Your Spirit Guide Isn’t ‘Out There,’ It’s Inside You

Diana Cole   There was a time when I was living in an apartment, with only my young daughter, watching my life collapse around me. I had just reconnected with the world of spirit, and as a result I experienced a powerful upwelling of well-being and clarity in my life. The first lesson I needed to hear and understand from spirit is that my thoughts mold my life. I learned that If I could think positively about every situation, then my life would produce more positive situations. This was simple in theory, but hard to practice. In fact, I didn’t follow through with this lesson until my life crumbled and I had nothing to lose. But once I embraced this guidance and began following it faithfully, everything in my life changed. I began to see that all the failures and pain I had experienced had been great gifts. One of the greatest gifts available to us as human beings is the ability to consciously choose our thoughts and perceptions, no matter what. Yet this essential truth can only be learned, and put into practice, when we are able to hear the guidance that spirit provides. We all have spiritual guidance available to us, but most of us unknowingly block ourselves from receiving it. We may do this by constantly looking outside ourselves for fulfillment, happiness, or whatever it is we are chasing. But the wisdom of spirit that can impart true joy in your life isn’t outside you. It exists inside. Here are three ways you can access it: 1.    Drop self-doubt: Self-doubt erases manifestation. In other words, we can’t manifest anything we deserve if we doubt that we deserve it in the first place. People are often afraid to begin dialoguing directly with spirit because they feel like they don’t know what to say or feel silly going inward and asking. As human beings, we make things so much more complicated than they need to be. All we have to do is be quiet and listen. 2.    Give yourself permission to be YOU: We live in a world of endless opportunities for comparison. Am I as productive as others? Am I accomplishing enough? Does so-and-so like me? Am I a good enough [parent/coworker/partner/leader]? Not only are you enough, but you are wonderful! Everything you think, feel, and do is enough. Once you believe that and can truly love you for you, that’s when you can access divine guidance (aka your inner voice) to follow the path you are meant to follow. 3.    Turn off the noise: Do you look at your phone before you fall asleep and immediately when you wake up? Do you catch yourself scrolling mindlessly and find that you’re not even getting anything out of it? Have you binge-watched an entire series on Netflix in a day or two? It’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up. We are all participants in the noise because it’s numbing. It gives us something to focus on so we don’t have to focus on the pain in our world and the world at large. However, natural healing comes from quieting ourselves for a few minutes a day, meditating for a few minutes, trusting ourselves and the questions we bring to the table, and being open to what we hear. It takes practice. But it’s as simple as listening. In what ways do you converse with spirit? Prayer? Meditation? Writing? Art? Nature? A casual conversation? You strengthen your line of communication with spirit every time you express an honest emotion. Your vulnerability is the bridge that allows lessons of spirit to flow in and through you. I practice asking questions and receiving answers on a daily basis. The question and answer process calms me and allows me to feel connected to my spirit. It’s like a meditation practice in that sense. But the big life-changing shifts happened for me when I stopped discounting the messages I was receiving from spirit and really heard them. Only then did I begin to pay close attention to the spirit lessons I was given and apply them to my daily life   About: Diana Cole is a spirit translator, thought leader, and author. Passionate about spirit guidance, she is committed to teaching people how to access it for themselves so they may find freedom from pain and limitation and live a life of abundance, fun, and inspiration. Diana offers her empowering tools for spirit guidance in group settings, speaking engagements, live workshops, and through her vibrant Instagram and Facebook communities. She is the author of “Spirit Translator: Seven Truths for Creating Well-Being and Connecting With Spirit” (St. Martin’s Press, August 2020) and coauthor of “Pillars of Success” (August 2020) with Jack Canfield. Diana’s first children’s book is “Alina the Positive Thought Warrior.” Learn more at https://dianacole.com   https://dianacole.com/books