Nothing is too wonderful to be true.
— Candace Pert, PhD, neuroscientist

It all begins with intention. Intention is higher-consciousness thought. In other words, it’s using the mind for a higher purpose—higher, meaning that you are not limiting yourself to certain outcomes or procedures. When you hold an intent, you call forth the actual consciousness (awareness) of the universe and therefore have at your disposal all the intelligence contained within it. Here is the difference between thought and intention: Thought is like tying up a care package with string and sending it for delivery to a specified address. Intention is more like being on the other end of a delivery, with or without knowing its sender or contents. An intention-based life is approached, always, with optimism that gifts are arriving all the time. As the recipient, we are only responsible for signing for the package, unraveling the string and accepting the gift. This realm of universal consciousness, where everything is a potential arriving gift, is where infinite creativity lives.

In order to access the extraordinary power of intent, it’s important to realize that it operates in a limitless field of -energy and cannot be contained within a narrow purpose. Paradoxical, I know, because you may think of setting an intention as focusing on a specific thing. This is where people become confused and misuse this concept—and say it doesn’t work. Nonsense. Intent cannot NOT work; it’s that energetically powerful. Yes, you have something in mind when you set an intention. Once done, however, this something is released like a vapor into the atmosphere and permeates the entire universal energy field. We’re sending that package across the universe, quite intentionally, without a mailing label. Can you see what’s happening when you do this? You’re allowing all possibilities to occur and for that gift to be delivered where it best fits into the Creator’s big passion play.

The initial step in fruitfully opening to higher consciousness is, quite simply, having the intention to do so. To be conscious means to live with intent and a desire to nurture a part of oneself that many people don’t take time to do on a regular basis. It’s so true, we can easily get caught up in the crush of daily living and allow ourselves to be overtaken by very human activities like paying bills, taking care of the house, feeding the kids, going to work—and generally keeping ourselves locked into a static routine that we eventually come to believe we can’t break free from. The rewards are well worth whatever little time it takes to formulate an intent to become the best person you can be—physically, emotionally, spiritually and, yes, creatively.

Intention is Powered by Faith

Having an intention is empty unless it’s accompanied by faith. In my humble experience, faith powers the entire process and, to be honest, these two things—intention and faith—are all that’s really required to advance intuitively and artistically. Here’s a guarantee: If you can find within yourself the capacity to retain faith and trust as daily mantras, you will progress at a rapid clip.

For most of us, faith is a winding road, not a rocket shot heavenward. I’ve had many moments when I’ve wondered, What is the difference between having faith and being naïve? Keeping the flame of faith burning can be extremely difficult, especially during trying times and “dark nights of the soul.” And what happens when we follow our truest instincts and our dream doesn’t come true? We will explore these and other questions of faith as we go along.

To begin on a dedicated spiritual path, no fundamental education or training is required. Commence with no care about your knowledge of the subject because what’s necessary to know will be revealed to you as you go along. In fact, it’s possible to bypass mental knowledge about intuition by simply engaging in spiritual practices. With deliberateness of purpose, you will come to discern that an intuitive lifestyle is one of daily discovery that becomes progressively self-revealing. In other words, you will naturally become “higher powered.”

And yet, I understand so well that we often feel impelled to get our minds around matters of importance to us, to become mentally engaged. I’ve read my share of metaphysical books—at one point, averaging five per week (how did I ever find the time?). And I’ve dabbled in various workshops, conferences, discussion groups and such. This is all well and good. We are endowed by our Creator with incredible intellects, and we should use them to the fullest. What I’m suggesting is to not get caught up in a morass of data, or use the mind to the exclusion of your inner voice. It’s more effective to have the mind balanced with the heart; in fact, I’ve found that feeling most often gets me to the truth of a matter faster than thinking. I’ve met individuals who are quite erudite in their intuitive search and have accumulated an impressive amount of book knowledge and education from a great variety of sources. Sometimes to my envy, these types have resources of time, money and influence to fly around the globe, attend every spiritual retreat, enroll in every course, and meet every mystic, philosopher, guru and shaman from India to the Amazon rainforest—but they still seem not to get it. They think that if they study long and hard enough, their desired goal will one day bonk them on the head (and maybe it will).

What they haven’t yet assimilated, in my view, is the inner experience of the mind-knowledge that they’ve acquired. While astute in the head, they remain disconnected from the heart of it all. At this juncture, these “spiritual power shoppers” would be best served by releasing their grasp on the trapeze wire and free-falling into the experience. If not, the thing they’ve been diligently striving to achieve—mainly, getting to the miraculous by way of the mind—will eventually become an insidious obstruction to the entire process. At some point, the intellect must be transcended, and this cannot be done by the mind on its own behalf. (That would be like trying to cut your own hair without a mirror.) Only the heart, which contains something infinitely more powerful than the mind—love—can overcome long-held patterns, thoughts and beliefs. At some point, we must simply toss aside all the books, this one -included, and just be. Surrender to the Divine without stipulations. Muster your courage and let go. God is the net that will catch you if and when you fall.