All around us are messages, hints and clues that help us reach every milestone along the path of life. If our role on planet earth is to evolve, to follow our own pathway to enlightenment then I believe we are given plenty of help along the way. This short article is part of an e-book available soon. Here, I just tickle the surface of following signs, symbols and synchronicity and show you how to participate in living magically.

You can use anything to help you in finding answers to life – dreams, divination cards, random extracts from books, a single word that reappears in different ways, people, animals and birds, even traffic lights. Signs can appear in any form, something you hear in a conversation, a book that falls open at a certain page, signs on a passing van, patterns in the shadows or the clouds…be open to the possibilities.

We receive messages all the time, but in the form of symbols and these need to be interpreted. The most important thing to remember is that the answer lies in what that symbol means to YOU individually: my interpretation of a tree may be completely different to yours. On the other hand there are many useful books and charts that can give you a heads up start – so use them, just be discerning, not everything that appears in print is “gospel”. If you read something and it just doesn’t “feel” right then trust yourself. Try looking at it in another way until you “recognize” the truth that is relevant to YOU. Always remember we are each perfectly unique – that’s part of the magic.

So, where do the messages come from? For me there are two possible explanations.

That your Universe sends you help. You don’t even need to ask but it does help. Unfortunately the universe is unable to communicate to you in clear language, so everything arrives in the form of images, signs and symbols. The trick is deciding what it means.

That the messages come from within yourself, from your inner self. We certainly have much more wisdom than we give ourselves credit for and perhaps this is simply your inner self cutting through the barriers we all erect.

Scientific stuff: The human brain consists of two sides, the left and right hemispheres. The left side is the logical side, the one that is the loudest, that thinks it does all the work. It is logical, rational, and linear. The right side of the brain is the intuitive, creative side. If you prefer it, is the “Eureka” side that supplies the answers in huge leaps without any indication of the path that led to the answer. Apparently we use only about 10% of our brain capacity which opens up the exciting possibility of how we can use the other 90%. I like to think of it as the magical side, full of wonderment and retaining some of that innocence we had as children.

To me it is the right side of the brain that we access once we decide we want to acknowledge the signs, symbols and synchronicities that are possible, once we decide we want to hear the messages that help along the journey.

Here too, the messages arrive in symbols since the right side of the brain cannot communicate in clear language, remember it is the left brain that is verbal. Ultimately, it is conceivable that the right side of your brain can answer any question you have, you simply have to access it. If you learn to listen really well you are listening to what you really want or to what is best for you in this life.

For me, it is the combination of both of these, I think we are totally and completely inter-changeable with the Universe, we are the Universe, part of it and it is part of us – I don’t know how to separate from it.

What is synchronicity? Synchronicity is that wonderful state when everything comes together and you can clearly see the pattern, when answers emerge without any conscious effort. Examples are everywhere. It is all part of the pattern of life talking to you. There is a saying in metaphysics, that if you listen to the whispers, life doesn’t have to shout at you. Like the day the council raised the rates on my shop in Perth by £2000 and this was the same day a shop in Crail became vacant which was where I wanted to be anyway. Or the day I was despairing of where my future lay and I walked into a tiny crystals shop tucked down an obscure alley and met Chris who introduced me to crystals.

Synchronicity is when you are trying to decide whether to move house or not and an advert for an estate agent appears on your doorstep: synchronicity is where a book falls off the shelf in front of you at the bookstore; synchronicity is where someone tells you about a course she has done that you have been thinking of. Synchronicity is being sent the same poem by ten different people within days of each other. Yes life definitely talks to you.

Simply deciding to open yourself to the possibility of life talking to you – you open yourself to the magic of life. You are playing a part in extending your awareness, of taking control of your life and in utilizing all the power at your command.

Just to give you an idea, what crossed your path today?

Did you get stuck behind a line of slow moving traffic? The important thing in interpreting this sign is how you felt. If you were frustrated or angry, perhaps something is holding you back in your life and you need to take time, slow down and really look at the problem. On the other hand if you felt OK about it, quite relaxed and unflustered, maybe life is telling you it is okay to take things easy once in a while.

Life is throwing a wee pebble in your path, a “whisper”. Ignoring such hint to slow down might lead to a bout of diarrhoea or a sprained ankle that keeps you off work – instead of a pebble a wee brick in fact, life talking slightly louder to get your attention. If that doesn’t work life will ask what will – a major illness? a car crash? – life can and will throw a whole wall at you as it shouts to get your attention. In my own experience it took two minor car crashes both leading away from Crail to get me to understand that it was possible to make a living in a tiny village on the edge of the sea – which was what I wanted to do all the time anyway but let myself “Intellectualize” myself out of it in the first place.

Watch out for animals and birds bringing you messages. I am lucky enough to live where I can see wildlife daily but if you are locked in a city that doesn’t mean they won’t appear for you. You may well see an animal or bird on an advertising board, in the pattern of the clouds or the condensation on your window, in a song on the radio or in a conversation at work. As part of the universe our natural world is bound to be richly related to messages and answers. Take a little time to write down what various animals mean to you personally.

The possibilities are endless AND endlessly fascinating.

Did you think of someone you haven’t seen for ages and she phoned you. Does this mean you called her to you, or did you “pick up” on the vibrational energy of her intention? It can be either or both at work and is called extended awareness. I am always aware if the telephone or the doorbell has rung while I was out. I sense it immediately I enter the house. Is it the change in vibrational energy within the house? Maybe it is simply some form of change in molecular structure. But even so, isn’t it an exciting piece of evidence of my extended awareness at work? I prefer to think of it as the magic of life and allow it to bring me joy.

It definitely seems that once you make the decision to live with this form of awareness, the synchronicities and the messages come thick and fast.

You can always ask directly for something then wait for the message. The universe will send you something or someone to guide you.

You must remember though it is you who is in control of your life so all and every decision should be yours.

Every time I see a hawk or a fox I pay attention and I seem to be constantly surrounded by crows who remind me “to walk my talk” not just preach about it as I do here – a tendency I am still working on – well , I’m just walking the path like everyone else.

If you open yourself to the magic of living positively by watching for the signs, everything takes on a brighter hue, you really do add an element of magic into your life.