Taking the Reins: How Conscious Awareness Can Transform Our Lives
For as long as we’ve been human, we’ve learned through suffering. It’s been our teacher, our taskmaster, the hard hand that has shaped us. Challenge equals growth—we’ve seen it, we’ve lived it, we’ve bled for it. But what if we’re entering a time where the rules are shifting? What if Pluto in Aquarius, Neptune’s upcoming move from Neptune to Aries, and Uranus moving into Gemini are opening a door to a different way of evolving—one where we grow not just through pain but through awareness, through choice?
Because here’s the thing: life will always contain contrast. We need it. Without experiencing what we don’t want, how would we ever find clarity on what we do? But contrast doesn’t have to mean suffering. It doesn’t have to mean being dragged through the underworld, bruised and broken, before we emerge into the light. What if, instead, we approached life like a game—one that’s rigged in our favour if only we learn to see the clues?
Seeing Life as a Game of Awareness
I’m not saying the work isn’t real. It is. But I’ve found that when we engage with life consciously—when we start paying attention to the signs, the synchronicities, the nudges from the universe—things change. It’s like a game of snakes and ladders, except the snakes aren’t here to destroy us. They show us where we went wrong, but they don’t send us spiralling into doom. They’re not venomous anymore, not if we learn to read them. Instead of seeing them as punishment, we see them as course correction—reminders of where we lost awareness, invitations to try again with a clearer perspective.
And when we play this way, life becomes easier. Not because challenges disappear, but because we stop seeing ourselves as victims of fate and start taking ownership of our experience. We put on a good pair of wellies when we have to wade through the muck, and we remember that at any moment, we have wings—we just have to activate them. When we pay attention and follow the nudges, our reality adjusts. Rather than feeling swept from pillar to post (or from the top of the snake to the bottom with no fair warning), life becomes more fun.
Ancient Wisdom, New Application
This isn’t a new idea. Carl Jung called it individuation—the process of becoming conscious, integrating our shadow, and stepping into the fullness of who we are. And Jung argued that actively engaging with this process leads to a more authentic and fulfilling life. George Gurdjieff spoke about the necessity of waking up from the mechanical state most people live in, of moving through life with deliberate awareness rather than being pulled along by unconscious forces. Even Jesus, in his own way, spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven being within us—perhaps a way of saying that our liberation is already available, if we choose to see it.
And that’s the key. Choice. Awareness. Ownership.
Because from my own experience, nothing has transformed my life more than paying attention—following the signs, working with what life is showing me, and using it to do my inner work. Astrology came later, as a way to deepen this process, but the guidance was always there. It’s there for all of us.
We don’t need someone to hand us the answers. We already have everything we need to walk this path consciously. And when we do, life stops feeling like an endless series of struggles and starts feeling like what it was always meant to be—a game written for us, so we can win.
Where to Begin: Taking the First Step into Conscious Awareness
If this idea is new to you, you might be wondering: How do I start? How do I begin working with life in this way instead of feeling like it’s working against me?
The first step is simple but powerful: set an intention.
Our words shape our reality, and when we declare something out loud—even just to ourselves—it begins to take form. Try saying:
👉 I am ready to see the signs.
👉 I invite guidance to help me grow.
👉 I choose to pay attention.
It can be as simple as that. The Universe (or your higher self, or The Gods, or whatever language feels right for you) won’t interfere unless invited. They want to help, but they respect our free will. So say the words. Mean them. And then watch what happens.
Noticing the Clues
Once you’ve set your intention, your only job is to pay attention.
Start small. The Universe doesn’t always speak in grand gestures—it often whispers. Notice the things that stand out to you:
✨ A phrase someone says that hits differently.
✨ A book that catches your eye at the right moment.
✨ A song lyric that seems like it was written just for you.
✨ A repeating number, an animal that crosses your path, a gut feeling that won’t leave you alone.
These are nudges—clues. They won’t all be obvious at first, but trust that if you keep watching, the patterns will emerge.
Journaling: Making the Invisible Visible
A great way to strengthen your awareness is to write things down. Keep a notebook or a note on your phone where you track synchronicities, thoughts, and patterns that seem meaningful. Over time, you’ll start to see connections you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.
Some simple journal prompts:
📝 What stood out to me today?
📝 What challenges am I facing, and what might they be teaching me?
📝 If life were speaking to me right now, what would it be saying?
Trusting Yourself
The biggest shift comes when you trust yourself enough to follow the signs.
This isn’t about looking for external validation or waiting for someone else to confirm what you already feel. It’s about recognising that you are the one walking this path, and you get to choose how you engage with it.
Sometimes the guidance will be clear. Other times, it might feel uncertain. That’s okay. Just keep showing up. Keep asking. Keep listening.
And slowly, you’ll notice—life starts to feel different. Lighter. More like a conversation than a fight. More like a game you’re learning to play, where the rules are bending in your favour, and where you are, at last, taking the reins.
A Daily Practice: Begin Again, Every Day
One of the most powerful ways to step into this path is to embrace the idea that every single day is a new chance to grow. A fresh start. A clean slate. No matter what happened yesterday, you are not bound to it. You are always evolving, always learning.
Here’s a practice that helped me immensely when I first began:
Morning Intention: Inviting a Fresh Day
When you wake up, take a moment—before reaching for your phone, before getting lost in the day’s to-do list—and say:
👉 I welcome this new day as an opportunity to grow and become my best self.
👉 May today show me what I need to see, and may I have the courage to work with it.
It doesn’t have to be a long meditation or ritual. Just a simple, conscious moment of setting the tone for the day ahead. By doing this, you are inviting life to work with you instead of feeling like you are at its mercy.
Evening Reflection: Clearing the Energy
At the end of the day, before bed, take another moment. Reflect—not with criticism, not with regret, but with compassion for the person you were today. Maybe you handled something well; maybe you didn’t. Either way, you did the best you could with what you had.
Say to yourself:
👉 I did my best today, and that is enough.
👉 I release this day, clearing away anything that needs to go.
👉 May I wake up tomorrow renewed and ready to begin again.
It’s like wiping the slate clean. No carrying today’s energy into tomorrow. No holding onto what could have been done better. Just a fresh start, always.
Why This Works
This practice shifts how you relate to your life. Instead of being weighed down by past mistakes or anxieties about what’s to come, you train yourself to stay present. Each day is its own experience. Each challenge is just another opportunity. Each moment is a chance to realign.
And that’s what this whole journey is about—learning, growing, evolving, and trusting that we are always being guided.
Life is not meant to be a never-ending struggle. It is a process, a game, a dance. And when we show up consciously, when we take ownership of our part in it, we begin to experience a kind of ease that wasn’t available to us before.
We stop being dragged through life.
And we start walking with it.
Need Support on Your Path?
Stepping into this way of working with life—where you consciously grow, pay attention to the signs, and take ownership of your journey—can feel both exciting and overwhelming. If you’d like support in understanding the patterns playing out in your life and how to navigate them with more ease, an astrology reading can be a powerful tool.
Your birth chart is like a map of your soul’s journey, showing you where your growth lies, what challenges are helping you evolve, and how to work with life instead of feeling at its mercy. In a reading, we can explore:
✨ The themes and lessons your chart is highlighting right now.
✨ How to work with the current planetary transits in your life.
✨ Practical guidance for stepping into your next stage of growth.
If you’d like to dive deeper, you can book a reading with me:
💻 Online via Zoom: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday evenings.
You already have everything you need within you to start this journey—but if you’d like some guidance along the way, I’d love to support you. Learn more about me here.
A note on AI & my writing:
I use ChatGPT as a writing assistant—not as a writer. These are my thoughts, ideas, and words, shaped by my lived experience and deep love for self-work, self-awareness, the spiritual journey, and astrology. AI helps me refine, structure, and occasionally nudge me toward better phrasing, but the voice you’re reading is mine. I use it as a tool to help me put into words everything I believe is valuable in sharing my insights. Honesty matters to me, and this is simply one way I bring my thoughts to life.
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