taken the class with. She told him of what she was contemplating. She didn’t say much else.
He asked her, “Do you have a place to hold it?”
“No. I don’t think I’ll find a place where it will be financially feasible, so it probably won’t happen,” she confessed.
“Oh, well I know of a great school where they rent out teaching rooms and conference rooms pretty inexpensively. You should contact them.” He gave her all the information.
Tammy called the school and realized this could actually be a possibility. The initial contact at the Networker Symposium had apparently already gotten back to the school, so by the time Tammy reached out to them, they knew exactly who she was and shared they would offer her a discounted rate as a professional courtesy. Now it felt like she couldn’t turn it down.
She made it happen. She created a two-day workshop, and people signed up and came to it. In fact, people loved it. It was a total success. Not only did she create something new, she paid attention to the synchronistic chain of events that got her here. She decided to do it some more.
Six years later, she has created a whole institute in Washington, DC, with many classes and offers certification programs. She is not even altogether sure how it happened. She kept getting intuitively drawn down there. It continued to grow and get a lot more complicated. And, besides that, she became bicoastal, living in California for two weeks and Connecticut for the next two. Just when she thought she might close the institute down, she was intuitively led to create a new certification for sex and couples therapy. She has people coming from all over the world to get certified by her and her institute. She made it a hybrid program, part online and part at the institute, knowing it would not be convenient for her to continue traveling to DC or for others to travel consistently from their homes as well.
Then, because she listened to her intuition and the synchronistic events that kept popping up, she received an offer from an accredited Los Angeles school. They were creating a new PhD program in sex therapy and wanted Tammy to help. Of course they did—after all, now she was in Los Angeles as well. She wondered how she would be able to do that and still get students for her own school. Putting it out to the universe, she thought again if she was shown a way to make it work, she would do it. She got an email shortly after: “We will take all your students, and we will tell all our students they have to come to you to get their certification.” How could she turn it down now? The universe for sure was conspiring in her favor.
Then, because she is so good at this, obviously, she asked the universe for a sign. She wanted to know what to do next to increase her passive income. That afternoon, she got her mail and there was a Psychotherapy Networker magazine. She thought to herself, “That’s a sign,” and waited, trusting her intuition and the universe, though she had no idea what would happen next.
The call came later that day. The Networker asked Tammy to tape an eighteen-hour online program, pretty much a one-and-done event, that they would offer. In return, they offered to feed everyone directly back to Tammy’s institute program for classes and certifications before they could take the next step with them.
Tammy listened to her intuition. She paid attention to the synchronicities that kept popping up. She recognized the signs. And, most importantly, she listened. She has created many new outlets for herself, created training programs, and created many new passive income revenue streams.
Tammy’s story is a perfect example of how the universe can provide you with answers, often in ways that you aren’t expecting. The responses may not come as soon as you want, but be patient—you will get them in time. Also, let this be a wake-up call to be observant. Participate in your life by staying on alert for your guidance to show up.
Utilize Your Intuition, However It Comes
Trusting your instincts can come in handy when you are looking for guidance. You’ve got options—there are so many different ways to tune in to your natural gifts. The easier, the better, though, right? So why not take advantage of every method possible!
It’s interesting. So frequently, just when we think we aren’t using our intuition, we realize we’ve been using it all along. Whether it is a gut feeling we are getting or a synchronistic flash, it’s not always critical to recognize it as intuition—as long as we follow it. One of the reasons we don’t need to worry that we aren’t aware we are using it is because when we don’t go against our vibes, it keeps everything, including our energy, calm. It is when we start swimming against the current that it becomes more apparent we are not following our personal GPS. Things are easier when we are not trying to fight the natural flow.
The more familiar we are with distinguishing signs and synchronicities and everything else that goes along with it, the more apt we are to identify our intuitive messages more often. It won’t stop; rather, it increases with awareness, as does your ability to thrive and become the best you you can be.