Development takes time, whether it's physical, mental or spiritual. Life is like taking a train ride to another place just for the experience, one where you enjoy the passing scenery and never ask, "Are we there yet?"

At some point, you reach the destination and then move on to seeking out the next adventure. The point of the ride is to learn along the way, knowing all the while that journeys of learning are undertaken for the process more than the destination.

Developing contact with your soul or inner being takes time, along with a delicate touch. Your soul exists at a more subtle level of consciousness than your conscious mind. While your conscious mind exists in the noise and clatter of a physical existence, your soul, by comparison, lives in a world of whispers. It is an enchanted land where magic happens and wonders unfold at the speed of thought.

If you already have my latest book, Higher Consciousness: Finding Peace and Joy Above the Noise, you will be very familiar with this concept. Consider the following technique as a bonus in addition to the extensive material in the book.

Communications from your inner self arrive as the merest whispers of intuition. They are subtle feelings that help you lean towards the course of action which will work out the best. The more you encourage communication between your conscious mind and your inner being, the more examples you will experience of your own inner guidance being full of the wisdom and foresight which only a higher state of consciousness can produce.

You can prove to yourself - right now - that a store of great wisdom lies just beyond your daily conscious awareness. All it takes is the willingness to perform a valid, unbiased experiment with no skepticism or self-doubt allowed. If you are willing to do that experiment, then you will jump-start your ability to consciously receive inner wisdom and you will prove to yourself that you really do have an inner resource of impressive wisdom.

The key to this quantum leap in your intuitive ability is to give yourself permission to let your inner being - which functions at a higher frequency of consciousness - to come through into your daily, conscious awareness. You already have a higher level of inner wisdom. If you're not used to it coming through into your daily awareness, it's just because you haven't opened the door yet by giving it permission. Now, you're going to let that inner wisdom come through by using the key act of giving it conscious permission.

Anyone can sit down in a quiet place and, provided they give themselves permission, allow their inner being or 'higher self' to produce writings that contain greater wisdom than any thoughts currently contained in their conscious minds. Try it and see. It involves the simple tool of role-playing. 'Act as if,' and you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

First, do whatever works best for you to enter a relaxed, contemplative state of mind, or just close your eyes, relax, and follow your breath in and out for a minute or two.

Now, see yourself as a seeker of answers, a seeker of wisdom, and your question is, "What do I need to do to find the most happiness in the year ahead?"

Then, for the next ten minutes, pretend that you have been given a window into an inner place of deep wisdom, because you will step outside of yourself and become the one who will provide the answers to that question. For the next ten minutes, you will adopt the role of a legendary, yet mysterious Master of Enchanted Wisdom!

You are now playing two roles. You will be there as an ardent seeker of wisdom, seated in front of the other you, the Master of Enchanted Wisdom. As the seeker, you expect the Master to reveal the guidance that you most need in order to find happiness in the year ahead. Have faith in the wisdom of the Master and it will be forthcoming.

Now, move fully into the other role. ACT AS IF you are now the Master of Enchanted Wisdom. Think over the question, put on your 'wisdom hat,' and start giving the advice which is expected of you by the seeker. Write it down as you think of it. This is important because in the role-play, you are going to a deeper level of awareness and it is too easy to forget your own words once you resume regular awareness. Don't let your words fade away into your background memory like a dream upon awakening. Write them down as fast as you can, never stopping to judge or critique. Just write.

Then, when the exercise is over and you have told the seeker all the advice that comes to mind, you'll come back to being in your normal state of consciousness and be in a position to review what you wrote. More importantly, save your writing and review it three days later from a fresh perspective, when the details of the words have passed away from your immediate memory.

Evaluate your writing as if someone else had written it. Don't make excuses like, "Well, I might have guessed that," or downplay anything. Judge it fairly, without criticism or doubt, for what it is: The advice from someone different from your usual self, because that is exactly what it was. You were different from your usual self.

Three days from now, you'll see those words in a new light and, provided you role-played the part as needed, you will be surprised at the amount of wisdom that came through.

Better yet, put those words away for a year, make yourself a diary entry to review them then, and you'll be able to see, in retrospect, how good the advice was for finding happiness throughout that year.

Owen Waters is a spiritual researcher and author.  For articles and books by Owen Waters, visit InfiniteBeing.com