We often think of wisdom as being something exclusive to saints, gods, gurus, and teachers, but everybody has a vast amount of wisdom and knowledge. However, many of us have forgotten how to tap into it. As children we knew intuitively when something felt right and if someone was honest and true. But as we grew older many of us lost contact with that knowing and began to put more faith in what others said than what our own hearts told us. The inner wisdom is still there, yearning for us to pay attention. Here are simple ways to reconnect with it.

1. Create a Sacred Space. Almost everyone needs a place to step away from the world for a little while each day. Mythologist Joseph Campbell refers to this as a sacred space where we can find ourselves. That space may be an altar that we build in our room, a corner of a shelf, or a place in the attic or in the garden. By going there often and at the same time everyday, we invite inspiration and intuitive insights into our lives.
2. Walk a Labyrinth. Labyrinths offer mini-retreats in the heart of the day. Unlike mazes, they follow a single unobstructed path to the center with no dead ends and no way of getting lost. The design of the labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral in France has been copied for use in hospital, university, and city park settings. Walkers who use them say that they are a way of getting centered. They suggest on the move inward that cares and worries be released. In the center, stop and be still for a moment and listen. What’s your heart saying? It may give you a solution or an action plan. On the walk out let the energy build and boost you. You may find a labyrinth in your area by checking www.labyrinthlocator.com. Desktop labyrinths that can be traced with a finger are also popular. Chartres labyrinth designs can also be downloaded and traced by pen for similar results.
3. Embrace your Inner Goddess. Women are beginning to reconnect with the power of the Divine Feminine. This is the receptive, nurturing, intuitive side that is deeply connected to the joys and sorrows of the world. The Inner Goddess guides the way to deeper joy and fulfillment. Find an image of someone or something that reminds you of your Inner Goddess. Dress up like a goddess and take on the qualities of the divine you most adore—Shakti, Gaia, Durga, Mother Mary, Brigid, or any of the others. What qualities do you see in the goddess you chose to become?
4. Check-in With Mother Nature. Put on your walking shoes and head out to the garden, a forest, or a park. Check in with what’s going on around you. What season is it? What’s changing, growing, blossoming, or dying? Nature is a great teacher. Birds will pair off to build nests and raise families together for a season. Beavers build dams and have the patience to gnaw through huge trees. What messages is Mother Nature giving you today? Is she saying to be patient like the beaver or persistent like the birds who build their nests from scratch? What does the sun teach? It shines on everything and everyone in the same way. It treats all equally. What do you notice today as you go outside?
5. Make it Child’s Play. As kids we were deeply attuned to our intuition. We used active imagination, dialogue, collage, drawing with crayons, and acting out scenes with playmates as ways to see the world differently and experience joy. Find a way to play today. Pick up a pack of crayons and draw something. Make up a song and sing it to a friend.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.