could be “focused.” Concentration is important as you are tuning into a situation or a person because only specific information is needed. For example, there is not a need to know that five months ago this person started a new cycle in life, is going to sell the house, and move. If you own your own business, want to hire someone, and have three résumés in front of you, how do you know which person is best suited for the position. Most people know how to write résumés; consequently, the three applicants may look equally qualified. Then comes the interview, and each applicant puts on his or her best face. How do you get the information you really need to know about these people that, more than likely, you can’t ask them? Of course, none of them will put on résumé this fact: “Well, I’m really looking for a temporary stopgap before I go on to the company I’m waiting to hear from, but I really want the experience with your company for six months.” Because that information is available at some level to everyone, you can use your intuition to access this fact and discover that this person is qualified but does not plan to stay. Without this information, you may have invested a great deal of money in the person’s development. A question that the applicants wouldn’t know the answer to might be: “Will this person get along with the other people in the office?” Questions such as this are important and need to be answered. The applicants won’t know the answer, but you can. In concentration, you can be like a laser beam with the intent: “This is the information I want.” If you’re a doctor, you want medical information; if you’re a lawyer, you want legal information; if you’re a personnel manager, you want personnel information; if you’re a parent, the information you need will be different.
Concentration has very practical applications for the selection of information needed. It can be compared to a radio. You want a particular station; you turn the dial to get that station. When you learn to concentrate—like a laser beam—you focus and get the information you want or need. When I want information on the stock market, I believe that I’m tuning into the collective minds and decisions of the people in the investing world. I sense the direction of their investments when I want to invest in the stock. You may not want to know the whole history of the stock; you do want to know how it will be doing at any given time: Is it going up? How high? Is it going down? How far down? You want specific information.
The way other people teach interests me, so I participate in other people’s intuitive workshops. It is very interesting to hear about the same subject from many different perspectives. In some of the workshops, the presenters would say “Open yourself up and let anything come in.” There was no focusing on “This is the information I want.” For most of us, the “honing in” on needed information is the most practical approach.
Learning a few simple concentration techniques will be valuable to you as you seek pertinent information and will also make it easier to get the information. One technique is to turn your attention to the middle of your forehead, keep it there; when you feel your attention wandering, very gently bring it back again and again no matter how many times your attention wanders. Continue this for two or three minutes. This technique is said to stimulate the third eye or our ability to see psychically. Another method is to concentrate on your breathing. By working with these two simple techniques, you are learning focused concentration in a relaxed state.
Key Number Three—Meditation
I consider meditation to be very important in psychic development. Although you do not have to meditate to be extremely intuitive, meditation keeps the spiritual components in the attunement and keeps one attuned to whatever higher power that person acknowledges. Meditation is important for spiritual growth and for keeping balanced. Some people come to a workshop and suddenly feel their intuition is their primary focus; one result can be that some of them may neglect their spouse and children, leave their job, and may engage in other types of destructive behavior. Meditation would help them stay balanced and keep their perspective so that the lenses in their glasses remain clear. In this way their intuition will fit, but won’t overtake, their lives.
A person can be highly intuitive, give very accurate readings, and yet show little spirituality in his or her life. I have seen some psychics give readings and through their readings manipulate people. Linking with the Divine through meditation will assist you in keeping your behavior and actions geared toward the best outcome for yourself and for others.
Key Number Four—Keep a Journal
Now why would I tell you to keep a journal? Let me share with you what I did for many years. I had a notebook that I carried with me practically everywhere I went to record spontaneous impressions. I’d be driving and something would flash in; as soon as I could, I’d write in my notebook, recording the date, the time, and my impressions, not my interpretations of my impressions. Did I see a flash of a white uniform and smell a smell like antiseptic, and then feel this bustling activity? My interpretation might be that I am seeing a hospital and a nurse. However, the first thing I do is write down the impressions as I perceived them.
Before I went to bed, I would meditate for a short while and ask myself questions such as: “What will be happening of significance in the city of Buffalo, NY in the next thirty days?” I would wait for the impressions to come and write them down. Then I would continue with questions such as: “What is going to happen of significance in New York state in the next thirty days?” and record my impressions. I would continue by posing questions about the country and the globe and record my impressions. Also, I would ask about a friend, having received in advance “carte blanche” to tune into him or her at any time.
The next day when the volunteers came into the office, I would tell them what was written in my journal. Because I didn’t watch television, didn’t read the newspaper, didn’t listen to the radio, many of the things recorded could happen, and I wouldn’t be aware that they had happened. Since the volunteers knew this, they would monitor the news. I left space in my notebook for feedback. When I received the feedback, I would record it in that space. I would put in the article and underline the parts that were accurate comparing my impressions and my interpretation of my impressions.
This helps in many different ways. One, it will help you learn the difference between a wish, a fear, your imagination, a guess, or a psychic impression. You may find you have several impressions about a car accident, and you record them in your notebook. The car accident never happens! Other things do, but those don’t. You begin to get a clear picture that this may be a fear, not an intuition. This process helps to distinguish between these experiences. Record the content of the intuition or the basic message; then write how it appeared. Was it vivid, clear, or somewhat clear? Was it far away or close? Was it well-defined or hazy? Some people experience a clear and defined image as an intuitive one; others, because they are visual and have such a good imagination, find when the image is fuzzy, they have an intuition. When they get a clear and defined impression, they are experiencing imagination. Again we all receive our intuitive impressions differently.
Keeping a journal helps you to learn how to judge your timing. When you get an impression and write it down, record the date, the time, the impressions, your interpretation, and wait to see what happens. When the event happens, look in your journal, and check the date you received the impression; for illustration purposes, let’s say you recorded it on February 15. The event that you were writing about then happened thirty days later. It is important to watch that type of pattern. Some people get impressions shortly before an event; others far in advance. With the aid of your journal, you begin to know your timing. Paying attention to where you receive the information is also important. Was it right up in your face, in your head, outside your body? How far away or how close was it? When the event occurs (you may have seen it to the right), it happened in thirty days from the recorded intuition. This may lead you to wonder if you see the image to the right; does it mean it’s going to happen in thirty days? A pattern of timing is evolving.
Time
