Developing A Relationship With Your Spirit Guides (Part 1)

On my visits to various online forums, I regularly come across questions related to developing a relationship with one’s spirit guides. This article is geared towards those of you who are wanting to start communicating consciously with your guides, by looking at some of the common questions that arise along the way.

When I started writing this article, it flowed… to the tune of over three single-spaced pages in MS Word! And I don’t think I’m quite finished yet! As a result, I’ve decided to split the article into two more manageable chunks (the next one will be published on Monday). After reading these, please let me know if you have any further questions that you’d like me to cover.

Do I have a spirit guide?
Yes, you do. Everyone does. In fact, far from only having one guide, you have a team of spiritual helpers who guide and support you. Some of these guides have been with you since birth, and their role is to provide guidance to help you follow your highest path and purpose. Others join the team on a temporary basis to assist with particular life circumstances and projects as they occur.

How do I initiate contact with my guides?
Communicating with your guides is similar in some respects to communicating with people in the physical world, in that you can talk to them or write to them. I would recommend starting with the form of communication (verbal or written) that you find easiest in the physical world. For me, this is writing, specifically on the computer – my fingers are able to keep up with my brain far better than my mouth can, and so information flows better for me this way! As a result, I started communicating with my guides by journalling, typing my questions into an MS Word document and writing down whatever popped into my brain as the answer. My first tentative opening line was “Hello? Are you there?” :).

Once I had developed a relationship with my guides, I started working on communicating with them when I was away from my computer. For me, it’s a very similar communication process, in that I ask a question and receive an answer in my head. The only difference is that rather than writing down the questions and responses, I am having a verbal conversation with my guides. At this point, you may be picturing me walking down the street looking mad as I have a seemingly one-way conversation with myself :). In reality, if you walked past me on the street or sat next to me on the bus, you probably wouldn’t even realise that I was deep in conversation with my guides! I “talk” to my guides in my head, much in the same way that I think other thoughts. When I’m alone at home, though, I have been known to talk out loud (at least for my part of the conversation!)… my cat thinks it’s funny, but then she seems to like my guides – she starts purring while staring at the spot where I can feel my guides’ energy to be!

Although verbal communication has the advantage of being able to occur wherever and whenever, it may be worth your while to keep a written record of as many of your conversations with your guides as possible. This is an invaluable resource that you can look back on when you need to remind yourself of what you’ve discussed.

If my verbal or written conversations with my guides sound like my own thoughts, how do I know that I’m not just making it all up?
When you start communicating with your guides and all you can hear in your head is your own voice, it is very easy to doubt that you have actually gotten in touch with a more evolved spiritual being! And I’m probably not going to help when I tell you that you are actually imagining it all! What you need to understand is that your mind acts as a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds – as a result, your guides use your mental faculties (your thoughts, your imagination) as a way to communicate with you. When you start tuning in to your guides using this same mental faculty, it feels exactly like what you’ve always been doing when you’ve used your imagination for other things like visualising or daydreaming or creating – there are no sudden big booming voices from the sky! Remember also that some of your guides have been with you since birth and you are therefore so familiar with their communication that you have probably assumed that their contributions to your thought processes are your own (don’t worry, they don’t mind that you’ve “stolen” some of their ideas along the way!).

As you progress with developing a relationship with your guides, you will be able to discern their “voices” from yours. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will start hearing voices! I still just hear “my” voice in my head, but, just like people in the physical world have different speech patterns and cadences, my own thoughts differ from my guides.

What language do guides speak?
Well, mine “speak” English because I’m English! Yours will “speak” whatever language you speak.

The “language” of the universe is one of intent or state, rather than a language in the sense that we know it here on earth. Essentially, therefore, what your brain is doing when you communicate with your guides is translating their spiritual language into an earthly one. There is no need for you to worry about the actual “translation” process as this is all handled for you – it will appear to you as if you and your guides are having a conversation in the same language. In fact, the translation process happens so seamlessly and smoothly that communication from guides is usually very flowing and easy to read or listen to, with excellent grammar and vocabulary. I like to think I write well, but my guides are far more erudite than I am!

For Part 2 of this series, click here.