Sorry that Dear Fae is late this week – it has been one of those weeks, let me tell you! Well, I’m not really going to tell you – nobody wants to hear about that. But here it is, better late than never!
My Spirit Guides sometimes appear as living people who I know, usually to reassure me, but sometimes it’s confusing. Is that normal?
First of all, I’m not an expert on non-animal spirit guides and I admit that I haven’t met mine. But from what I do know, Spirit Guides always have a choice in the form that they take and no form is off-limits. Most of the time, they try to appear as comforting as possible. If their appearance is disconcerting or upsetting to you in any way, just let them know. They don’t always process information the same way that we do, so it’s best to simply be open and honest with them. Personally, I would let them know that I found it confusing (I would be very confused) and to please choose a form that I could associate with them specifically so I would know what was going on.
I would like to experience more joy in my life, but I don’t know how! Help?
This is a biggie! There are SO many ways that we can bring more joy into our lives and SO many ways that we neglect to do so! If you don’t have joy in your life, it quickly becomes a grind and you find yourself surviving instead of living. I completely understand – I’ve been there, too.
The first thing I suggest is that you look at all your obligations in your life. Which ones do you really have to do and which ones can you get rid of? The idea of this is to make more room for joy. If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to fill up your days with obligations to yourself and other people, but a lot of those things don’t REALLY need to be done or, at least, not by you. Loving your life has to be one of your priorities or it isn’t going to happen. If you manage to cut out 4 things that take 15 minutes each, you’ve just cleared an hour of your life for yourself to enjoy. So they don’t have to be drastic changes, little things are okay.
Secondly, do you know what makes you happy? It’s okay if you don’t – that’s not uncommon. This can be anything at all – you don’t have to be a saint. Helping others, watching your grandkids, singing badly to the radio, knitting, gardening, really bad puns… anything is okay (standard moral clause applies). But find that thing that lifts you up and makes your heart feel light – you’ll know it when you find it. And if you haven’t found it yet, start exploring different things and don’t be afraid to do something potentially embarrassing. Who knows, you may LOVE ballroom dancing, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know.
A third suggestion is simply this: Go outside. Just 15 minutes a day. Even if it’s just sitting on your porch or your stoop for 15 minutes, that’s okay. Just get outside and breathe some fresh air for 15 minutes. If you have to, you can do other things at the same time, but do them outside. You’d be surprised at the difference that it makes.
Lastly, there are animal totems to help you with this. Hummingbird teaches us about joy and Otter teaches us about play. Both of them can be very powerful in your life. So along with taking steps to purposefully bring joy into your life, ask Hummingbird and/or Otter to join you on your path and walk with you awhile and listen to the ideas they whisper in your ear.
