Soft Power for Hard Times: Three Ways to Hear Your Own Guidance Again

We're living through a strange moment, aren't we?

AI is changing our workplaces in ways nobody can quite predict. The cost of living is shaping the choices we make for ourselves and our families. Around the world we're watching instability, and leaders who seem to have forgotten the meaning of statesmanship.

Systems are, quite frankly, crumbling. And the truth is, I don't know where all of this ends up. I don't think anybody does.

Perhaps you're feeling it in quieter ways too. You're circling a decision you've been sitting with for months. You're overthinking again. You're wondering whether the challenges in front of you are a sign to abandon this path, or just a test of commitment.

Maybe Superwoman has snuck back in. Maybe you're a little more tired than you'd like, or irritable, or more cynical than you used to be.

Or perhaps nothing is particularly wrong. You just know there's another unfolding waiting for you, and you can't quite hear it yet.

If that's you, darling, you haven't lost your way. The terrain is just changing fast.

Why the old way of navigating has stopped working

Paulo Coelho writes about "beginner's luck" in The Alchemist. When we first commit to our Personal Legend, the universe seems to conspire to help us. Doors open, decisions feel clearer, and we feel unstoppable.

But then comes the next part of the journey, and this part is harder.

Life gets full again. The closer we get to our Personal Legend, the bigger and less clear the decisions feel. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, we can stop trusting the guidance we once heard so clearly.

Add a world that won't sit still, and the strategy most of us were raised on stops working. Scenario planning everything before you decide what to do next is no longer a particularly useful strategy. You can't plan your way around corners nobody can see around.

We need another way to navigate.

Coming back to yourself

For the last couple of years I've been sitting in the depths of not knowing myself. And I've discovered my only path to sanity is to give up trying to know. To give up pretending I can see around corners I can't see around.

Instead, my practice has become to pay close attention to what is being revealed in the now.

That means coming back to ourselves. Hearing what is true underneath all the noise. Discerning our yes from our no. And trusting ourselves enough to act, even if it doesn't make logical sense.

Here are three practices to help you start. None of them is complicated. That's rather the point.

1. Tell yourself the truth: morning writing

One of the most profound ways to reconnect with your intuition is regular journaling. But not in the way most people think. Not a tidy reflection on what has been. Instead, a morning brain dump of whatever is in your consciousness.

Julia Cameron calls these Morning Pages in The Artist's Way, and it's a practice we've taught at One of many for years. The basics are simple:

• Do it as close to first thing in the morning as you can. Bleary-eyed, on first waking, is best of all.
• Write quickly. Don't judge, don't censor, don't stop to think. If you get stuck, write "I can't think of anything to write" until something comes.
• Three pages is the gold standard, but one page is better than none.
• Keep them private. These are your musings, rants and flights of fancy.

Some of what comes out will be moaning, whining and grievances. Let it. Sometimes this stuff is exactly what stands between you and your flow. It's often where the truth has been hiding, the compromises you've learned to live with, the things that quietly stopped working.

As you write, notice how it feels in your body. Where do you tighten? Where do you sigh? You don't need to fix anything yet. Just let yourself be honest.

2. Notice what is working - Thinking and Thanking

If morning writing helps you get honest about what isn't working, this evening practice is the counterbalance. It helps you notice what is.

At the end of the day, before you go to sleep:

1. Thinking. Reflect on the day and notice what "coincidences" occurred.
2. Thanking. Bask in gratitude for those coincidences, then reflect on anything else you're grateful for.
3. Ask for more.

That's it. When the world feels heavy, it's very easy to only see what's falling apart. This simple process helps you start to trust life again, and notice the miracles you're given every day. (For those of you who know the PowerTypes, it's also a lovely way to activate your Sorceress.)

3. Let your body be your compass

One of our Soft Power Principles is: your body is your compass. It will always point to the truth.

The trouble is, so many of us have become disconnected from our bodies that we've stopped listening. We live from the neck up, thinking our way around every decision, and then wonder why we keep circling.

So this isn't really a technique. It's a return.

When a choice is in front of you, big or small, pause. Breathe. Come out of your head and into your body, and notice what happens. Is there a lightness, an opening, a quiet "yes, this way"? Or a tightening, a heaviness, a sense that something's off?

Just notice it, and start to trust it again.

Then, on an ordinary Tuesday morning, you can ask: "Does this move me towards my light? Or am I abandoning myself?" Your body will often answer before your mind has finished the question.

Hard times don't require us to become harder

These practices are a beginning. But when we do this work alone, it's easy to slip back into carrying everything ourselves. To stuff the heaviness down, think our way around it, and lose our own signal in the noise again.

And one thing I feel very clearly is this, we need each other right now more than ever.

During the pandemic, One of many reached more deeply into community, because we couldn't be together. This moment of unravelling chaos is similar, but different. We can be together in real life, and we need to be.

We need places where we can come to belong, to open up, to be heard and witnessed. Spaces to process what feels heavy, to reconnect to joy and beauty, and to find our light again. So that we can go back into our own corners of the world able to shine it.

Come and find your light

That's why I'm hosting Find The Light: two days with the One of many community at Stratford Manor, 28–29 November 2026.

It's where we'll go much deeper into all of this together, in our bodies as well as our heads. Annie will lead Dynamic Meditation on Saturday evening, and Susie will guide an embodiment experience on Sunday afternoon. You'll also take home a brand new collection of guided practices, including a full Thinking and Thanking Meditation, so you can keep returning to what you find.

Find out more about Find The Light>>

Come and find your light. Then take it home with you.

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