By Diana Cole
I’ve experienced a lot of pain in my life — both emotionally and physically. Broken relationships. A shattered career. A traumatic back injury. It took me a decade or so of living unhappily before I began to listen to the inner guidance I’d been ignoring — which then saved my life.
From Breakdown to Breakthrough
There was a time when I was living in an apartment with only my young daughter, watching my life collapse around me. I had just reconnected with the world of spirit, and I was experiencing a powerful upwelling of well-being and clarity through this presence.
At a certain moment, I decided to change my thoughts and change my life. Urged by the invisible guidance I was receiving, I allowed myself to recognize myself as a creator without self-doubt or shame. All of the failures and pain I’ve experienced have been great gifts, and I have been able to recreate my life in miraculous ways.
My life changed in four significant ways by connecting with spiritual guidance, and yours can, too. Connecting with spirit and trusting the messages and guidance you receive means:
You will experience less conflict, drama, and stress in your life.
You’ll learn to stop staying stuck in the pain of the past and start recognizing the meaning, purpose, gift, and lesson in your experiences.
You will learn how to quiet your inner turmoil, so you enjoy more calm during the day, and better sleep at night.
You’ll learn how to pay attention to signs and intuitions, connect with your deep inner knowing, and bring more of what you want into existence.
When life got really tough, I got quiet. In the silence, I began to hear. During those hard days of weariness and worry, there really was nowhere else to go but inward — to the core of my very being. There, I pressed my ear to the ground to hear something real and true and beautiful. I wanted to hear the truth. I wanted to feel what mattered most. I had listened too long to the gossip and false stories of others and to my own negative internal dialogue. Now I only wanted to know the “secrets” to change what was no longer working.
The Shift Begins With Your Thoughts
The first lesson I needed to hear and understand from the spirit is that my thoughts mold my life. If I could find positivity in every situation, then my life would produce more positive situations. For me, this was simple in theory but difficult in execution. So difficult, in fact, that I never followed through with this lesson — this essential truth — until my life crumbled. I didn’t follow through until nothing else made sense anymore, and I had nothing to lose.
Make positive thought one of your highest priorities; it’s essential to achieving happiness. When your thoughts are positive, your energy is stronger. Choosing positive thoughts will become a habit that will serve you beautifully for the rest of your life.
Avoid looking around you to try to find happiness “out there”; your happiness emanates from within you and is continuously influenced by your thoughts. What another person does, thinks, or feels cannot provide your happiness, nor can any of that take your happiness away.
Once I committed and turned my attention to harnessing my thoughts and changing my life, it’s true that some of what I wanted to create was material, but most was not. I did want a home, a car, great shoes, and other material items that make life easier and more enjoyable. But most of all I wanted to wake up every day and feel happy, safe and fulfilled. I wanted to have an amazing love relationship, a happy daughter, and a happy family. I wanted friends who were positive and held others up — everybody, even the people they didn’t agree with or disliked.
And now I can tell you that I have it all. I have it all because I desired it all, believed it, thanked it, and knew it was here for me. Then I let it all go, softly shifting my attention to seeing, acknowledging, and loving the beauty around me even when my preferences weren’t met. This is my practice every day.
One of the greatest gifts available to us as human beings is consciously choosing our thoughts and perceptions, no matter what. I embrace this gift with both arms! Now I see the beauty I desire regardless of outer conditions. I don’t wait for the world to tell me that it’s okay to feel good, to feel happy, or to be well. And because my cup is full to the brim, I want nothing more than to give to others from that wellspring of happiness.
The Power of Talking With SpiritWe all have questions. We all seek answers to why we experience difficulties and obstacles, why things are not going as we had hoped. We have problems finding good relationships, having enough money, feeling good physically, having enough energy to do what we want to do, navigating relationships with co-workers and bosses, knowing our purpose, and the list goes on. When we are given an answer, another question is born. The questions will never stop, and the answers alone will never really cure a problem. What cures our problems, what changes our lives, is a real, visceral connection with our spiritual guidance.
I practice asking questions and receiving answers on a daily basis. The question and answer process calms me and allows me to feel connected with my spirit. It’s like a meditation practice in that sense.
The big life-changing shifts happened for me when I stopped discounting the messages I was receiving from the spirit and really heard them when I began to pay close attention to the spiritual lessons I was given and apply them to my daily life.
Now, I am able to enjoy my life, to enjoy this great adventure fully. I don’t have to hold my breath, hoping for sunny skies, fearing the next storm, wondering why I don’t have the life I want. The life I want is mine — and I wish that for you, too. May you be led to understandings and insights that bring you unimaginable peace and joy.
