and it is actually a remarkably apt way to describe what we need to do in our lives on a daily basis in order to open our minds and effect change. We need to let go of our linear ways of thinking and allow solutions to manifest – solutions at which we would never have arrived through our conditioned analytical processes.
My approach tended to be to ask people to suspend temporarily all thoughts of their present difficulties and then to make a list of what they enjoyed most. I suggested that they ask themselves how much those items featured in their day-to-day lives. In making their lists, I asked them to bear in mind that what they enjoy (or might enjoy, if they felt they had the opportunity to do so) doing today, they might not enjoy tomorrow.
The reason why I suggested making the lists is that by doing so they were focusing their energies, and looking at how they were living their lives. If, for example, they saw themselves as being trapped in a continuing round of duties, responsibilities, financial pressures, relationship problems, non-stimulating work, job worries and so on, they were locked into a negative pattern of energy that is self-perpetuating. My guides have always stressed that, no matter how much we may seem to be victims of circumstances, we still have the power to change our lives. That power is within us; we can exercise it positively or negatively. One thing is certain – there will not be positive direction in our lives unless we decide to make it so.
I next suggested that once they had made the decision to express themselves – focusing on how they could live in a manner that would provide them with creative fulfilment that would satisfy all the things they had outlined in their lists – they hand over the lists to their guides, symbolically, through their thoughts.
The handing-over process involves setting the wheels in motion to achieve support from the infinite, universal energy (unconditional love) in three ways. First of all, when we focus on what we want and need, and then take steps to hand this ‘list’ over to the guides, we are exercising our own free will. We are making decisions and choices. Secondly, we are providing positive direction to our energy, by outlining how we would like to express ourselves. We do this in the understanding that we are acting on our present perception of what we want, and allowing ourselves the flexibility to respond to our changing perceptions in the knowledge and trust that our guides are keeping a constant overview of our (soul) purpose. Finally, when we hand over, we are acknowledging that we need help. This is a liberating admission in itself, and literally opens us to receiving it.
It’s important to remember that when we look back at our own physical journey on earth in our review of it, we are unlikely to be concerned by how many possessions we acquired, how much recognition we achieved or, indeed, our status. I am told that ultimately our only concern will be the extent to which we were able to release and enjoy our creative potential; in other words, our divinity.
When I ran my courses I could see very clearly how well the handing-over process worked. There are a few examples that stand out in particular.
Michelle was working in a business that she liked. She wrote on her list that she’d like to own the business. At the time, she knew that her financial situation was such that there seemed to be no hope of realising her dream unless the cost of the business would be no more than a certain amount that she wrote on her list. In a nutshell, she trusted in the handing-over process.
The course was spread over eleven weeks. One evening towards the end of it, she couldn’t contain her excitement when she arrived. The owner of the business had approached her with an offer that he’d sell it to her for the exact amount that she had written on her list. She had handed over, and her dreams had been answered.
Another woman who achieved her dreams in the process of handing over was Carol, who longed for a baby. She put this on her list, and handed it over. On the last night of the course, at the end of the eleventh week, we had great cause for celebration. Carol was pregnant. Her husband was also on the course, and it may well be that his own aspirations combined with hers to make it an even more powerful process.
Another incident that springs to mind started with a long-distance call I had from a woman called Louise. She told me that she and her husband were due to pay a substantial debt by a certain date, and they had exhausted every means of finding the money. They had also looked for an extension of the deadline, but without success. It shouldn’t have made any difference, but I felt more pressurised by the fact that she was ringing from another continent. I could only do my usual thing of handing the situation over to my guides. I asked her to do the same thing with her guides, and I assured her that a solution would emerge.
About three weeks later she telephoned me again to say that there had been no development, and there was now only a week to go before the money was due. There was still no hope of postponing the date of payment, so what were they going to do? Somewhat less confidently I told her that the message I was getting was that there was no need to worry.
Less than two weeks later I heard from her again. On the date that the debt was due to be paid, her husband received a completely unexpected refund of income tax, which was just enough to clear the debt. Once again, faith in the guides was justified.
Another woman told me about the way of working with her guides that she had developed. Whenever she felt that she needed help with a problem or a decision – or, indeed, anything – she wrote a note of thanks to her guides for the expected help and put it in a box. Then she followed her feelings, always with positive results.
This woman’s story reminded me that I have so often forgotten to say thanks throughout my life. I don’t mean just to guides, or to God/unconditional love, but for the wonder of life and all the beauty it offers daily in all sorts of ways. I thoughtlessly take so much for granted. Feeling and expressing gratitude create an expansive vibration that spreads all around us.
Occasionally in my talks I used the story of the fifth Labour of Hercules to reinforce my belief in the power of handing over apparently intractable problems to guides.
Hercules was tasked by King Augeas to clean out his stables, commonly known as the Augean stables, in a single day. I don’t know how many stables there were, but I imagine that there were a lot of them – enough, anyway, to make it obvious that it would be impossible for him to clean out the accumulation of manure and filth in them in the allotted time, and with the tools available to him. Then he had an inspiration, which he followed. He went up to the top of a hill overlooking the stables and he found that there was a river running nearby. He went back down to the stables and knocked holes in the walls. Then he went up the hill again and managed to divert water from the river down the hill. The water gathered force as it flowed down the hill and in through the holes of the walls of the stables, sweeping clear all in front of it.
The story doesn’t say what happened to the holes in the walls. Presumably he filled them up again! What it does tell us is that as notoriously strong as Hercules was, he could not do the job by himself. To me, the river in the story symbolises the universal flow of help that’s available to us, which we can access ourselves or, ideally, through our guides, whenever we feel the need to do so.
Placing trust
These stories provide simple yet profound examples of how the spiritual and the material merge – how the material can be used as an aid to spiritual growth, and how, if we allow ourselves to trust enough, a lot of the hassle can be taken out of living and participating in the physical world. It’s easy enough to trust, say, 50 or 80 per cent, but 100 per cent is a hard nut to crack. Yet, that’s what is required. The universe doesn’t know half measures. This may seem like an intimidating prospect, but we’re assured that our guides always help us, no matter how doubting we may be. In our lack of trust, though, we deny ourselves the wonder of seeing things happen in often miraculous ways.
In our physical world, nothing exists in material form unless we do things. It’s understandable
