When you’re faced with a big decision or are just trying to find some big picture clarity in your life, do you immediately ask a friend what they think you should do?

Most of us do, Barb Schmidt said recently, during the Nutritious Life Studio’s Masterclass event. “Is your go-to ‘Let me go ask somebody what they think’ or ‘Let me go look up what somebody else has done’ or ‘What is the right thing to do here?’” she asked.

Schmidt and her daughter Michelle Maros make up the brilliant, inspiring mother-daughter team behind Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life. And while that’s the approach most of us turn to, they explained, it’s not the one that will lead to real clarity, since it’s all about looking outside ourselves. The trick is to look inside, to tap into the inner voice we all have but often ignore. “Mostly we’re confused,” Schmidt said, “and how do we get out of that confusion and how do we get clear?”

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Here’s where you can start: Schmidt and Maros shared a super simple exercise you can do at home in which you “write a letter to yourself from your deepest truth, from clarity, from courageous honesty.” Once you acknowledge that truth, it’ll be much easier to live in alignment with it.

A Practice for Clarity

1. Get a pen and a blank piece of paper. It could be any old piece of paper or the next (or first!) page in your journal.

2. Write “Dear [Your name]” at the top of the page.

3. Copy this exact first line: “I am your deepest truth, I am clarity, and this is what I know about you and what I want to tell you.”

4. Just start writing. “Don’t judge it, it doesn’t have to make any sense, no commas, no periods,” Schmidt said, “just let your inner voice tell you what it knows about you.”

5. Read it! At Masterclass, attendees shared pieces of what had come up in their letters with each other to reflect on surprising or significant things they wrote down. You can share it with someone you love or just go back and read it when you need a reminder. And you can repeat the practice anytime you’re faced with a big decision or are struggling to figure out what you really want. Sometimes the truth is just below the surface, and you just have to give it some space—AKA a blank page—to fill.

(Photos: Shutterstock)