Learning something new! It is both exciting and sometimes terrifying. There is such joy in mastering something that you feel inspired or drawn to learn, and yet, there is often frustration as well because it takes time and practice. For someone like me, there can even be a feeling of shame if I’m not getting something. Maybe I’m not smart enough or I don’t have the drive and commitment I will need to achieve the outcome I desire. If you are like me, you want things to come easily, and at the same time, there is such satisfaction in having worked hard to learn and master something that was not easy at all!
As I am on this journey to learn how to speak the language of spirit and the universe, I feel challenged, inspired, frustrated, and sometimes just simply awestruck. I recently saw a TED talk about polyglots, those folks who can speak many languages fluently. The idea is just mind-boggling to me. I took 2 years of high school German, 3 years of college German, and studied in Germany 1 summer. I could get by pretty well, but was never really fully fluent. The speaker, who tries to learn a new language every 2 years and is fluent in I think she said 11 languages (holy moly!), explained that there is no one method that polyglots like her use. One of the biggest factors she has found to success is not a brilliant mind or set approach, but rather a strong desire to learn and a dedication to work at it, in whatever method appeals to and works best for the individual learner.
When it comes to my own journey, I feel like I actually do have both the desire and the dedication to make my dream of connecting with spirit a reality. As I look back, I recognize how far I have come and the effort that I have put in to be where I am. I also know that I still have a long way to go, and this is more like a marathon than a sprint. I would love to get to a place where I can ask for guidance and immediately know the answer from my higher self, my guides, or my angels without having to work at it. My teachers will often say, “They are telling me that…” or “I hear them saying it would be helpful for you to…” as they refer to the guidance they are receiving from the spirit realms. Wow! It’s just so cool. It’s incredible to have access to such wisdom and support with such ease. I just imagine being able to live a divinely inspired life, without fear, because I know the universe is always supporting and guiding me. At my current stage of development, I feel like I’m just learning about who these beings are, believing that they actually exist, and the beginning ways to connect with them.
Over the course of the past year, I have participated in numerous spiritual development groups. I remember the very first one was facilitated by the therapist I was seeing at the time. She had several clients with situations like mine, where they were diagnosed with a mental illness, but the therapist felt we were all having spiritual emergence experiences. She kindly offered to get us together into a group where she helped us learn about the spirit world and tried to help us to connect on purpose, in a safe way. We would do meditations, and I remember thinking it felt a little “out there.” She would guide us in meditation to meet with those in spirit, and I began to get some visuals and knowings, but I thought it was just my imagination. After the meditations, members of the group would share their experiences, and they felt much the same way. They were newbies like me, and felt like they weren’t sure the visions and knowings were really coming from spirit, or if we were just making it up from our wishful thinking and desire to have a connection to the divine realms.
Since that time, I have taken numerous other courses with various teachers, and I am actually starting to believe my connections are real. I am documenting my experiences, and hope to share the stories of my journey in a book one day. For now, let me just say, I’m trying to remember that learning is a process. I remind myself of the polyglots and also of Olympic athletes, like those who have mastered skiing and snowboarding and ice-skating and gymnastics and on and on. It doesn’t happen overnight. Desire and dedication, these are the keys to unlock your dreams.
