This is my third blog in the series I introduced a couple of weeks ago promising to send you simple rituals to invite Spirit back into your daily realm. I promised they’d take no more than a few minutes and easily fit into your schedule. I hope you enjoyed the first two blogs. Here’s their links if you missed them:

Using Ritual to Listen to Spirit 

A Silent Night all year round 

Now, on to this week’s topic!

Dialing up Spirit

If you aren’t regularly making time to connect to Spirit, Spirit won’t have a venue to talk to you because you obviously aren’t listening. It’d be like leaving messages and sending gifts to a relative or friend but never hearing back or getting an acknowledgement they’ve heard from you. Eventually you’d quit, right? The same goes for Spirit. Once Spirit knows you’re listening, the floodgates open! I am speaking from first-hand experience!

I like to take a moment in the morning to contemplate a question for Spirit—maybe it’s some advice I need. It could be before I get out of bed, perhaps just after I’ve meditated, or maybe after I’ve exercised and done yoga. I could chose my moment just after I light a candle, as I wrote in my first blog on this series. If mornings don’t work, you can do this practice in the evening too. As you can imagine, these random connections can happen any time you’re feeling like you need a fix!

Here’s a collection of ways to “dial up” Spirit:
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1. A simple one sentence /page random reading from your favorite spiritual or inspirational book. I have a gazillion! Many of mine center on yoga:

• Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche, (Never fails to address exactly what I was asking about!)
• Yoga Gems by Georg Feuerstein,
• Yoga in Every Moment by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati,
• A Year of Living Your Yoga by Judith Hanson Lasater.But I also like many topics:
• Daily Guidance from Your Angels by Doreen Virtue, PhD,
• Seize Your Life Now to Carpe Diem Every Day by Jasmine Brett Stringer,
• Grace, Guidance, and Gifts, Sacred Blessings to Light Your Way by Sonia Choquette (This source has several sections per theme, depending on your time: “Message from Spirit”, “Invocation”, “Today’s Mantra” and “Your Personal Blessing”.)
• You Have a Purpose, Begin it Now by Susan Hayward (a perennial favorite and quick source of a random message)
• A Walk in the Wood, Meditations on Mindfulness with a Bear Named Pooh by Dr. Jason Parent and Nancy Parent (my most recent purchase)
• The Science of Mind Magazine has great daily readings. I’ve been subscribed for years and use many of them for my final relaxation readings at the end of a yoga class.
• Totally Unique Thoughts from the Universe by Michael Dooley. He has several books. You can even get a daily email from Michael Dooley after signing up with some personal information: the name you want your emails addressed to, perhaps a personal goal and your birthday. Then he’ll send them to you in emails at random times (not too much) and for sure on your birthday! They’re always whimsical and make you smile, if not laugh out loud. Now, who wouldn’t want to laugh out loud sometimes? My most recent email was from last Friday (no goal mentioned in this one):

“Sandy, have you been leaning on me lately?
A lot?

For absolutely EVERYTHING?

Day and night, rain or shine, Gummi Bears or Gucci?

Just checkin’
—The Universe

 

Sometimes a particular reading from these above-mentioned books resonates with me so much at the time because they’re spot on to what I asked about. So I’ll reread that particular passage daily for a while to let it really sink in. Why not? THAT’S the reason Spirit sent you the message, right? If it resonates in a big way, keep dwelling on that message!

Keep in mind that if the topics that interest me don’t interest you, any random reading from pretty much any book can carry a message. Try it. You’ll see.
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2. A random card pull from a motivational deck of cards.
   

If you prefer a different kind of random pull, you can use a deck of cards. I like to shuffle the deck until one pops funny. It could drop out, it could flip over, or it could just stick out in a unique way as I’m shuffling. Somehow it lets me know, THIS is the one! And then I always take the bottom card from the portion of the deck that’s still in my hand and do a two-card reading. If two cards happen to pop out, I’ll still grab the card from the bottom of the deck. I figure Spirit knows my M.O. and may have been trying to get that bottom card to me somehow! You don’t have to do it my way. I just thought I’d share.

I used to highlight my favorite decks in my newsletter. I have that many! There are many decks to choose from! There are even some readings you can find digitally—like here. (Native American wisdom)

Here is a small sampling of what I’ve highlighted in previous newsletters:

• Empowerment Cards for Inspired Living by Tavis Smiley
• The Power Deck, The Cards of Wisdom by Lynn V. Andrews (Native American Wisdom)
• Ascended Masters by Doreen Virtue
• Yoga Path Cards by Susan Woldman (no longer in print, sorry!)
• Ask Your Guides Oracle Cards by Sonia Choquette (My guides have names…okay there I said it. So I’ll ask for a message by their name when I use this deck.)
• The Silvey Energy Deck by Shari Silvey (since repackaged and renamed The Power to Transform Card Deck—I had her original cards and self-laminated them! I’ve known her for years!)

Many times the cards have a full message, but depending on your time, you can just read the summation or key word. Bing, bang, got it!

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what I own. I finally had to admit I have a fetish for them and stop buying new ones! I even started to train to read Tarot cards (I’m a work in progress!) They are fun, quick and I promise they’ll become one of your best resources to talk to Spirit.
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3. A desktop or countertop calendar

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They’re simple, quick and may be just what you’re looking for. There are affirmation calendars, horoscope calendars, even a word a day calendar can bring a message if you’re asking. Here’s a couple I use:

• The Secret Daily Teachings by Rhonda Byrne is in a calendar format. I still like to randomly flip in this one too.
• Inner Reflections by Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda is my favorite daily use calendar spiral book. It doesn’t have daily readings so much as beautiful photos and affirmations/quotes scattered throughout.
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When I’m feeling disconnected from Spirit, these suggestions are like picking up the phone and literally dialing up Spirit (I may be aging myself with that term!). It’s like talking to an old friend and asking for their advice. No matter how long it’s been, Spirit remembers you.

It helps to be a bit centered prior to doing a random reading—at least for me. So remember to take a deep breath, think of a question or area of advice that you’re working on prior; and trust me, the responses you get will start to amaze you! Whatever portal you open to spirit, I promise you, the messages will come!

That didn’t take any time at all, now did it? Enjoy!

P.S. I’ll add here, that if you are exceptionally down and you DO have more time, you can always do multiple card readings, random book readings, etc. Sometimes I need a good talking to. Maybe you do too. So give yourself this gift of time.