How to Connect with Your Guides in 3 Simple Steps
What even is your “guidance,” right? Like, you hear this all the time, “follow your inner guidance”, listen to your “guides.” But what does it mean, and how do you do it?
When I first entered the world of spirituality around four and a half years ago, this concept was so new to me and I almost wanted to laugh at it. Despite that, there was this tingling sense of wonder, curiosity and a slight knowing that opening up to guidance could help me.
So...I sort of flung myself at it totally haphazardly and learned what to do, and what not to do.
Before I share with you the tips I’ve learned, let me first explain a little bit about what guidance even is.
Now, like I said, when I started this a part of me thought it was silly. I didn’t believe in anything. I didn’t have any spiritual faith, but I had a curiosity and I had a belief that there had to be a better way to live my life. I also had a slight tugging that told me to explore the spiritual world, despite my serious doubt that there was anything beyond this physical world.
At the time, I was destroying myself physically and emotionally by working 80+ hours/week for a non-profit where I was barely making enough to pay the bills. I didn't have time for another job with all the hours I worked at my current one, and I truly believed that in order to be helpful, you had to give of yourself until you were depleted. I didn't know there was another way. I wanted so badly (and still do) to make a massive positive impact on this world and thought that giving of myself fully, while sacrificing my wellbeing, was the only way.
Not to mention, I was also desperately desiring to get rid of the symptoms of bipolar type I, anxiety, depression, ADHD, insomnia and bulimia that had been plaguing me for years. Deep down I knew I could, but I wasn’t sure how. The medications I was taking felt like it only made my life worse, yet it was the best of many trials and errors of a variety of pills and combinations. If I missed a dose, within 15 minutes I’d be feeling miserable.
I couldn’t keep living my life the way I was.
This is partly why I decided to open up to the spiritual concepts I now incorporate into my daily existence. I figured, at the very least it couldn’t get worse.
When I first started, I decided to get on board with these concepts:
We live in a loving Universe in which our natural state is happiness.
There is a loving energy that permeates all around us and is always available for us to tap into.
We let our modern world and experiences cover us up with beliefs and notions that we are not good enough, that there will always be pain, that life is hard, etc., but that reality is the opposite.
Only love is real, everything else is an illusion we allow ourselves to believe.
We all have an inner wisdom that if tapped into can help us connect with that loving energy that’s all around us.
There are beings of higher love and light--interdimensional beings--that are here to help us in ways we may not understand but are unconditionally loving and wise.
I decided to hop on board to these concepts, among others, in an attempt to live a better life. Little did I know then what incredible change I would experience now because of this switch in my worldview.
My life has gotten infinitely easier, happier, and “in the flow." It’s been a process; A journey with lots of commitment on my end and tons of ups and downs.
But here’s the thing: If I knew on my journey how to connect with guides the way I now do regularly, the journey would have been much smoother.
Even though I had hopped on board with the previous beliefs listed above, I was missing some VERY key components.
Not knowing the additional pieces to the puzzle of connecting with your guides, could lead to outcomes like I experienced during this period of trial and error. There’s also lower energy forms (ex. souls who didn’t know they left their physical body) who can connect with you when you’re in a lower vibration or when you “open up” to any guidance.
When I first wanted to tap into the wisdom of the beings around me, I opened up to anything. I said “I open up now to messages.” Period. I also hadn’t been conscious of my energy at the time and was in a much lower vibrational place than I am today.
Thus, I opened myself up to lower vibrational beings and had some wacky experiences and some roller-coaster emotional rides.
But I didn't give up!
More knowledge was clearly necessary to tap into guides the right way, and over time I have learned these additional crucial aspects of how to connect with your guides:
When we vibrate at lower levels (depression, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, doubt, etc), we cannot see/hear/feel the guidance of our inner selves and our higher guides because we are not a vibrational match for their frequency.
When we “open up” to any messages, especially while in a lower frequency, we are welcoming in messages from beings who are not all-loving and all-supportive.
When we vibrate at higher levels (love, happiness, abundance, faith, etc.), we are an energetic match for loving guides with deep wisdom to share to come into our space and provide us with help.
Where our attention goes, energy flows. If we demonstrate gratitude for our guidance system, we receive more of it. If we feel “stuck” and upset that we’re not receiving guidance, it will be harder and harder to receive guidance. Additionally, if we receive guidance, but we do not heed it, we’re demonstrating that guidance is not valuable to us and therefore may have a harder time receiving it in the future.
If we do not ask for assistance, we will not receive it unless our life is in danger and it is not our time to go.
These five points ARE HUGE. I was missing some very important pieces to the puzzle when I first started my journey.
In just a minute I will walk you through a 3-step process to connect to your guides, but first I want to demonstrate to you just HOW PROFOUND this shift in my life has been.
I told you how when I started I was destroying my body (I literally walked with a limp everyday from a medical condition that has since healed), working 80+ hour weeks, fighting with mental illness, taking medications I hated but felt dependent on.
I was desperate for a different way.
Dozens of courses, workshops and retreats, combined with countless books and articles have led me to a place where my guides and intuition are like my ultimate GPS system helping me navigate life with ease and grace towards my natural state of bliss, abundance and love.
Now I am medication-free, living abundantly, providing inspiration to thousands of people, healthier than I’ve ever been, happier than I have ever been, running my own business from a place of alignment versus hard work (not to say it’s not work, but it doesn’t feel that way and that’s the key), and living in constant gratitude. This is because of my understanding of and trust in the love that is all around me.
I often refer to my guidance system as love or the Universe. Because that’s how it feels; it feels like endless love is supporting me, like the whole Universe is conspiring to help me. This leads me to one last important set of concepts you must understand before I give you steps on how to connect with your guides.
Guidance from loving high beings (guides, angels, ascended masters, etc.) feels LOVING. Even if the guidance is a suggestion or a feeling that a choice may not be your best option, it never feels threatening or scary. You may receive a “no” answer from your guides, but it will feel loving and kind, often with an opening to a better option.
When you receive what you think may be guidance but it feels like fear, that is not coming from your higher guides. An example may be a “don’t go in there!” thought, feeling, etc that causes you to feel scared. This is not your intuition, this is not your higher guides. This is what I call Ego (your fear-based mind). That is the subject of an entirely different article for another day, but just very important to point out here. There is no need to listen to fear-based guidance. It is not real. Only love is real, therefore, only loving guidance is real.
Okay, once you have all the concepts down that are listed in this article about how to connect to your guides, you can begin the following three easy steps to open up to incorporating loving guidance into your day to day life. Get ready for your world to change.
Start each day by saying the following in your own words: “Thank you for a beautiful day. I welcome all the highest and most loving support from the Universe (feel free to use your language for guides here, ie. angels, interdimensional beings, ascended masters, etc.). Thank you for showing me where to go, what to do, what to say and to whom. Thank you for making this day easy and fun. I love you and I am grateful for your support” Note: When you thank your guides in advance of them doing work for you, your vibration is at a higher place than if you ask them to help you in a feeling of desperation. Gratitude is one of the highest vibes you can feel, so always thank your guides before the evidence of their work is even available to you. This also demonstrates another higher-vibe emotion of faith.
Use your outer world as an opportunity to receive guidance. Ask your guides for a sign about a situation for the highest and best most loving good and then be aware of where your attention goes. Here are some things you can do:
Choose a sign for a “yes or no” question. For example you can say “Universe, guides, if it is in the highest and best most loving interest for me to do [insert your dilemma here], show me a starfish (or whatever you choose as your sign) in the next 24 hours. Thank you for your guidance” and then be aware if a starfish does or doesn’t come your way in that timeline. I once used this EXACT method and then realized a week later I had a starfish in my bathroom (in plan view) that I forgot about and DIDN’T NOTICE the whole time I asked for guidance. That was a clear “no” answer from the Universe because it was right in front of me and I still didn’t see it until after the time passed that I asked for the sign.
Say “Universe, thank you for using the radio to give me the highest and most loving guidance about this circumstance”, then turn the dial and notice what words or feelings stand out to you. You can also do this with overhearing people talk in a store or at work. Say, “Thank you guides for helping me hear the answer I need” and then you can notice the answer in creative ways -- music, other people’s conversations, advertisements, etc.
Get a deck of cards and start using them for daily or as-needed guidance. I love this deck by Doreen Virtue. It recently helped me make a MAJOR leap of faith with my business. When you use the cards, cleanse them before each reading by envisioning white light, welcome in the support of the highest and best most loving light and say “thank you for helping me get out of my own way” because you do not want what you THINK you should get or what you WANT to get as a reading to get in the way of the ultimate divine guidance for you.
Before bed each night, list all the ways receiving guidance during the day helped you and say “Thank you!” List out every good thing in the day and express gratitude. Know that every good thing that came your way was divinely guided so expressing gratitude for all the good, not only gives way to more good, but also opens up doors to receiving more guidance. What you appreciate, appreciates. So the more you express gratitude for guidance, the more it grows.
One final thing to keep in mind, if you receive a very clear sign from the Universe: FOLLOW IT!!!!!! No matter how seemingly scary. It may seem like a scary change, new move, etc., but if your guides are recommending it from a place of the highest and best most loving good, it means that that choice is infinitely better than your current circumstance no matter how hard it may be to see in the present moment. Listen and you will be rewarded.
