As we voyage through life, it helps to have an inner compass that we can turn to for guidance. Internal guidance is composed of the impressions, feelings, visions, and physical sensations that let you know what is going on within yourself, and the ability to dialogue with your inner processes and maintain open channels of communication and guidance is invaluable. Here are some simple steps for developing your own internal guidance system.

1. Find a place and time where you won’t be interrupted.

2. Feel for any sensations in you physical body: Tingling, pain, pressure–anything. Place your attention in that area. Allow the sensation to expand and capture your full attention. Quietly ask the sensation what it represents, and why it is there.

3. Use as many forms of communication as possible. You might perceive images, sounds, and kinesthetic sensations in your muscles and tendons.

4. During meditation, prior to sleep or while relaxing, notice your visual imagery. What are the colors, symbols or actual scenes? Hold within your consciousness specific questions. Anything will do. Should I change my diet? What do I need to learn most right now? Is _______ a good movie? Send the question away from you into the region of your visions, and release it. Watch what happens. Do you see another scene? Do symbols come directly to your awareness? Do you feel differently?

5. Throughout the day, assess your feelings. While walking down a street, you may feel like heading in an other direction. While driving home, you may feel like changing your career. While talking with your spouse, you may fee like going out to dinner.

6. Play with these thoughts, feelings, and images. Notice if symbols intuitively mean something to you. Further attend to them by following their lead and using them as guidance. Start with minor suggestions at first, like walking in another direction and going out to dinner on the spur of the moment. For larger, life-changing directions, investigate further. Enter a full, inner dialogue with yourself, using as many modes of perception as possible.

7. You will develop your own internal language from the symbols, sensations, and other perceptions you experience. With time you will isolate those that work best for you.

8. Trust this information. You will discover that this information has your best interests at heart.