One of the most practical tools I know for creating profitable businesses and enjoying rich lives is attending to inner guidance.

By inner guidance, I mean those subtle thoughts, feelings, sensations and intuitions that nudge us toward greater joy, connection and prosperity.

Or, more accurately, that make us aware of the unconditional joy, connection and prosperity that is always ours in the present moment.

That’s not just happy talk, which I happen to abhor.

It’s eminently practical, because when you understand that unconditional joy and prosperity are always yours in this moment, there is no reason not to try things, including making your first video, raising your prices, or moving to a new city.

When, in the words of Julian of Norwich, you know in your bones that all is well and all manner of things be well, there is no reason not to play full out.

What game wants to be played?

It’s one thing to realize that there’s no reason not to play full out. How do you decide what game to play?

In the best of all worlds, which I can’t claim to live in but have been known to visit, we don’t need to decide. Byron Katie talks about decisions making themselves when we allow reality to unfold.

If we get out of the way, the way becomes clear.

Still, there seems to be some mechanism or means by which those emerging decisions can be known. From where I sit, that mechanism is attending to the still small voice within—the voice of inner guidance.

There’s a bit of a catch-22 here. Inner guidance holds the key, but the harder we listen, the more elusive it often proves to be. I believe that’s because listening too hard introduces static.

It’s like standing too close to a sensitive radio set. Step back, and the signal comes in more clearly.

What does stepping back look like?

It might look like gardening, weight lifting or playing with the cat. What seems to be the key is an attitude of wonder, an open curiosity that invites meaning and direction to flow in from everything we encounter, from a sad song to a happy movie to a wise sermon or the first crocus of spring.

A note on timing:

Inner guidance doesn’t run on the ego’s schedule. If we’re expecting instant change, we can think we are blocked, bored or lost. If we can hang out in the uncertainty, a next indicated step will eventually show up, often in the form of those little miracles or synchronicities that reassure us that we are supported in ways that exceed our understanding.

What if failure is never an issue?

You’ve probably heard the provocative question,

“What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

Well, I have a different one for you. What would you do if you knew that failure is never an issue? If you understood that it is fine to fail because failure can’t alter your fundamental well-being?

What if failure is not so much the opposite of success, but simply another episode in the unfolding success that can’t be taken away from you?

Where to go from here?

I don’t have a specific practice to commend to you this week, except to trust your own instincts, do more of that which lights you up and cultivate enjoyment of that lit-up experience. You might conceive of a great project while baking cookies, achieve life-changing clarity while playing with your cat or simply experience an hour of deep well-being while planning a vegetable garden.

I trust you. May you trust yourself and the wisdom that works through you.

Like right livelihood on Facebook.

Ed: Catherine Monkman