I’ve been waking up at 3:05 a.m. almost every morning now for more than two weeks.

I mean suddenly awake. Sweating awake. Sometimes startled awake.

I wake from the sound of a word, or a phrase, or a scene, or a sound that is so powerful, so vibrant, that it captures my attention. Then I write it down. In the dark… and I hope I can read it later.

I think this is the universe knocking on my door.

You see, on January 1st, I committed to me. No holds barred.

And now I am being woken up.

My new practice has me journaling before I go to bed and after I wake up. Every night before I go to bed I write in my journal what I want to see happen the next day. I also ask one question.

In the morning I pick up my journal and download my thoughts about anything that wants to come forth. Then I plan what I want to do that day. I hold myself accountable.

I didn’t really come into this practice willingly. I’ve never been a lifelong journaler. I never had a diary. I downright rejected journaling because of my mental model of a teenage girl pining away after a boy and having her forlorn thoughts written across five-hundred pages. Eew!

Well. Goodbye diary, hello journal.

I’ve come to realize a journal is a meaty tool. (Insert Tim the Toolman Taylor’s grunt here.) I’ve been journaling for 18 days now, both in the morning and the evening.

During that time, I have received 13 messages with meanings.

This turn of events shouldn’t surprise me, but it does.

I believe I am getting messages from source, from my soul, from consciousness itself. I am excited now when I go to bed wondering what the next message is going to be. I think seriously on what question I want an answer to should be. I mean really, why would I waste such a golden opportunity? I have been disappointed when no message or a confusing response comes back.

Some of these responses are very timely. Some are a puzzle I am still trying to unravel. Let me know what you think after reading my list.

THIRTEEN RESPONSES

The first response to my journal question was six-words and they felt like magic to me. I recognized them to mean this was the title for a future book that I should write.

The second one was a phrase from a song. The lyrics from Part Time Lover, metaphorically answered a question I had been pondering in my journal about balance and how I could attain my goals. I felt torn about where to spend my time. I believe the message suggested part of the time I am successful and the other part I am not. It made me think I need to be faithful to my goals.

The third one had me as an Avatar with red pants and the message was to use all the strengths of my Avatar. That made me wonder what gifts and skills she had, what gifts and skills I appreciated in others and wanted, what gifts and skills was I not recognizing in myself due to my beliefs.

That afternoon I attended a training. Normally I am not one to raise my hand and answer a question first. I tend to sit in the back of a classroom or to the side. I am a happy introvert. That day, not only did I choose to sit up front, but when the instructor asked for a volunteer, I heard, “Use your Avatar,” in my head and I raised my hand to willingly take on that role. In front of 30 people I didn’t know, I had to help take down a man with a gun. It was amazing and powerful and I know without that message, without my Avatar, that never would have happened.

The number four response was the sound of a starter pistol — the gun at the start of a race. It had my heart pumping. That was the day I received a challenge from Benjamin Hardy to shake up my morning routine by getting up at 5 AM. I had to think on it.

Number five was a visual. I saw a rectangular table in the corner next to a whiteboard with me standing amongst a few men. I don’t have a confirmed example but I felt it symbolized me in a new position.

Number six was the reenactment of a scene from this past summer where one of my friends who had chosen a profession he was quite passionate about and really loved, suddenly found out his son wasn’t thrilled with some of the courses he was taking for his degree. The news stunned my friend. I stuck up for the son and said, “Everyone doesn’t get to work in a job they love.” It was then, I woke with a feeling of “That’s a load of malarkey.” It was as if a belief bubble burst and I saw the truth of it. We all make choices.

Number seven was a visual of a bank robbery and me texting a picture to law enforcement. Did I really know about the bank robbery that was going to take place a few days later?

Eight was the phrase “Challenge Assumptions.” This is so on target with me right now. I am having to redefine who I think I am and what I am capable of.

Nine had me waking to the lyrics from Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life. Specifically, “It’s my life, it’s now or never.” I knew this was the answer to my journal question of the previous night, “Do I start a wake-up practice of 5 AM?” So I did.

Ten had me being presented with two choices. I could pilot a single-engine plane or a twin-engine plane. This answer was to my question of balance and which of my two goals I needed to focus on. Apparently, I will be successful at both but one might get me there faster.

Eleven had me waking to the sound of laughter except in words HA-HA-HA or LAUGH-LAUGH-LAUGH. I knew this had to do with balance and not taking myself so seriously. Source wants me to have fun!

I was woken by the word CONTROL for number twelve. My message was that I needed to be in control of my life and my destination. I choose what I focus on. I choose when I get up, how much I exercise, and what I put into my body. It is me, controlling me.

Thirteen had me as a man pushing lines of hospital beds toward an unseen destination. There were many of us doing this. We became upset when we saw others come and take a huge barn that our beds were stored in. I have no idea what this one means. Yet.

Here is the last wow. I didn’t recognize how connected all of these messages were until after the Avatar message. Everyone dreams, right? We all get woken up one time or another. But this was a string of wake-ups and this was clear answers (for the most part) to questions I had posed hours earlier.

Benjamin Hardy’s 52 Weeks of Momentum program and almost 700 of us enrolled, supporting each other, and cheering each other on while also striving to meet our goals has been the impetus behind these miracle messages.

Try journaling. It's not for the fainthearted.

Commit to yourself and your goals.

Start new habits.

Break old thought patterns and beliefs.

Then maybe, just maybe you could be getting the answers to your own questions.

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