Besides spirit guides who dwell in the ether did you know that sometimes people here on Earth can be your guides as well? That’s right, living guides, right here on Earth. Are they beings who jump into people’s bodies, take them over, and deliver a message to you while you’re sitting at Starbucks? No. These are people who come into your life at the perfect time, either when you are in desperate need of guidance, love and support or when you are ready to go to the next level. These are people who say just the right thing to move you forward, or offer a word of comfort at just the right moment (say, when you’re about to jump off a bridge). These are people who have a profound impact on the course of your life, and usually, they are completely unaware that they are guiding you.
Who are these people and how do they know where to go, and when, and what to do when they get there?
First of all, these people are typically unaware that they are being sent to guide you. So if you say to them, “Oh wow, are you one of my guides?” they’ll probably look at you like you escaped from the mental ward. No, they’re just being themselves, but they are usually “coincidentally” in the right place at the right time to offer just the right piece of advice or information that allows you to take a big leap forward in your spiritual development, or maybe even to save your life.
How do they get there? They’re guided by their own guides to be in the right place. Perhaps your guides put a notice up on the spiritual bulletin board in the ether, “Wanted, someone who can knock some sense into this bloke we’re trying to guide. He’ll be at Starbucks on Saturday, the 12th, at 8am. Can anyone help?” And maybe another guide reads this notice and says, “Hey, my charge, Suzanne, is going to be in that vicinity. I’ll see what I can do.” The next morning Suzanne wakes up with the sudden urge to go grab a coffee at Starbucks, which is something she never does, and at the last minute decides to bring along her copy of oh, say, Personal Development for Smart People. So she’s sitting there chugging away at her latte while reading up on love and oneness and suddenly she sees a sad sack of a bloke sitting at a table all alone. Without hesitation or a second thought she leaps from her chair and goes right up to the guy. Handing him her book she says, “You look like you could use some help. This book helped me a lot, and I’ll bet it will help you too.” The guy kindly accepts this out-of-nowhere gift and the girl walks away, unknowing of the fact that she was a catalyst and just changed this guy’s life forever.
That’s just one example of how something like this could go down. There are many other ways. Perhaps you’re suicidal and walking down the street when you realize you’re lost. By the time you look up from your haze of emotional pain you realize you’re standing right in front of a church. A kindly priest invites you in and by the end of your chat you don’t want to kill yourself anymore.
Earthly guides come in all shapes, sizes, and species. Sometimes it’s an animal that comes along at just the right time to provide you some comfort. Or maybe it’s a child that captures your attention, or who comes up to you and says, “Excuse me, sir, you look like you could use a hug.” Out of nowhere. It’s good stuff.
Earthly guides don’t have to be hit-and-runners though. Sometimes a special person comes into your life and sticks around for a while. You develop an instant and special bond, and before you know it, your vibration is increasing rapidly. Maybe it’s someone who helps you work out that issue with your parents, or maybe it’s someone who gets you on the road to addiction recovery. Maybe it’s a business contact who helps you take your business to a whole new level.
I had a special guy friend in high school who was an earthly guide for me. He was very wise and really good at teaching, and he was only 17. We would spend hours talking about life and I would ask him dozens of questions. He had a special way of teaching me without giving me answers, but drawing me to my own conclusions. Many years later when I told him what a profound impact he had on me during that time in my life and how he really steered the course of my life because of it, he said, “I was your teacher? No, I think you have that wrong. You asked me the most amazing questions and I learned more about life from your questions than you could possibly have learned from my answers.” Huh, who knew?
Be on the lookout for these guides. Accept their help, advice, wisdom, support, love, whatever they have to offer. How can you tell who is a guide and who is a just a nosy, butter-inner? By the way they make you feel. Is what they’re offering helping you in some way? Receive it lovingly and willingly. Be on the lookout for the drive-by earth guides. These moments of contact have a special quality about them, the kind you remember years later, the kind you look back upon and realize, “Interesting, that day at Starbucks this random woman handed me a book, and now that I look back I realize it was that moment that put me on the path I’m on right now, helping others. Fascinating.”
Yes, fascinating indeed. The world works in mysterious ways. Your guides are putting up your information on some cosmic “Help Wanted” bulletin board. Maybe one day, you’ll be the guide for someone else. Pay it forward. When you feel a strong urge to help someone, don’t hold back. You could be the one that makes a difference in his or her life.