We hear so much about Being Here Now, and it is incredibly wise advice.

Of course, we need to know how to get out of all distraction, and just be. Of course, being is all we are.
And yet, sometimes, we’re supposed to do, not be.

Sometimes, being can be a way of hiding out, detaching, not to be present by saying we’re being overly present.

Sometimes, doing is what is called for.

There are obvious times when doing is imperative: if you witness someone fall on the sidewalk, you don’t just close your eyes and go into meditation on the event. Of course, you spring up and race over and help the person stand up.

You do, because that is what is called for.

If your child is hungry for dinner and it is your normal meditation hour, you don’t close the door and go meditate. You go into the kitchen and you make your child some food.

You do, because this is what is called for.

Check your own position on doing vs. being.

If you’re still not sure, maybe David Bowie can help: on “Modern Love.” he sings: “I know when to go out, and when to stay in. Get things done.” Channel your inner Bowie.

If you’re really active and out there and always running around, it’s time to slow down into being. If you live very slow, mostly relaxing, inner focused, continually turning inward, it’s time to speed up into doing.

We all have many facets and sides to our Selves. It’s important to utilize them all.

​If you’ve been in spiritual practice for a while, and are used to going into beautiful meditations where your guides are fully communicating with you and giving you very clear messaging, you’re going to one day have the experience where they aren’t going to be there.

Or, maybe they will be there, but they’ll be hazy, or vague, or in the distance. Or maybe they’ll even show up, and sort of turn away, or wave you off with their hands.

As if to say, not today, my friend.
Or, the shop is closed today.
Or, we aren’t doing a meeting today.

If this happens to you, it is a sign that you are meant to do other things besides meditation and guide communication, for a while.

Sometimes we use meditation and contact with the guides as a kind of crutch for getting through our lives: we ask the guides a lot of questions that we already know the answers for. For example, we might continually ask the guides for a specific question, over and over again.

And the guides continue to give us great information, or information for us to explore. But instead of going out and acting and exploring and doing, we just sit at home asking questions. Doing more meditation.
Asking over and over again, when we have already been given the answer.

After a point, our guides will not provide us with more answers, until we’ve taken action on what we’ve received.

If you find yourself in a place where the guides have temporarily closed up shop, don’t despair. This is a sign to get out in the world in an active, physical way. Meet people, do things, allow yourself to receive synchronicities, and actually follow them.

This will lead you to your next step.

​There’s this myth that you have to know your spirit guide’s name.

And, it just isn’t true at all.

Sometimes, rarely, you will get a name. If you are American, this name is often something really plain, like Bob, or really fancy, like Ashkar, or St. Germaine.

If you get a name, great. Go with that.

But if you don’t get a name, don’t spend another moment worrying about it. Our spirit guides are real beings, who exist in other dimensions, who have the ability to work with us in vision, symbol, language, and emotion, in order to help us with our understanding of the ineffable All/One/God/Universe/Source.
They are like translators for us, using systems of understanding that are familiar to us.

They are much more interested in helping us receive a vision of an eagle diving into the sea, for example, that helps us understand our life’s purpose, than they are in giving us their names.

It’s not easy for us, as humans, to receive these visions fully. The guides seek to give us what is most important: the vision and the understanding, in the limited time they have when our concentration is strong.

The thing is… our concentration is pretty limited! Our guides aren’t going to waste it on names. They want us to get to the juice, the core, the essence of what we need to know about our life and our path. Names aren’t a priority.

Let go of the need to know your spirit guide’s name. If it happens, great. If not, focus on the more important aspects: what your guide or guides are bringing to you, for your higher understanding.

​It’s  important to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Why you’re working toward what you’re working toward.

A lot of people say they want to “help others.” It's a nice phrase. But if you are saying that you want to help others, when what you really want to do is get your finances in order and stabilize your life… then own that.

If you’re saying one thing, and feeling another, the Universe is going to figure it out. And when the Universe senses that you are not in alignment with your vision, the Universe causes the whole big machinery of manifestation that you have created to come to a screeching, massive halt.

If you are pushing in one direction, because society or your mind or your parents or your friends or whoever it is says that this is the way you should go, but if in your own quiet and tender heart, you really want something else….

Well, if you find yourself in this place, chances are good that you’re going to be stuck. You’ve been stopped by the Universe, until you figure out what your heart really wants.

In human life, the heart is where the soul resides. The heart is what the Universe listens to. If you’re not doing your deep, true heart’s longing, the Universe isn’t going to help you in any way.

And of course, if you are doing your heart’s longing, the Universe will put everything into hyper drive, to help you in all ways.

Own your real dream, no matter what it is.
This is what you’re here for.

​It’s great to follow spiritual teachers, to a certain point.

Yet one of the things we learn when we follow a spiritual path is that you have to create your own path.

You have to create the trail as you walk it.
Build the plane while you’re flying it.
It’s like bushwhacking through the jungle.
Or trying to find your true north, without a compass.

The thing to know is…

There is no map.
There is no clearly marked path.
There is no defined way.

The Universe does not deliver a scroll to you upon your birth with all your whole life determined, and all you have to do is diligently trudge your way from Point A to B to C and so on until death.

And… thank goodness for this!

Instead, you get the magical, amazing, delicious, difficult, and gorgeous experience of walking in the mystery: of walking toward where you think you’re going, with only the slightest understanding of what is around the next corner.

You have to walk blind.
You have to walk in the mystery.
Nobody has the answer.
Nobody’s ever going to get the answer.
The only answers you’re going to get, are the ones you discover.

It’s beautiful, to fly free this way.

Embrace the mystery.

It holds all the room you need to live, love, fail, learn, and grow.

It can be super funny and super annoying when people start to get all spiritual on you, spouting off this master and that teacher, going to this workshop and that retreat.

As if the more books you can read, and the more trainings you can attend, the more spiritual you’ll become. As if the more you can rub shoulders with the “big” teachers, the more their understanding rubs off on you.
It’s all ridiculous, isn’t it? It’s really giving away your power.

You, as a Divine Soul, are just as spiritual as any famous guru, teacher, priest, rabbi, master, and so forth.
A teacher may be a little further on that path than you. But you can’t move forward on your path, just by attaching to a teacher.

You have to do the work yourself.
You have to have the experiences.
You have to grow into your understanding.

This kind of awakening isn’t transferable (even if they tell you it is). You can’t be activated or realigned or awakened by anyone else.

It all comes from you as soul Self, deciding to be awake.

Be wary of teachers who tell you that if you hang around with them, do their program, etc., that you will become spiritually elevated.

You might.

But it might be, that in giving away your power, you put yourself in an even worse position. You become a spiritual sheep.

Instead, own your own power. Do your meditation. Do your practice. Get out and explore the world as your own spiritual sadhu, or stay at home and explore your spiritual Self that way.

Read books and take trainings and go to retreats… but understand that the power to transform comes from within you, it is something you already possess. Another cannot do this work for you.