Have you ever had that feeling that what you have been looking for is staring right at you, but you just don’t recognize it? I think a lot of us, if not most of us, have had this experience.

Whenever I’m in a quandary, feeling as though I’ve prayed for something, but haven’t received any response I remember a piece of wisdom I received from a martial arts master. He said, “Everything you need is with fifteen feet of you.”

In today’s world, fifteen feet stretches pretty far. Here I am sitting in front of my computer with my cell phone next to me. They reach a lot farther into the world than the walls of my office. That’s exciting to me.

However, what is even more exciting is that the world also reaches INTO my office. That means if I ask the universe a question for delivery of something or someone I need, I may very well discover my answer right there in my e-mail inbox.

In my earlier days of spiritual awakening, I marveled at how I could walk into a book store with a question on my mind, and within minutes, watch the right book practically (and sometimes literally) jump off the shelf and into my hands.

I would be pondering a choice I needed to make, longing for some guidance, only to receive a call from a friend providing the very insight I needed to make a clear decision. My friend could be living halfway across the continent from me, and yet provide my answer, right there on the telephone.

Synchronicities then and now provide me with significant clues to answers. So does my intuition. When I was living in Portland, we had dozens of speakers and spiritual teachers visiting our area. There were so many that I simply had to check in with my intuitive wisdom regarding whose lecture to attend. Otherwise, I would have been attending lectures full-time.

On the other hand, when I started teaching Sound Medicine, I could hardly get any attention locally, but if I drove 30 miles out of town, suddenly my expertise was wanted. I discovered that people outside my hometown were listening to their intuition about whether to attend my talk, and sometimes their instincts were leading them to me.

What I learned from this experience is that the answers, people and wisdom we seek are often already in our lives or very close by. In other words, what knowledge I had learned and was here to share might have been equally as valid for my neighbor or family member as it was for the lovely people out of town that had engaged me for an evening.

This became so apparent to me that I began listening with much greater attention to the people closest to me. I tune-into my boyfriend with greater appreciation for his perspectives.

I listened to off-handed remarks with greater care. I have learned to pay attention to the books people recommend to me, even if I don’t have time to read them in full. I discovered the importance of the e-mail messages that found their way to me. I discovered the insights that come when I spent more time listening for the truth that was there, but wasn’t being said out-loud, by the people that loved me.

I stopped seeking outside experts, though I appreciated the wisdom when it was available to me. I started listening more to my own inner wisdom and input from the people that were closest to me. I started looking for my answers closer to home.

In essence, I trusted that the universe had already provided the answer. My job was to stop long enough to notice that it was already here, within fifteen feet of me.

For short, yet powerful weekly inspirational meditations visit: New Dream Foundation