I have eight spirit guides in my meditation circle. I started with seven and then invited one more. I sit with these spirit guides, my dearest friends, in prayer and meditation every day. Usually, I go to their space, which is always a fire circle. But today, I imagined them standing before me life-sized. In my bedroom.
“If I open my eyes, will I see you?” I asked. “Is that how real You are?”
“Go ahead, Polly. Open your eyes. We will be here.”
“Will I see you?”
“Open your eyes, Polly.”
I opened my eyes.
What I saw with my knowing heart was Their Presence, standing before me—Archangel Michael, large, glorious and golden filling my room; Mother Mary, sitting on my cedar chest; Her Son next to her, who approached me and took my hand; Persephone, who was in one corner by my husband’s dresser and the next moment by the window; Mother Earth, ancient and STRONG, so incredibly resilient like a vibrant oak; Aphrodite, who resides in a sumptuous apartment, a luxurious lair that travels with her, is part of her and where I have visited for health, guidance, rest, and recovery; Balance, standing tall, stolid, and silent, my patron of meditation; Athena, standing next to her, shifting between masculine and feminine, warrior and woman, protector and sister.
“We are always here, Polly,” they said, “even when your eyes are open.”
Altering my perception to see these spirit guides with my eyes open in my everyday awake setting is a revolution in my perception of life. I feel their calm, devoted, and loving attention and presence. No matter what I do, what I think, nothing “steals” from this presence.
Today, I did a yoga practice on YouTube where the teacher said our thoughts about the past and future steal from the present moment. That is impossible. The present moment is here always, is all that there is. Our thoughts can’t steal from it. That is impossible. However, our thoughts steal from our awareness of the Present, so we are only partially aware of it.
My spirit guides are always here in the Present with me. But I often ignore them. That is my choice. Or my habit. I choose to change my habit of ignoring their presence. I choose to transform my awareness always to be present with them.
May it be so. And so mote it be.
An excerpt from Chapter 3, “The Practice of Grateful Living, Stop. Look. Go,” from Wake Up Grateful, The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted, by Kristi Nelson
“Many of us need to cultivate reliable methods and practices to connect with or reinvigorate grateful awareness when it is not readily accessible. Cultivation harnesses the energy of our intentions. Just as we can cultivate a bountiful flower or vegetable garden, so too can we cultivate qualities in our lives we desire and that will serve our lives. What we nourish with our attention will nourish us in return.” –page 43