Psychic Predictions for 2011

So we've been talking about how intuition is a great way for us to empower ourselves and listen to our higher voices, but it can also be fun. With 2010 behind us, it’s time for the crystal balls to come out and the predictions to flow.

Whether you’re interested in global happenings, politics or celebrities, there are psychics who are clamoring to tell you what’s new for 2011. Below is a sampling of some of the predictions floating around the Web. But before you get caught up seeing what other people have predicted, check out our Intuitive Action Item below.

Intuitive Action Item: Write your own list of predictions for the year (remember, these are not personal predictions, but rather about the world, the country, celebrities – you decide). Put your list in a place where you’ll be able to find it next year. If you're really brave, post your predictions here. When 2012 comes around, you’ll be able to see how much you already knew.

A smattering of predictions from around the Web:

http://www.spiritnow.com/psychics/2011_Psychic_Predictions

http://worldpsychic.org/predictions/Predictions-2011-1-draft.htm

http://worldpsychic.org/predictions/Predictions-2011-11-draft.htm

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/sanbernardinocounty/ci_16981945

http://world-famous-predictions-prophecies.blogspot.com/

Set Intentions, Not Resolutions

One of the reasons many of us have such a hard time with intuition is because we live in societies that value action. No where is this more evident than around the New Year when we make resolutions to change our worlds in the next twelve months. We will do this. We won’t do that. Most of our resolutions depend on us making monumental changes.

But where does intuition come in? Intuition is an intangible force that’s connected to God, the Universe, the Spirit World or whatever spiritual tradition you believe in. It helps us to achieve our goals, but it usually helps us when we ALLOW it to – meaning we often have to take a break from some of our actions to allow it to do its thing.

Have you ever had the experience of being totally frustrated because a goal just proved so elusive and when you finally gave up because it was so difficult, it happened for you? That’s the power of learning to allow the Universe and your higher self to help you realize your dreams.

So how do you invite intuition to help you achieve your New Year’s goals and make the changes you want to make in your life? You set intentions, not resolutions.

Intentions are desires – the end results we wish to see. Resolutions are actions. Steps we plan to take. When you set resolutions, you let the Universe know, ‘I’ve got this. I’ve got it all under control.’ When you set intentions, you let the Universe know, ‘This is what I want. I’m listening for you to guide me so that I can get there.’ You may be led to write down some of the steps you will take, but you are less concerned with HOW things will happen and are open to discovering the How along the way.

Intuitive Action of the Day: What are your intentions for the New Year? Write a list of the changes you’d like to see in your life by December 31, 2011. Don’t figure out how at this moment. As you read over your list, ask your higher self for intuitive guidance on how to get there.

Be Open for Answers

Yesterday I wrote about engaging intuition by asking the right questions. Intuition is designed to help you achieve your best life. If you ask no questions, you're letting the universe know that you're complacent; there's nothing you need to know.

But in order to engage the flow of intuition, you've also got to be open to the answers. It therefore follows that you may find that there are certain situations in which your intuition doesn't seem very helpful:

---Situations when you already think you know the answer. What's the point of asking for signs or guidance when you've already closed your mind off to some of the possibilities?

---Situations surrounding your biggest dreams. If you really, really want a certain outcome, you're likely to close yourself off to some potential answers because you're either too certain that you're going to get it (or that you're not).

---Situtions connected to past hurts. If you're still reeling from a broken relationship or a breach of trust, you may not be open to all answers because of fears of being hurt again.

That's not to say you can't use your intuition to help you with the things that matter most to you. In later posts we'll discuss ways to trick your logical mind so that your intuition can be heard during emotionally-charged situations. But for now, when you're starting to engage your intuition, it's best to start with questions that you feel more neutral about -- questions that you're curious about, but not vested in the outcome. Once you start noticing how the universe responds to your questions, you can move on to bigger and better things.

Intuitive Action of the Day: Pick a question that you feel neutral about and ask for intuitive guidance about how to move forward. Pay attention to hunches you get and write them down.

Intuition on Demand: Bring on the Questions

Many people can recall a time when they just ‘knew’ something even though they logically had no way of knowing it. And we’ve all had our hunches that came true, when we said, ‘I knew that was going to happen.’ I call those intuition quick hits – they come out of nowhere; we never know when they’re going to happen, but it’s fun when they do.


So how do you go from being at the whim of intuition to being able to call up your intuition on demand? For example, I misplaced my driver’s license. It sure would be great if my intuition would provide one of those hunches right about now.

Well, it can. We can engage our intuition and get it working for us rather than merely entertaining us. The first step in doing that is asking the right questions.

When you silently ask a question, the universe reacts and provides an answer. The answer may come in the form of a song you hear on the radio, or it may come in the form of a book title that comes across your desk. Someone may even call you on the phone and provide you with the very information you seek.

The answer might not come right away; it may take a few days or a few dreams. But keep the question in the back of your mind and pay attention. Whatever way the answer comes, it was evoked by intuition.

What are some good questions? Anything is fair game.

Is this a good situation for me?
Should I become more involved with this person?
Is this person lying to me?
Is this a good time to start putting my resume out there?
Should I seek a second opinion?
Should I be concerned about my child's behavior?

Not sure whether this information is true? Don’t trust me. Pose the question to the universe and see what your intuition drums up in response.

Raising Intuitive Kids

It's been said that children are the most intuitive because they have not been conditioned to value logic over intuition and feeling. The following article lends credence to that belief. A small child heard the roaring wind outside, got scared and ran out of her room into her mother's bed. Later that night, a tree fell though the house and crushed the bed where the child had been sleeping. Read the article here. What if that mother had ignored her child's fears and pushed her back to her bedroom? The story would have had a tragic ending.

If you have children, or have spent alot of time around them, you might recall a time when a child tensed up around a stranger or you might have noticed a child pull away from some people and not others. I remember a time when my nephew seemed noticeably uncomfortable around a friend of his father's. I pointed it out to my sister, and since she has a lot of respect for the power of gut instinct, she made sure my nephew didn't have to be around this man.

If you'd like to nurture your children's intuition, take heed of the following tips:

--Honor emotional intelligence. Make it a habit to ask your child what he or she is feeling about day-to-day events, even if your child doesn't have a say in the matter. For example, your child may not be able to decide when you're going to head home from the park, but you can ask him what he feels about leaving now as opposed to fifteen minutes later.

--Pay attention to strong reactions. You know your child, and you know when something really pushes his or her buttons. If your childs reacts strongly in a positive or negative manner, consider acting accordingly. For example, my nephew's reaction to his father's friend was unusual and extreme. If this was my nephew's normal reaction to meeting people, my sister might have paid less attention to his discomfort.

--Encourage imagination. If your child starts telling you about an imaginary friend or an unbelievable experience, don't be so quick to shut it down. Some believe that imaginary friends could be ghosts. Even if you don't believe that, imagination is very important to intuition since it gives you permission to have an open mind - something that's needed when your gut goes against everything that you can see logically.

Special Delivery: Intuition or Coincidence?

I had an interesting experience in the post office the other day. I was standing in line and had the strongest feeling that I had left my wallet in the car. I knew that wasn't possible because I hadn't taken my wallet outside of my purse, but the strong feeling prompted me to check my purse for my wallet anyway. My wallet was there so I brushed the thought aside. When the man in front of me reached the counter, he handed the postal worker his packages. He then reached into his pocket and realized he had left his wallet in the car.

Mere coincidence? Or was I picking up on the fact that the man had lost his wallet?

A Sister's Tale of Intuition

I received the following story via email from Christine W. about how her intuition helped her sister get through a medical emergency. Here it is in her own words:

My sister and I had gone shopping together over the weekend. We had a great time and I had packed up the car and the kids and was headed back home. I live about 30 minutes away. I was more than halfway home when I had a feeling I had forgotten something really important. At first I shrugged it off, but it kept bothering me until finally I pulled over into a gas station and checked the car to make sure I had my purse and my wallet. I couldn’t think of anything else I needed since my kids were in the car with me. Anything else, my sister could either mail or I could pick it up later. But the feeling got stronger and I started to feel nervous so finally I just picked up my cell phone and called my sister. There was no answer. At this point, I knew I had to go back. I did trust ‘bad feelings’ so I turned around and went back to my sister’s house. She didn’t answer, but I have a key and I found that she had passed out. I called an ambulance. She’s fine now, but I realize that that feeling that I had forgotten something was my intuition.

Thanks for the story, Christine!

No Chance Meetings Part Two

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a synchronicity that I followed up on. I'd run into someone multiple times and decided to introduce myself to see if there was a message she had for me (see blog post No Chance Meetings from April 21st). Though I believe in synchronicity, I was still a little surprised at the coincidence that she was trying to make a career change into freelance writing and researching. (No matter how intuitive you think you are, your ego is still going to tell you you're making it all up.)We were at a conference for corporate women so there were very few writers there. The fact that she ran into me of all people was a stroke of luck -- or synchronicity -- on her part.

Or so I thought. I agreed to speak with her and give her some tips, but it turns out, I benefited more from the meeting than I thought I would. One of my goals is to finish my first novel -- a goal that has gone uncompleted for years. That's actually one of her main goals too. So we've formed a writer's group in which we'll meet once a week to hold each other accountable. The funny thing is, earlier that week, I had been thinking hard about that dream I have to write fiction and wondering how to finally make it happen. That chance meeting was an answer. We'll see if it's the right one.

Time

The last time I wrote, I was grappling with a friend's death. I guess it affected me more than I thought it did since I didn't write again for four months.

But I'm glad that I honored my resistance. That's part of living intuitively; being ok with starting and stopping and letting time pass by until you instinctively know that it's time to start again.

There was a time when I would have been mad at myself for stopping, or I would have forced myself to write so that I could achieve a goal that existed only in my head. I'm glad that time has passed.

Listening for the Little Things

Often we think of intuition as this sense that helps us to predict the big things: warn us of danger, tell us which job to pick, clue us in on the true motives of that person.

Last week, I couldn’t get the idea of a jigsaw puzzle out of my mind. When I was growing up, my family always had a jigsaw puzzle on the dining room table where any of us would sit down and work on it when we had a spare moment, sometimes together, sometimes separately. I’d forgotten those memories and how much I enjoyed the hours spent trying to figure out how the individual pieces came together to form an amazing picture.

After the idea of a jigsaw puzzle nagged at me for four days, I broke down, drove to Target and bought one. That very night I received bad news about a friend who’s been ill, who likely is living out her final days. Naturally, the news was devastating. But interestingly I’ve found a lot of solace through working on my puzzle. Doing so quiets my mind and creates a sense of peace in me.

It may seem trivial that my intuition was calling for me to get that puzzle last week, but I’m glad I listened.

Your Biggest Healthcare Advocate...

Nowhere is the power of intuition so evident as when you hear stories of people somehow ‘knowing’ they have some medical illness and getting treatment in time. Particularly when the marvels of medicine say everything’s ok.

Last week, my 92-year-old grandfather didn’t feel right, though he had just been to the doctor and been told that everything was ok. He wasn’t in pain, but “I just knew something was off,” he told me. He called my aunt and said he thought he should go to the hospital. Long story short, doctors told him that had he not come into the hospital he might not have been around to tell me that story.

About 11 years ago, Alice Soler had a clear mammogram, yet she had the feeling that something was wrong. So she told her doctor she wasn’t satisfied. Her doctor – who’s got to be commended for this – listened to her and ordered a sonogram. Turns out, Soler had breast cancer.

Today she’s a survivor and an advocate for others, but her willingness to listen to her own nagging feeling saved her life.

No matter how awe-inspiring the latest medical technology is, I don’t think it will ever be able to keep up with our bodies’ own inner knowing.

Titanic Premonitions of Doom

One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of stories of intuition seem to revolve around tragedies. I’m not sure if that’s because people’s intuition sometimes gets stronger in an attempt to warn them of impending danger or if people are just more likely to notice gut feelings of doom.

There were many fascinating stories of intuition surrounding the Titanic. A number of survivors and victims of the boat’s sinking confided to others prior to the trip that they had a bad feeling about it.

Among them: The Washington Herald in 1912 wrote an article describing how novelist Jacques Futrelle, who died on the Titanic, had a strong enough premonition two weeks before the tragedy to set up powers of attorney for his and his wife’s affairs.

Annie Ward, a maid who survived, told her mother she didn’t want to get on the ship because she was afraid something was going to happen, according to the Evening Bulletin.

Major Archibald Butt reportedly received a warning that he’d die on his trip abroad so he made a will before he left and settled his affairs.

The New York Times reported that George Quincy Clifford, who died in the wreck, took out $50,000 worth of extra life insurance prior to traveling.

You can read more stories of the Titanic premonitions here. Clearly something to think about.

What? No Burning Bush?

Since I’ve been writing this blog several people have felt compelled to tell me about their intuitive moments. (I enjoy hearing about them so keep them coming).

I’ve heard several stories of people thinking of someone the moment before that person called. I heard a story about someone knowing a relative would be stopping in unexpectedly from out of town. And I heard a story in which someone felt compelled to contact a former colleague and the conversation led to a job offer.

The interesting thing about all of these stories: they were so anticlimactic. There was no major defining moment, no overwhelming feeling of certainty, just a quick thought or a slight tug of interest. Nothing like the dramatic visions or terrifying dreams you see in movies like The Sixth Sense or television shows like Medium.

Maybe the people I know just aren’t that intuitive yet. But more likely, I think we often miss out on what our intuition is trying to tell us because we’re looking for something far grander. While some people may in fact have the heartstopping visions, I'll settle for the butterflies in my stomach or the quick thought that seems to pop into my mind out of nowhere.

I like the following advice from Meredith Self, a professional intuitive who teaches others how to work with their intuition. She says: “Drop the need for intuition to be a burning bush or great visions. Seriously. Not necessary and distracting for most people... Expect simple.”

Works for me.

Honoring the Instinct to Rest

It’s been a few days since I’ve written because I felt the overwhelming need to rest. I don’t know if it was the holiday weekend or the winding down of the summer, but my body felt tired and I could sense that burnout was on the horizon.

A couple of years ago, I would have kept going, ignoring my body and I probably would have eventually gotten sick – my body’s way of forcing me to slow down.

Researchers have proven what the body intuitively knows: According to studies cited in this article by Marie Claire, chronic work stress can be as harmful to you as smoking and not exercising.

So after listening to my intuition and taking last week off, this week I feel energized, creative and rested. It may seem like a simple concept to just listen to your body but so many of us ignore what’s right in front of us.

We often get caught up in the dramatic stories of intuition in action, such as my previous post on Jaycee Dugard. But intuition is about recognizing the little things that we need minute-by-minute and day-by-day. It’s not something that we can plan weeks in advance; it’s about acknowledging your needs in the moment and responding to them.

Intuitive Action Item: You’ve probably planned out much of your work vacation time but if you haven’t scheduled all of it, leave some days free for “intuitive health” days. You can’t predict when your body will intuitively need a rest.

How Intuition Saved Jaycee Dugard

Intuition played a role in another major news story. Last week Jaycee Dugard, who had been abducted 18 years ago when she was 11, was found and her captor, Philip Garrido, was arrested.

Just as intriguing as the story itself was one of the factors that led to Dugard’s discovery: the intuition of a police officer and a campus safety officer with the University of California, Berkeley.

Both women, upon meeting Garrido, felt that something was off. In fact, that feeling led police officer Allison Jacobs to call Garrido’s parole officer, which eventually led to the discovery of Dugard and Garrido’s arrest.

This story is a good example of how to use intuition. The two officers trusted their gut instincts and then did some research to see if they were right. It’s also interesting that it’s becoming more socially acceptable for people to talk about the role intuition plays in their lives. Hopefully it will inspire someone to speak up like those officers did when intuition throws up a red flag.

Lessons About Fear From an Acrobat

A friend mentioned today that the blog post he most related to was the one about fear. That wasn’t surprising to me. Having worked for years in a newsroom where I listened all day to CNN, I noticed that one of the things many media organizations do well is package fear and transmit it through their newscasts. In fact, the news coverage of the recession earlier this year made me feel so anxious that it got me – a self-professed news junky – to turn off CNN during the day and I haven’t turned it on regularly since.

I’ve also noticed that when people are afraid of something, they tend to act – or react – quickly and rashly. You’re afraid you’ll be destitute so you take a job that you never wanted in the first place. You’re afraid of being alone so you get involved in a relationship that you know doesn’t quite fit. You’re afraid you’ll lose your job so you take on extra work and let a boss mistreat you instead of looking for a better work environment. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve taken on a project or client I knew I shouldn’t have because I was afraid another client wouldn’t come along soon enough. I always regretted it.

There’s no way around it; fear blocks intuition so if you’re worried about something, you’ve got to find a way to calm down and slow down so your inner wisdom has the chance to come through.

Who better to know about fear than two acrobats who risk broken bones or worse when they swing and fly 25 feet above the ground? This article by Dancer Universe poses the question about how they manage fear. Here’s their advice:

---Focus on a successful outcome. The acrobats didn’t think about falling. Period. Don’t think about what can go wrong. Instead, visualize all that can go right.

---Remember successful experiences. The acrobats trusted their bodies because they had performed these daredevil stunts before. Think back to all the successes you’ve had. What makes you think this won’t be another one?

---Reduce the risk. The acrobats planned their routines and had safety precautions in place in case they fell. There are steps you can take to lessen a potential blow. If you could handle the worst-case scenario, why worry about it? It probably won’t happen and if it does, you can handle it!

Intuitive Action Item: One of my favorite movie lines of all time is from Gone With the Wind when Scarlett O’Hara said, “I’ll worry about that tomorrow.” Next time you feel the grip of fear, follow her advice.

Unleashing Intuition on the Job Hunt

Despite the constant news reports about how bad the job market and economy are, I know four people who’ve received job offers in the last week alone. A couple of them were actively job-searching and a couple were not. Conventional wisdom says now is the time to stay at your current job and be grateful to have it even if you’re doing something you hate.

I think differently.

While I don’t recommend that anyone just quit his or her job without a viable plan for making a living, I think you have nothing to lose by looking for a job that is a better fit regardless of the economy and whether you’ve recently been laid off or not.

In the spirit of job-hunting, I came across this article by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., offering suggestions for using intuition to find that better job.

Among the advice:

---- Relax. If you’re worried about the economy, you’re operating out of fear and even if you do intuitively feel that a certain job or career path is right, you’ll ignore that because your rational mind will tell you it’s too risky or you can’t possibly make enough money.

----Assume the best. This tip will help you to relax. If you imagine the most dire economic situation befalling you, you’ll get anxious and, again, operate out of fear. But if you imagine that everything will work out in the end, you’ll be less tense and open to different opportunities.

----Don’t throw logic out the window. Yes this is a blog on intuition, but the reality is that during tough economic times, you want to use all of the tools at your disposal to get the best outcome so why not use your intuition and logic together?

Go ahead and brainstorm various options that feel right to you intuitively. At this point, give your intuition free reign. Contact any potential employer that interests you even if there’s no official job opening or the media is telling you the industry isn’t hiring or there’s any other logical reason that would keep you from even trying.

I recently felt very strongly about writing an article for a magazine that I’d never written for. However, through another writer, I learned that this magazine wasn’t using freelance writers anymore because of the recession. Now my logical mind told me not to waste my time but I sent off my idea anyway because I really felt like I should. I ended up getting the assignment.

Once you get a job offer, let your logical mind do the research to back up whether you’re making a sound decision in taking the job. Intuition isn’t based on economic trends or media reports so if you feel that urge to make a career shift, you may find an opportunity waiting for you recession and all.

When Intuition Throws You a Lifeline…

How many times have you heard someone say, “I knew I should have done this,” or “I had a bad feeling all along; I wish I had listened to it”?

Every so often you hear a story about how someone’s bad feeling got them out of a precarious situation or even saved a life.

Remember the crash in New York between a tourist helicopter and a private plane over the Hudson River this month? Apparently a woman named Paola Casali and her 13-year-old son had already purchased tickets to be on that helicopter. What stopped them? The 13-year-old had a bad feeling. Casali told the media that her son was jittery all morning and was scared to get in the helicopter. He even procrastinated in a Starbucks that day, causing them to be late and miss the fateful flight.

This story demonstrates to me intuition in action. Intuition isn’t dramatic where you see a burning bush or hear a voice shout down from the sky. It’s a bad feeling, a case of the jitters, a desire to procrastinate or put something off especially when you have no logical reason for doing so.

In less dramatic instances, I’ve had experiences when someone has wanted to hire me for a writing assignment or work on an editing project and even though the money might have been good, I’d get this sinking feeling or just not want to do the job. Once when I ignored this feeling, the client later declared bankruptcy and I never got paid. Another time, the job was a nightmare because the client kept changing her mind about what she wanted and the project dragged on for months.

Intuitive Action Item: Think back to a time when something didn’t go right and you knew beforehand that you should have taken a different action (we all have these experiences). By keeping your mistakes in mind, you’ll be more likely to make a different choice the next time your intuition sends out an SOS.

Intuition or Fear?

One of the questions I’ve grappled with: How do you know if it’s your intuition and not just thoughts?

I came across this posting from The Art of Sensitive Living Blog that explains a few ways to tell the difference between intuition and fearful thoughts. A lot of it comes down to the way you feel when you’re experiencing the insight or the thought. Intuition tends to bring about positive feelings whereas fearful thoughts often make you feel bad.

--When you experience intuition, there’s often a feeling of simplicity, clarity and peace that comes along with the knowledge, even if it’s about an outcome you don’t desire. In other words, you’ll likely feel calm.

--When you’re experiencing fearful ego-based thoughts, you often feel confused, upset, and feel that you have to know more. If there’s an emotional charge with the thought, it’s probably not your intuition.

You can find more tips to accessing your intuition, here.

Intuitive Action Item: This week when you’re paying attention to your thoughts, also notice the way you’re feeling as you have them. Give more credence to those thoughts that are accompanied by feelings of calmness and peace.

A Novel Lesson

A comment to the post about imagination and intuition referenced the fact that fiction writers sometimes tap into future events. (Check out this blog post about how Edgar Allan Poe seems to have written about an event before it happened). As a fiction lover who is working steadily to finish my first novel, that thought really fascinated me.

I’ve often heard other writers talk about how they have no control over the plot; rather, they sit down to write and the characters come alive and take over the story. My logical mind thought that was a bunch of “caca.” I figured these writers were just trying to sound artsy. But I was wrong because my story does seem to be taking on a life of its own. In fact, a character that I intended to be a minor player came onto the canvas and I liked him so much that I made an entire plot adjustment to give him more action.

I don’t know whether I’m tapping into some future occurrence. (Wouldn’t it be great to create the characters we want to enter our lives and erase the ones we’d like to leave behind?) But the one thing this process is helping me to do is leave my logical mind at the door. When I started writing this book, I had this long outline that detailed what would happen in each scene. As I filled in the blanks, fleshing out my little blueprint, I started to become bored, and frankly, the book started to feel like a chore. And then one day I had an idea that differed from my outline and I went with it. Since then, I’ve veered so far off course from that outline that I have no idea where the book is heading – but the process has become a lot more interesting and alive.

Intuition works the same way. If we have to control everything, we don’t have the flexibility to adapt to a flash of inspiration. And if we’ve already planned out our every step, what’s the point of having intuition to guide us along in the first place?

Intuitive Action Item: Think of something you’ve created ‘a plan’ for. This might be a tough one, but scrap your plan. Just wing it instead and see what happens. It might turn out better than you thought.