This week I completed my second complete cycle through Steps to Knowledge and have been reflecting a bit on the effects of the practice, even at this early stage.  I find I'm a bit calmer, no doubt due to all the regular meditation.  Although it did take me awhile to calm my addled brain enough so that I could, in good conscience, feel that I was truly meditating.  I'm anxious to start the whole process again so that I can meditate more credibly.  And tighten my focus on the lessons.  I gave myself a week's break and will begin another cycle this Monday.

I feel that my connection with my Teachers has deepened.  I've been talking to them for over 20 years, sort of my way of establishing and reinforcing a connection with them.  They appear to have a sense of humor which tickles me no end.  I know this because of the many ways they find to communicate back to me.  I’m a musician so they have, rather logically, used music as one of the primary ways they use to let me know they're there.  They use musical serendipity a lot.  A Mozart symphony will be playing on the radio.  At the precise second the warning beep from my seat belt goes off, a B flat that matches the B flat of the beep will magically appear in the symphony.  This serendipity occurs at least once a week, sometimes 2 or 3 times.  I’m sure they do it because they know I will notice.  A little reminder that they’re around.

Number sequences appear pretty regularly on my digital clocks.  44:44, 12:34.  I wake for a brief moment at 2:00 a.m., glance at my clock, and see a sequence.  It’s a small thing, granted, but to me it feels similar to the musical serendipity.  In any case, I happily choose to view it as a petite communication from the other side.

On one of my birthdays, a balloon floated past my car as I was driving with the words 'Happy Birthday' printed on it.  Twice this past week I reached my hand into my jacket pocket and pulled out the exact change I needed for a purchase.  I love when that happens.  Are these all communications from my Teachers?  I have no way of knowing.  But it sort of feels like it.

It also feels like my intuition is getting more accurate.  I experience this quite a bit when I'm driving, probably because there are so many opportunities to test my intuition.  Should I stay in this lane or move to the next lane?  Should I use a different route to get home?  All the little decisions that arise during driving are wonderful ways to test oneself.

I can’t say that I have experienced what Marshall’s books describe as Knowledge, that deep sense of knowing, just yet.  It’s possible there were brief glimpses but I have no way of knowing if those were my imagination or something more.  I’m a beginner so it’s probably too soon to have any expectations in that regard.  Just keep going…I get it.  Stay on the path up the mountain.  The journey continues.