Originally posted on Facebook HERE

A few years back — maybe after reading “The Surrender Experiment” for the 5th time or so — I decided to try living in that manner. To be open to the possibilities that life throws at us, the ones that so often our minds will disregard right out of the gate as not being sensible or achievable at all. Around that same time is when I really started to internalize the mindset that “no matter what happens, everything always works out for me” as well. Decisions based on intuition always seem to work out, even if they look crazy on the surface to everyone else. These can be very hard decisions to make. Two of them that come to mind in my life both related to job changes. One was the decision to leave real estate in 2006 to become a financial advisor. I loved the real estate business. I was good at it. I had just spent three years building it to one of the top businesses in my area. And I got an email from Edward Jones saying “come work for us” on a particularly bad day I was having in real estate. I started looking into it… I loved my job, but there was a “pull” here I couldn’t deny. I didn’t know if it would work out at all. I wasn’t sure how my wife would feel after watching me take three years to build my real estate business only to come home and tell her I’m thinking about quitting to join Edward Jones. But that’s what I did. And her response? “I could see that”. I was floored. And nervous as hell. My mind was busy telling me every reason this was a bad idea. Sirens going off, red lights popping… danger, danger, danger! But… there was this pull to do it… and I decided to just surrender to that pull from my intuition. 45 days later I was working for Edward Jones. And 4 months after that, when I received my license during a trip to the home office, I knew I had made the right decision. Laurie greeted me at the Madison airport that day, I hugged her and I said “this job is going to change our lives”. And it has. It’s been incredible. Building that business was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, but wow. So grateful. So proud. And had I paid attention to all the red flags mind was waving I would never be here. Then, 4 years ago… another job change. I decided to leave Edward Jones and start my own business. This is the business I’m running today. Once again — I loved my job. I loved the company. I thought I’d never leave. I was there for 16 years. I knew I would lose hundreds of clients in that transition. But there was a pull again — life was telling me in no uncertain terms I needed to do this. My mind was freaking out, but we forged ahead. Extremely tough to lose clients who I thought I had a great relationship with. But the new office grew rapidly into one of the largest independent offices in the country. And I felt that the freedom of being independent was worth it. I’m ways thinking about what’s best for clients, and that move worked out great as well. Huge decisions. Tons of mental chatter. I followed the pull… when intuition is guiding you, that’s what it feels like. I also know what it’s like to be guided by impulse. By desire. I am an obsessive/compulsive person. I was a practicing alcoholic and addict from ages 14–29 of my life. Sometimes it can be hard to decipher — is this intuition or desire? Angel or devil?… Desire is created by the mind. I want that. I need that. I deserve that. And when you’re being guided by desire — it’s your heart that is freaking out. Telling you no no no… your intuition can smell the bad deal your mind can’t see. You have to be open to that voice within you that knows what’s best even when presented with something that looks great on the surface. Surrender to that voice. Get in touch with your soul through prayer and meditation. The more you know the loving, calm part of you that sits behind all the noise watching — the easier it will be to know when it’s intuition guiding you and not desire. This is why I like to take some time off every year to go off by myself. Because I get so caught up in my mind, in doing the things I need to do — the schedules, the responsibilities, be here, do that, get this done, don’t forget about that — that at least once I year I need to step back and allow God to be present. So that I can make decisions based on my connection with Him, and not my ego. It’s the only way I know to live. And the more I live it, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Everything always works out for me. I surrender to life’s plan, to God’s plan for me. It’s greater than anything I could conceive of. It is now my way of life.