The fabulous, connective Mike Dooley of Notes from the Universe, offers 21-day courses of different topics that inspire, educate and enlighten. One course he aligned with Sonia Choquette to teach us about spirit guides and angels and how they can support one’s journey.

We start by considering our own spirit. Who are you? What does your spirit say, what does it want of you, for you? We move on to thinking about the spirit of those in our lives, our family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, understanding that each human body is a unique spirit. This belief enables us to relate to others with less judgement.  If we believe that each of us is a soul with individual lessons to learn and to share, then our meeting and interactions with this soul is purposeful.

Next, we begin exploring the idea of angels and spirit guides. Their role is to keep you safe, feeling assured throughout your life. There is a ministry of angels to which you can call upon for different reasons. We agree to being open to the idea that messages come to us through our angels.  We practice trusting in the idea angels will help us when we call out to them. It is like praying to God if you wanted to put the concept into a religious term. After all, we are taught in church that angels are the messengers of God.

Finally, we are ready to ‘meet’ our spirit guides.  Through meditation and journaling, Sonia tells us to look for simple, repeating signs as messages sent from our guides. They speak to us in many ways such as dreams, jokes, or symbols. Keeping an open mind that such things may be a possible sign your guide is communicating with you, you begin to decipher which ones are meaningful. A hint: angel messages give you strength, leaving you feeling refreshed. And with practice, you become aware which message is coming from which of your angels.

I took this course years ago. Yes, it is much like praying although with its more spiritual lens, it is fun to exercise. If I lost my keys, I would say, “lost & found angels, I need your help.” If I see a repetitive number or symbol, I stop to ponder what is behind this message.  I call out a lot to my healing angel for help with my concoction of health issues. Laugh, but it seems to work.  Even my daughter, skeptical when I first shared, has asked an angel or two for things. With success.

This practice is another way to strengthen your intuition, to take notice of what the Universe is telling us. We are not alone. We do have support from above. Our loved ones, including our children, are with us, guiding us on our path. Reflecting, I have had many messages before taking this course, that I now know were communications from above.

One strange message came to me on a visit to Canmore right after Zane was killed. We drove into town to see bubbles coming out of a storefront. We went in and on a shelf was a wooden sign.  It said, “I think my Guardian Angel drinks.” I stared at it and thought I could see Zane joking about this. Where was his guardian angel that night?  And then I smiled. It was Zane saying this. I bought the sign. It still makes me laugh. It is a reminder that divine messages are spoken, we just must be open to listening.