Guidance
Barbara Hoff Varley
Posted by aplecompte on March 30th, 2010
Guidance may be the ego's most fertile area for fostering doubt and confusion, guilt and fear. First of all, I am certain that if you work daily with the sequential lessons from the Workbook of ACIM, whatever blocks you have to experiencing Holy Spirit's guidance will disappear. Just the fact that you are working with this material is proof that you
are being Guided whether you are aware of it or not.
As I began working with ACIM, which includes doing a lesson a day from the Workbook, my life seemed to get 'crisper' and less unconscious, less vague. I would notice a fresh thought waiting to be noticed, waiting for me to listen. It was obviously not an old rehashed thought, but something said in a new way, perhaps a new perspective. With a sense of excitement, I began acting on those thoughts to discover their validity. How else can you ever know for sure?
Trying to 'figure out' what to do always seems to muddy everything up. Noticing my thoughts about what to do in a situation, I try not to fight them. Instead I encourage them to come to my awareness. Sometimes I even list all of the ideas I have about something. When I'm empty, I say, "OK, Holy Spirit, I'm finished. I now ask You to guide me. Thank you." And then I just relax, trusting I will be guided.
Everyone has had the experience of asking and not seeming to receive. Yet, in the Bible, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Ask and you shall receive." In a meditation, I realized Jesus certainly was talking about guidance. Ask for guidance and you will receive it.
I decided to experiment with "ask and you will receive" as pertaining to guidance. As often as I could possibly think to ask for guidance during the day, I did. Whenever I would think of Holy Spirit, I would thank Him for guiding my life and ask Him to please continue. Then I would simply assume that I was guided, whether I heard a voice specifically or not. The results in my life proved to me that all I had to do was ask for guidance to receive it. I allowed myself to pause and be still often and would then notice what I felt moved to do.
The first part of the lessons in the Workbook is concerned with undoing the way we see now, so that we become willing to allow our lives to be guided by a loving, all-knowing source. I want to emphasize that doing the lessons in the Workbook clears your mind to receive guidance more easily.
I began to notice that although my ego wanted dramatic displays of guidance - loud inner voice, 'signs and wonders' - what I perceive most often are gentle urges, quiet thoughts, a suggestion from another person which resonates within me, etc. I experience guidance as a natural, undramatic fact of life.
No one gets excited when the lights come on after turning on the light switch. We don't expect the darkness to battle the light to see who wins. Once the light switch is turned on, darkness is simply gone. That's my experience with guidance. Once I've asked for guidance from Holy Spirit, ego has no power . . . when Light is called upon, darkness is powerless.
"But what if I somehow do follow ego guidance?" I am certain of the Holy Spirit as a Master Teacher and Helper, and I know that if we have somehow followed ego and yet continue to ask for Holy Spirit's guidance (whether we know 'we're 'off ' or not) Holy Spirit will simply take us wherever we are and make it good, not only for us, but for all concerned. I rather often say something like, "Here I am now, Holy Spirit. If I need correction in any aspect of my life, I am open and willing. Please continue to guide me. Thank you."
I notice that one of my barriers to my willingness to follow guidance is the desire for approval from others. Whenever I have gone ahead and followed Holy Spirit's guidance, even though I felt embarrassed at what I was guided to do or say, or when I knew that people would think I was crazy or even think I was unkind, it has always proven, sooner or later, that I was perfectly guided for the ultimate best for all concerned. For awhile, it takes a lot of courage to follow your guidance. It is a wonderful adventure in trust.
Following Holy Spirit's guidance is for me the most exciting experience this planet offers. It combines all the elements of mountain climbing, hang gliding, skiing, spelunking, car racing, surfing; dealing with constantly changing conditions, moving quickly into the unknown, feelings of leaping off into an abyss, struggle to overcome resistance, intense thrill and joy in process and results. It's a 24-hour-a-day adventure.
By the way, whenever I and another, or others, ask to be guided in some joint venture and we seem to receive 'different' answers, we are both obviously not truly open yet. It helps to acknowledge that. We can then release on what we thought we received, ask to be cleared and ask for an answer again. Sometimes we do this whole process a number of times. Lots of laughter, seeing we are hoping for a particular answer that we want. Lots of letting go that "my guidance is right," remembering that as ACIM says, "When any situation has been dedicated wholly to Truth, peace is inevitable."
It's quite an exciting experience when suddenly Truth comes through and harmony of purpose is felt. We can always sense when we've let go completely to Holy Spirit's guidance . . . such relief and love flow between us. Then it truly doesn't matter what the guidance is. We just want to 'hear' so we can follow.
I've noticed that Holy Spirit's guidance never has me neglect my job, my family, my ethicalness in the world. On the contrary, I seem to do a better job, and am more ethical, as a result of whatever Holy Spirit may be guiding me to do. Everyone benefits from willingness to follow Holy Spirit's guidance. Be not afraid.
There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my actions and lead my feet. I am walking steadily on toward truth. W-60.4.2-3
