As the sun rises at about 4.45am tomorrow morning, you may - if you have the correct eyewear and the sky is clear - witness a truly rare astronomical event. Only seven of these events have been recorded since the invention of the telescope, and they occur when Venus passes in front of the Sun, creating a dark spot that travels across the Sun’s surface.

These Venus transits come in pairs separated by eight years - the last one was in 2004 - and this will be the only opportunity to see this event in the lifetime of anyone currently alive on this planet, as the next one doesn’t happen until 2117.

So, as I was saying yesterday - here’s another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But what does it all mean, if anything? I wrote in an earlier blog post about the symbolism of the Venus transit heralding return of the solar feminine - that aspect of feminine energy that is bold, creative and radiant. The solar feminine shines not just through the success and expression of women, but through the power of a man’s emotions received in his heart.

This idea points to the return of the Goddess - and I’ve seen some predictions that this heralds the fall of the patriarchy. What I’m reflecting on, however, is that it might have something to do with feminine power balancing the out-of-control masculine power on this planet. You could think of it as an inner reunion between the masculine and feminine elements of ourselves

It’s no coincidence that Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee at this time as she is the embodiment of enduring solar (regal) feminine power. But her power is of a different era and we need fresh, new feminine energy to come into play.

This means women everywhere taking responsibility and stepping into their power wherever and whenever they can, being authentic and speaking their truth. 

That’s the kind of feminism I can applaud: women clothed with the sun.

I don’t watch much TV these days but I decided to watch The Voice because it is based on talented singers performing for experienced coaches rather than judges, so there is none of the ritual humiliation of certain other series. I got the impression that the coaches - Will.i.am, Tom Jones, Jessie J and Danny O’Donoghue - were genuinely looking for and responding to authenticity. 

If you haven’t seen the show, the coaches can’t see who is singing, which allows them to focus on the quality of the voice rather than the appearance of the singer. This is a clever twist, and it works well for those singers who can belt it out but don’t trade on image. 

Many of the contestants had reality TV-style sob stories to tell, but at least all of them had natural talent. The auditions section of the show ended on Saturday with Will.i.am and Jessie J being reduced to tears by the voice of music teacher Jaz Ellington. 

He certainly had soul, but what packed the emotional punch was not only Will.i.am’s reaction to hearing Jaz’s version of one of his own songs - Ordinary People - but the fact that he had passed on a couple of very good singers because his “gut” told him there was something better coming.

I was really touched by this because it was clearly heartfelt, and so rare to witness on primetime TV the magical results of trusting your intuition. Will.i.am explained that he would have pressed his button for other singers had he listened to his head and his ear, but his heart was telling him to wait.

It made me reflect on the times in my life when I didn’t trust my gut; when I allowed my logical side to rule or let myself to be carried away by fantasies created in my mind. 

When I look back, I realise that there was always that moment before I decided on a course of action when I had a chance to listen to the still, small voice within but either ignored it, rejected it or didn’t hear it. There were also times when I thought I was following my instincts but it turned out I was being fooled by my ego.

A client of mine had a really strong intuition about a man she had met - she thought he was The One. When things didn’t work out, she told herself a story about how she couldn’t trust her instincts. I helped her clarify that she was unconsciously projecting her fantasies on to him, and he simply wasn’t the man she believed him to be. 

I should know, I fell for that ego trick many times in the past. The giveaway is this: if you experience a peculiar intensity of emotion, more often that not you are projecting. Intuition has a much subtler feel, which is why it often gets drowned out. It takes practice and trust to hear your true voice.

Will.i.am’s masterclass in trusting your gut was an understated affair - quiet and focused. Now I know that intuition doesn’t shout, it whispers from the depths of the soul.

I was fascinated to read a piece in the New York Times recently about the new trend in the US for younger life coaches - some as young as 20.

My initial reaction to this was probably similar to yours, ie fairly dismissive. How on earth can someone barely out of their teens be able to work effectively in a profession that requires maturity and a degree of self-awareness?

Then I pulled myself up and reflected on my ageism. Just because I have “had a life” - at 55, I’d like to think I’m able to give some help and guidance to other women because I’ve experienced many of life’s ups and downs - doesn’t mean that a much younger coach couldn’t do the same. Just in a different way - one that doesn’t rely on racking up life experience.

The article quotes an established coach by the name of Hugo Cory, who is 44 and charges Park Avenue prices. “I see only positive in these younger coaches,” he says. “If they are not meant to be a coach then they will not have many clients.”

Which is true. No matter what age you are, if you are not authentic, you will not attract many clients. Mr Cory also makes the point that the generations born after the 1970s were raised to have more emotional sensitivity and empathy.

Janet Harvey, the incoming president of the International Coach Federation, says there is nothing wrong with having a young life coach. “They are only charged with helping clients to hear themselves and to hold themselves accountable to articulated goals,” she adds.

I would agree with this, to a point. Coaches are there to give clients the space to find their own solutions, and then hold them accountable for taking actions towards those solutions. However, they are also there to be present, to hold the space so that the client can bring themselves into the moment.

I know I would not have been able to maintain such presence at the age of 20. That is not to say it is impossible - after all, we are constantly evolving as a species and younger generations may not have to go through tough life experiences and years of personal development work in order to grow up and wake up.

It’s not just clients that choose coaches, though. Most coaches select the clients they want to work with - or rather, when the coach is ready, the client appears. Both client and coach are being coached, if you will.

As a human potential coach, I trust that, with a little input from me, the universe will bring me in contact with exactly the right clients - those who will most benefit from the way I am in the world as well as the techniques and tools I have learnt.

As for a 20-year-old coach - the jury’s out. I’d love to meet one, though.

Last night, a 23-year-old girl from north London swept the board at the Grammys - winning all six of the categories in which she was nominated. She has achieved extraordinary success at a time when the music industry seems to be dying on its feet . In fact, she has sold three times as many records as the far more image-savvy Lady Gaga.

She may not have 47 million followers on Twitter or treat her life like performance art, but Adele has a quality that cannot be manufactured. Adele has Authenticity - with a capital A.

Neil McCormick, music critic at the Telegraph, writes: “Everything about Adele is authentic because she is her own creation. She writes her own songs, and this is crucial to the emotion she invests in them. Her voice is fantastically appealing and compelling but it is a natural voice that she has developed in a highly personal way.”

Like Amy Winehouse, Adele is a graduate of the Brit School of Performing Arts. But she told McCormick when he interviewed her in 2008 that she had only gone to one singing lesson at the school, and quickly decided not to do any more because “they made me think about my voice too much”.

It seems as if she absolutely trusted her innate gift and what is unique to her, and resisted any attempts to have her talent polished in a way that didn’t feel right. Her presence, her soulfulness is what sells. People get that she is real.

Her album, 21, struck a deep chord with its songs about heartbreak - everyone can identify with that.  When she is attacked for being “a bit fat” by fashion designers who should know better, she simply says: “I represent the majority of women and I’m proud of that.”

She rarely plays the promotional game and seems to have her feet firmly planted on the ground. When she won the Grammy for Album of the Year, she simply said: “Mum - girl done good.” You can’t imagine her getting lost in addictions like the sadly departed Amy and Whitney.

So what lessons can we learn from Adele’s success? We can’t all be great singers but we all have something to offer the world that is uniquely ours. And whatever that is, it can only be accessed through our authentic self - that part of us that is beyond ego that knows what our gifts are and how to use them.

I’d like to think that the Age of Consumer Consumption is coming to an end and a new Age of Authenticity is under way - and I can’t think of a better poster girl right now  than Adele Adkins.

Internet dating has been in the news this week. The Guardian asks, “Is it destroying love?”; Time Magazine wonders: “Does it make it harder to find The One?”  I can speak with some authority on the subject because I met my husband through a dating website.

Our story was deemed remarkable enough for a leading newspaper and monthly magazine to print articles about how we met - mostly because we are an “age gap” couple; I was 50 and he was 29 when we got together almost five years ago.

I had been dating for six months before I received a message from Andy on My Single Friend. I had no expectation of finding The One - in fact, I was much more focused on having fun and meeting interesting younger men.

He pretty much cyber-stalked me, having searched the site for women of a certain age. He became a member purely to send me a message but his intention was to find an older women to date; he certainly wasn’t looking for a wife.

The fact that we ended up getting married doesn’t have anything to do with meeting  through a website, although there is little chance that our paths would have crossed in any other way.

I put it down to the time being right for us both (without us being conscious of it), and the inexplicable magic of knowing that you have met your match. I experienced this as a mixture of familiarity (I felt I’d known him for ages even on the first date) and a feeling of inner certainty that came from a part of me that transcends my ego.

A couple of my friends are making their first forays into internet dating and have turned to me for advice. What I’ve told them is the following:

1. Let go of any expectation. Even though most dating sites make you answer long lists of questions about yourself and your ideal match, there is little to be gained from weighing down your dates with expectation - especially whether or not they are going to be a potential long-term partner.

2. Be honest about yourself - and be authentic. Don’t big yourself up, but then don’t do yourself down either. “I’m just a normal girl really” just won’t cut it.

3. Talk about your values. You might think it’s all about sexual chemistry, but you’ll have a much better chance of forming a lasting relationship with someone who shares your values.

4. Take care of yourself. Don’t give out your phone number willy nilly, don’t arrange to meet anyone you don’t have a good instinct about - and when you go on a date, make sure at least one friend knows where you are going.

5. Relax and have fun. If nothing else, internet dating should show you that there are plenty of fish in the sea, and many of them will find you attractive. If you’re not enjoying it, or you feel emotionally fragile, don’t do it. Treat it as an exciting experiment!

I first heard the term SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goals about 10 years ago and I’ve remembered it ever since. I know the power of a good acronym or mnemonic, so I set myself the task of coming up with my own for The Pearl Within. Here goes:

P is for Presence

There are two strands to presence: one is always being in the present moment; the other is having a presence - which often comes as a result of staying present. The ability to focus only on what is arising right now rather than slipping into thoughts of the past or future is key to living from the heart.

E is for Emotional clarity

It’s important to get clear about your emotions - in terms of what they are, how they relate to your thoughts and behaviour, how to deal with them as they arise, and also to clear out the emotional baggage you’ve been dragging around with you for years.

A is for Authenticity

What does authenticity mean to you? The dictionary defines it as the quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine. To me it means a way of being in the world that is totally congruent with your true self, communicating with respectful honesty and clarity, and living in accordance with your highest purpose.

R is for Responsibility

The bottom line is, the buck stops with you. You are responsible for your health, your emotions, your spirituality, your mind, your relationships, the way you impact on the environment. No one else is to blame. This is what true maturity looks like.

L is for Loving kindness

Taking responsibility for your own life doesn’t have to be tough. Show loving kindness and compassion to yourself as well as others. Grow up and wake up but stop beating yourself up.

W is for Wisdom

Wisdom might seem like the Holy Grail at times but it’s easier to access than you think. Wisdom is in that still, small voice within. Wisdom whispers, and to hear its voice you must turn down the deafening volume generated by the thoughts in your head.

I is for Intelligence

The traditional definition of intelligence - as in IQ - is far too narrow. According to developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, there are at least eight types of intelligence - linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. Finding out in which types of intelligence you excel could change your life. You don’t have to be good at passing exams to be clever.

T is for Trust

If we could only trust ourselves, trust others, trust in life, trust in a higher power, trust the process, trust the universe, trust in the bigger picture, trust that wherever we are right now is where we are meant to be.

H is for Honesty

As Thomas Jefferson said, honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. Rigorous honesty goes hand in hand with responsibility. Be honest about yourself - your strengths and shortcomings, your gifts and talents, your communication, your emotions, your thoughts, your behaviour, your health, your wealth - and enjoy an authentic life.

I is for Inspiration

Take a deep breath - that is inspiration, pure and simple. And inhaling gulps of air may well fuel the other type of inspiration - that spark of creativity, that brilliant idea, that flash of insight, which arrives without fanfare, sometimes at such speed that we almost miss it. Inspiration is a life-enhancing energy boost.

N is for Now

I read Eckhart Tolle’s classic The Power of Now when it first came out but it took me a few years to truly understand the power of being present. Now is all there is, so be here or be trapped in a prison of the past. Now is where it’s at! As Tolle says, “Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.”

Yesterday I talked about writing to heal and how cathartic it can be to put down on paper the life experiences which have affected you the most. This is particularly important for those of us approaching what Jane Fonda calls the Third Act - life beyond 60.

In an inspiring TED talk posted this month, the well-preserved actress says: “I have come to find that an appropriate metaphor for ageing is a staircase - the upward ascension of the human spirit, bringing us into wisdom, wholeness and authenticity. It turns out that most people over 50 feel better, are less stressed, are less hostile, less anxious. We tend to see commonalities more than differences. Some of the studies even say we’re happier.”

One of the things that has given her peace of mind is conducting a life review, which psychologists agree can give new significance, clarity and meaning to your life.

“You may discover, as I did, that a lot of the things that you used to think were your fault, a lot of things you used to think about yourself, really had nothing to do with you,” she says. “It wasn’t your fault, you’re just fine. And you’re able to go back and forgive them, and forgive yourself. You’re able to free yourself from your past. You can work to change your relationship to your past.”

This type of life review can be conducted at any age but obviously the older you are, the more powerful it is. On a retreat last year, one of my assignments was to write my emotional autobiography, describing every event I could remember that had impacted on me in a lasting way, recording the associated emotions.

As you can imagine, this took some time - but as I waded through my early years, teens and 20s, I started to realise that the act of writing was allowing me to revision my relationship to these events so that the old emotions were no longer triggered. The result was a greater feeling of peace and self-acceptance.

But back to Jane. “Older women,” she says, “are the largest demographic in the world. If we can go back and redefine ourselves and become whole, this will create a cultural shift in the world, and it will give an example to younger generations so that they can re-conceive their own lifespan.”

As she concludes, perhaps the task of the Third Act is to finish up the task of finishing ourselves.