I Asked! Where’s my answer?
4 steps to getting answers you can trust
The old saying goes, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” But how do you get ready?
Most of us have pressing questions around troublesome life issues or unpleasant patterns. “Why don’t I have enough money for the important things?” “Why do I feel lonely?” “What path should I choose for education, career, or spiritual growth?”
I had a great conversation this week with a woman who has developed a method to help people get in touch with the answers to such questions inwardly, though inner guidance. I trusted what she said and may take her training course because she’s very clear and I like to have the very best tools possible to offer my clients. But the conversation also helped me realize how much I have already learned about this. Here is what I use for myself and teach to my clients.
- Write down your question…only one question at a time. Write it on the top of a blank sheet or journal page. Set it beside your bed on on an alter if you have one. This sets the stage. It is a declaration to the Universe that you want and are ready for an answer to this question.
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Sufi Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Cultivate an attitude of openness to receiving the answer. Whether you believe such answers come from The Universe, God, Great Spirit, a great wise person, your own soul, your unconscious, or somewhere else, you can only get the answer if you are open. Becoming open might look like a prayer, an attitude, a long, silent walk, or many other ways. What can you do to relax, trust, and open yourself to inner guidance?
- Be watchful for clues. Such things don’t usually get delivered to us by US Post. They come more subtly, often in the form of images, unexpected circumstances, or coincidences. You might remember a dream rich in symbolism, get an unexpected check in the mail, or hear from a old friend you just thought of moments before the phone rang. A total stranger might say something that exactly addresses your question. There are infinite possibilities. The doubtful cynic will not notice such things because they don’t come from the part of the brain which is dominant for them. Instead, they come from, or can be noticed by the imaginative, creative, visual part of the brain. We must relax our logical, thinking, and worrying a bit to be mindfully, gently expectant of little miracles. Have some fun with it. If you have no experience interpreting metaphors or dreams, ask for help from someone who does, but remember that the most trustworthy interpretations should still be your own. It is your unconscious mind that created or noticed the images, dreams, or coincidences, so it is your mind that knows what they really mean. Others can help best by assisting you to know what they mean to you, not by telling you what they mean.
- When you think you may have gotten a clue, or an answer, test it out in your heart. Does the answer feel like something you could live with? If you imagine proceeding in this direction, do you feel good? Does it make you feel more relaxed, rather than more concerned? If so, these would be indicators to trust the answer and proceed in the direction it is pointing. Take at least a couple days to “sit with” this answer, continue to feel into it, and to trust it more deeply.
The poet in me says it like this.
There is buried treasure in our lives. We must learn to read the map.
This Week’s Lessons
by Paul Chubbuck
Monday I met a teacher.
It was not with words he moved me,
but with his delight that filled the space
and cracked open my fearful heart.
Tuesday I met a teacher.
It was the calm silence
between words shared with a friend
which filled the place where words cannot go.
Wednesday I met a teacher.
It was the music
which taught me to feel my partner’s body
as I swayed and sensed into my own.
Thursday I met a teacher.
It was the drawing pencil in my hand
which showed me how to see and render
the countless lines and curves around me.
Friday I met a teacher.
It was my stiff limbs
which taught me how to soften
around an edge with patient presence.
When I pay attention,
there is no lack of teachers.
