Mind-body alignment and health has at its core one extremely important skill -- tuning in to your spirit's guidance in order to make empowered and proactive choices. This is the guidance that tells you whether to pick the salad or the burger; aerobics or yoga; TV or a walk; massage or acupuncture; forgiveness or revenge.

Nancy was settling in to her "inspired guidance" routine quite nicely. So far, she'd gotten a great start.

• She had a regular time and place for connecting with inner guidance.
• She'd identified a time when her mind was naturally relaxed -- for her, first thing in the morning.
• She'd adopted a routine for relaxing and protecting herself.
• She'd learned to focus on one specific question at a time, relaxing easily to receive her answers.

"But I still don't get much." Nancy concluded tiredly. "It seems like this is going nowhere."

"Don't worry," I continued. "We've still got a few more tweaks."

The next thing we talked about was expectation. Nancy didn't have a lot of confidence in her ability to receive and recognize inspired guidance. She couldn't yet point to an array of successful experiences; she was still in the newbie zone. The truth of the situation began to reveal itself. Nancy expected to fail.

A bit of faith can help immensely in this situation. My advice to Nancy was simple. "Assume that your heartfelt question has been heard and answered. It's just a matter of recognizing the form of the guidance."

Think about it this way. You send an important email to a friend. Your friend receives the email and replies back. Except at the present moment, you're at the grocery store with no access to electronics. You won't be able to read the reply until you get home and flip on the computer. But you're not worried -- your friend always answers. It'll surely be there!

Receiving inspired guidance works very much the same way. If you assume that your acquaintance didn't reply, you might not even check right away -- why bother? If you fret and stew about not being able to access the message, it becomes all that much the harder. But if you adopt the quiet faith that your friend will surely be there for you, it'll be no problem at all to log into your account and connect.

"If you think you haven't gotten any answers before it's time to come out of your quiet time and begin the day," I suggested, "Then take a few minutes at the end to jot down on paper anything that might come to mind. Sometimes as you reflect, you'll recognize an idea, feeling or thought that you hadn't otherwise been aware of."

"If you still don't see anything, then keep your awareness open throughout the day. Ask the same question again the next morning. Don't be afraid to ask for clear and obvious guidance!"

"Now let's explore your situation a little further. Exactly what question have you been asking?"

Nancy didn't hesitate. "The most pressing thing I need to know right now is where to go next in my life. I'm just not sure I'm doing the right thing. It's really stressing me out! So I ask to be shown my path. I just keep asking and asking."

As Nancy continued, she described a recurring vision she'd been having. She saw herself clearly in a particular setting. She described it in vivid detail: the sun streaming in through the window, the flooring material she felt beneath her feet, the layout of the building, and so on. "I just can't see how to make it happen!" she exclaimed.

Obviously, we were getting somewhere. Nancy had vividly described the guidance she'd received in answer to her question. She was really close. In fact, her question had been answered quite clearly. Her vision was the answer she'd asked for.

"But how do I do it?" Nancy pressed. "I just can't see!"

"Well..." I continued, and I had to chuckle at this one... "That's an entirely different question!"

"Oh brother!" Now Nancy was chuckling, too. She could see that she really had gotten the answer to the question she'd asked. And it was time to move on to the next one.