One day I was at my favorite bookstore, and as I walked past a row of books, my purse hit one and knocked it to the floor. It was a book on angels. I flipped through it and thought it looked really interesting, but I put it back, thinking it would have been a frivolous purchase.

Later that day I happened to overhear a woman talking about how books jump off the shelves at bookstores when she’s supposed to read one. This made me think about my own experience earlier with the angel book. I wished I would have bought it, and I felt this was a sign confirming that it was a good idea!

As I headed home, I thought about driving back to the bookstore, but it was a good 25 minutes away, and my children (then one and three years old) were most certainly tired of trekking around. And then I thought about how I shouldn’t be spending more money on books when I had so many I still hadn’t read. So as I drove home I thought to myself, “okay, if I get a client today, I will go and buy that book.”

I hadn’t been home more than 15 minutes when a client called me, and needed to see me that afternoon! Later I went and bought that book, and to this day it is still one of the books that has had the greatest impact on my spiritual life, because it opened so many doors for me.

The Universe is guiding us all the time, not just in our dreamtime. Our waking life is filled with signs and symbols from the Universe, but if they aren’t as dramatic and magical as our dreamtime symbols, we may not pay as much attention to them.

Most often we’ll receive signs, or waking confirmations, when we have a pressing matter on our mind. I once worked in a chiropractic office doing massage therapy. The chiropractor’s business was growing, and she decided she needed my space because she planned on hiring more staff. So, I found myself in need of a new office.

As it happened, at the same time I started thinking of an acquaintance I’d known who did aromatherapy. Though I hadn’t seen her in several years, I found myself thinking about her over and over, because it seemed at every turn I was either hearing about aromatherapy, or being asked if I knew someone who did aromatherapy. So I decided to drive past her last known location; a lovely little office space she shared with a couple of other women. As I drove by, I saw her space was empty, and there was a “for rent” sign in the window. I never did find my old acquaintance, but I had a beautiful new office space just when I needed it!

I had been concerned about getting new office space, and kept thinking about it, wondering how it would turn out. Thinking about the Aromatherapist I once knew seemed completely unrelated, and secondary, yet the Universe kept bringing her to mind, not the new office space I needed to find ASAP! But as it turns out, it was office space that the Universe had in mind!

Sometimes we notice the signs more when we ignore them! Long ago, my children really wanted a puppy. I had the strongest feeling that a certain puppy would make its way to us in a certain way; someone would be giving them away at a local shopping center, and the puppies would look like Collie mixes.

However, my children wanted their puppy, and they wanted it yesterday! So we’d been driving to local shelters, and animal adoption events. We were just heading home, and they wanted to try one more shelter. I had a very strong feeling not to do it, but I caved in, and took them to this one last shelter. We adopted a puppy that day, and named her Buffy.

Buffy had parvovirus, and then she had a variety of other ailments that seem to tag along with shelter pups. As a lab mix, she was also destructive, and caused not only damage to our home and yard, but also injured our smaller, older dog a few times, which incurred more vet bills.

We still have Buffy, and it’s been many years. We call her our $5,000 dollar dog because of the multitude of expenses we’ve had because of her. We love her, and wouldn’t trade her for the world, but it’s been a long and difficult friendship!

On a side note, about a week after we adopted her, I saw a litter of Collie mix puppies being given away at that local shopping center.

So sometimes we receive signs, and ignore them, and think later “why didn’t I listen!!!”

Signs in waking life can appear to us in an infinite number of ways. They may be the song that gets stuck in your head, or the song you hear on the radio at just the right moment. They can appear in movies, television, or in books. A sign can be found in an overheard conversation, an animal you see over and over, the numbers on a license plate, a message on a billboard, or even mis-reading a billboard. Once I was driving and asking myself if I should take a particular class on folk medicine. In my peripheral vision I saw on a billboard, in large letters, “American Folk Magic!” I was so surprised, as I looked at the billboard to see it was actually an advertisement for buying American made cars. But yes, I did take the class, and it was a load of fun!

One of my favorite ways to receive a sign is to meditate, or do some deep breathing exercises, and then randomly flip open a book without putting any thought into it. Generally, whatever page I flip open to will be something that is directly related to what has been pressing on me the most! You can also do this with angel cards, or any oracle card deck.

When looking for signs, you want to be careful about feeling desperate for an answer, because that desperation may cause you to find the answer you want, rather than receive the answer that’s for your highest good. That’s why when you receive a sign, its appearance should feel surprising! That surprised feeling is an indicator that you’ve released your concerns to the Universe, and are open to receiving your highest good.

The Universe is talking to you all the time, so start keeping track of these signs in your dream journal. The more you notice signs in your waking life, the deeper the connection you will build with your dreamtime, increasing your ability to receive infinite wisdom in an infinite number of ways.