Listen closer to whom you know

The next time you interact with someone you know, rather than listen to what you're thinking, turn instead to your focus to what you're feeling.  The depth and intensity of your communication will change considerably.  Words you choose may be inadequate to clarify the indescribable. An angel  can be an earthly messenger who provides us with information just when we could really use it, reminding us how well we really know ourselves.

Why is it that you're drawn to certain people to strike up conversation and not others? Why is it that you connect and keep in touch with people you hardly ever see, yet, barely talk to people you've known for years through school, work or social activities? Listen closer to whom you know.  They may have entered your life to allow you to discover that feelings, inclinations, knowledge and energy you seek consciously or unconsciously aren't all accessible or perceptible at the same time.

You may have known a friend for a year or more and only just discover a shared belief you didn't know you shared.  Why didn't you learn about this source of common interest sooner? Maybe you weren't ready.  Maybe you didn't ask the proper questions. Maybe it didn't really matter before. Maybe your senses weren't sharp enough. Maybe you weren't as attentive then as you have become.

Over the years, old friends and acquaintances have contacted me unexpectedly and sent me books and flyers which responded to issues on my mind at the time. I have met people with notable specialisations who turn out to be 'a friend of friend' and kindly offer timely advice without being asked. I've attended functions where I've been drawn to guests I initially felt were strangers but turn out to know me or be linked to important areas of my life. Such experiences may seem a bit quirky, but they're true. As you listen closer to yourself, you'll feel more attuned to people you know.

You may have also had experiences where you've met people who confirm things you've been thinking.  I recently spoke with an engineer I know about interpretations of specific circumstances.  He astonished me by finishing some of my sentences in ways that gave me a physical, 'real world' confirmation of what my intuition was already telling me.  Was he a earthly guardian angel? Maybe. Similar experiences remind me I don't struggle to recall specifics. A profound truth is awe-inspiring.

Setbacks are worth it

It's not unusual to feel as though you may come face to face with a prospective disaster. What is it about people, opportunities and events that seem to arrive just in the nick of time? It may not be easy to understand why we seem to be held back from what we desire to do, and then, you realize that maybe something beyond you has good reason to intervene. Consider this story:

Early Monday morning, Mary was in a hurry to get to the office. She had scheduled new client appointments and felt they would lead to a bonus she needed to move to a better neighborhood.  As she rushed around her apartment finishing last minute preparations, the phone rang. her babysitter was sick. Understanding as Mary was, this left her in a bind. Her trusted neighbour was away.  She thought of taking her baby to the office.  Her secretary might understand? Maybe not! Mary thought twice and decided to contact a friend who agreed to look after her baby. In order to get baby to her friend's home, Mary had to take a different route to work. In doing so, she encountered unexpected traffic hold ups in construction. As time passed, her stress level rose. 

After she dropped her baby off with her friend, she headed back toward the city and the office. Just as she thought she was getting ahead, she encountered a minor road accident which set her back again.  When the ambulance had a hard time getting though to the handful of victims, the car in front accidentally backed into hers.  There was more damage than a broken tail-light. Mary was forced to call her office to cancel those anticipated appointments.  She felt devastated. After all, those leads had taken a year to become real prospects.   At that point, she felt that everything was against her. Something about Murphy's Law, you know, when anything and everything can go wrong, then it will? She tried to stop her mind from thinking that way.

Once in the garage where the mechanic was looking at Mary's car, she sat down and sipped a coffee.  The radio was blaring and just after 8:45, the station cut programs to a news bulletin. 

"Flight 11 crashed at roughly 490 mph (790 km/h or 425 knots) into the north side of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre, between floors 94 and 98."  Mary was clearly astonished. The mechanic came running into the waiting area to listen to the rest of the broadcast.

"Do you believe that?" he asked, scratching his head. "That can't really be! It's crazy!"

"Oh my gracious!" replied Mary, covering her mouth with her hand.  "My office is on that block."

"You're darn lucky, lady!" cried the mechanic. "Good thing you weren't there on time today!" He went back to work but left the radio on. He wanted to do things to take his mind of the news. 

Just after 9am, the radio station cut to another bulletin: "Flight 175 crashes at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south side of the South Tower, banked between floors 78 and 84." (More gasps)

As she sat back in disbelief to make some phone calls, all Mary could think was how thankful she was for her sick babysitter, for the road construction and accidents that had held her up, for the cut on her hand that had required time to retrieve a band-aid, her for her dear old friend who lived in suburbs, for things that had set her behind that morning.  Setbacks were worth it.

Perspective shapes perception

A guardian angel can be a symbolic entity or real person who appears concerned for our welfare.  We need not know an angelic individual personally, but what we learn from them can teach us new meaning about affection, and open our minds to what it means to be aware and complete. 

I read a story about a devoted Australian mother with a zest for life who died of breast cancer three months after her twins were born.  Funny thing, during treatments, she actually said the date she chose to die and did as planned, after bringing in the New Year 2005. If she determined she completed what she had been born to complete, she may have shifted consciousness.  Her life experience enabled her husband to learn how we choose to live shapes how we react to what happens to us.  He evolved to view her life and passing with gratitude, not grief and pain. He became utterly peaceful and together, turned to focus on his creative energy and potential.

This woman I never knew reminds me love heals our souls and relationships.  Her life story also reminds me I am never a victim of my circumstances unless I choose to lie to myself about what I control.  My life has taught me I may sense that I'm a loving person.  Yet, the experience itself raises my awareness to new levels of understanding that compels a willingness to sacrifice.  Feelings are the language of my soul which I have opportunities to decipher throughout my life.

Another couple I met evolved from being discouraged and in debt in their twenties to becoming financially free in their thirties.  Listening to their life story, which concerns business success, has taught me we're not always consciously aware of what we want from ourselves or our lives.  As we meet people, we may become aware of what we had previously chosen to ignore about ourselves. 

This couple reminds me what I choose to experience expands my awareness of what is possible and transforms my reality.  I instruct my mind and create on a conscious level what I initially imagine.  Like guardian angels, this couple invites me to discover new insights accessible within myself.

Be true to yourself

I'm reminded that each person I meet is an invitation to change, to become a participant in a process that includes many more people around the world.  Good conscience is a sure reward.

I think of how meeting a businessman at a particular stage of my life enabled me to discover that I was limiting my choices based on what I knew about my potential to that point.  Coincidentally, I have a colleague who met a businessman and got into a new venture just before the colleague's initial business had to close down. A businessman you meet in passing can be an angel in disguise. 

I recall how sharing dinner with a psychology professor in a distant city enlarged my observations about humanity's evolution and my own kinds of attachments.  I had met that person on a plane.   Our few hours of discussions later that evening taught me a negative side of my determination.  That interaction taught me to distinguish and reflect on different levels of desire or aspiration.  I learned I could be true to myself while changing my mind about job, study and career choices.

A friend of mine reinforced her faith in strangers when she arrived at an airport and her luggage didn't follow.  Why was it that airline personnel were so understanding and provided her compensation when she temporarily had nothing to wear? Why was it someone kindly bought her a coffee and someone else paid her transit bus fare before she reached the gate to do it herself?  Somewhere inside herself, she decided not to try to control what was already out of her hands.  She didn't desire to get upset about her lost luggage, so she didn't.  She chose not to assume people were 'out to get her' and discovered the overwhelming desire of strangers to help. 

Rather than accumulate negative karma, you can chose the opposite and benefit from a strong of positive consequences. As you are true, as you believe in yourself, positive outcomes unfold. The guardian angels may appear in the form of strangers yet, your attitude can be another saving grace. Why not act as your own guardian angel? If you don't look out for yourself, how can you expect others to care? As you set an example, you may be surprised to see how you inspire others.

Angel currency to amulets

An angel is the name of an English gold coin issued from 1460 to 1643, bearing on its obverse a figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon. First minted in 1461 during the reign of Edward IV, it had a value of six shillings and eight pence. By 1526, during the second coinage of Henry VIII, its value was raised to seven shillings and six pence.  Later, in 1544, it was worth eight shillings. By 1547, this coin’s value had reached ten shillings, in part due to extravagant spending habits of Henry VIII and an early example of inflation. It remained a ten shilling gold coin until production ceased in 1643 during the reign of Charles I.

The angel is a fascinating historic coin. It evolved from having market exchange value to hang round the neck of a patient who was touched for the king's ovil. Angels were no longer struck after the Restoration. When they went out of currency, small golden medallions, resembling them in style, were created to replace them as amulets, and these went by the name of "touch pieces." They continued to have the reputation of protection with an ability to ward off bad spirits.