Ask The Council

How Do You Recognize True Inspiration from Spirit?

A Question from Chris

This post is a response to a question from Chris, who asks The Council, “How do you really know when messages from meditation are really what to follow?” Chris explains she often gets excited by ideas to go in a certain direction with her life, but when she considers these inspirations in the light of her day-to-day experience, they don’t seem so inspirational any more. Chris gives the following two examples: ideas about new people coming into her life that never seem to come, and ideas about a direction she should take for work that maybe don’t turn out the way she hoped.

Chris’s questions seem relevant for many readers, even if you’re not a meditator. If you ever felt good about an inspiration to take your life in a particular direction, only to end up feeling confused when the inspiration ends up feeling like an impractical and unattainable desire, you may find The Council’s guidance helpful.

Council’s Initial Response to Chris’s Question

“All messages that are coming through [from spirit] during meditation will have a positive feel to it. For people that are visual, it is almost as if a light bulb goes off in their minds and then they get the idea.

“There always should be a feeling of excitement; a feeling like, “Ah, yes,” and great joy with the idea that has come through, and that somehow this idea has come from yourself. There is a recognition, a feeling.

“And so once again we trust in this learning process as we evolve — that you look at your feelings. Any advice that would seem negative, that would feel heavy, is not an answer coming through from spirit.”

—The Council

Importance of Feelings

This guidance emphasizes the importance of paying attention to our feelings about ideas that come to us during meditation. A joyous feeling of recognition that an idea or message is coming from who you truly are, is a good indication you are receiving communication from your inner being, from spirit.

On the other hand, The Council advises that feelings of negativity or heaviness that are associated with ideas and messages during meditation, are an indication these ideas and messages are coming to you from a source other than spirit.

(While Chris’s question is about ideas and inspiration during meditation, and our session with The Council focused on guidance for Chris, it’s our understanding from several other sessions with The Council that this guidance about feelings is relevant whether ideas and inspirations come during meditation, or any other time, including in dreams while our physical body sleeps.)

Specific Examples

When I asked The Council for specific examples that Chris can relate to her life experience, they replied:

“In Chris’s experience, we see here that she has gotten many nice ideas for herself in the area of career, and yet there is a pattern we see. When she looks at [the ideas] again, there is much doubt. And it is the doubting that is getting in the way of following the idea – many ideas – that come to her.

“It is almost as if Chris is expecting her ideas to fail, and that is exactly what she is attracting. The initial response is a happy joyful one, one of interest, one of moving forward. And because of past experiences [and] present experiences, when looking [at the ideas] again, she expects them to fail. And that is why she does not move forward.”

–The Council

These observations seem worth restating:

• Chris has received many inspirational ideas, particularly in the area of her career.
• She has a habit of considering her inspirations when she’s feeling doubtful.
• Chris’s doubts are the result of her attention to past and present experiences in her life that contribute to an expectation she will fail if she pursues the inspiration she’s considering.
• Chris’s expectation of failure attracts failure into her experience, and interferes with her forward movement.

Not ‘Which,’ but ‘How’

When I mentioned to The Council that it sounds like they’re saying that it’s not so much which messages Chris pays attention to, but how she pays attention to them that’s important, they replied:

“Any of the feel-good messages that – instead of waiting and looking again – perhaps taking what we call a leap of faith, and following through [would be better].

“There is an expectation of: ‘in the future’ something will come along, a mate, the right job. But [the time] is always ‘right now’. How do you expect to create [what you want] when it is always out there in your future? And so it is important to change the way you think of something.

–The Council

Changing the Way We Think

This suggestion that it’s important to change the way we think about something if we want a different outcome than the one we’ve been getting, is fundamental to what we’ve been learning from The Council and other spirit guides like Abraham (Abraham-Hicks Publications).

The Council suggests that if Chris is in the habit of re-considering her intuitions until she convinces herself she cannot achieve them, perhaps she will experience more forward movement if she changes her thinking about the need to re-examine her intuitions. “Perhaps taking…a leap of faith and following through” when she experiences a good-feeling intuition, is offered as an example of a way of changing her thinking about her intuitions.

In the Future

The Council also makes an interesting observation about the consequences of expecting something we desire to manifest sometime in a non-specific future. We may believe we’re focusing on something we want and attracting it to us, but The Council reminds us our present is what’s important, and an expectation of a something manifesting in an indefinite future will have the tendency to keep what is wanted in the indefinite future rather than bringing it into a present experience.

Raising Vibration

In case Chris has concerns that a leap of faith may be a more drastic change in her thinking than she is ready for, The Council offers the following suggestion for how to reconsider her inspirations.

“Do something to raise the vibration of yourself: perhaps being grateful of what you have at the moment, perhaps going back and being grateful of some of the other jobs or relationships you might have had that brought you joy. Even if it is thinking of yourself walking on a beautiful beach or flying in a plane; something that gives you joy.

“So we suggest that she takes time to raise her vibration and then go back and look at these ideas. And that vibration will help carry her through to make some of the steps to create what it is that she wants.”

–The Council

If Chris isn’t convinced of the appropriateness of following an intuition she receives, or isn’t sure how to go about acting on an intuition, The Council advises her to consciously and deliberately do something to raise her vibration before giving the intuition her attention. By bringing her vibration in the vicinity of where it was when she received the intuition, Chris is in a much better place to act on it in a way that takes her in a direction she desires.

And The Council suggests if Chris has difficulty raising her vibration when thinking about anything related to her intuition (i.e., career, relationships, etc.), then she should think about anything at all that helps her connect with better-feeling feelings. The logic is that the law of attraction will respond to the raised vibration of improved feelings by attracting similar vibrations that can help Chris create what she desires.

The ‘Right’ Partner, ‘Right’ Job, ‘Right’ People

When I asked about Chris’s comment concerning the expectation of new people in her life that never really come, The Council replied:

“There is an expectation that she will be lonely and will not find the ‘right mate’ or the ‘right friends’, and that she will always be searching and never have the ‘right people’ come into her life. So if she does create people coming into her life, she will not feel like they are the ‘right people’.”

–The Council

Toward the end of our session with The Council on Chris’s questions I revisited the subject of her career to see if there was any additional guidance in this area that seemed important to Chris. The Council replied:

“There are many beliefs of things she thought she would succeed in, ideas that she would move forward with great success. And again because of [her] thinking and the emotions, those jobs, the career, never did come into fruition for her.

“And so there is the pattern where she continuously feels that the ‘right’ things will not come along. And this is from her [life] experiences. But with the knowledge now, that you create what you think of, you create what you feel, what you experience, she has the ability to change this.”

–The Council

Here the Council re-emphasizes the point they made earlier in this session about Chris’s tendency to expect that the ‘right’ things in life won’t come her way because of her habit of focusing her attention more on what she doesn’t want in her life than what she does. Then they remind Chris that she creates what she thinks about, she creates what she’s feeling, and she creates what she experiences, and with this knowledge she can change this pattern. (These ideas are central to guidance The Council has given in numerous sessions. Several of the extended posts on this blog elaborate on these ideas, and future posts will attempt to add clarity to these concepts.)

Raising Vibration, Revisited

Following up on their previous comment, I mentioned to The Council that, “it sounds like you’re suggesting that she give more attention to how she can raise her vibration, think about something that she can appreciate, think about something that feels good, and then look for these things in her life so that she is more likely to attract them in. Is this, more or less, your answer for Chris?” And they replied:

“Yes. We feel if she takes these steps, she will begin to see things turn around, so to speak, to work more in her favor. And so, with these ideas (her intuitions), look for the feeling of joy, look for the feeling of excitement. And then when you decide to look back at them at another time, we suggest to do whatever it is that will work to raise your vibration and put you in a feeling-good place before you look at them again.”

–The Council

Ending Dialog with The Council

The session on Chris’s question ended with the following dialog in which I summarize my understanding of The Council’s guidance for Chris so they can clarify anything I might be misunderstanding.

Bob:       Thank you. Is there isn’t anything more for Chris?

Council:  We feel this will help her.

Bob:       Sounds like good advice for many people.

Council:  (simultaneously, finishing my sentence) …for many people.

Bob:       Yes. The idea of getting into the habit of focusing on better-feeling thoughts, noticing when we don’t feel so good, and deliberately changing the focus of our attention to allow our vibration to raise – it seems like it’s habit and a practice.

Getting used to the idea that in any moment we have the ability to choose where we focus our attention, what we focus our attention on, and the choice to focus our attention on something that feels better, will allow our vibration to be more in harmony with who we are as spirit, and this vibration will attract into our physical experience what we desire. Is that what you’re suggesting here?

Council:   Yes. And when you are in this feeling-good place, the thought that you are spirit is likely to become more acceptable.

In a Nutshell

Chris wants to know how she can tell which of her thoughts and inspirations are really guidance from her spirit that are worth following. She’s asking because she’s a little confused that what seemed to her like messages from spirit ended up seeming not as reliable as she hoped.

The Council informs Chris that she frequently receives guidance from spirit, but her habit of considering these ideas from the point of view of unpleasant experiences in her life makes it difficult for her to stay connected to her inspirations and follow them.

The Council suggests that if Chris wants a change in her experience (i.e., recognize inspiration from who she truly is as spirit, act on this guidance from her inner being, and expand her life in the direction of her desires) then she needs to change her thinking.

This is because, in The Council’s words, “you create what you think of, you create what you feel, what you experience.” This is some of the most often repeated guidance from The Council in our sessions, and it is in agreement with guidance offered by spiritual guides like Abraham and many other spiritual guides and teachers that are increasingly heard at this time.

The Council wants Chris to know that the focus of her attention determines her vibration, her vibration is what the law of attraction is continually responding to, and it’s always her choice what she gives her attention to. If she notices she’s giving attention to experiences in her life that don’t feel good to her, these feelings are her guidance to give her attention to something else that is more in harmony with the vibration of who she is as spirit, and she’ll know by her improved feeling that she is raising her vibration.

The Cherry on Top

If there’s any guidance The Council offers more frequently than the ideas that we are the creators of everything we experience and that we attract everything we experience by what we think and how we feel, it’s the idea that who we truly are is spirit, a part of which has chosen to be in a physical body to experience physical reality for its potential to inspire our spiritual expansion, which is part of the joyous continual expansion of all that is, and as spirit we have the ability to create and experience whatever we desire.

If feeling good for its own sake isn’t a good enough reason to change our thinking, in their final comment of our session, The Council reminds us: “when you are in this feeling-good place, the thought that you are spirit is likely to become more acceptable.” Feeling good feels good. Feeling you are spirit is like the icing on the cake, and the cherry on top is feeling like you as spirit, are able to create whatever you desire.

Let Us Know What You Think

As always, we hope you’ve benefited from the information in this post and we’d love to know what you think of this material. Look for a Comment box or a Comment link below this post and feel free to let us know if you have questions about ideas mentioned in this post, ideas in other posts, or topics we haven’t written about yet. We look forward to hearing from you.

May 7, 2011 - Posted by Cynthia & Bob | Beliefs, Emotions, Feelings, Guidance, Inspiration, Meditation, Questions & Answers, Relationships, Spirit | Doubt, Feeling Good, Feelings, Inspiration, Meditation, Spirit, Vibration, Who You Really Are