Finding Spiritual Guidance
Copyright 2006 Ada Porat
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!