Rise and shine! Beams of light peek through the corner of the shade as you welcome the morning. You step out of bed while counting your blessings. You stub your toe on the dresser and feel a sting, but you know it will subside. You’ve learned to let small things go. While savoring a delicious cup of coffee and a healthy breakfast, you scan your daily schedule with enthusiasm. As you prepare for your day—taking a shower, getting dressed, driving to work—you approach each new activity intentionally and positively, which makes for a pleasant day.
Ugh! Is it morning already? You wake up. Even though the sun is shining, you struggle to face the day. You feel dread as you think about crawling out of bed, getting ready, and spending the day at work. You drag yourself reluctantly toward the coffee pot, stubbing your toe along the way. You think, “It’s going to be one of those days.” And, sure enough, it becomes one of those days.
Seldom will your day go perfectly, but you get to choose how to engage with it. From the moment you step out of bed, joyfully or defiantly, you are telling the Universe your desires and expectations.
Continuous Communication with the Universe
The Universe responds to your every smile and snarl, giving you what you want, expect, and think you deserve. It supports you by bringing you experiences that match your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Choosing to focus on problems rather than solutions, for example, communicates to the Universe, “I want more problems”—so that is what It brings you. When you take an optimistic approach, filled with positive expectation, you are telling the Universe that you desire more positive experiences—and so that is what It brings you.
The Universe is always listening and responding to your every thought, emotion, and action that you express internally and externally, intentionally and unintentionally. You are in continuous dialogue and partnership with It.
Most people do not communicate with the Universe strategically, though, and thus do not produce the effects they desire. When you intentionally direct your thoughts, feelings, and actions, while being receptive to the messages that the Universe sends back to you, you become a purposeful creator.
What Are You Communicating?
It would be impossible to be intentional about your every thought, emotion, and action. Still, you can heighten your awareness about the messages you are sending the Universe to be more deliberate. Let’s start with how you are communicating to It.
· Verbal communication—words and ideas shared between yourself, the Universe, and other people
· Nonverbal communication—gestures, posture, facial expressions, tone, dress, appearance, touch
· Thoughts—ideas, words, images, and concepts derived from various internal and external stimuli, which are often based on learned associations and habits of thinking
· Emotions—how you feel from moment to moment, as well as habitually (moods and dispositions)
· Actions—what you choose to do; intentions of; effectiveness of; influenced by mindset and beliefs about your ability to produce specific effects
· Degree and patterns of optimism and pessimism—encouraging or discouraging; empowering or disempowering; critical or inspirational
· Management of resources—time, energy, money, knowledge, space, people, etc.
· Prioritizations—of people, activities, resources (e.g., time, energy, money), etc.
· Attention/focus at the present moment and habitually; what you attend to and what you ignore
· Beliefs—what you hold to be true or false; how these affect your thoughts, emotions, and actions
· Expectations—the level of belief in a particular result or effect, which influence your thoughts, emotions, and actions
· Values—what you consider to be good or bad; how your values affect your thoughts, emotions, and actions
· Preferences—your likes and dislikes
· Intentions— consciously-directed goal-oriented thoughts and actions
· Appreciation—the frequency, duration, content, and expression (internally and externally) of gratitude
· Degree of clarity about yourself, your goals, and your direction in life
· Degree of self-determination—belief in your ability to direct your life in an effective and goal-directed manner
· Level of discipline in completing tasks and goals
· Perceptions—how and what you notice; subjective awareness and understanding you gain from internal and external stimuli
· Interpretations—the subjective meanings you create about internal or external stimuli
· Judgments of yourself, other people, circumstances, and experiences
· Vibration—the type of energy you exude; quality and strength of
· Suggestion/suggestiveness—what you suggest to yourself and other people; how you respond to suggestions from others
· Goals—content of; approach to; the level of motivation; the degree of commitment
· Imagination—images you generate your mind; content of; what they suggest to you; strength and frequency of use for creating (e.g., visualization, directing actions, stimulate motivation, etc.)
· Attitude—habitual tendencies of viewing specific stimuli as favorable or unfavorable; inclination toward optimism or pessimism
· Management of change—approaches to; acceptance or resistance to change
· Resilience—how you manage adversity, and whether it strengthens or weakens you (i.e., short-term and long-term effects)
· Reception and transmission of sensory messages—sight, sound, hear, touch, smell
· Reception and transmission of extra-sensory messages—intuitions, impressions, telepathy, extra-sensory perception, channeling
· The stories you tell yourself and other people—stories of self, community, and society, world, as well as archetypal stories (e.g., hero, villain, victim, etc.)
· Roles you choose (e.g., mother/father, entrepreneur, artist, student, alcoholic, rebel, manager, etc.) and how you perform those roles
· Creativity—degree; quality of; use of; intentions of
· Identity—who you choose to be/not be; what you identify with (i.e., I am _____. I am not _____.)
· Self-image—how you see yourself (e.g., strong/weak; smart/dumb; focused/scattered, good/bad)
· Habits—mental, physical, and spiritual ways of thinking, feeling, doing, and being; ability to cultivate constructive habits; ability to identify and change destructive habits
· Responses/reactions (verbal and nonverbal) to internal and external stimuli, like life events, experiences, people
Since the Universe is continually responding to you, it would benefit you to be more conscious about what you are communicating so that you can best produce the effects you desire.
Tools for Improving Your Communication with the Universe
In a nutshell: Express to the Universe more of what you want and less of what you don’t want through consistent and intentional thoughts, emotions, and actions. Here are some specific strategies:
Beliefs and Expectations
Hold empowering beliefs, like that the Universe loves and supports you. Try not to entertain negative beliefs or expectations because the Universe brings you the object of your focus. Events may not always unfold as you expect, but trust that the results are still guiding you favorably.
Read Your Goals List Daily
Designing and reading your goals list every day or frequently allows you to create a vision or ideal from which the Universe can help you. Be sure to also take purposeful action. As you move toward your goals, the Universe will bring you opportunities to realize your aspirations.
Visualization
Close your eyes and imagine the process of reaching your goals for 15 minutes or so to create a strong mental impression. When you have a clear vision of your ideal that resonates with you, the Universe will send you the right opportunities at the right time to fulfill your vision.
Affirmations
Affirmations are positively stated assertions that express your ideal about a specific area of your life. They are stated in the present tense, as in the following: “I am happy, healthy, and whole.” “I am advancing in my career quickly and joyfully.” “I appreciate the abundant travel opportunities that are being offered to me.” As you repeat your affirmations a few times a day, you provide clear vision for yourself and the Universe.
Choose Positivity and Minimize Negativity
Try to think and communicate encouragingly and optimistically. Minimize negativity. You create what you think about, so express your visions rather than your fears. It may be hard to stay upbeat in a world that sometimes seems like it is going mad. Still, you can only make the world better by bringing more light, better solutions, and a higher vision. When you express criticisms, you are telling the Universe that you like being critical; therefore, it may give you more opportunities for complaining.
While the above points indicate ways in which you can better communicate with the Universe, the below points explain the ways you can open yourself to messages from the Universe.
Ask the Universe for Help, Then Pay Attention
Through thoughts, words, and images, you put forth questions and requests to the Universe. It will give you messages in whatever way It thinks it can get through to you. You may experience a hunch, a meaningful coincidence, ease with a task, a new opportunity, a flow experience, or insights that will guide you toward your intended objective. Pay attention and respond appropriately.
Meditation
Whether you are seeking to silence your mental chatter or open yourself up for spiritual insights, meditation can increase your capacity to receive messages from the Universe. Sitting in stillness, you may hear, sense, or get a message, impression, or vision that comes from someplace beyond your everyday consciousness.
If sitting in silence does not suit you, try walking in nature or listening to calming music. These may quiet the chattering mind enough to allow you to hear the Universe.
Journal
If you enjoy writing, try posing questions and requests to the Universe through journaling. Jotting your ideas and questions down on paper can open you up to new insights, connections, and wisdom. Writing, as a creative act, can enable valuable spiritual knowledge to reach you. Answers may come to you right away or at a later time. Keeping a pen and paper close tells the Universe you are always ready for Its messages.
Dream
When you go to sleep, aspects of your mind remain active. As your busy conscious mind loosens its controls, your subconscious mind can communicate insights to you through dreams. To get specific information, pose a question or topic to the Universe as you are relaxing before sleep. The answer may come in the night or upon waking. Keep a pen and paper by your bed so that you can record any meaningful messages.
Tomorrow is a New Day
As you step out of bed tomorrow morning, and every morning after that, remember that you have a choice. Every thought you think and movement you make informs the Universe about who you are and what you want.
Everyone is in an interactive relationship with the Universe. Even if you do not realize it, It hears everything that you communicate, and It responds accordingly. Pay attention.
The Universe is like a loving parent who desires to support you in every way possible. It seeks partnership because It likes to create magnificently with you and through you. Once you learn to work cooperatively with It, you will find that the Universe is a beautiful companion on an awe-inspiring journey.