1. Do you always trust guidance?
No. Trusting guidance takes practice. Its positivity can feel to our fearful self like wishful thinking. I find myself distrusting guidance whenever it is “too positive,” as when it assures me “all is well,” and I feel it is not. And yet, in the long run, guidance is always right, and all is always well. As guidance further tells me, “There is no error in your path.”
2. What if it’s your imagination?
Don’t worry. Guidance is linked to your imagination. It trains you to imagine the positive. Over time, this becomes a habit, as we imagine not impending doom, but impending good.
3. When do you doubt guidance?
When guidance is “too” positive, we tend to want to discount it, insisting on our negativity and fear. Worry is a habit, and guidance asks us to break our habit. This can take some doing. I find that if I ask guidance for further assurance, guidance will repeat its positive message. This can be aggravating. “Are you listening?” we demand. “Do not doubt our benevolence,” we are told. Finally, it becomes easier to accept than reject guidance.
4. What do you do when you doubt guidance?
When I find myself doubting guidance, I will ask for further clarity, using questions like, “What do you mean by that?” “What should my next step be?” Guidance responds to direct questioning, often telling us something simple, like “Rest.” “Eat.” The next right thing is often simple.
5. Can guidance answer anything?
There is no area beyond the scope of guidance. Romance, finance, problems at work, problems at home—all yield to the wisdom of guidance. Sometimes, however, the answers proposed can seem too simple. I find that sitting with the response of guidance always leads me gently forward. But it can take me a while to cooperate. Guidance doesn’t pry. If I ask what’s going on with so-and-so, I may not receive an answer. Instead, guidance will direct me to adjust my own attitude, as in, “Have a little more faith.” “Have a little more patience.”
6. What if guidance seems vague?
If guidance seems vague, it is usually because we haven’t asked a proper question. A request for further clarity can turn the key. Simply put, “What do you mean by that?” usually yields us greater information.
7. Where does guidance come from?
I have never received a direct answer to this question. Sometimes guidance seems to come directly from the Higher Power. At other times, it seems to be more plural—“higher forces.” I have asked, “Are you angels?” and received the reply, “We are powerful, benevolent forces who wish you well.” Deceased loved ones may also seem to chime in. Sometimes, I ask for them by name, as in, “Can I hear from Jane?” “Can I hear from Elberta?” I find, then, that their answers have a familiar ring: Jane sounds like Jane, Elberta sounds like Elberta.
8. What if guidance seems repetitious?
In my experience, guidance is repetitious. It repeats a positive message over and over again until it sinks in, and finally, exhausted by my skepticism, I begin to accept that guidance is right, and “all is well.”
9. Does guidance take practice?
I would say that guidance is always readily available, but trusting it takes practice. The messages can seem so simple, yet simplicity can be threatening. I have a friend whose guidance always says, “All is in divine order.” Sometimes this strikes her as too good to be true. And yet, in cozy retrospect, it has been true.
10. Do other cultures use guidance?
Yes. Many cultures use guidance. The Lakota speak of “spirits.” The Japanese talk to their “ancestors.” To them, our self-reliance seems laughable. Of course they ask for guidance. To them, it seems only sensible. After all, those who loved us in this life love us still in the hereafter. “Guard and guide me,” runs a Lakota prayer, trusting that higher forces will do exactly that.
11. What is the difference between intuition and guidance?
Intuition leads to trusting guidance. While intuition is often a prompt to action, guidance is often a prompt to trust.
12. Guidance tells us to “Let go and let God.” Isn’t this foolish?
I have a friend who asks each morning for the day to unfold with “ease and joy.” She believes in answered prayers, and when her day seems complicated, she practices the simple slogan, “Let go and let God.” “Everything is in divine order,” she tells me, “no matter how it seems.” Over time, I have seen her life work out, with simple solutions to complicated problems. Her dependence on guidance has come to seem wise, not foolish.
13. When should we ask for guidance?
Any time, any place is a good opportunity to ask for guidance. Many feel asking for guidance right after they do their Morning Pages yields them easy access. Others find guidance comes to them easily as they are winding down for the day. I myself use guidance whenever a daily situation leaves me confused. “What about X?” I ask, and I am often told, “Your need is rest and calm.” And so, I take a break from trying to figure things out, finding that a solution often comes to me when I relax.
14. I’m afraid of seeming too “woo-woo” if I tell people I depend on guidance. Is guidance “woo-woo”?
Actually, I find that guidance is very grounded. It encourages patience and wisdom. It makes us alert to the signs and signals that tell us we are on the right path. This is far from “woo-woo.”
15. Does guidance promote synchronicity?
As we listen to our guidance, we are led to an alert attention. We notice the universe supporting us, in often surprising ways. This is synchronicity. We find, increasingly, we are in the right place at the right time.
16. Why do we put guidance in writing?
Putting our guidance in writing gives us a written record of what we’ve been told. It makes it more difficult to discount guidance, as there it is, in black and white. Reading back, we can say, “This was true,” and “This was true,” and we see that our guidance has indeed been reliable.
17. Is guidance always positive?
In my experience, guidance is, in fact, always positive—in the long run. It points us toward our highest good. It causes us to look at the silver lining that is apparent in any and all circumstances. Following guidance, we see the good that surrounds us, even in difficult times. When guidance tells us, “All is well,” we are forced to consider that possibility. Asking in the moment, we must admit that all is well. Everything is in divine order, as will become clear.
18. Do you keep a separate journal for guidance?
I don’t keep a separate journal for guidance, although I think perhaps I should. Instead, my guidance is interspersed with Morning Pages, which tell me the circumstances of the day, and what I ask for guidance on.
19. What if I am afraid to ask for guidance?
It helps to remember that in the long run, guidance is always benevolent. Experience will teach that you are going to be told good news, not bad. Fear of guidance comes from a lingering notion of a punishing God. We wince, waiting for the voice of doom that doesn’t come. Sometimes a quick gratitude list is an antidote. Numbering from one to five, list five things in your life you are grateful for. Then ask, simply, “What do I need to know?”
20. Is guidance kind?
Yes. Guidance is always unfailingly kind—again, in the long run. As with the question “Why do I doubt you?” the answer may be gentle: “Doubt is part of the human condition.” This gentle answer helps to dismantle our tendency for self-blame. If guidance tells us it is human nature to doubt, then we can know that guidance accepts our nature—and so we can, ourselves.