SEEK GUIDANCE AND ACT UPON IT

Anytime we do not know how to go about doing something, or need the answer to something, I always recommend (and have found it efficacious personally) to "ask to know." Just ask... write down your request, say it out loud ( or better yet sing it) with all your heart. Better yet verbalize it affirmatively as if you already have what you are seeking or wish to know.

"I now receive perfect knowledge of who I am."

"I now receive perfect knowledge of what I love to do and do it lovingly all day long."

Or better yet...

"I am perfect self fulfillment"

"I am perfect self knowledge"

Then watch for signs, intuitions, guidance, fulfillment of these.

You may have a dream. You may have a series of divine coincidences (a billboard, a book, your nephew says something to you, a bunch of media presents you with an idea over and over, etc., etc., etc.

Each day you meditate, pray, journal about the meaning of these things, each day you take time to ruminate, set goals, send emails, make phone calls, change your schedule... all based upon the guidance you get increasingly (because you are increasingly seeking guidance, absorbing guidance, acting upon your guidance.)

You do your part, and the Universe does its part.

Do your spiritual work first, then watch for guidance and act upon it.

Do you see?

And here is just a bit more related advice about seeking guidance from the Universe and acting upon it:

If only a small part of you believes that things will get better, focus on that part and it will grow. Course in Miracles calls this "The Little Willingness" and the Bible calls it "The Grain of Mustard Seed."

Life is a process. It takes time (though I will say the method of manifesting which I am advocating does often produce very quick results). Quick or slow results, though, keep in mind that sometimes questions, affirmations and prayers are answered but not exactly as one envisions. Ask very completely, since you often get EXACTLY what you ask for. And, sometimes God has a better, bigger, idea that fits you better than even you know.

I always tell God that I am open to "God's better idea," and thank God at the end of any prayer, affirmation, or mandala (even though, right now, I do not envision God as sentient, but rather more like a reflective force, like a mirror which reflects anything in me back to me.)

Trust, trust, trust...

FYI, I do find (just stressing this again) that writing your prayer down, in words and/or pictures, especially helps. It helps you clarify, and thus helps send your request to the Universe most effectively. And, it truly is best yet, to also say or sing your prayer with ALL your heart. Really say it/sing it with trust, umph, and earnestness, silly as you might feel doing it. I often say/sing my prayers with long sustained, vibrating, low tones (sort of like the films you see of Buddhist monks, chanting and blowing their long trumpets).

And here is something pertinent and interesting. A long time ago, years ago, when I was a different person spiritually (and wanted to be a priest), I read about the visions of the Virgin Mary. In one of these visions, to the children of Medjugore, the Blessed Mother said that she and God could see the prayers of the people on earth like lights on the surface of the earth. She said that the brightest and most heard prayers/lights were the ones said with all the heart.

Well, I now do not see God as sentient, judging, etc., (as traditional Christianity does). I do not see God as he or she, as having necessarily consciousness, etc. Nonetheless, I have always remembered those words of the "Blessed Virgin," and still resonate with them on some level. I now view this idea of the efficacy of heart-filled, intense prayers not so much in the "a sentient God will see or hear our prayers better" way, but rather believe that our prayers reflect back to us better when they are brighter/more intense.

Why?

Well, if God is a mirror, a reflective force (as I currently suspect), then surely "brighter lights" (i.e. more intense prayers) reflect right back to us more clearly, more brightly, more effectively.

It is like God the mirror says, "Right back at'cha!"

I know the above sounds goofy and very Shirley McClaine... but in my experience, over and over, consistently throughout my life, in all sorts of instances (big and small), I have seen that my intense, trusting, written down, spoken/sung, affirmatively-worded prayers are answered... often amazingly quickly!

And, being human, we all want effective, quickly answered prayers do we not?!?

May all your prayers be loving, effective, and speedily-answered, dear ones.

-Merton