Have you ever tried to figure out the rest of your life while sitting at the kitchen table?
You start with one reasonable question.
Should I make this change?
Then suddenly you’re trying to determine where you should live, what your purpose is, whether you’ve wasted the last twenty years, what God wants you to do next, and whether you should sell half your belongings and move somewhere new.
All before lunch.
I know that kind of thinking very well.
When my 35-year marriage ended, I was 60 years old. I knew something had to change, but I certainly didn’t know what my life was going to become.
I had spent years working hard. Very hard.
I understood business. I understood commercial real estate. I understood deadlines and responsibilities and getting things done. I knew how to keep pushing when something was difficult.
What I didn’t understand was how to listen to myself.
I wrote about this period of my life in The Unimagined Awakening. I described myself as a “spiritually-starved workaholic,” and that was pretty accurate. I had spent so much time doing what needed to be done that I hadn’t spent much time wondering what my soul might actually be trying to tell me.
After my marriage ended, I knew I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life on that hamster wheel.
There had to be more.
The problem was, I had absolutely no idea what “more” looked like.
So I started asking questions.
I began reading. I listened to podcasts. I practiced meditation and mindfulness. I spent quiet time trying to calm the endless chatter in my mind.
Most importantly, I kept asking for guidance.
“How do I figure this out?”
Then I’d learn one little thing and ask another question.
“Well, what about this?”
Then another.
“How do I figure out the next thing?”
Sometimes a book appeared. Sometimes it was an article or a conversation. Sometimes someone came into my life who helped me understand something I hadn’t understood before.
Eventually, I began to recognize those little inner nudges, too.
At the time, I didn’t have some grand understanding of what was happening. I was simply trying to make my life better. As I wrote in The Unimagined Awakening, it was through the constant asking of questions that things really began to move along.
Looking back now, I can see the pattern much more clearly.
I kept wanting answers.
What I usually received was a next step.
There’s a big difference.
I think many of us become stuck because we believe we need certainty before we move.
We want to know the relationship will work before opening our heart.
We want to know the new direction will succeed before leaving the old one.
We want to know what our purpose is before trying something that interests us.
We want God, our guides, the Universe, Source, or whatever name feels right to you, to slide a complete itinerary under the door.
Preferably with confirmation numbers.
That hasn’t been how it has worked for me.
My spiritual journey has unfolded one piece at a time.
In fact, some of the steps I eventually took would have sounded completely ridiculous to the woman I was at the beginning.
I went from simply wanting to improve my life to learning to meditate and listen to my intuition.
Then came writing.
Then publishing.
Then traveling outside my comfort zone.
Then accepting that I could connect spiritually in ways I hadn’t previously believed possible.
Eventually, during my meditation time, my guides told me I had another assignment: a book that would become The New I AM Document, Volume I. They told me this was my life’s mission. When I jokingly pointed out that I thought my earlier books were my mission, their response was essentially that those books had been practice.
Practice!
Imagine if someone had handed me that entire job description when I was 60 and just trying to figure out how to get off the hamster wheel.
I might have said, “No, thank you. You have the wrong Janie.”
But I didn’t need to know all of that yet.
I only needed to take the step that was in front of me.
That’s something I think we forget when we talk about intuition and spiritual guidance.
Guidance doesn’t always arrive as a booming voice with a complete answer.
Often, it’s quiet.
It might be a thought you can’t quite shake.
A feeling that something is finished.
A curiosity about something you’ve never considered before.
A person you feel you should call.
A class you keep thinking about taking.
A book someone mentions three times in two weeks.
An opportunity that makes absolutely no sense on paper but produces that little feeling inside that says, “Pay attention to this.”
Those small things matter.
I’ve come to believe our job isn’t necessarily to understand the entire path.
Our job is to become better listeners.
That requires some quiet.
When I first started meditating, I didn’t have a fancy method. I didn’t use a special mantra, and I certainly didn’t spend hours sitting cross-legged. (Who can sit like that for long periods of time, anyway?)
I learned to relax and quiet my thoughts.
That alone changed something important.
Once I could loosen my grip on the worries, obligations, plans, and mental chatter filling my head, I could finally listen. Meditation became a key part of the spiritual journey that followed.
And you don’t have to call it meditation.
Sit quietly on the porch.
Take a walk without your phone.
Have your morning coffee without turning on the television.
Spend ten minutes in the garden.
Drive somewhere without filling every second with noise.
The point is simply to create enough space to notice what’s happening inside you.
Then ask a question.
Not twelve questions.
One.
Maybe instead of asking, “What am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?” ask:
“What needs my attention right now?”
Or:
“What is the next step?”
Then listen.
And don’t become discouraged if nothing dramatic happens.
You may not hear a voice.
You may not receive an immediate answer.
Sometimes guidance has been much quieter for me. Sometimes the answer has unfolded through circumstances. Sometimes another person has said exactly what I needed to hear. Sometimes I’ve simply had a knowing inside me that became stronger with time.
And sometimes I’ve had to wait.
I’m still not particularly fond of that method.
But I’ve learned that not having the answer today doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t one.
It may simply mean the next piece isn’t ready yet.
This is especially important when you’re in one of those in-between seasons of life.
Perhaps the children are grown.
Perhaps a marriage has ended.
Perhaps you’ve retired, or you’re thinking about it.
Perhaps someone you loved has passed and the future you imagined no longer exists in the same way.
Or perhaps nothing dramatic has happened at all.
Maybe your life looks perfectly fine from the outside.
Yet somewhere inside you there’s a little whisper saying:
Is this all there is?
I know that whisper.
I also know now that you don’t have to answer it by turning your entire life upside down tomorrow.
Start smaller.
Get quiet.
Ask.
Pay attention.
Then, when something feels right in your soul, have enough courage to take one step.
You can ask the next question when you get there.
That’s how much of my own awakening happened.
One question.
One answer.
One uncomfortable step.
And then another.
This week, give yourself ten quiet minutes and ask one simple question:
“What is my next step?”
Don’t demand the whole map.
Just watch for the next turn.
Have you ever had a feeling you couldn’t explain?
Something inside you said, Don’t do that.
Or perhaps it said, Call her.
Go.
Wait.
This is right.
You may have dismissed the feeling because it didn’t seem logical. I certainly did for much of my life.
We’re taught to use our brains to make decisions. We gather facts, make lists, ask other people what they think, and try to reason our way to the right answer.
Those things can be helpful.
But we have another guidance system available to us, and I believe it is one of the greatest gifts we’ve been given.
It is our intuition.
I think of intuition as communication at the soul level. It is that quiet knowing within us that can guide us through our human experience when we learn to pay attention.
The trouble is that many of us have become very good at ignoring it.
We’re busy.
We’re distracted.
We’re worried about what other people will think.
Sometimes our inner guidance tells us something we simply don’t want to hear!
So we push the feeling aside and keep moving.
Then, somewhere down the road, we find ourselves saying, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that.”
Sound familiar?
One of the teachings I’ve received is that this inner guidance system is already within each of us. We don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to be a spirit medium. We don’t have to become some great spiritual master who meditates on a mountaintop.
We simply have to learn to notice.
In We Are Pleiadian, the internal guidance system is described as something we experience through our feelings. The lesson is surprisingly practical: slow down, become quiet, notice the feeling, learn what different feelings mean to you, and then act upon that guidance.
Simple?
Yes.
Easy?
Well, that can be another matter.
The mind likes evidence.
The soul often gives us a nudge.
That nudge may come when you meet someone for the first time and immediately feel comfortable around them. You don’t know why. Something simply feels familiar.
Or perhaps everything about an opportunity looks wonderful on paper, yet something inside you feels uneasy.
Pay attention to that too.
Your intuition doesn’t always shout.
Sometimes it whispers.
And this is where our spiritual practice becomes part of ordinary life.
We tend to think connecting with God, Source, the Universe, our guides, or whatever name you use for your higher power must involve some elaborate process.
I haven’t found that to be true.
The real challenge is getting quiet enough to listen.
When I first began my own spiritual journey, I knew very little about any of this. I started meditating and spending quiet time because I was trying to figure out how to change my life. Eventually, when I could quiet all those worries and pressing thoughts running through my head, I discovered I could actually listen.
That changed everything for me.
You can begin much more simply than you might imagine.
The next time you’re faced with a decision, notice what happens inside you before you ask everyone else what they think.
How does one choice feel?
Then consider the other choice.
Does your body relax?
Do you feel peaceful?
Do you feel resistance?
Does something feel heavy or uncomfortable?
Don’t judge the answer. Just notice it.
The more you practice this, the more familiar your own guidance becomes.
It’s a little like learning a new language, except I believe it’s actually a language your soul already knows.
You’re simply remembering how to hear it.
And please understand, following your intuition doesn’t mean you’ll never encounter difficulty.
Sometimes the path we’re guided toward contains the very lesson we came here to learn.
Earth is a classroom, after all.
The easiest road isn’t necessarily the road that helps our soul grow.
But when we begin living in greater congruence with that inner guidance, something shifts. We stop feeling as though life is simply happening to us.
We begin participating in our own spiritual development.
We ask.
We listen.
We trust.
We act.
Then we learn.
And little by little, we become more of who we came here to be.
So here’s my challenge to you this week.
When you have a decision to make, give yourself a few quiet minutes before doing anything.
Put down the phone.
Turn off the noise.
Ask God, your guides, the Universe, Source, or your own higher power for guidance.
Then ask yourself one simple question:
What does my soul already know?
Don’t force the answer.
Just listen.
You may discover that the guidance you’ve been searching for has been quietly waiting inside you all along.
Are you ready for your next adventure? What’s the purpose of an adventure? It’s more than you think!
Our life experiences shape us—mentally and physically. Practicing for a marathon changes our physical makeup so we can go the distance during that 26-mile trek. It also changes our mindset, often from day dreams to determination to completion of a goal.
Your adventures expose you to new ideas, new possibilities, and a sense of wonder. Hiking that trail or climbing that mountain, we experience the wonder of new vistas. Even if our body is tired and achy, our eyes feast on the newly-discovered views.
A challenge in business can be considered an adventure, too. Bringing you r vision to life can be exhilarating while stretching your capabilities to the max. Regardless of the end result—you will be changed during the process. You will learn, you will pivot, and you will grow.
That is the point!
Our earthly adventures are meant to do just that—challenge us to do better, teach us lessons, and shape us into the best version of ourselves.
Don’t be afraid of your adventures. Learn to embrace them for what they are—merely an exciting method for human transformation.
What will your next adventure be?
Remember this: Life is nothing more than a series of life-changing, sometimes, life-affirming adventures. Be well, have fun, and enjoy the journey.
These words came to me in my quiet time recently. Even though I have made huge strides since my days as a spiritually-starved workaholic, I was reminded to be even more intentional in the daily actions I choose.
Perhaps you are at the same crossroad in your life—busy “doing” and not “being.”
May these gentle suggestions remind you of changes you could make to live a life of more peace and harmony versus a life that leads you by checking off your “should” do list.
These are but a few examples of how we can be more mindful and intentional as we create our lives. It is your life; you get to choose what you wish to create. The best way to do that is to LIVE your life, not let it LEAD you!
Have you ever thought of your life as a garden? Sit with that idea for a moment. When you do, you’ll begin to see just how true it is.
A thriving garden needs sunshine, water, nourishment, and regular care. It doesn’t flourish by accident — it grows because someone tends to it with intention. Your life is no different.
Just as rabbits, birds, or unexpected weather can disrupt a garden’s growth, your life has its own challenges that nibble away at your joy. Negative self-talk, constant bad news, draining relationships, and old habits can quietly sabotage your progress. These are the weeds. And like any gardener, you must gently but firmly remove what no longer serves you.
When you clear out what’s harmful, you make room for what’s beautiful.
Your life blossoms when you nourish it with meaningful friendships, time with loved ones, acts of kindness, and moments of stillness. Every small effort — a thoughtful gesture, a heartfelt conversation, a decision to choose joy — is like watering your garden. It may seem simple, but it creates abundance over time.
And just like gardening, tending to your life has benefits beyond what you can see. There’s peace in the solitude, even if a bird chirps nearby or the neighbor’s donkey decides to make itself known. There’s healing in the sunshine, which strengthens both your bones and your spirit. Long before I knew the science behind it, I found myself outside simply because it made me feel better. I thought it was the weeding or the trimming, but really, it was the connection to nature — the reminder that growth is always possible.
A friend of mine, an organic gardener, even swears that gardening barefoot helps plants sense what nutrients we’re missing and encourages them to produce more. Whether or not that’s true, it speaks to a deeper truth: when we connect with the earth, something inside us shifts.
The more you reflect on it, the more you’ll see the parallels. Your garden and your life are intertwined. Both require patience, care, and the courage to remove what hinders growth. Both reward you with beauty when you show up with intention.
So here’s my challenge to you: be as mindful with your life as you are with your garden. Tend to it. Nourish it. Protect it. Celebrate it. Because in both soil and spirit, you will always reap what you sow.
Water. It doesn’t seem that important until you don’t have any!
While farm life is fun, it does come with certain challenges. Such was the case this week when our pump stopped working . There was electricity to the well/pump, but the water tanks were empty, and that pesky red “fault” light was blinking!
I don’t mind being without water for a bit. That little inconvenience occurred often when I lived in Turkey. While overseas I learned to take a sponge bath with bottle water. Now I have a huge bathtub in my backyard, commonly known as a swimming pool . I can survive just fine taking my daily bath in the pool as the waterfall flows.
But not my 20 sheep, 10 chickens, and 2 dogs. They need fresh water. And let’s not forget the three sprinkler clocks for all the grass, trees, shrubs, and flowers! I can’t imagine losing 18 years of my hard-earned gardening efforts.
Yep, we needed water…and fast. After a quick call to the pump company and a water truck delivery company (and a few bills in between), we were back in business. Everyone is happy and well-watered. I could even run the dishwasher later if needed.
How do I take all this in stride? First, I did the troubleshooting to find out which repairman to call and to give them an idea of the problem.
Then I counted my lucky stars that I had done several loads of laundry earlier this week, just cleaned and refilled all the animals’ water containers, and lastly had my hair done yesterday. Additionally, I reflected that this occurred while I was home and not traipsing the world. All in all, it was a good time to be inconvenienced, if there is such a thing.
But what did I learn from this experience?
-Don’t take little things for granted.
-I can handle life’s challenges.
-In the big scheme of life, this is merely a little bump in the road.
-The timing was good.
Lastly, I realized things could have been much worse…such as an electrical outage or no internet.
So, I’d like to ask you to reflect upon what you are taking for granted these days. Is it water, electricity, your family, your job, your health, or something else?
Perhaps it’s time we all learn to be grateful for the little things in life.
I remember my 30s and 40s well: I was working, raising children, and married to someone who often worked nights and weekends. I used to joke that I was a single mom with his paycheck. Life was incredibly busy and exhausting—physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Suffice it to say, if I were given the chance to relive those years, my answer would be a resounding “no.”
But what if I could apply the life lessons I’ve learned since those tumultuous years?
Maybe those years would have been better—perhaps even, dare I say, enjoyable.
What life lessons am I talking about? The kind that help us build more everyday joy into our lives. When we’re caught in a hectic routine, we rarely have time to step back and ask: How could I live with less stress? How could I enjoy this journey more?
Instead, we’re busy driving kids to soccer or doctor’s appointments, helping with homework, preparing meals, doing laundry, paying bills, and tackling everything else on the endless to-do list.
I remember my mantra from those days: “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” paired with my theme song, “I’m in a Hurry” by Alabama. If you ask my son what he remembers most about that time, it’s not making and decorating holiday sugar cookies—even though we did that often.
What he remembers most is the daily rush, the chaos, and that song.
Adding even a little daily “me” time and joy might have transformed my life, my children’s lives, and my memories of those years.
But how do you make time for joy when 24 hours already feels too full?
One option is to delay or skip a chore. If no one is out of underwear yet, the laundry can wait a day. Maybe dinner can be something simple—takeout pizza or even pancakes. No one will be harmed. Everyone will be fed, and you’ll gain a little time.
Ask for more help, even if you belong to the “no one can do it as well as I can” club. Your kids or spouse can load or unload the dishwasher. It may not be as efficient or organized as you’d do it, but it will get done. Parents or grandparents might also be able savoring a specialty coffee while strolling downtown can feel like a welcome treat.
The point is to find a way to add a little joy to each day—whether that means time alone, a true break, or a small activity that feeds your soul and helps you reset.
That is exactly what I needed in my 30s and 40s. It’s something I wish more millennials would learn to do now, while they are still in the thick of it.
A joyful life does not have to wait for retirement, a spiritual awakening, or a hard season. We should learn to live with joy early, so we have more years to experience how rich life can truly be.
I’m grateful I eventually learned to put this into practice. As the saying goes, better late than never.to entertain the kids for an afternoon or evening.
These small time-savers can make a big difference. They can create space for a bubble bath, a few quiet hours alone, a book, or a nap. Take a solo walk and enjoy the trees, butterflies, and flowers. Call an old friend. Try a new restaurant by yourself. Even
Everyone experiences change—all types of change. Some changes are considered “bad” while others are “unfortunate.”
One thing is certain—change does change us. It shapes us into something else, hopefully a better person, even if it takes a while.
Often people experience traumatic, life-changing events that might seem like tremendous obstacles or even unfathomable, only to later claim it was the best thing in their life!
How can this be so? It’s because that traumatic event changed them.
It resulted in a profound learning experience, and they were changed, not just physically or financially, but at the soul level!
They learned to live in deep gratitude for the life they are fortunate to live. They learned they are not their body and refuse to set limitations upon themselves. They learn they are stronger than they ever imagined.
I believe change is not here to hurt us or haunt us, but rather to help us. It helps us grow in ways that we couldn’t even imagine. It shapes us into the person we were meant to be.
Think of change as God, the Universe, or your version of a higher power, giving you a nudge. A nudge we’d be reluctant to take on our own, but a necessary step in our growth.
Next time you encounter change—whether it’s a small irritant such as a change in your appointment schedule or a life-changing, serious event, ask yourself these questions:
-What am I to learn from this event?
-Why am I being taught this lesson now?
-How can I use this experience to grow into a better person?
You’ll discover those answers and more if you are open to the change you encounter.
Learning to accept change and grow from such experiences leads to “going with the flow.”
You learn to be more trusting of the process of your own human development, divinely led. You stop second-guessing why this happened and “what did I do wrong to deserve this?” Instead, you embrace the challenge, much like a child being advanced to the next grade.
With your new-found ability to go with the flow comes a sense of peace that many do not achieve until their later years.
To me, this peace seems to stabilize your soul. Worry is a distant memory. Life is more joyous. You learn to embrace change and even welcome it. Your fears about upsetting your apple cart of daily existence seem to fade away.
You have learned the lesson, my dears. Change is merely a doorway to advancement, a bumpy and sometimes tumultuous path, but one well worth traveling.
The older I get, the more important Serenity seems to be. I remember all too well the days of raising children, working full-time and still tending to my spouse and home. It was exasperating!
After my “attitude adjustment” a few years back, I have consciously worked toward a life of more peace, happiness, contentment, and well—Serenity.
When I look back to reflect upon just how this transformation came about, I realize I made small incremental changes that created real and (hopefully) lasting change in my life.
These are the ideas and actions I’d like to share to help you live a life with more Serenity!
First, learn to breathe, really breathe. Focus on your breath and nothing else. This will help you quiet your mind and learn to be still. Stillness leads to calmness which helps to retain control of your emotions as you let them flow through you. It also helps deflect the negative attitudes and comments from others. Learn how to find your own quiet place inside and how to go there whenever necessary.
Start to see life through the lenses of gratefulness. Find the bright side of everything. In other words learn the skill of turning a negative situation into a positive one. Realize that you face challenges to teach you a lesson. By embracing them, you start to realize that life is happening for you, not to you.
Stop responding with knee-jerk reactions. Instead, breathe, relax, and go to your quiet place. Think about what happened as if you’re a fly on the wall. Is it really that bad? Is that terrible thing even happening now? Is it affecting your life or is it just the “thought” of it that’s bothering you? After careful consideration, you may realize that your hasty response is not really helpful to you or the others involved.
If you make a mistake, give yourself grace. Apologize, learn the lesson, and move on.
If others make a mistake, forgive their error. Keep their actions separate from your feelings for them. Don’t condone their actions, just don’t hate them for it.
Learn to let go. You don’t have to control everything. Let God, the Universe, or your Higher Power work out all the details.
Be happy where you are—hopefully learning and growing on your journey of life.
Serenity can be accomplished by each of us, but we must learn how to incorporate these steps into daily life so much so that it’s engrained in our soul and becomes our default action. Once it’s automatic, you will experience a much more serene and peaceful life.
You will have learned to live a life of Serenity.
“We tend to avoid creating miracles by living life through our fears.” – Laura Day, from her book ‘The Circle”
Have you ever noticed someone who is seemingly achieving their goals and dreams? Alternately have you noticed others who seem stagnate, perhaps well-meaning, but seem to live a life of lack and disappointment?
Often the difference between the two scenarios boils down to just one thing. It isn’t money, education, the right career field, or social status.
The difference is how they handle fear.
We all have fears. We all worry at times that we aren’t good enough or smart enough to achieve our goals. We all worry about failing.
But the ones who achieve greatness have learned how to manage their fears and turn them into fuel to accomplish their desires.
Yes, it is easier said than done. Some people are naturals at tossing fear to the wind, while others grasp to it tightly.
The key is learning to rise above your fears, not letting them stop or stifle you.
There will be naysayers who doubt your vision. They will have long lists of reasons why you cannot accomplish something. Do not listen to them. Do not follow their advice. They are merely relaying their own fears as they have not yet mastered the ability of turning fear to fuel. They are most likely, stuck in their own fears not truly accomplishing their own potential.
Think for a moment in a more realistic way. What is the worse that could happen if you failed to accomplish your goal or deep desire? Would it cost you time, money, effort, or ego?
Yes, good things take time, money, and effort to accomplish, but it doesn’t need to cost you ego. Learning to value yourself despite your failings is a measure of growth. You will still be a valuable and worthy person even if you fail on your goal.
Perhaps if you are not successful in your endeavor in the way you envisioned, it will be a success in an unintended way. I’m reminded here of the history of the invention of Post-It Notes, which were a result of a failed invention.
Lastly, even if you fail miserably, you will at the very least have learned something. You will have learned what doesn’t work. You will have identified problem areas to address in the future.
So you see, there is truly no such thing as failure. Don’t let your fears hold you back from reaching the stars. You can do it. You are a miraculous being. Your God and the Universe can help you to create the miracle you desire.
Just believe in yourself and cast fear aside!
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