Do You Believe in Guidance?

Written by Tabby Biddle

I’m not just talking about intuitive guidance. I’m talking about angels and spirit guides. Yes, I’m going there.

In getting ready to attend the I Can Do It! conference in San Diego in a couple of weeks, I spoke with Sonia Choquette, Ph.D, one of the conference presenters. Sonia is world-renowned author, healer, intuitive guide and spiritual teacher. She is best known for her workshops and books on connecting people with their guidance systems, including angels and spirit guides. She defines angels as “light beings that meet you at the first breath, assist you and walk with you throughout life, and walk you back to heaven at your last breath.”

Sonia told me that 30 years ago most people perceived her as a nut, a kook, a weirdo, and a deviant. Now, she says, she is being invited to speak at business conferences, at universities, in hospital groups, and church groups.

Could angel guidance be moving from marginalization to mainstream?

In my own case, I feel confident now to admit that I have dabbled in spirit and angel guidance over the years. This is something that I have kept mostly to myself because of not wanting to be marginalized. As a non-religious person, but a very spiritually-oriented one, I have relied upon my intuition and occasional assistance from my “helpers” to guide the way. I have noticed that the more I tune into and acknowledge my guides, the more assistance they provide.

“We are now beginning to recognize and even hear from people that we have great respect for – scientists and doctors and philosophers — that say that there really is actually more consciousness to be accessed and to tune into than just our strict intellectual dialogue.”     — Sonia Choquette

So how do you open up to guidance if you’ve never done it before? (Or if you already have, how do you open up more?)

Sonia suggests a four-step plan.

Step one. Be open to it. This is the most important step. Most people who aren’t receiving guidance aren’t open to the idea that it’s available. Being open to it is like turning on the radio. Being open to it accesses a part of your consciousness that is receptive … your right brain.

Step two. Expect guidance. Take a little more definitive and risky choice and actually expect that guidance will come.

Step three. Invite guidance in. Guidance will come through your heart. When you want guidance, take a deep breath and let out the sound “HA” because it opens the heart. You can literally feel the opening.  It also opens the throat, and it relaxes the mind. Put your hand right on your heart. Pose the question that you are seeking guidance on. Then, without hesitation, answer out loud: “My heart says …”  Just be curious about what pops out. There’s your guidance.

Step four. Act on it. Then your life will transform.

Tip: When you receive guidance or synchronicity in your life, instead of treating it as something peculiar or bizarre, talk about it positively. Try saying: “The most beautiful thing came through today. I can’t explain it, but I’ll take it.”

While angel and spirit guidance may still sound marginal to some, you can think of it this way: “We have our national guards, our policemen, our volunteer crew, our army, and our navy. We have many levels of support in the human experience, and we have that same pantheon of support in the Divine realm as well,” says Sonia.

It may be fun to give the four-step guidance plan a try. Why not see what happens?

Sonia Choquette will be teaching at the I Can Do It! 2010 conference in San Diego, May 14 – 16. Click here for more information.

Sonia Choquette is Goddess of the Week!

My Interview with Sonia Choquette

by Tabby Biddle

“I feel very strongly that we are evolving from homosapiens to homospiritists. We are taking the next steps. We are in process of morphing evolutionarily into a higher expression of consciousness … human consciousness on this planet … We are beginning on a collective level to intuitively sense that we will self-destruct unless we evolve.”

— Sonia Choquette, Ph.D.

Sonia Choquette

For more than 30 years, Sonia Choquette has been sharing with the world her wisdom and experience with six-sensory perception. Even when others thought she was a “kook” and a “deviant,” she pressed on. She never let others’ judgments prevent her from sharing what she knew to be true. Today, she is a world-renowned author, storyteller, healer, intuitive guide and spiritual teacher.

T:  I just started reading your book “Soul Lessons and Soul Purpose.” In the book you said, “The sooner we individually raise our vibrations, the sooner we’ll collectively heal the suffering on the planet. We have no time to waste.” Can you say more about this?

S:  I believe that what we have been genuinely unconscious about is that even though we have free will, what we choose, and how we live, and how we go about our daily life affects the whole. Nobody is having an autonomous experience that is independent of the collective experience. Conversely, for every one of us that elevates our vibration, our intentions, our direction, our priorities, and our commitment to living as a responsible, creative, contributing human being versus a victimized, dispirited, uncreative, non-contributing, non-interested person — we will, by the laws of entrainment, affect those around us. As our vibration is felt, it inspires and activates those same inclinations in others. It begins to set off a chain of events where one can affect five; five can affect 25; 25 can affect 125, and so on and so on — like ripples in a lake.

So until individuals really begin to feel and embrace their personal responsibility and power to influence the whole, we won’t see a change. Now, having said that, that book was written a few years ago. I actually see that that kind of awareness is really beginning to kick in and take place.

T:  I absolutely agree. It feels as if in the past couple of years things have rapidly increased in terms of consciousness. Do you think the pace has quickened? And if so, why?

S:  I definitely think you are accurate about the quickening pace. I think that in the last 24 months things have become extremely destabilized in terms of our personal comfort zone. Our financial systems are imploding. Our jobs and the things we assume to be there — or be reliably consistent — have fallen apart. The earth under our feet is rocking and rolling, firing and spewing. Although some would say it’s been happening all along, certainly not at a time and place in civilization where so many people have been affected. In other words, we may have had earthquakes for the entire history of the planet, but huge societies were not necessarily built on those places where those quakes were taking place.

People are beginning to recognize that there is a dependency on one another and a dependency on our earth that is elevating our awareness of how we treat one another and how we treat our planet. In many cases, it’s bringing out the best in us, not the worst. We are more creative, conscientious, and have spirited awareness. So, I think that the disturbances are sort of like the metaphor: It almost kills a butterfly to get out of a cocoon, but the same effort gives its wings the power to fly.

T:  I know you work a lot with guides, angels, and emissaries. Are they playing a part in the more drastic phenomena?

S:  I do think that the veil between the third, fourth, and fifth dimensions is thinning. I think the level of perception in the average human being is elevating, and that we are beginning to sense on many different levels that we are not alone in this Universe. And that our human voice is not the only voice that has influence – that we have a subtle, intuitive voice. We are beginning to sense the subtle conscious realm of Divine beings. This is happening in rapid rates.

I do feel that the parts of people’s brains that have been dormant and inactive are starting to get stimulated because of all this change. This includes the pineal gland, which is the source of the Third Eye – the inner knowing that gives us the ability to perceive subtle energy. I feel very strongly that we are evolving from homosapiens to homospiritists. We are taking the next steps. We are in process of morphing evolutionarily into a higher expression of consciousness … human consciousness on this planet.

T:  That’s pretty cool.

S:  It is cool. Every evolutionary step in human consciousness has been adaptive, and we are adapting now to a lot of shifts in terms of how to survive as a species. Homosapien is ego-centered, and ego-centered is “me against you.” So we are killing each other. “Me against you” in the physical body is called cancer.

We are beginning on a collective level to intuitively sense that we will self-destruct unless we evolve. So it is our adaptive sense of survival that is activating this higher consciousness.

T:  How do think the upcoming I Can Do It! conference can help people?

S:  Every one of us who comes to speak at those conferences are all messengers – and we all have very unique and very important ways and means and gifts to share.

I know my gift. I am more than a messenger … I am an alchemist. What I create within my workshop is that I actually activate the vibration for the frequency and the experience of vibrating at that higher level of consciousness. I activate the four chambers of the heart. I activate the pineal gland. I engage the participants’ voice of intuition. It’s sort of like I jump start people into this higher frequency and they feel it. So it’s not a matter of taking notes and hearing about it and thinking this is a destination you are going to be in one day if you stay the course. I actually put them in the experience – and give them the vibrational jolt.

T:  What role do you think intellect plays in all of this?

S:  I think that the intellect is important. This is how we learn. First we see it. Then we hear about it. Then we experience it. Then we own it. It’s sort of like window-shopping. You’ve got to let something be introduced to you before you even know it’s out there. It’s like when you see something beautiful in the window and you think, “Hmmmm … I might like that.”

My workshops are about having the experience, and then my books are a way to educate the intellect to support the experience rather than undermine it.

T:  What can you share about guidance?

S:  Every human being has had some experience of guidance. That is not our challenge. Our challenge is: Will our ego humble enough to acknowledge that there is more than the ego running the world and the experience of the human journey through life?

My mother used to say this all the time: “Never assume what you know is all there is to know, or you’re in a lot of trouble.”

Be open to being surprised with guidance. One of the ways to accelerate guidance is to talk about it in a positive way.

T:  Can you say more about this?

S:  I gave this whole workshop one day about guidance, and I said, “Talk about it in a positive way.” At the end of the workshop, three of my students came up and said, “Oh, I’ve got to tell you about this really weird thing. It’s really bizarre.” And I said, “What’s positive about that?”

If you frame guidance as being abnormal or peculiar, then you set up subconscious resistance. Instead, you can say: “The most beautiful thing came through today. I can’t explain it, but I’ll take it.”

T:  Do you remember your very first moment of being guided?

S:  I never have a moment of my life where I remember not being guided. To me, that’s like the worst handicap that I can fathom. That is why I am devoting my life to activate the higher octave of our eyes and ears, our intuition. With intuition in place all will be okay. And without it, I can’t make the same claim.

T:  In closing, any last words you want to share about intuition?

S:  The question has definitely matured. It’s no longer, “Does it exist?” The question has evolved into, “How does it work?” “How can I get it to work consistently?” How can I get it to work for me?” And that’s the question that I’ve devoted my life work to.

Sonia Choquette will be teaching at the I Can Do It! 2010 conference in San Diego, May 14 –16. Click here for more information.

You can visit her website at www.soniachoquette.com.

Rolling With It…Or Not

I was out rollerblading with my cousin today, like we do every Thursday morning. It is a time for us to catch up, talk about what’s going on in our lives, get some exercise, and drink in the beautiful beachside heaven that we have here in Santa Monica.

The blades I had been wearing up until a few months ago were a pair I had bought in the early 90s back when I lived in Washington, DC. Yes, you remember, when blading was the hot trend. When I mentioned to a friend in Seattle recently that I go blading every week, she responded, “Blading? Do people still do that?” Well, I have for 15 years. But then I also love disco music and Wheaties.

One day this winter I was blading with my cousin — rolling on our wheels, exhilarating in the good fortune of living in such a magnificent place – and my blades suddenly CRACKED. Yes, that’s right. My trusty pair of blades split ride down the sides. No more support. In grand ceremonial style, I released these blades that had been with me for 15 years into the dumpster feeling like I was releasing something much bigger, but not quite able to name it.

It’s four months later and I have been through two new pair of rollerblades and neither of them have worked for me. The first pair dug into my ankles, gave me bruises and cuts. I tried band aids, moleskin, extra thick socks, you name it. I took them back. The store gave me a new pair that feel comfortable on my feet, but don’t have the proper ankle support and the wheels roll at a noticeably slower rate than my beloved 15-year snappy K2 pair. With arch supports slid inside, this latest pair were the ones I was wearing today.

I pulled over to a bench to see if tightening the laces, strap and buckle might help give me more support. As I was cinching down the buckle, I said out loud, “I wonder why my old blades were able to support me so well? I never had all of these problems!” As my cousin and I both speak the same language of Louise Hay and like to look at the deeper meaning underneath outer circumstances, she reminded me that feet represent moving forward. That reminder ignited me to announce, “How funny that my old blades, my old support system, cracked. And ever since then I have been experimenting with different brands of blades and fumbling around with trying to get support!”

It could have been a simple moment, but for me like with most everything else, it resonated with great meaning. I realized that there might be something more to this blade journey than going from A to B. But in thinking so deeply, was I just spinning my wheels?

It is true that I have indeed let go of old ways, old support systems and old beliefs and have been in a place of transition where I have not yet found my center or in blading terms, my stride. My collapsing ankles and slow rolling wheels were, in my mind, material evidence that transitions take time.

What about you — when you see a ladybug does it indicate luck on the way? How about a penny? Prosperity coming? In other words, do you find big meanings in small things?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

The Call of the Calling

In this blog I’ve discussed public issues and also personal ones. Today’s blog is a personal one. I have touched on this topic before, but I am finding I need to discuss it again as I’m curious about other people’s experience with it. Here goes…

I have been thinking a lot lately about callings, intuition and where creative ideas come from. Is intuition to be trusted? Can we rely on our gut alone?

As Thomas Edison once observed, creativity is two percent illumination and the rest love and discipline. Although I am a huge believer and user of my own intuition, I am beginning to see Mr. Edison’s point.

Before I started my business, I was a teacher. I had been working in a teaching job that didn’t feel quite right for some time. There was a voice inside of me saying that I needed to leave. It got to a point where I no longer could fight the inner voice. In June 2007 I left the job.

As most of us know it is no easy thing to give up the security of a paycheck, health insurance and a supportive community. On the other hand, it can be even more difficult to suffer with the truth of what you know inside and not act on it.

I felt pretty confident that I was doing the right thing as life had shown me before that if I took a leap of faith by responding to my inner guide I would end up in a good place. However, I was finding it difficult to explain to other people what in the world I was doing with my life. As those who have gone through this know, there is usually a window of time where there is a ton of unknown. Even though I am someone who is dedicated to personal growth and have gone through a lot of transitions, this mystery stage doesn’t seem get any easier to explain. Especially when I had NO idea of what was next.

And then comes that one day or one moment when the spirit moves through you and you have that incredible “aha” moment that you never could have imagined because your brain would have never put that possibility together on its own. Usually, at least in my experience, these callings are not very rational, and in many cases, seem out of left field.

The one that came to me on that July day qualified as out of left field. Start a clothing line? What? I hadn’t worked in retail since I was 17, never designed a stitch and never wrote “run a clothing business” on my goal list! But when a calling calls, I have always been one to listen and get right on it. As Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, said recently, “Creativity does not always function rationally and can feel downright paranormal.” I think this applies to creating a business too.

For me one of the biggest lessons this time around has been about coupling intuition with good old-fashioned hard work, consistency and follow-through just like Edison suggested.

I am curious to know how does intuition play a part in your life? And how is it for you explaining an intuitive choice to someone who may not think that way?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Leap Before You Look

In our American culture it has been taught for a long time that the important things are outside of us … that we are meant to compete, achieve and bring home more goodies than our neighbor. This outlook on living has been going on for so long that it has actually become considered a bold and daring move to ask ourselves how we feel and what we truly need. With things unraveling as they are, it might be time to try something different.

Most of us waiver between the need for structure and the desire for our life to be exciting, unpredictable and exhilarating. In our culture it seems that most decisions are made from logic … I’m going to make more money at this job, so I will take it; I’m going to…, so I will… But what about decisions that are made based not on the head as director, but on hunches, feeling, and dare I say … intuition?

I have lived my adult life as an intuitive decision-maker. At age 26 I left the perfect job, boyfriend, friends, family and lifestyle to travel through Asia on a hunch. Coming from the background of being a super-planner, type A personality, competitive and Miss Calendar Girl who had her datebook filled to the gills with activities for the upcoming six months, I wanted to see what life would be like to live from my gut, live in the moment and make decisions based not on logic, but on intuition. Quite an experiment it was and continues to be!

It seems that as things are changing before us, the fiber of what we knew (or at least thought) American culture to be … there is a lot of questioning about our next steps. Should we try and rebuild what he had? Should we start fresh? Is there some hybrid of what was and what could be?

Battened down and frazzled with our To-Do lists, pushed and pulled by the “shoulds” and obsessively trying to be all things to all people, it seems that many of us have abandoned one of our greatest powers and resources … our very own inner-wisdom.

So as we move forward onto this new stage, how will you make decisions? What will guide you? Will you look before you leap or leap before you look?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Women, Intuition and Business: The Fruits of My Labor

Many of us have been taught “do what you love and the money will follow.” But what if we’ve been doing what we love and the money hasn’t found its way to us yet – and isn’t even tagging along at a distance?

There are many of us who are blazing forward with our passion, with our vision of how we want the world to be. We are creating products and services that heal, nurture, connect, beautify, educate and empower. But there is a disconnect going on. Many of us have taken the big leap into the pool of faith and are doing what we love, but we are not realizing the financial splendor that was promised to us. For many this has not only been a crisis of finances, but also a crisis of faith.

The well-known film, ‘The Secret’, told us that if we think it, vision it and believe it, it will come. Most of us, however, by now have discovered that there were some important elements missing from that formula. I was determined to find out what these were.

I decided to participate in a free teleseminar led by Gina Ratliffe, success coach and motivational speaker, and David Neagle, an income acceleration coach for entrepreneurs. Gina’s story is about going from being completely broke to running a million dollar business. I wanted to find out what she knew that I didn’t.

What she discovered was that she was missing some key elements in her financial life — and these were adequate structures, systems and a sound marketing strategy.

To some the idea of setting these important systems and strategies to run a business might seem elementary, but to those of us who are follow-your-heart people and live by the more intuitive sense of things – those important elements never seem to rise to the top of the agenda.

So I wondered, was I wrong to start a business on intuition? I don’t think so. But my experience shows me that intuition alone won’t put tofu on the table…and I suspect that there are plenty of like-minded spiritual seekers out there who would be inclined to agree.

We as yogis are taught that the word yoga means union. So how about this union – Ms. Intuition meets Mr. Market Strategy?

It might be a fun first date, but how long will it last and what do you think the odds are that the union will bear fruit?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Make Your Own Luck

“What are the odds that the next person you meet will change your day, your year, your life?” This is the opening line of an article I recently read in Oprah’s February issue of “O.” “Chance of a Lifetime” discusses whether or not we make our own DESTINY. Coincidentally (or maybe not), I was looking at that magazine in the offices of Oprah’s new network OWN, getting ready to pitch ideas to network executives.

I have always been a big believer in signs that the Universe provides to knock us onto our track or to assure us that we are indeed on the right track. For instance when I see a look-a-like of the dog I had as a child, I feel like the Universe is telling me that everything is okay…that I am on the right track. Then when I see TWO of these dogs at the same time, then I know things are REALLY good.

On the other hand, I have been a big believer in making things happen. For example, when I wanted to work for the National Geographic Society, I called every connection I had there, requested informational interviews, and did my NGS homework. I got the job.

I have vacillated between the theories and practices of making things happen and letting things happen throughout my life. Sometimes I am totally on side, sometimes on the other, and sometimes I embrace both. Lately I have been struggling with where I am now.

Colleen Seifert, PhD, who is featured in the O article and is a specialist in cognitive psychology (the science of why people think the way they do) shed some light on this battle of philosophies. “Chance favors the prepared mind,” Seifert says quoting Louis Pasteur. It sounds good to me, but what does this actually mean?

My interpretation of what Dr. Seifert says is that we are always exposed to randomness. By definition a chance encounter is a random event. Our actions however play a crucial role in the outcome. When you are mentally prepared for a chance encounter you give yourself the opportunity to change your behavior and take action. Life hasn’t changed. It is still random. But you may have. So maybe Louis Pasteur had a good point. The prepared mind has a better chance of getting what it wants, or as many call it, “getting lucky.”

Seifert isn’t alone in believing that if you prepare yourself to make the most of chance encounters, good things are waiting to happen. Apparently there is a real science to prove that while you can’t control the random events of life, you can indeed create your own luck. Take for example the research of Richard Wiseman, PhD.

Dr. Wiseman has spent more than a decade investigating why some people have more luck than others and argues that only 10 percent of life is truly random and that 90 percent is actually defined by the way we think, In his book, The Luck Factor, Wiseman says, “Luck is not a magical ability or a gift from the gods…instead, it is a way of thinking and behaving…Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives.” Another way to say this I think is that being in the right place at the right time is actually about being in the right state of mind.

As I sort all of this out, I think back to when I have had most success and what my strategy and state of mind was at the time. I have tended to think that chance encounters, fortunate circumstances and great successes have come from the friendly Universe. But maybe it is not chance after all. Maybe I really am making my own luck. I still feel gratitude to the Universe though when I see one of those dogs.

Do you think you can make your own luck?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.