One of the greatest gifts we can receive, and I speak from experience here, is getting small signs prior to attending a program at The Monroe Institute. Many times I've signed up for a program, was not sure what to expect, and then noticed a few random occurrences prior to attending. Then, after being submerged into the program, all the little random occurrences I noticed started to make sense and wove together as a common theme of my program experience.

Being open intuitively is a gift, as it allows us to be more receptive of universal signs. It’s something we always think about actively working towards when we join a program- but what about before? I think it’s equally important to open up to the signs that exist all around us throughout the weeks leading up to a program, as well. Allow me to provide a person example.

Prior to attending Exploration 27 last year, I tried to actively open up and look for signs. I began to take mental notes on the current situation of my life and would meditate on it regularly. I noticed that I was having trouble confidently being myself. I was becoming a bit of a slave to what others thought, but I wasn’t able to put that appropriately into words until the program occurred. I noticed that I would filter myself around most people. I began to note that my confidence was lacking a lot of the time. I started noticing that I was taking the things my boss would say about me very personally. But it wasn’t until I attended Exploration 27 that I got the full picture, one that I may have very well missed had I not actively been looking for signs.

I think it’s equally important to open up to the signs that exist all around us throughout the weeks leading up to a program.

In one of our meditation exercises, everything clicked: I needed to learn how to feel unapologetically myself again. For so many years I was true to myself, living loudly and proudly. But after years of being torn down, in examples that were actively presenting themselves to me during the weeks leading up to the program, I began muting myself and questioning my own designs. After a few powerful meditations, I could feel the joy, freedom, and bliss of being unapologetically myself, and it was something I wanted to embrace again. It became one of my core missions throughout the program that I still actively work on today, a lesson I may have tragically missed had I not been looking at my surroundings prior to entering the program. There was even one magical moment when one of my fellow attendees, after I talked about trying to be more unapologetically myself, began playing “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins on the Piano at Roberts Mountain Retreat. I began singing along (I do love that song). And once done, he told me, “This could be a sign for you. You know Mary Poppins was very unapologetically herself.”

Being open and observant prior to a program, within a program, and being open to experiencing not just a powerful lesson or two but also the support of your fellow attendees forges the setting for a lifetime of change. It’s one of the reasons I love the Monroe Institute and the environment it nurtures so very much.

If you have a program on your docket, be sure to open yourself up to the little signs and Easter eggs that may appear in the weeks before to get the most out of your program. I, myself, have been actively working on this, and I’ll keep you updated on any lessons that get presented to me prior to my next program arrival.