I’ve been having the experience lately of instant (or nearly instant) answers from Spirit in regards to the callings of my own heart, and it’s got me pondering the ways Spirit speaks to us and tries to guide us along our paths in our everyday lives. The answers for me have come for small wonderings or curiosities as well as larger emotional issues weighing on my heart, and each time I laugh and wonder when I’m finally going to “get it”, when I’m finally going to remember that there is a constant two-way communication happening here and that I only need ask and then pay attention.
But I know for so many of us it can feel more complicated than that. For years I felt like I was asking and asking and asking and getting no response. I would cry and journal and vent, and yet I still felt confused. I took classes about clarity and I read books about energy. I moved through the motions of leaning deeper into my spiritual beliefs and practices, and yet in a lot of ways I wasn’t making much headway when it came to a true interactive relationship with Spirit.
The turning point for me came about six years ago when I finally learned how to meditate. For three years after that I was joyously immersed in the in-depth study of meditation and the brain, and I spent hundreds of hours in meditation opening my channel and better understanding how to manage my own energy. What I learned during that time (and since) is that Spirit is always speaking to us, always guiding us.
I know, I know. I can hear the collective groan of you non-meditators out there. I can feel the exasperation of those of you who have tried to meditate but have given it up more times than the latest diet or workout fad. And this post isn’t about meditation (although you know I’m always cheering you on to find a stillness practice that works for you). It’s about listening to your joy and becoming best friends with your curiosity.
In the early days of tapping into my intuitive channel, I used to lead a monthly women’s group. I had just turned 30, and I started the group because I wanted to create a mindful, guided platform for communing with the women in my life. I was fatigued by the usual conversation that ensued when my girlfriends and I got together, as we inevitably slid into complaining about one of three topics: our men, our bodies or our jobs. I was excited about the possibility of something different, and I followed that excitement and started the group.
I encouraged the women in the group to “follow their feel-good breadcrumbs” as a way to gain clarity about who they were and what they wanted out of life. It became a motto of sorts for our little clan, and I firmly believed that we didn’t have to see the bigger picture as long as we were always staring straight down for the joyous morsels right in front of us on the path. Sure, it would’ve been handy to have the map with the entire path laid out, but as long as were staying in the energy of joy, curiosity and excitement, we’d always be right where we needed to be.
That phrase - “follow your feel-good breadcrumbs” - and that sentiment of staying intimately connected with what would make you feel good right here, right now in this moment was more important than I could have possibly known at that time. Because what I’ve learned in the many years since is that Spirit deals in morsels. Yes, sometimes we get slapped in the face with a whopper of a knowing, but more often than not, the messages are in the subtle. A perfectly-timed sentiment on social media. A run-in with an old friend. A book that finds its way into your life at just the right moment.
Spirit is a lover of the intimate details. Think about the tiniest freckles on babies’ faces or the softest petals on a delicate flower. Or close your eyes and remember a time when you felt the gentlest breeze on a warm summer day or cool beads of rain running down your skin . The magic is in the minute. So why wouldn’t it be the same in our lives?
I believe that when we train ourselves to focus on the smallest sensations in our lives, we also train ourselves to receive the subtle messages Spirit is crumbling on the path just ahead of us. Meditation was the vehicle that helped me tune into the subtle, but I believe it can look different for each of us. We simply have to be connected to finding what feels good in each and every moment. When I am most lost or feeling most jumbled, I always come back to that guiding question, “What would feel good right now?“
Connection to Spirit starts first with connection to the self, and you can only know the self by being attentive to the rise and fall of your own emotions. What brings you joy? What excites you? What piques your curiosity? Where you find connection with your joy, there you find your connection with Spirit.
I dare you to ask Spirit for a sign today, and then I challenge you to open your eyes and your heart wide enough to see it when it lands squarely in your path.
Spirit is in the details. May you follow your feel-good breadcrumbs on the path that leads squarely into your own heart.