I know I have several spirit guides, but there’s one in particular who I’ve grown especially fond of over the years. I don’t see him as a person, and I haven’t given him a name. In my minds eyes I perceive him as a point of light, and he’s with me a good part of my work day, when I’m writing.

You see whenever I get stuck, he helps me along. He gives me words and phrases and even entire ideas. He leads me to books I need to read. He introduces me to magazines that seem to have the right article with the perfect advice for whatever I’m working on.

If you were a fly on my wall, you’d hear me periodically saying “thank you” throughout the day. You might even see me jumping up and down on occasion. That’s me talking to my writing spirit guide.

Funny thing is, I never formally contacted him, or even went looking for such a relationship. Over the years I just came to realize that somebody else was indeed working with me. He comes when I need him, he leaves when I don’t.

But this isn’t unusual. I was once speaking to another writer who (without knowing my mystical affinity)confessed that she thought she was being led while she wrote. You can’t imagine the big grin that suddenly stretched across my face. I was so relieved to hear that someone else felt it too.

And that’s the “Aha” about contacting your spirit guides. You don’t necessarily have to go seeking them out in order to feel them working in your life.

Spirit guides are here to help you. They already made a bunch of happy-go-lucky plans with you before you came into your gorgeous body. Having spirit guides silently assist you is no more shocking or out of place than having the steady presence of your guardian angels.

The benefit of knowing that you have these spirit guides is that you move a lot faster through your difficulties. When I know I’m getting help from my writing guide, I zip right through my work. I don’t even have to question whether it’s right or wrong because I know I’m getting divine assistance.

Contacting your spirit guides is easy!

There are two schools of thinking when it comes to spirit guide contact.

School #1 says you’ve got to close your eyes and meditate to increase your energy vibration.It’s been said that spirit guide energy is much finer than our dense human field. So by raising your energy, you’re better able to enter their world.

School #2 says that if you want to contact your spirit guide, all you gotta do is just talk to them. I’m the principal of School #2, and I’m telling you that spirit guides don’t need pomp and circumstance for us to have a regular conversation with them.

If you want to meditate, then by all means meditate.

Otherwise they perfectly understand when you need assistance, even without the meditation and the quieting of the mind formalities. My writing helper is a perfect example. I don’t meditate before I write or even during the writing process. Even if I get writers block I get up and walk around my house. And yet he knows exactly what I need and I know when he’s talking to me.

But that’s just me and my writing guide. When I need help on other issues, I like to initiate contact with the appropriate guide.

Here’s the exercise I use:

1) Decide what you need help with. It can be relationship issues, career problems, whatever. If your kid is driving you crazy, that’s a need. If your dinner recipe is looking more like mush than ‘mmmm, mmmm good’, that’s a problem worthy of help too.

2) Explain your problem. Just say what I need out loud. Like, “I don’t know why Max isn’t listening to me and it’s driving me crazy. Can you help me better understand how to bridge our communication gap?”

If it’s a little deeper, you may want to pull out your journal and write your problem down. No need to be shy or reserved, just state the problem as best you can.

3) Ask, “Who will help me?” Spirit guides come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and energy frequencies. The spirit guide who helps me when I’m writing isn’t the same one who assists me in the romance department. I have at least four different guides (that I know of) who help me with spiritual issues, depending on the nature of the problem. And that’s just the beginning of my spirit guide team.

It’s not unusual to have multiple spirit helpers. But I find that I can solve the problem a lot faster by knowing who I’m working with.

So once I know the problem I need help with, I’ll ask, “Who will help me?” Sometimes one guide will appear. Sometimes it’s more than one. And by ‘appear’ I mean I might feel an energy, or I’ll see an image in my mind’s eye. You may feel heat or vibrations. There might be movie-like pictures playing out in your mind. A name or a flower or a bird might pop into your mind. These all comprise a spirit guides appearance.

4) Observe what happens and remember their appearance. As you experience your spirit guides appearance, be it energetic or otherwise, I want you to remember what it feels like. Is it a tickling in your belly? A bright star? A low hum?

5) Ask that they lead you to a solution. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million times over… the Universe is ALWAYS communicating with us. If you ask for a conversation with your spirit guide, you’re going to get a conversation with your spirit guide.

The problem is that we don’t pay attention when the guides are talking because their language is often so subtle that’s it’s easy to miss or dismiss.

So I ask my spirit guides to make their appearance known when I’m being shown a specific direction.

For example, when I’m writing, I can tell when my guide is helping me because the words appear in my mind a certain way. They’ve got a springy, loving type energy. And it comes through quickly, like a pop. My own thoughts are very different. My own thoughts feel, well, normal.

Now keep in mind, this exercise might take some getting used to. You may have to work at feeling or understanding the difference between your own energy and a spirit guides energy. But once you catch the subtleties, you’ll know when you’re being guided and by whom. And you’ll find yourself working through even the most stressful situations with a comfortable ease.

As with anything else, practice makes perfect.

It’s no secret that I enjoy a good reading from another psychic every now and then. It’s almost like being a massage therapist with an achy back. Even though you know how to give a killer massage, kneading on your own skin doesn’t give you as much pleasure as having another professional push and pull on it for an hour.

Sometimes I’m so emotionally immersed in a situation that I need someone else to help me see what I’m missing. So I do the same thing that you do. I call my guy up in a frenzy wondering, “Can I get an appointment TODAY???? Pullleeeeease?”

But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Obviously there are A LOT of psychics out there. Some people look for the cheapest psychic. Some people look at testimonials. Some people want a local psychic. Everybody seems to have this internal checklist.

That’s all well and good. I mean sometimes it works, and sometimes you’re left scratching your head. But I’ve found that if you want to find a great psychic, you must choose with your heart.

Comfort arrives in heartfelt connections.

There’s an elevator repair company that I walk past each morning when I’m taking my daughter to school. One of the workers has a window seat facing the street. Every morning and every afternoon we wave to each other.

I only know this guy from his spot in the window. I wave. He waves. I actually look forward to waving.

My psychic is like the guy in the window. I read his web page. I noticed that he has traveled a lot. I have too. He seemed down-to-earth… not jumping off the new age woo-woo meter. Cool. I like down to earth people. He’s a fellow city dweller. I’m a city dweller. On a heart level, we mesh. He’s kinda like me.

That makes me feel comfortable about dealing with him.

Selecting a psychic isn’t like buying a cell phone – yet that’s the way many people choose one.

Seeing a psychic is an emotional act. You are essentially placing a certain amount of your sanity and well being into another person’s hands. And whatever that person says is going to change you on a conscious and an unconscious level.

It’s okay to look at testimonials and press clips and whatever. But it’s even more important to feel a psychic out with your own heart. What’s their philosophy? What type of person are they? Do they come from a background that’s similar to your own?

Read their web site. Read between the lines. Do you feel a connection… a buzz… a tingling… a click? If you don’t, then move on.

When you find the right psychic you will know it. Your readings will be magical. You’ll understand the metaphors and the symbols. You’ll feel comfortable and comforted.

Choose from the heart and the Universe will reward you with your heart’s desire. (And yes… you’ll be able to afford it too!)

You ever try to feel good, despite the fact that there’s a lot of crazy, unnerving stuff going on around you?

In the past whenever my day was hurling towards ‘awful’ I always tried to eek out a “You can do this…“ or a “I am strong enough to handle it.” Sometimes it’s a bulging eyed, “Breathe, breathe, breathe!”

But you know what – (and I’ve never told anyone this before) – after all these years of putting on my affirmation game face, I’ve come to a “let’s-cut-the-shit” realization. Most affirmations are crap. Yeah, I said it. Need a synonym? Here’s one, do-do. Here’s another, ca-ca. And I’ll tell you why.

For many years I told myself that I’m a millionaire. I affirmed the heck out of it. I affirmed it with feeling, with gratitude, with imagination, with emotional whip cream and a cherry on top. I hung affirmations on my wall. I hung affirmations on the bathroom mirror. I had them flashing on my computer screen a la subliminal messages style.

And affirm as I might, I’m still not a millionaire. I’m more than a tenth of the way there, which is pretty darn cushy. But let’s face it, one-tenth cushy still ain’t millionaire cushy.

Are affirmations really to blame for my lack?

The mind believes whatever you tell it. It will take all of your collected experience and spit it out to create your reality.

Affirmations, as they’re currently taught, are like crutches for a man who walks perfectly fine. You tell yourself a blatant untruth in hopes that you’ll move towards that untruth, so that it’ll eventually become a genuine truth.

But here’s what I think… I have a sneaking suspicion that the mind doesn’t quite work that way. I’m thinking it’s more like the mind believes whatever the heck you tell it, as it applies to the right now, here, today.

For example, if I’m lazy and I sit on my rump all day, telling myself that I’m productive just reinforces that I’m productive in my laziness. Likewise if I tell myself that I’m a millionaire 20 times a day, I’m just reinforcing that my $150K a year IS millionaire status. “I’m skinny,” becomes “skinny” even if you’re 300 pounds. And there you are sitting “skinny” wondering why you’re not losing any weight.

The mind compares whatever you have to whatever you’re saying to yourself, and makes that connection. In my logical mind I know what a million dollars is. I know that I don’t have a million dollars. But in my emotional mind, I’m counting the money I have and I’m telling myself, “I’m a millionaire! Yippee!”

Affirmations done right

I’ve stopped affirming that I’m a millionaire. Until I reach millionaire status there will be no more of that.

Instead I’ve started living and affirming my truth. I’m a self-employed entrepreneur. I’m moving towards millionaire status. I’m waking up in the morning and I’m moving towards millionaire status. I see my end destination. And I know that I have to listen to spirit and take action to get there.

Sure it’s boring. Sure it’s uneventful.

The affirmation lover in you might argue, “But if you constantly tell yourself that you’re moving towards something, you’ll constantly be moving towards it.”

Not true. If I tell myself that I’m moving towards something, I’m going to keep moving towards it until I reach it. That million dollars is a finite tangible goal.

As long as I’m telling myself that I’m moving towards it, my subconscious will move towards it. Whereas if I tell myself that I’m there, my subconscious says, “Whew, break out the champagne. We’re done!”

See the difference?

I’m curious to know what your affirmation opinions are. Share them with me.