Expect Divine Guidance
Intention #2 — I expect guidance…
The second step in developing your psychic abilities and a more effective working relationship with your spirit guides is to expect divine guidance.
You are at least a little bit psychic. It’s entirely natural for you to be, it’s a function of your spirit, it’s hard-wired through your body, and you’ve already established Intention #1 — that you are open to your intuitive abilities. It only makes sense to expect psychic or intuitive experiences to happen.
Of course, you have to mindful of this word expect – your expectations can create limits. There’s a big difference between being expectant and being overly attached to expectations, meaning specific outcomes.
The Difference Between Expecting and Having Expectations
You expect that if you enter a phrase or question into a search engine, you will find tons of web pages that may have the information or answer you seek.
An overly attached expectation would be that you will find the exact piece of information that you are looking for, that the Big Picture will come complete in one package, and that it will be at the top of the list of search returns.
You may have to click on several pages before you discover the information you’re hoping or expecting to find. You may have to be adventurous, to explore, to set out on a journey knowing only the next step right in front of you. The answer you seek may be buried further down a list of possibilities, or farther along a series of branching options. One page may lead you to another and then another by a series of links that you could never have mapped in advance.
You don’t click on one out of thousands of potential web pages and, not finding the answer you seek, abandon your search, telling yourself “I can’t find it; therefore the information doesn’t exist.”
Being expectant — expecting to receive divine guidance — is an attitude.
You can expect to have a great day, you can expect something wonderful to happen, and not know what that is, exactly, or how it occurs. You can expect to hang out over coffee with a friend and have a great conversation and laugh and learn, but you don’t necessarily know before-hand what the script will be.
For now, expect something — but don’t define what that something has to be, how it has to transpire, the form it has to take.
Expect your spirit guides to surprise you.
image by Whatknot via Creative Commons on Flickr
Contacting Your Spirit Guides - 101
Free resources for Shift Your Spirits readers:
- Read the ebook by Slade Roberson especially for beginners who want to know who/what spirit guides are and how to communicate with them
- Listen to the mp3 preview of the Spirit Guide Attunement portion of the Talking to Your Spirit Guides class by Slade Roberson
- Try the meditation to Meet a Guide contributed by Jeff Lilly of Druid Journal
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18 Responses to “Expect Divine Guidance”
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Another excellent intention, Slade! Developing certainty that we WILL receive answers and guidance allows us to open our eyes to the daily miracles that conspire to show us our highest path and purpose!
Blessings,
Andrea
Thanks for explaining things more clearly. I have been asking for guidance but have been expecting answers to be handed to me on a silver platter…LOL!! I have also been expecting the answers to be clear, showing me an ultimate result.
I like it when you said that we can expect to have a great day, but need not necessarily know before-hand how. The same can possibly be applied to life in general. We can expect to lead extraordinary lives if we are in alignment with our Higher Selves but need not have the exact script at this point in time. Life is after all a journey; the path ahead still waiting to unfold.
Slade, I’m glad you elaborated on the difference between “expecting” and “having expectations”, because I feel this is one area where most people (including myself) get confused about.
I wish I could say that the surprises are always fun, but unfortunately that hasn’t really been the case for me. What I CAN say at this point is that they always turn out to be good (it usually takes hindsight for me to see that), and yes, the surprise element is always there - with the confetti, streamers and all.
Hi Slade, This is one of the most important lessons I took away from your class. Beforehand I was expecting to receive guidance in a certain way and putting all kinds of restrictions on it. I am now happily expecting goodness but am not “labeling” how this will come about. It allows my mind to “let go” of any attachment I had to it or even “worry” when things did not go as expected… it leaves me much more open for goodness and guidance… Thank you! Gratefully, Jenny
One thing that I’ve found to be very common for me is the “trail of breadcrumbs” approach that my guides use when I just can’t seem to pick up what they’re putting down.
Sometimes I will sit and ask for guidance and hear nothing. I think, “Well, I know they’re there. I know they’re trying to talk to me. Maybe I’m just not open to what they’re saying.” So I ask for guidance again, this time to be led to the message my guides are actually trying to deliver. More than once I’ve been led around my apartment, looking at this trinket or that book, finding a quote that reminds me of a passage that reminds me of……
I always end up back at my altar, message in hand, thinking “Why couldn’t I just LET them tell me that in the FIRST place?” And I know it’s because I was expecting something entirely different that fit neatly into one of my preconceived boxes. The answer I’m led to never fits in a box, but is usually a radically unexpected way of looking at the situation.
Haha. Whatever it takes, right?
Thanks Andrea!
I like the word “conspiring” in the context of everyday miracles and spirit guides. It feels like a group of friends planning a surprise party — definitely the kind of vibe I experience.
Evelyn,
You bring up a great point — the word “ultimate” — I feel that’s where we get into trouble — expecting “ultimate.” How often do you really run into “ultimate”? And when you do, don’t you find it’s often cumulative, made up of so many little unfolding bits and pieces? Ultimate’s a tall order…
You’re right, the attitude can easily be applied to other areas of life.
Irene,
I am constantly vigilant for instances where expectations creep into my interior monologues. My ego-driven, expectation-addicted voices actually adapt, like mind viruses developing an immunity to my efforts. Those voices can be insidious, learning to speak the same “advanced, spiritually evolved” vocabulary.
In my experience, your lessons can evolve to keep pace, throwing graduated forms of challenges your way. It’s not so much about conquering and being “done,” once and for all, but more a matter of how quickly and effectively I can identify and shift…
Jenny,
Bless you for sharing what you learned in my class — that means a lot! More than any other “prescription” I find myself gripping too tightly and needing to release, surrender, let go. I find the expectations and intentions engaging in some manifestation tug-o-war that requires me to step back as an observer and play referee for a minute. Usually, I need to call a foul and step in with a cord cutter — snip snip!
Jonah,
I love the “trail of breadcrumbs” approach/image. A very useful analogy. I also think of scavenger hunts when describing the way I work with my guides.
Good stuff, Slade. I’ve done a lot of channeling and writing on this very point - the difference between eager anticipation and eager expectation - the first being a true feeling which brings us the realities we desire, and the latter being a phony thought form copy which brings us disappointment. The difficulty is recognizing which is which in the moment, but as you point out eager anticipation is a matter of just feeling good about things, whereas eager expectation involves clinging to a specific outcome.
xoxo,
b.
Bob,
Thanks for the compliment and for weighing in. I’m digging your breakdown on the word eager.
Eager puts me in mind of how people sometimes use the word anxious to describe something positive that they are looking forward to.
“I’m anxious to see you.”
“I’m anxious to go on vacation.”
I find it telling that people substitute anxiety for excitement… Hmm…
The word clinging is a perfect costume for the kind of expectations you want to avoid.
Awesome Slade, don’t you jus’ love your guides!! I was writing something today about how I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to life pre ‘guide concious communication’ I don’t know how i did it! (without their comforting presence and fab wisdom!) But you are so right , I really had to learn to follow the little trail of ‘ tiny fireflies’ without getting distracted looking for big neon signs!
The best thing being the fireflies would ALWAYS lead me to something way better than i could’ve imagined, so I totally learned to let go of expectation and replace it with curiousity; ie; hmm ‘what are you guys up to now?”
Cheers , Helen
Hi Slade,
I’m definitely hearing more and moving forward on my guidance more often this week. The only change I made was to put a couple of statements into my awareness that were suggested by this article and your previous post on intention.
I’m not yet hearing clear words or extremely clear instruction but I am having a stronger feeling that the hunches I’m following are coming form my guides. So I frequently talk to them with appreciative atta-boys.
thanks Buddy
Tom,
Maybe, as you “shift your prosperity assumptions,” you can also shift your assumptions about your psychic ability or your intuition.
Spirit guides primarily speak a language of Guidance (paraphrasing Sonia Choquette) — which can be translated, processed, or synthesized as a variety of forms: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, claircognizance, etc. not to mention inspiration, synchronicity, vibes…
They may give you direction in the form “drive three blocks, turn left at the post office…” or they may show you a graphic map of that destination… You may be receiving “maps” while listening for spoken directions… Expect the sense of direction to come, and release the expectation of the form it comes in.
That will free you up to embrace your fluency without “learning a new language.”
The more you listen to and respond to those hunches, the more you’ll get…
Thanks Slade I am already in the midst of doing so. It’s funny how I’ve always known and followed a strong intuition in one direction communication. I listened but didn’t ask much and I think it came from my distaste for beseeching prayer. You and Andrea have helped me to see that isn’t the tone of effective guide communication.
I’m now sold on the presence of my guidance and my guides. I’ll keep in mind that they could be communicating in a multitude of ways. Thanks again.
Slade,
I believe I came upon your website through my guides. I have thought about spirit guides before, but like you’ve addressed in some entries, I never felt ’special’ or ‘worthy’ enough of having a God Posse. That only certain people were lucky to have such things. I had doubted their existence to be honest, until I was shown your site. I thought of something, that reminded me of something, that let me to think of the color indigo. Wanting to see how it differed from plain ol’ blue (random, I know, but I have a point haha) I did an image search. The image that drew me in, was one on your website (from your Indigos Aren’t Children Anymore entry). I noticed all the articles about communicating with your spirit guides and was struck with total certainty - my guides brought me here.
I had no prior knowledge about your site. I saw a pretty picture, and it happened to be on your page. But what made me certain it was my guides was that I had JUST thought “I wish I could talk to my spirit guides, and get to know them.” Never before had I seriously thought about doing so. Coincidence? I think not
Thank you so much for everything you’ve written, you have no idea how much I appreciate it all! Anything I’ve ever wondered so far about communicating with my guides has been addressed. I’ve learned so very much and am elated to begin and nurture my new relationships! You are a great teacher, and have gained a loyal reader.
Jessica,
Haha, great story! Talk about a trail of breadcrumbs!
Jessica!
Your story absolutely made my day — I have a huge smile on my face. You are so welcome, and I am humbly thankful for playing a part in your experience — with most of the credit due to our guides and the benevolent power of this human technology.
I’m glad you chose to share your story in a comment here, because this is the way our guidance works — listening and following that “bread crumb trail” of little nudges and clues…
Awesome!
You know what’s cool? You’re gonna get something, no matter what, whether it is guidance or a swift kick in the butt by life. Might as well take the guidance!!!
Well said! It is so true that when we expect things, we expect the exact and it doesn’t always happen. Of course I am guilty of this but after reading your post, it makes much more sense to expect that something will happen and not so much what that something will be!
Tom,
It’s definitely a point for contemplation — the relationship between divine guidance and life events.
Jenny,
Thanks! The subtle difference between attachment to specific outcomes and faith in everyday miracles is definitely a fine line to tread… it’s like becoming mindful of when you stray across the center yellow line… Think of how little separates moving forward safely and straying into on-coming traffic…