METRO WEST DAILY NEWS
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April 4, 1999

Everyday psychic

By NAOMI R. KOOKER
NEWS STAFF WRITER

NATICK -- Lynn Robinson, owner of a master's degree in education, wears a professional navy pantsuit and a polished look, complete with lipstick and a casual coif -- no darkly outlined gypsy eyes and turban head wrap. No jingling bangles either. Just gold drop earrings and matching necklace one might wear to the office.

While her husband goes off to work and her 16-year-old stepson breaks in his new driver's license, Robinson clears her mind with a little meditation to get into her working mode.

Robinson is a psychic, or in her words, an intuitive consultant.

"I guess I wanted to differentiate myself from a lot of 900 lines," says Robinson. "(The term) psychic conjures up oooey-wooey, and so what I do is something a little bit different."

Instead of focusing on detailed predictions, Robinson says, "I try to engage people in creating their own life in using my intuition and helping them use theirs."

Her own intuition hasn't steered her wrong.

It was her intuition that led her to publish her first book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Psychic" (Alpha Books/Macmillan, 1999). It was an inner voice that was the catalyst for starting her own business and her intuitive work that initiated the first date with her husband.

Robinson will be at Borders Books & Cafe in Framingham, Friday, April 23, to talk about and sign copies of the book.

"That's how I kind of operate my life now," she says, sitting comfortably on her fabric sofa in the living room of her two-story Natick home, where she sometimes conducts telephone readings. "I had that offer to write that book last summer. I could get all the information about how much I'd get paid and how long this was likely to take, and things like that, but it's like, did it feel right? And I felt excited about it, so it felt, to me, that's my intuition saying, 'Yes, that's a good decision.'"

That 10,000 copies of the book have sold in eight weeks is an indication of its popularity.

Lively bouquets of fresh spring flowers pop up here and there in her home. No crystals hang in her windows. No incense burns.

"I love having fresh flowers, especially this time of year," she says. "That's something that's important to me. I love having beauty around."

And her professional image is not only deliberate, but it complies with her philosophy that everyone has intuition, or psychic ability -- it just needs to be paid some attention.

"I mean part of that is very calculated," says the 45-year-old Robinson. "It's something that I really believe -- using intuition is sometimes a very business-like thing and I want to make people feel comfortable with it."

She indicates many of her clients themselves are executives or professionals, living as close as Natick and as far away as South Africa and France.

Her only tools for tackling readings are herself and a pair of headsets if she's conducting a telephone reading.

"I frankly find phone readings a lot more accurate because I'm not picking up on someone's body language," she says.

To prepare herself for a reading, Robinson clears her mind from the day's clutter by often playing relaxing music and meditating for a few minutes.

"I say what I consider a little prayer that I be a clear channel for what someone needs to hear and so I can be fully present with what they are saying and so the right words come to me."

Her clients call at an appointed time. She calls them back.

With eyes closed, Robinson concentrates on the person at the other end of the phone or sitting across from her. Like her neatly organized, comfortable home, her Newton office -- where she sees clients -- is more like a formal living room than office, she says.

"The other thing I try to get across to people is I want this to be a normal part of people's lives, that using intuition and relying on intuition is a normal part (of life).

"I don't want to set myself up that I appear different or have an extraordinary gift."

The book is part of that breaking down of "the mystery" of what it means to be "Psychic."

But what may be extraordinary about Robinson is her positive energy. She calls herself an incurable optimist; a roommate once pegged her as"pathologically positive."

"I'm a big believer of affirmations and visualizations," says Robinson. "That's what I try to teach clients. When they can get clear what it is they want, and use their intuition to take positive action forward, even if it's small steps, you'd go a long way toward drawing in what you want."

Last summer Robinson knew she wanted to write a book.

The telephone call from Macmillan came out of the blue.

Robinson also teaches workshops that help people practice what it is she means by listening to your intuition.

"I am actually really blown away quite often at how easily people (accurately tap into their intuition)," says Robinson.

In one exercise, she has people choose partners and have each person see what "you can get" intuitively about each other's careers, family life and relationships.

"It's guessing," admits Robinson, "but it's also paying attention to images, and feelings and words, because that's the way the information comes in."

One woman, working with a partner, kept getting "a stupid image of somebody's head being cut open and love being poured in."

"I'm sitting there saying that sounds a little weird to me," recalls Robinson. "But I didn't know her partner. And I said (to him), 'What do you do?' and he said, 'I'm a neurosurgeon and I practice psychic healing.'"

As with her decision to write "The Complete Idiot's Guide," she explains it's sometimes the most simple connection to how we feel that tells us about our decisions.

"I think very simply on a feeling level if you feel excited about something, if you're feeling positive about it, a tingling or excitement, that's generally your intuition saying, 'Go for it!' That's what you ought to be doing.

"Conversely, if you get that gut feeling it's kind of a sinking feeling or you feel kind of depressed about it, or not good in some way, it's generally your intuitive information system telling you it's not a good decision."

It's common, though, for us -- in our fast-paced culture, which often regards logic and intellect over emotion -- to ignore these signs.

"In particular, we're really having to make so many decisions: 'Is this the right job? Should I move? Is this the right school to go to?' so much more than our parents' generation did," says Robinson. "And it's very scary to make decisions like that when you only have logical, rational information."

Robinson says many people come to her in a time of career transition, looking for answers to such questions as "Is this going to work out? Will I have a good relationship with people there? Is this going to be a good career advancement tool?"

"I think that a lot of times your intuition provides that for you."

And to hone in on that, Robinson sounds like a piano teacher or gymnastics coach: practice.

"Not unlike developing an athletic or music ability, the more you practice it, the more you act on it, the better you get at being able to make those intuitive decisions."

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