We sip our tea and look quietly out over the stone wall beside our table – across the vast expanse of open water. There are white gulls in the distance and a gentle breeze ruffles the cloth on our table.

“You’re a master soul, my friend. You’re required to own up to your great work in this lifetime,” I whisper to you softly across the table. “Remember, you signed up for this. You chose to come forward as a teacher to use your gifts to help raise the vibration of the planet.”

“I’m just not seeing it.” You sigh with frustration – putting your cup down forcefully on its saucer. Again, we pull out your notebook and look at your name, your birth date. We add the digits again and study the numbers. We meditate on your path.

“Yes, it’s a Master Path,” I explain. “No way around it. And yes, you wrapped that lovely Pisces energy around it to flavor your mission with emotion and intuition. It’s quite a lovely path, actually, though different from what most would people call a ‘normal’ life.”

“I guess that’s the problem,” you moan. “I see the path, but how do I do it? I have to pay the mortgage, and … the kids, well. That’s another story…”

But you signed up for all that as well, I remind you. “Now, you’re bumping up against a big choice-point in your life. What you do and think about right now determines everything. And it models a way of living for your children who are watching every move you make and don’t make.”

“I get that,” you say softly.

“Are you focused on the great possibilities in front of you, the potential solutions for making a change in your life? Or are you focused on the reasons why you can’t change? Are you letting self-doubt and fear pull you down into the ‘pitiful self’ where there are no solutions and steps can’t be taken?”

“Guess I have been feeling kinda pitiful,” you say with a smile. “I just don’t feel good enough or smart enough to … I mean, who do I think I am to want to do something important in the world?”

“You are who you came here to be, and your mission is what it is. Don’t waste your energy doubting it. Let’s jot down some baby steps you can take to investigate doing the work we talked about. Let’s see, you said you knew some people you could talk to about that business idea. And there were some websites you were going to visit and phone calls to make.”

“But why do I have so much pain?” you ask. “It hasn’t been an easy lifetime.”

“You set it up that way. The pain in your lifetime is designed to become your fuel to do your work in the world – making the world a better place in your unique way. Your pain becomes your motivation – your mission.”

“When I grew up, I was abused and powerless as a child,” you explain. “I’m still wounded by that.”

“It means your mission now is to offer to others what you wished had been offered to you; your work is to help others realize how powerful they are and learn to trust themselves and their own inner guidance – in spite of whatever circumstances make them doubt themselves.”

“How?”

“By using your innate gifts in your work. Those gifts are always on purpose – not incidental. They aren’t supposed to be relegated to hobbies or volunteer work. We are meant to make our living with our gifts – not bury them.”

“Then why am I so afraid?”

“Well that’s the ‘pitiful self’ that we all have – our universal negativity. We can choose to give in to our fear and not live up to our mission. Or we can choose to move forward anyway – using our fear as fuel to make us successful. At the end of our lifetime, it matters to us how well we pushed past that fear and lived up to the mission.”

You ponder that for awhile as we finish the tea. Together, we write a list of baby steps you can take to investigate your new career ideas, to move forward, to look into possibilities for change. You promise to focus your thoughts on solutions, and you promise to meditate or pray every day for at least 20 minutes in order to tap into your higher self and remember your mission.

We sit for a few more minutes in silence – watching the ripples in the water below us. After awhile you say, “Okay, I’m good now. I remember.” You stand up from the table.

You wake up…

The purpose of your confusion is growth and change. Once you change directions, confusion ceases and clarity slips in. The purpose of your pain is to strip away the trappings of who you’re not – to leave you bare and raw, naked like a newborn and clear about what you’ve come to do.

Have you had your heart broken by a boss or a lover? Felt betrayed by your own children? Watched your health fall apart? Been disappointed by a career that didn’t make you happy and wealthy? Of course you have. It ripped your soul jagged on
purpose.

Feel the pain in your heart, embrace it, weep it out, shed it through your pores until your spirit is cleansed and shiny. Look into the mirror at your face now – open and surrendered, innocent and sweet.

That IS who you are, by the way – a naked sweet soul who landed here on a difficult journey and got just a little lost. Try to remember who you were before the trappings, titles, successes and failures, the burdens and expectations.

Embrace that naked soul, that wide-open innocent face, and ask, “What’s the gift I came to share?”

Ignore anyone who tells you that sharing your gift won’t make money. Embrace your higher knowledge that says, “When I’m living true to what I came to do and working from my gifts, I attract abundance and success because I’m in alignment with divine order.”

“I’m in alignment with divine order…”

Kiss those words as they slip past your tongue in whispers because you’re hardly able to speak them much less believe them. Open your mouth wide and shout until the room echoes those words back to you.

Clean your house, throw out the furniture, open the windows, sweat out your past indulgences, and pray for a blessing of fresh air. Embrace the prickly tingle of dawn breaking through the shimmering snow of an icy winter. Take a timid step in a scary new direction that has beckoned you for lifetimes. It will feel like Spring.

Who do you think you are to ignore the potential you set out to accomplish in this lifetime? Who do you think you are to believe your pain is greater than everyone else’s? Don’t you understand the hidden sorrow behind every perfect household, every career success, every accolade or boastful moment from siblings and friends?

We are all on this overwhelming journey together trying to evolve as a species, to reach the great and unknown human potential. This requires effort.

You signed up for this tour-of-duty. Don’t go AWOL now. There still may be a child you can save from the streets or a mother who needs your blessings. But you’ll never know until you follow your true work, accomplish your pre-programmed mission, quit playing it small and trying to be like anyone else.

Listen to your loud voice in the empty room shouting, “I’m in alignment with divine order when I’m doing the work I came to do.” Wake up from the slumber of your exhausting journey. Yes, you’ve had some setbacks. But you wanted to. You knew how far off-course you were. Pinch yourself. Take a big breath.

Say, “I am a divine energy being, not a bumbling human in a body doomed to a pitiful existence. And now I WILL live like I know that.”

You brought powerful gifts with you from the highest realms in order to use them to make the world a better place – through your work. And you’ve known what these gifts were and what your mission was since you were very young, but you’ve been talked out of believing in it.

Getting your life lined up with your mission and gifts isn’t as hard as you think. Remember what and whom you’ve lost already – sacrificed on the trail of your
higher education.

Your intuition is constantly trying to push you in a brave new direction; it’s probably why you picked up this book.

Ask yourself these questions:

When all else falls away, who am I inside? When I look back at the trail of my tarnished trophies and sad memories what secret lesson do I see?

This is your first step forward into new territory. Reckless like a toddler unsteady on new legs, you will find your new beginning on this auspicious journey. You always knew it would be worth the great effort of a lifetime. And you, of all people, don’t believe in wasted time. This is your year to just do it.

When everything is stripped away, who’s left? That’s the point of your painful story, isn’t it? In those moments of deep soul-searching surrender – walking alone on a beach contemplating life – what part of you do you find again? That stripped bare part of yourself is your holy grail, your pot of gold, the reason you came here, and the name of your gift.

Who do you remember being when you were young and free? Where did that person go?

When you turn off the TV, unplug the computer, put down your Iphone, and get quiet, who do you find in your head? Your higher self is still in there, you know – eager to help you find your way.

Stop defending, blaming, excusing, chatting, and doing – just for a little while, and turn your focus slightly inward. You’ll hear that powerful navigation code pulsing in your heart. It’s whispering, “Try this career, call that person, quit that job, take this class…”

Imagine if you did just one of those things today…

Did you know that you arrived on earth with a built-in GPS device embedded inside of you? You programmed it before you were born. It contains all the directions you’ll ever need in this lifetime. It’s designed to get you dead-on target to your destined great work – the work you came here to do that uses your unique talents to raise the vibration of the planet.

Even when your life feels like it’s not moving forward, like your career is slipping through your fingers, like relationships you used to count on are shifting – you will move through this phase and emerge on the other end with a more powerful direction than ever before.

You’re just getting a little nudge from the universe – because it’s time to get back on-path. Nudging is what’s going on when you get fired, laid off, rejected, hired, promoted, or your business goes bankrupt. You’ve been nudged!

Your life is all on purpose. There are no accidents. Every event, circumstance and relationship has been nudging you to follow your true path and do your great work.

We live in a world of constantly changing growth cycles. When you’re done with one cycle of learning, it’s done with you. Move on, so the universe doesn’t have to kick you in the butt…um…nudge you.

Before you were born, your soul knew what it needed to master in order to evolve to its highest good; you knew that evolving your soul would help thousands of people around you. You signed up for this human adventure in order to help all of humanity.

You understood that you could choose to live up to your fullest potential, use your divine energy to master circumstances, and use your talents to raise the vibration of the planet through your great work. Or you could give in to depression, sadness, anger, fear, and desperation – and not live up to the powerful divine potential you set for yourself. It would be your choice.

And now – here you are! At the company party, your boss announces they’re downsizing and won’t need your services anymore; your spouse leaves you for a dancer; and your real estate investments flop. Oh well… Say, “Thank you! I must have been really off my true path to get kicked this hard.” Turn around and face forward. Ask, “What do I want my life to look like now?”

Take one step in that new direction. You’ll feel better immediately.

When we’ve fallen off of our true path, our loved ones get fed up with us, bosses fire us, co-workers complain about us, and we stop attracting clients and customers.

If you’ve just been nudged, wake up. You’re not a victim. You’re being reminded that you need to go in a direction that’s closer to your true self, your naked self, and the divine work you came here to do. (Listen up now or the nudging will only get worse).

When everything is slipping through your fingers, let it go. When you’ve lost a job, let it go. Come up for air and look around you at the big picture of your life. Ask: “What did I really come here to do?” (It’s always bigger, better and more meaningful than what you’ve been doing.)
Wouldn’t it be better if the world didn’t have to nudge you (sometimes painfully) to get on-path? Wouldn’t you prefer to see the road yourself and move forward through its twists and turns fearlessly – along the journey you already signed up for?

Well you can. Sit down and meditate. Feel your own vibration pulsing from you. Listen to your inner GPS unit saying, “Turn Left.” You have quiet dreams, desires and truths that you’ve stuffed away to fit in – especially if you’ve spent years working in a corporate environment. The more you can quiet the chatter of your mind, the more you’ll get back in touch with the real you – the naked you who came here on purpose.

Look around you at those people living “charmed lives.” Chances are they’re just living true to their pre-designed paths.
Your path is completely different from everyone else’s. Your truth will only come from within you – not from looking at what anyone else is up to. When you look at your neighbor and say, “I want to do what he does for a living,” you’re forgetting your own unique journey that you chose long ago. As we look around us at what others are doing, we lose our way.

When you’re firmly on your unique path, you feel impassioned by your life and work – no matter what anyone else is doing, and no matter what anyone thinks of you. Abundance flows to you, and your life is in harmony. When you’re not living true to what you signed up for – nothing works well – not even relationships. Here are five steps to get you back on path.

5 steps to take when you’ve just been nudged:

1. LET GO! Open your hands and let it slip away. Quit grasping. Don’t be desperate. That’s a bad vibration, and it doesn’t get you anywhere worth going.
2. Meditate: Listen to your inner GPS device. Stop listening to what everybody around you is saying. Your soul knows the answer because your soul planned the journey. Your best friend doesn’t know your path, and neither does your spouse.
3. Trust: The new path will reveal itself when the time is right. In spite of how things may seem right now, divine order is always in action. If it feels like nothing is working like it used to – release it all. Make room for the new.(See a Career Intuitive at www.careerintuitive.org to move you forward).
4. Appreciate the divine dance we’re all doing – nudging each other to keep on path. What a truly elegant universe this is! Remember the last time you were nudged and where it might have gotten you.
5. Live naked! The ultimate work you came here to do is the first impulse you had as a child when you were open, innocent, intuitive and still true to yourself. Get back to that naked innocence and be the true you. Your life will flow forward gracefully again.

In this interview I introduced the idea that a person can have several soul mates along their life path, each designed to remind us of our life destiny.

Your real soul mate is someone that nurtures you and is the person you create a home and family together with!

Listen to this powerful interview now:

Are you holding onto a dream, a target or aiming to really fall in love? Perhaps you’ve had love that ended, or you haven’t yet had it. I have a special interview just for you.

In a recent interview with Deborah Dachinger we dove into falling and experiencing love. Listen below as Deborah and I talk about relationships and finding your true soul mate.

It’s the shimmer of a spirit in the corner when you turn your head and the dream that wakes you up and stays with you. It’s the knowingness that comes when you stop talking. It’s the feeling that overpowers you in spite of logic. It’s the voice whispering in your ear, and the nudge you often ignore in deference to being practical. It’s our right-brain, expanded consciousness guiding our journey as planned.

Your intuition is your sacred pool of divine knowing. It’s a gateway to your higher self. It’s not linear, logical, or realistic. It’s your dreamy, gut feeling, creativity– the part of you that knows the truth but doesn’t know why it’s true. Your intuition is your sweet spot. Robert Graves, an English poet, scholar, and novelist, said, “Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer.”

Intuition can navigate you successfully toward finding true love as effortlessly as a dream in the night. It works better than dating sites, speed dating, or singles’ events. Love is the gateway to your intuition.

You’ll never be as intuitive as when you fall in love. Your energy centers are most open and receptive, and your monkey- mind quiets down. You look into a stranger’s eyes and remember him from another time. You know when he’ll call. You feel his embrace long before it actually happens. And you sense what he’s feeling even when the two of you are apart.

We’re all a little more comfortable with intuitive loving than we are with intuitive living–using intuition for our everyday life and career choices. Yet we can tap into this portal of sacred guidance whenever we open our hearts. When you fall in love, nurture this sacred gateway to the unknown. When you’re not in love, love anyway. It will open the door to your divine intuition and your highest self.

Before going on a first date (especially a blind date) write down your date’s name and place your hand over it. Close your eyes and do a short meditation with mantra to quiet your mind.

Now ask to see what the person looks like and feel their energy. If the energy you feel and the person you see makes you smile and giggle, that’s a yes from your intuition. Your higher self is telling you that this person will be a loving presence in your life.

If the energy feels bad in your stomach and makes you feel anxious, cancel the date. If the energy you feel revs up your sexual chakra, that’s telling you what the focus of this relationship will be.

If you don’t feel a loving warm energy in your heart while picturing and feeling this person’s energy, this probably won’t be a long-lasting or fulfilling relationship.

Extra Credit:
If you have the person’s date of birth, decipher their birth path (as explained in Chapter 9 of I See Your Soul Mate: An Intuitive’s Guide to Finding & Keeping Love) and write his name and birth path on a sheet of paper. Put your hand on this information and meditate to quiet your mind. Now ask to feel the person’s energy and understand his journey. Ask if this person is someone you should connect with for your highest good. Pay attention to the feeling you get and note whether it’s positive or negative. Write down any thoughts about this person and birth path that come to you during your meditation.

If you’re using dating websites print out a potential date’s photo, name, and information. Practice this intuitive meditation technique using her photo, name, and birth date (if it’s available). Notice your gut reaction. How do they feel to you? Trust your gut. If it feels bad, don’t pursue this person no matter how beautiful the photo or how brilliant her story.

Keep practicing. Use this intuitive technique with potential hires at your workplace or to decide whether to take a new job. The more you use your intuition, the more you’ll trust it. Eventually you’ll realize how good you are at trusting your intuition.
You are now becoming a master of intuitive living, an approach that will put you right into the juicy flow of your life and bring you love, success, and happiness each day.

How did this happen to you? When did you lose your connection to love and grace? Why are you alone when you came here to share your life with a soul mate?

Perhaps you’ve forgotten how this all began–that you came here on purpose to play in liquid love, bathe in the soup of divine energy, and manifest your sacred work. You knew the moment you were born that you were a superhero on a journey to change the world–with unlimited gifts to help you get it done.

Your pain and loneliness today is because you’ve forgotten that mission–like an explorer who gets lost in the jungle without a map. Yet the sacred map is still inside of you. I’ll teach you to access that map and find your way.

Let’s step back and take a good look at you. Put down the burdens you’re carrying. Take the heavy load off your back. Shake off the pain and disappointments that weigh you down. Cry if you need to. Just let it go…

True love IS waiting–but you have to reclaim YOU to find it.

Don’t worry; you are not facing an impossible task. I recognize where you’ve been and the challenges you’ve faced. I see pain in your eyes and hear the fear in your voice. I feel your loneliness–but I also see your amazing beauty, your limitless power, your astounding genius, and the great work you came to share with the world. It takes my breath away.

When you’re back on path, your soul mate will stand beside you, fulfilling the agreement you made long before this lifetime began. Yes, I see your soul mate–standing just behind you– waiting in the wings for you to remember your mission.

Heartbreak and loneliness occur NOT because of what anyone else has done to you, not because you’re unattractive, and not because there aren’t enough single people your age. You’re not flawed, unlovable, or unlucky in love. A random tragedy did not ruin your life. No one unjustly stole your love away. There are no outside circumstances keeping you from finding true love. Only YOU stand in your way.

You ARE here on purpose to accomplish a powerful mission! You intended to be a fierce genius using your boundless gifts in your work–changing this world for the better.

You made agreements with all the important players in your drama before you got here–even in those relationships that have wounded you. Those agreements occurred to serve your highest good–to help you find your way.

This loneliness and pain is a tiny moment in the vast journey of your soul. It’s your wake-up call. It’s nudging you to turn your life in a powerful new direction and reclaim your soul power.

Perhaps your zealous grip on mundane reality has blocked your intuition. Our world’s negative viewpoint may have sucked the life force from you. Quit focusing on your flaws, and focus instead on your gifts and what you came to offer! Stop talking about what’s wrong with the world, and ask how you can help raise the consciousness of the planet with your talents and wisdom.

Turn out the lights, unplug the TV, take down the mirrors, and take a long look at yourself. You may be attractive, sexy, fun, and smart, but what hides beneath?

Are you anything like the sweet, open-hearted, loving soul you were when you started this journey? It’s time to reclaim that divine essence, your true loving nature, and become who you came here to be–the hero of your story.

There was never a time when spirits didn’t speak to me, walk across my bedroom at night, or whisper in my ear. They speak to you as well. You’re just better able to dismiss it, more logically rooted in this physical world than I am – even though I’ve tried hard to ground myself in logical left-brain thinking.

Somewhere in my 1951 birthing there was probably a vast undiscovered damage to my perfect brain – so big and precise it nearly diminished my left mind and left me mostly connected to the heavenly realms.

From early on, there were radiant beings who spoke to me in the flower garden where my mother planted daisies – and departed saints who stood beside me every Sunday in Church. It’s a blessing I was Catholic; the Virgin Mary was a constant presence in my life so real that I spoke to her out loud. I prayed the rosary daily from the time I learned how.

The mysterious city of New Orleans made my gifts seem almost normal. My intuitive Creole mother, descended from a long line of psychic women, was strong enough to see what I needed and help me get firmly rooted here. She spent her afternoons teaching me letters, sounding out the words precisely and logically until I could develop my left-brain and read the pages. I was only three years old. It saved me. She believed I was gifted.

When I grew older and would hear what someone was going to say before they said it, time fell backwards and I withdrew. I’m sure I looked disturbed, troubled. I didn’t understand the laughter and why they couldn’t hear the whispers of those who stood around us. But I didn’t like crazy. I was way too strong for that.

So I hit the dirt. Sprang into survival mode. I learned to think logically – to follow from A to B, to ignore the visions and dreams. I didn’t want to disappoint my kind and logical father. I needed a paycheck. And when the whispers began to fade, I found myself an early career at the age of 20 teaching children to read and organize their left-brains – because that was what I needed. I became a Montessori pre-school teacher to heal myself.

If I’d only known all along I was here to just explain the world as I saw it – and not try to fit in or become like everyone else – I could have gotten my work done sooner. I’ve taken quite awhile to get this message to you, to help you realize the veil is thin, and that you came here on purpose with a mission. Yet this is the one thing I’ve always been sure of, and the gift I came to share.

Grief is the greatest pain here on earth. In this interview I talk with January about how to deal with greif. Tune in now, click play below to start the audio.

Wake up everybody! Get out of the unemployment line, and launch your new and improved life: This is not the end of your world. It’s the beginning of a much happier career and lifestyle.

In order to thrive in this brave new world, you need to remember who you really are, what’s inside of you, and what you came here to do. If you cling to old definitions of career, you may find yourself on the street. If you embrace new ideas and ask new questions of yourself, you will thrive even in the midst of this global economy meltdown.

Look around you. What do you see? There’s a new world of possibility unfolding right in front of you. Wipe the fear from your eyes and focus on the opportunities. The world is crying out for new solutions to old problems.

Alternative energy and green lifestyles have become mainstream; careers in that field are the wave of the future. New technologies are needed to march us successfully into the future – as are new health care paradigms. People are searching for health solutions that don’t require thousands of dollars worth of medical interventions. You’re standing on this threshold for a reason. You intended to be here. Embrace the change and move forward.

Where do your gifts fit into this new world? What excites you? How can your talents help raise the consciousness of the world in this moment of transition? Whatever answer you get to that question, is the key to unlocking your next successful career.

There’s still great abundance on this planet. To tap into it, you have to be in alignment with what you came here to do and with what our planet needs in this brave new world.

Step up to the plate. Chances are good you’ll hit a home run and create a new life for yourself and your family that is richer in every way than your old one. You’ve learned everything there was to learn from the “9-to-5 paycheck and benefits” lesson – such as loyalty, competition, cooperation, duty, and how to find brilliance in the midst of drudgery. Now, there’s more being asked of you.

You’re here on a mission, and it’s time to remember that. We’ve collectively manifested this crisis because we’re ready to make things better than they’ve been. By saying you’ll rediscover your true mission and line your work up with that mission, you’re taking the first step towards a completely new life of fulfillment, success, and abundance.

If your career has recently ended, this is your great opportunity for reinvention. In order to tap into the great abundance that still abounds on this planet, try these six steps.

1. Shut up! Quit telling your sad story. Take a deep breath and recognize the gift in this opportunity to reinvent yourself. It’s not the end of your world, it’s the beginning. Quiet the fear thinking and tap into your higher intuitive self where you’ll find guidance you can trust.
2. Be grateful for this opportunity to reinvent, and be honest about how unhappy and off-path you’ve been. Make a list of the secret career dreams you’ve stuffed away because you were so exhausted in your old career.
3. Remember who you really are. Chances are good that you haven’t been living and working true to your authentic self and what you came here to do – or you wouldn’t have hit this bump in the road. Stop hiding. Claim your real talents and gifts and realign your work so that you’re making a living directly from those talents.
4. Look around you at this new world and ask: What needs do I see in the world that inspire me to take action, think out of the box, and use my gifts to make a difference? (Whatever idea excites you most is a clue to your next career.)
5. Stop asking: “Who do I think I am to try to a new career?” Start asking: “Who do I think I am to ignore the work I came here to do? Who do I think I am to ignore the gifts and talents I brought with me? Who do I think I am to ignore the purpose of my life story?”
6. Focus on the baby steps: When you have a new idea, take one baby step at a time and surrender the outcome. The rest will unfold gracefully as long as you don’t get in the way.