It’s very common to sometimes feel lost or as if you don’t exactly fit in the universe. This is a silly thought, as everyone has a place in the universe. We all fit, there are just times when our present circumstances blind us to that fact. It’s a very loaded thought—to understand our place in the universe, but it’s something that does haunt the minds of many people. 

What I, personally, love about the Monroe Institute is that Robert A. Monroe provided us with the tools to understand our place in the universe more easily and to see how we fit in. While working on Gateway Voyage and the Gateway Experience, he posed five questions that allow you to look within yourself and explore this very heavy, very important topic. These five questions have become absolutely fundamental in the core Monroe programs. 

When I feel lost and want to better understand my place in the universe, I defer to a fundamental Gateway exercise and ask myself the following five questions in Focus 12: 

1. Who am I?
2. Where and who was I before I entered this physical being?
3. What is my purpose for this existence in physical matter reality?
4. What actions can I take to serve this purpose best?
5. What is the most important message I can receive and understand at this point in my existence? 

I’ve always found this exercise provides me with a deeper understanding of my total self, even if not in the way I expected it to. I won’t always get an answer to each question, and that’s okay. Each answer I do receive, however, takes me closer to understanding my place in the universe. Sometimes, I receive an answer as an understanding that comes with no words. Sometimes, I see a series of pictures or perceive answers in sensory ways. More often than not, however, it’s a feeling I receive or a knowing. As an empath, this is how I perceive most of the world, so it makes sense that this is how my answers come in. 

What is, perhaps, even more interesting is that I never get the same answer twice. It’s more like I collect fragments of a total answer that add up and come together to give me smaller pieces of the overall puzzle of life. The more I understand my place in the universe in a fuller capacity, the more I realize that it is an answer or a feeling beyond words. It’s a knowing. It’s a feeling. It’s something that covers all of my senses in a way far stronger than any language ever could. 

So, if you’re feeling lost at any point, I encourage you to try this exercise. I encourage you to go in without expectations and just see what happens. The deeper you dive into yourself and your expanded consciousness, the more you might be surprised by what you find both about yourself and your place in the universe.