10
Stop and look at the good things that have happened in your life, the kind and generous people who have helped you, the birds you heard singing in the trees, the sound of the ocean, the friends who were there for you, and those times when the right thing just seemed to happen. These things did not happen by chance. You are being watched over by your guides and angels. You are being prompted to see your way through what might appear impassable. You are being watched over particularly at the hardest times. You cannot be alone, for you are connected to everything, and this connection extends beyond the seen and heard to being in union with all life.
Your Guides Are with You
If you are drawn to the labyrinth and are reading this book, then there is a strong possibility that you have been prompted to do so by your guide. When you decided to come to earth, you went over every detail beforehand with your guide. You may have chosen learnings that seem insurmountable when faced here on earth, yet you would not have chosen them if you knew that you couldn’t get through them and learn from them. And it is at the most difficult times that you can forget that you are being prompted and guided on an energetic and spiritual level. So pause now for a moment. Allow your thoughts to recede, and listen with all your senses. Feel the air moving around you; hear the voice that does not speak; tune in to knowledge that comes from a place beyond you. You are not alone. The spirit world is supporting you.
You may be fortunate enough to have already connected with your guide. Even if you have never consciously connected with your guide, you may still know that you are being watched over without being able to prove it. If you are in tune with your intuition, and find synchronicities happening to you that you cannot always explain, you are following the guidance that you are receiving. You may first become aware of this when you notice yourself choosing one thing over another just because it feels right, or having to go someplace even though it may not always make sense. I remember following an urge in 2004 to go to a health food store and restaurant in Cork. I had been there only a few days before and had stocked up on everything I needed, so I couldn’t fully understand my “need” to go back there. I decided to drive by and said to myself that if I got a parking space nearby that I would go in. There was a parking space right outside the door! I went in and walked all around the shop and didn’t find anything that I needed.
I moved along to the restaurant entrance where there were many notices and information leaflets about all kinds of activities, mainly of a mind, body, and spirit nature. In one of the information racks someone had left some magazines with reviews of mind/body/spirit books. I flicked through one of these and read the start of the editorial that spoke about powerful cosmic energies that were coming through in mid to late 2003 that would have significant life-changing events for many people. That was around the time that I divorced, so I was intrigued by what I was reading. Not having much time, I picked up the three or four other similar review magazines that were left there and brought them home with me to read later.
As I was going through the magazines at home, I noticed a person’s name and address on the back of one of them. As I was looking to meet up with like-minded people who were interested in spiritual topics, I took a chance and wrote a letter to the person whose name was on the back of the magazine, Maureen. I received a phone call from her shortly afterwards saying that she had a meditation group at her house every Sunday evening and would I like to come along. I started going to the Sunday evening gatherings. A few months later, there was a dream workshop happening at this woman’s house. It was at this dream workshop that I met Fionnuala! The woman who left the magazines in the shop was one of Fionnuala’s best friends, and she didn’t realise that her name and address was on the back of some of them.
You might call this following my destiny. You might say that this sequence of events was no more than a series of coincidences. Yet, I know that there was something more at work here than mere chance. I listened to the guidance that I was receiving, and I followed it, even when it didn’t always make sense to me, or when I wasn’t exactly sure what the outcome of my actions would be. In fact, it is often when I have no clue about where something is going that it leads me to the greatest revelations and meetings.
Your Guides and the Labyrinth
Guides love the labyrinth. In the labyrinth, your mind quietens and your awareness heightens. This is a perfect state for your guide to contact you and send you a message that you are more likely to receive. Messages from your guides can come to you in many forms. Mostly, they come as thoughts, ideas, or moments of apparent inspiration you know are significant. There are many accounts of guides helping people, and while some of them are clear, others are hidden in stories and myths that resonate with us on a deeper level that we later learn to understand. This is seen in the case of Ariadne in the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.
You have your very own Ariadne to help you through your labyrinth of life. Your guide is always watching over you and prompting you to make certain decisions and do certain things. These prompts are often in the form of something a little out of the ordinary, or something that causes you to stop, if only for a moment, and think.
The more significant of these signs will stop you in your tracks, although you may not fully understand at the time why this is happening. You know that there is something different or significant about this person, place, or situation. You know that you need to act, say, or do something, or else the moment might be missed, so you find the courage to make the move that is in your best interest.
Angels are also there to help you. Angels are beings in the spirit world who have not lived on the earth plane, while your guides have. Also, with your angels you need to ask for assistance, whereas your guides can provide assistance without you asking. You can ask your angels for help with the smallest things and with things that seem insurmountable. Asking in belief, with no thoughts on how the best outcome will unfold, allows your angels to bring about resolution to many difficult situations.
Inner Guidance
Your primary source of guidance comes from within yourself, from your own spirit. The labyrinth is a symbol of your journey to your own centre to find your true essence and to follow your own path. Ultimately what you think, feel, say, and do are the most powerful actions in dealing with your life’s issues and bringing about a solution to them. The more you learn to follow your own guidance, the more you will advance on your life’s journey.
Your journey of self-discovery involves stepping into your own masterhood. It first entails finding your power and accessing your inner wisdom. The more you develop and step into your power, the more you learn about yourself. You do this by starting with small steps. One step is to consider how you are feeling about any situation, and see if you can change it. Start with some everyday thing such as your feelings about the weather or something that you find you have a slightly negative thought about. See if you can change your thoughts on this issue. For example, I remember a wonderful quote from Billy Connolly, the Scottish comedian, about the weather in which he said, “There is no such thing as bad weather—just the wrong clothes.” So see how you can change your thoughts, first on small everyday things, then on some of the deeper emotional issues that you are experiencing in your life.
Guides in Disguise
Guides are masters of disguise, so watch out for them and their messages in the most unexpected of ways and situations. I am an avid reader of books on spiritual and self-development topics. I have found over the years that whatever book I am reading at the time will have a significant message or messages for me. I often realise that I am reading about a situation similar to one I am currently experiencing, giving me a different perspective. What I am reading also could be about doing something new or something that I can do differently, such as a meditation technique or practice that is exactly what I need at that time. Other times I have read something new that sparks in me an epiphany of inspiration and insight.
These books have come to my attention in many different ways. Some are given to me as gifts, some are mentioned to me by people I meet, some I find on the internet, and some “call” me from the shelves of a bookshop. Each one is a guide! I began calling my favourite books “my book guides.” I am grateful to the authors for what they have written, and value the authors of these books as messengers bringing me insights and advice at the time most needed.
I have lots of unfinished books. I read what I am drawn to, and if I am no longer drawn to a book that in the first instance attracted me, then I have gotten the messages that I need from that book. Sometimes, a more interesting book comes along and I start reading that. It is not unusual for me to have four or five books on the go at one time, switching back and forth between them depending on which one I am drawn to. It’s great fun choosing and reading what I am guided to read at a particular time, and disregarding any thoughts that I must finish one book first before I start another one.
Books bring messages and guidance in other ways as well. I have often felt drawn to choose a certain book from the bookcase or a bookshop shelf knowing that it held a meaningful message for me. After taking out the exact book, I consciously ask for guidance as to where to open that book, and then intuitively open the book at the page that I am guided to. It is wonderfully fascinating to use books as guidance in this way.
Your guides also prompt other people to bring you messages. Your guide will often send you messages in your dreams as you sleep, because in this state you are most open to receiving the messages. Your guide will look for times when you are most receptive. Any time when you quieten your mind you are creating an opening for your guide to communicate with you. I find that in my morning meditation many new thoughts, ideas, and insights come to me. I wonder sometimes where these thoughts come from. On one level, I am connecting with the unified field of consciousness and tapping into an area on which I am ready to receive insights and guidance. On another level, I know that my guide is watching and waiting for the right time to get a message to me.
If someone is going to all that trouble for me, to help me on my path, to prompt me when needed, and to be watching over me all this time, then I want to get to know this personal guide even more. And I want to work with them more actively so that I receive all the guidance that I am being sent. Now it’s time to move on to establishing a deeper communication with your main guide.
Exercise: Walking to Meet Your Guides
This exercise is about meeting your guide, or getting to know your guide better, and receiving a message from your guide. You will be walking the labyrinth with the intention of making a stronger connection with your guide. You will be asking your guide for his/her name. And you will be asking your guide for the most important message that they have for you.
Before you walk the labyrinth take a few minutes to relax your breathing. If possible, sit down for a few minutes and tune in to the walk that you are about to undertake. Write down the following three questions on a piece of paper. Are you my guide? What is your name? What message do you have for me?
You will be asking these questions during the labyrinth walk when you sense a presence or something slightly different. This difference may be in you, in the atmosphere, or in the energy around you and the labyrinth. This can be as subtle as a slight change in temperature, a slight resistance to moving along in the labyrinth, or even some apparent external distraction that catches your attention.
As you are about to enter the labyrinth, ask your guide to be with you and to give you a strong signal of their presence. As you walk, notice when you sense a shift in the energy. Pause, and ask the first question, stating that you want to hear from your guide only. Ask it three times, and each time allow time for an answer. If you receive a positive answer to your first question, then proceed to the second question. Again, ask three times, each time allowing time for an answer. Even if the first answer is fruitful, always ask the question three times. Asking a question three times is a good deterrent against receiving a false message, or of receiving a message from someone other than your guide. Ask the third question and allow time for an answer. If nothing comes immediately, ask again up to three times.
You may not receive any answers the first time that you pause or stop. Indeed, you may find that you pause or stop several times before you sense that your guide is with you. It is important to stay in an open state of mind and not get distracted if you do not sense anything on the first few occasions. The more alert and aware that you are, the more likely you are to recognize the guidance that you are being given.
Much of the guidance that you receive is through the thoughts or ideas that come to you. As your guide communicates with you mostly telepathically, you will mainly receive their guidance in a thought form. Pay attention to the thoughts that come to you. You may also receive guidance in the form of voices, visions, or feelings.
Continue your walk to the centre of the labyrinth, pausing at the centre, then making your way back out along the path of the labyrinth. If you feel that you did not pick up or receive anything, that is okay. Your guides are always with you, and are delighted with your efforts to communicate with them. Trust this connection between you and your guide and try again when you feel ready. At the end of the walk, thank your guide.
Reflection
Regardless of whether you received something or not, take time after your walk to sit still for at least five minutes. Take out your pen and paper and start writing. Write whatever comes into your head. Do not rationalize what you are writing. Write without thinking, and write down everything that comes to you. Do not read back what you are writing. You will have plenty of time for that afterwards. You may find as you are writing that you have a pause in your writing for a few moments. Allow those moments of quietness to be, and resume writing when another thought comes to you. Finish off by giving thanks for the writing that you have done and the labyrinth walk that you had the pleasure of undertaking. Later, when you have a quiet time, read back over what you have written noting anything significant or unusual. You may be surprised to see that after your labyrinth walk some guidance has come through in your writing.