What's Real Underneath?

Have you noticed? Mars, the planet of male energy, physical effort, and energy, has been retrograde since Dec 20th? This happens only about once every 2 years and it means that the positive expression of the planet's influence seems reversed or we experience snags and setbacks. Mars retrograde has a tendency to cause us to have a lower than average energy level or will to achieve, to make things take 2 or 3 tries before they're successfully accomplished, and to have breakdowns of our physical body and important physical processes in our lives. There may be irrational actions, accidents, and a need for rethinking our plans. It goes direct on March 10, and I am really ready!

During this time I got a new crown on a tooth that didn't fit right, and trying to fix it made it worse, and now it must be entirely redone. I upgraded my computers and ended up making 6 trips back and forth to the shop because one thing or another wasn't working. I've also felt more tired than usual, and somewhat restricted to my home and my internal reality. While I feel frustrated about the lack of "forward movement" I've also noticed an interesting heightening of my present moment awareness.

While walking on the hills near my home, on one of the few days that wasn't socked in by rainstorms, I noticed that my sense of smell had radically increased. I felt the way a dog must feel, smelling individual plants, places where there was water or no water, where pollen was radiating from a certain tree and where that field of intensity ended. Walking around inside my house, I noticed I could smell ozone in a certain place, and strong coffee from another place, yet these aromas didn't seem to originate from a physical source. Was I becoming aware of these as signs of a spirit being present with me?

Whatever the reason for this hypersensitivity, I feel that the restriction of my "forward movement" has caused me to experience what's "right under my nose." My guidance repeatedly tells me to simplify right now, to do with less without feeling deprived, to notice what I already have. Maybe this sensory opening is part of this practice. While I am focusing on internet marketing and learning to use facebook more expertly, my inner voice keeping knocking on the back door, saying: "Be prepared for the internet to fail. How did you survive and thrive in the time before cell phones, texting, websites, online sales, and social networking? What's REAL?"

I share this now, before Mars goes direct and we all take off again out of the starting gate, so you may remind yourself to keep cultivating the habit of present moment mindfulness with an ear—or nose, as the case may be—toward sticking with what's truly necessary and real, what's radically honest.

Intuition Tip #28
applications for your truth signal at work

You're probably more accustomed to noticing when things seem wrong or out of alignment but if you pay attention, you can also notice when things are going right.

They seem charmed and there's an experience of easy flow, synchronicity, right timing, and collaboration has a happy quality. Then too, facing difficulties instead of avoiding them can be the path of easiest flow because it generates greater awareness in the process.

Your truth signal will alert you to when a process is correct. When you feel expansion and that "clicking" sensation, it's important to stop and go deeper into what's causing the truth signal. What's working? Learn from it! Validate it! What's the next most appropriate step? Take it!

3. You carefully watch your people working and producing. Your truth signal shows you which procedures work best for everyone in general, and which procedures sit best with specific subgroups.