Creating a happiness blueprint– it’s easy. Here’s how:

When I was in my late twenties I lived in an ashram for a year. (If you don’t know what that is I frequently describe it as a spiritual retreat center). It was one that became anonymously famous because at that exact same time writer Elizabeth Gilbert was also living in an ashram of the exact same tradition. She was in India. I resided in upstate New York.

Lately I’ve been thinking back on that time and all that I learned there. At that time, like Gilbert, I spent a lot of time meditating and chanting. I was the writer on staff, so I had a job, but every day around noon I would go to the temple, chant and meditate before lunch. Frequently I would do the same before the start of my workday as well. As you can imagine all this chanting and meditating affected me greatly.

I had a pervading sense of inner peace and calm. But also a delight in the unfolding of whatever was happening in front of me, no matter what it was.

I remember one time while there going into the city of New York to visit an old friend of mine. While staying at her place my alarm clock went off in the middle of the night. I calmly got out of bed and spent the minute searching around my bag to try to find and turn off said alarm clock. I wasn’t able to locate it before it shut itself off– having exhausted the one-minute of beeping it did before giving up.

I didn’t notice anything different about myself that night. But the next day my friend mentioned it to me.

She said, “I was like ‘Who is that in my room in Aimée’s body?!’” She poked fun of me in a gentle way saying, “The old Aimée would have, at a minimum, been moving a bit more frantically to stop that beeping noise. And likely been swearing.” I laughed. I hadn’t really noticed. But especially given how well this friend knew me, I knew that she was right.

Don’t get me wrong– I’ve pretty much never given up swearing. 🙂  But I did make serious blueprints of peace and ease in my body during that time. But even more than that, for me that time period was one of learning to be firmly established in inner strength, equanimity, and the joy of the ever pervasive divine.

If I had to describe the teachings of this particular spiritual path in a sentence I would say the gist is this: Everything is a divine play. The main mantra of this tradition is a Sanskrit phrase that means, “God dwells within you, as you.”

If you’re curious Gilbert does a phenomenal job in her book Eat, Pray, Love describing the basic tenants as well as some of this tradition’s more esoteric teachings. See the section entitled, “Pray.”

It’s in part due to those days, that these days in my work with students in my Intuition University programs, I’m always BIG on creating blueprints.

I endeavor to guide my students to have the kinds of experiences that will create blueprints, or imprints, or maps of remembering powerful experiences for them in their own bodies. Memories and information they can draw on for themselves in times to come.

Because we don’t always remember that we can access peace and inner knowing—not every moment.

Still, in my own life, blueprints of remembering have been vital. Not just ones I created while living at the ashram and meditating so frequently though. There have been many. They are comprised of critical moments in my life when I overcame fear or chose actions for myself that made powerful impacts on my psyche– but even more than that, on my body, mind, and being. The choices that I made or the practices that I did created an impact. They showed me in very clear terms what would happen if I chose to follow my own intuition no matter how scared I was for example, or  what the effects would be if I meditated every day at noon. 🙂

I’ve been coming back to some of those blueprints lately, especially the ones I made at the ashram all of those years ago.

And I’ve discovered something AMAZ-ING: my inner world, the one that is replete with the knowing, the peace, the solid unshakable happiness, the teachings of “All is divine. All is a play,” is as rich as it ever was. Despite having only visited it briefly, albeit daily, in the last few years, I’ve noticed that the prolonged time I’ve been spending there (in meditation) these days has had the same results as my original blue prints. In short: I feel fiiiiiine!

With a world in turmoil this seems like no small feat! Every day I feel stronger and more stable in that knowing and in the strength of the knowledge that divinity is everywhere. In you, in me, in my children, my husband, and even in some very prominent political caricatures. There is a relief in that knowing for me. It allows me to watch the tumultuous world unfold right now with an easy gait, instead of an anxious one.

I feel so blessed to have access to this rich inner world. And I want to tell you­–­­ you own one too.

If you want to create a blueprint for yourself that locks onto and steadies you in an inner peace, I frequently recommend the work of Diana Lang who has tons of free guided meditations available, or the work of David Wagner, who likewise has meditations on YogaGlo.

If you’re ready to create blueprints of understanding that you have regular access to your own solid inner guidance, I have a program starting at the end of this month for you. It’s called Group Intuition University.

In the meantime, it’s suuuuuuuuper simple to create blueprints of happiness for yourself.  Here’s how:

1. Choose a practice/action that you know brings you goodness, feels joyful to you, or is healthy and happy making for you.

2. Do it regularly and frequently for a time (a few days/ a few weeks).

3. Just by doing it regularly and repeatedly you’ll get a really good idea of just what exactly this practice can do for you.

4. Notice how you feel/ what is different about you during this time period.

5. Tell a friend if you can (that always helps lock in understanding).

Knowing how certain practices affect you or change you is a really helpful way for expanding your metaphoric “medicine bag.” So even if you drop your practice before too long, you’ll know later, “I felt this way when I did that. I need that again right now.”

Wishing you boundless peace, equanimity, unfettered joy and many beautiful blueprints.

Love,

Aimée

Aimée Cartier is a psychic, author, and founder of Intuition University. Her programs are designed to give students the experience of the inner knowing and guidance available to all– otherwise known as intuition. More about her work can be found at www.AimeeCartier.com.