I woke up with a beautiful thought this morning.  As a Catholic, I was raised with the knowledge that I could pray to God and ask for help and guidance with any issues I was having.  This gave me great comfort, especially in times of need.  But, as I got older, I met people who didn’t know that they could pray — perhaps due to their upbringing or a lack of religious instruction.  However, as I was writing my book, I came to realize that even religious people who knew about prayer were limiting their prayer experience.  They knew that they could ask God and the divine for guidance, but they didn’t realize that they could actually receive the answers they were seeking.

Many devout people are also very humble.  And I believe that humility is an incredible virtue, and something that we need more of in today’s world.  However, it’s important not to confuse humility with a lack of self esteem and empowerment.  Some people who pray also think that asking is enough, and that they may not receive an actual “answer,” per se.  “Why would God deign to speak to me?  Who am I to receive such clear guidance?”  But prayer is a two-way street.  Receiving answers and divine guidance are part of the process.

 The gift within us is the ability to access this divine guidance, divine wisdom — in answer to our prayers.  We’ve all heard the wonderful phrase, “Ask and you shall receive.”  But I don’t think that phrase is meant to be taken literally.  If I ask for help with a problem, it doesn’t mean that the problem is going to be instantly solved.  So my inspiration this morning was this: That if we ask for something through prayer, we will receive…the divine guidance we need to resolve the issue in question.

It’s important and good to ask for help and guidance through prayer, but we need to be open and confident in the fact that we will receive wise inspirations and answers by listening to our inner voice.  By listening to our inner voice — and accessing the gift within us — we will be able to get the direction we need to fulfill the intention of that prayer, and to resolve the issues at hand.

My story about psychic artists is currently being featured in a special issue of New Dawn Magazine, a leading spiritual magazine which is based in Australia.  It’s a pleasure to have my writing featured in this forward thinking magazine, which often covers thought provoking topics by noted authors from all over the world.  Here’s a link to the story if you’re interested in learning more about psychic artists — also known as Spirit Artists: http://bit.ly/2ErzDjP

Gary Schwartz, PhD and I had the pleasure of being interviewed on a wonderful radio show called “Conscious Talk Radio” on Wednesday, February 7th.  Hosted by Brenda Michaels and Rob Spears, the show’s tagline is “Radio That Makes A Difference” and, if you listen to the show, you will understand why this radio show is truly unique and how it does make a difference in the way we view consciousness and reality.  During the interview, I talk about my book, The Gift Within Us, and Gary Schwartz talks about his book Super Synchronicity.  Although our books cover different topic areas, the basic message is that there is a vast universe that offers us tremendous resources, or divine guidance, as I call it — and that we all have the ability to access this abundant wisdom to improve our own lives and the world that we live in.  My thanks to Brenda and Rob for having us on their show, and I hope to have a link to the interview on my website soon.  In the meantime, you can listen to the interview by going on the Conscious Talk Radio website — here is a link to the site:  http://www.conscioustalk.net/