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by Joanna Pinney Buell

We arrived at our destination without a GPS or directions from Google. We'd been there once before. I recalled the way was simple and straightforward. I knew we had a map in the car from our previous trip and I had directions on how to get to the cottage. The directions were unclear in places, yet still we arrived at our destination without difficulty. How did we ever do it without the aid of a GPS? We used our PGS, our Personal Guidance System.

If Columbus sailed to what became the Americas in 1492 relying on the stars, a sextant and a very limited map of the world, how is that our society has become so totally dependent on GPS in such a short time? Granted, Columbus did not arrive at his consciously intended destination; he arrived where his Personal Guidance System was directing him to.

I do understand the attraction of a shiny, new technology for many people, and I know that for people with short-term memory loss, GPS is a real godsend. What I don't understand is how people capable of reading a map and/or following directions don't see the potential detriment of giving the responsibility for one more cognitive function over to a gadget.

The more I ponder this, the more I see that the larger question is: What is it that makes us fear that we can't find our way?

Our society has become lost, as a whole. In most recent times, technology has contributed to a great divide between us and the nature around us and the nature within us. We know at least subconsciously that we've lost touch with the intuitive skills and practices that guided previous generations to get to where they needed to be. In the midst of all the clamor for our attention from media through the ever-expanding technologies, we've lost the ability to hear the voice of truth within. Epidemics of greed, anger, depression and apathy are the products of having lost our connection with our Personal Guidance System.

So just what is this Personal Guidance System I've been referring to?

Your PGS is the voice of your divinity by whatever name or symbol you choose to identify it with. The point of communication for this guidance is through the heart. The wisdom that lives here, waiting to be called upon, can direct us to an open parking space, to a retreat destination, and show us the way out of the Boston red light district or help us get through NYC without a GPS (or map). Yes, I know this by my own experience, though I never professed that all my trips were straight and narrow.

Our PGS is both practical and profound. It's the voice that answers us when we surrender and call for help from the depths of life's chaos and our times of deepest despair. When we're at the crossroads of life, lost in new and difficult emotional territory, our PGS lights our way in increments. We receive what we need to know, when we need to know it.

When I was about five years old and living next door to my Uncle Johnny's dairy farm, I got lost in the back fields with my friend, Petey Sewall. I can still recall how weak, confused and hopeless I felt. Alongside the feeling of fear, I could hear a guidance that told me that by looking around, we'd spot something we'd recognize. We did, and I suspect this was more of a feeling than an actual recognition. In a short time, we were in familiar territory and then home.

The result of this early experience with being lost and being guided to find my way home is that I recognize the condition of being lost as a temporary state. My adult experiences with being lost have taught me that this is necessary for our human and spiritual development. When we give our responsibility and authority for our personal direction away to external gadgets, media, governments and others' opinions, we narrow the window of opportunity for discovering new territory under the guise of being lost.

The stars that guided Columbus both through dead calm and storms are reflections of the light within us, our inherent guidance, our Personal Guidance System.

Blessings for all the new discoveries that will arise out of your feeling lost, and remember to let the light of your Personal Guidance System shine and illuminate your way.

© Joanna Pinney Buell, The Dowsing Deva, 2012-2014. All rights reserved. Printed here with permission. Joanna Pinney Buell is living the Good Life with her husband David Buell in Downeast, Maine, at their home, Light Heart Retreat. Joanna has been many years in the fields of spirituality, energy work and holistic health as a teacher, hands-on practitioner and writer. Most recently, she has channeled her desire to help others through The Dowsing Diva, where she offers resources for self-health, insightful blog posts, and dowsing services. Joanna can be reached via email at joanna@thedowsingdeva.com. For more information, visit TheDowsingDiva.wordpress.com and lightheartretreat.com to see what this unique place on Earth has to offer YOU.

Are you able to do psychic readings for yourself or do you know any readers who can? I would love to be able to get guidance for myself, but I find it much harder than reading for others. When I tune in for myself, it's like I get a whole mix of images and messages that don't add up to a clear answer. When I use tarot, I find my interpretations are often inaccurate compared to the readings I do for others. Any advice would be appreciated!
Loren

Susyn:

One of the most difficult things to master in psychic development is reading for yourself. In fact, very few psychics even attempt this because their emotional attachments to certain outcomes influence how they interpret the answers they receive. When I teach tarot classes, I always tell my students that it's not a good idea to try to read for themselves.

When we attempt to read for ourselves, we may come from a place of fear, worry or frustration. This in itself will color the answers we get. You may note that when you do readings for others, the answers you give them often surprise them. The solutions may be obvious to you, but your clients can't see this because they are blinded by emotion.

Iíve been conducting psychic readings for over twenty years, and I still find that I need the help of a trusted psychic to find answers to my own questions and problems. I can assure you that even if I do a good reading on a subject, another psychic will always see things differently and more accurately.

We can all benefit from the objective perspective of a third party sometimes. When we read for ourselves, we tend to doubt what we get, filter the information according to our preferences, or flat-out misread what we're given. Just as a surgeon wouldn't perform surgery on his own child, when we're in need of psychic or spiritual guidance, we're wise to ask for help from someone who can be calm and objective.

If you would still like to develop this skill, I recommend practicing with questions that aren't too serious or important to you. You may be able to get accurate guidance on those matters even though more emotional answers elude you. I also recommend trading readings with a trusted fellow psychic. If you still want to attempt doing your own readings, you can have this other psychic give you a second opinion in order to validate what you got. This would be an effective way to ensure you get the most accurate information possible.

I don't believe we are meant to figure out our problems alone, for the Universe is quick to channel information to us from outside sources. Allowing another psychic to read for us can help us avoid a lot of uncertainty, confusion and disappointment, for Spirit is usually quite clear when it presents us with information from another person.

*****

Mata:

The main key to being able to read for yourself is being able to emotionally detach from what you think you need to have happen in order for you to be happy. While I have many times successfully gotten psychic information for myself, that doesn't mean it is always possible. The more anxious I am about the subject at hand, the harder it is to see it clearly. I suppose this is why I find it hardest to get psychic information about my own children, for nothing is more important to a mother than the well-being of her child.

You must also be able to think outside the box. Many of the readings I do for others begin with a question something like: I'm trying to decide between choice A and choice B, and so far it has proven to be an impossible decision. When I tune in to read for them, I see that the reason they haven't been able to feel their way through this decision is because the right path for them is really C, or perhaps AB with some C thrown in. They felt no pull toward any of the options they were contemplating because they were contemplating the wrong options!

Due to our past experiences and personal beliefs systems, we are all limited in our thinking and blinded by assumptions. This is a big reason why it can be helpful to have third parties who don't share our prejudices tune in for us: they are open to a far greater range of information from Spirit than we may be able to allow into our conscious awareness.

This doesn't mean we can't regularly receive guidance from Spirit, though in my own experience, this tends to come more from my intuition and signs and synchronicities than it does from psychic reading processes. As with being able to read for yourself, however, the more calm, objective and open-minded you are, the more helpful guidance you'll tend to receive.

To develop this calm objectivity, it is imperative to cultivate faith in a higher plan. When you believe that everything happens for a good reason, it is easy to relax about how your good comes to you and assume that whatever happens will work out for the best. To cultivate the open-mindedness necessary to seeing the big picture and the infinite possibilities before you, meditation is again the answer, for this will enable you to observe yourself and your life from a much higher perspective.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.