Finding Spiritual Guidance

There is spiritual guidance all around us… are you listening for it?Spiritual or inner guidance is available at all times, everywhere. It is found in casual conversation, in books that fall into our hands, in "wrong" numbers dialed… always available when we listen. After all, we believe that the Divine presence is everywhere, so why would the Divine voice of guidance not be everywhere, too? And so it is, provided we are not too busy to listen!I find that listening to my inner guidance can save a lot of time and effort. Being goal-oriented, I used to have a tendency to move ahead without waiting for clear guidance. I soon learned that trying to hasten the outcome only inhibits and may even delay the outcome. When this happens, the wisest move is to simply step back from the frenetic activity and to return to center. From that place of inner balance, guidance gently emerges to lead my steps, and life flows with synchronicity and ease.

Maintaining neutrality is an important aspect of receiving inner guidance. In kinesiology testing, attitudes of judgment or skepticism are found to calibrate at a level that undermines truth and can be destructive. When we ask for confirmation of guidance, it is important to do so from an attitude of desiring to know and align with truth, and to be detached from the outcome.

When we are open and receptive, we are also more inclined to recognize guidance we are given throughout the day. I have had people tell me how they asked for guidance in a difficult situation, only to have the business card of someone who could help, fall from a wallet. At times, I have asked for clarity on an issue and when the phone rang a few minutes later, the caller presented the solution to the issue without any prior knowledge of my predicament!Guidance often arrives in synchronistic ways, like the humorous experience I had on a first date. Throughout the evening, I felt vaguely uncomfortable: my companion was doing and saying all the appropriate things, yet I could not shake a vague sense that there was something amiss. I silently asked for guidance and clarity.

Soon after, my companion decided to perform a karaoke song and as he was singing, the words of the song hit me like a ton of bricks: “…these boots are made for walking, I’m gonna walk all over you!” The instant I heard the words, a sense of profound clarity came over me and I knew they expressed a deeper meaning about the person’s intent. I found out later that the person indeed had a reputation for taking advantage of others.

At times, we may not feel comfortable enough to act on the initial guidance given and so we may ask for confirmation. I am always encouraged by the Biblical story of Gideon who put out a fleece at night and asked for his initial guidance to be confirmed by the dew falling everywhere except for on the fleece. At the appropriate time, the guidance was confirmed.

The timeliness of inner guidance became clear to me while driving home one day. I noticed that someone had posted bright cardboard signs along the road, directing traffic to a yard sale on my street. There were signs posted at all the major intersections approaching my neighborhood – every place where drivers had to choose which way to go.

I realized that spiritual guidance comes to us the same way – there are always signs to guide us at the important intersections in life. When we don’t see the signs we’re looking for, we are perhaps just not in need of those directions yet, and we can go with the flow. When it is time, the necessary guidance will appear!I use a very practical method to receive guidance. Whenever I am not sure what to do, I say to the Universe, "Just show me what I am to do here. I’m willing to do whatever is in the best interest of everyone involved. Give me a clue, and I will follow." Then I release the situation. I give up any preconceived notion about how things are supposed to turn out, and when I am supposed to know. Sometimes the answer comes instantly and sometimes it takes a while, but it always comes.

Spiritual guidance always arrives at the appropriate time, although recognizing it may require some adjustment in our expectations. To understand this, we can look at the two different words used for “time” in Greek. The first is chronos, which is equivalent to our concept of time as a chronological sequence of seconds, minutes, and hours. The second word is kairos, which can best be translated as "Divine timing" or "appropriate timing."

In our culture, we tend to live in chronological time, yet guidance emerges outside of chronos with the synchronicity of Divine timing. When we shift our perspective away from the linear paradigm of chronological time, we discover that guidance and answers always arrive at the perfect time.

When seeking direction, simply ask for guidance. Then allow the answer to show up in its appropriate way, place, and time. If, upon voicing your request, you do not hear a voice from heaven bellowing, "This is what you must do!" don’t freak out. Allow for Divine timing to deliver your answer at the appropriate time. It will surely come!