Sometimes when I sit down to communicate with my Higher Self I seem to have to go through lots of hurdles to get the connection really clear.

When I am very relaxed it is easy and I can chat away like to my best friend. But if I have got a bit too involved in business or other activities it can take longer to open the lines. I thought it would be useful to share some of the things that can come up to distract you and how to deal with them, as we will probably all face most of them at some stage. You may have some more to add to the list too.

Just imagine that you have sat down to relax and commune with your Higher Self, or with God, your Guides, Angels, Archangels, Ascended Masters or anyone else you want to have a relationship with in the Divine World. Your mind appears determined to prevent you from getting easily into this communication and is trying whatever tricks it can to keep itself at the centre of your attention. It looks something like this:

Your mind is suddenly filled with problems. There are so many of them to be solved that you couldn’t possibly spend time with any of those Divine beings. You need to get on with thinking about all the problems and trying to solve them mentally.

Just be aware that you will never solve them this way. Do not fight your mind over this as it will fight you back and probably win. Gently remind yourself that your Higher Self (or God or just about any other being) will help you solve the problems if you allow it to. And wait a while… Then up come a whole lot of obligations. These are the things you should have done yesterday, have to get done today, must do tomorrow. They take up a lot of mental space because you are so worried you might forget them, so you keep churning them over and over.

Thinking about them doesn’t help you to achieve them. If you really have to do them you will not forget. So just let them go and wait for a little while… Next come the objections. They object to you being relaxed (there’s so much to do and so much to think about); they object to you taking time (it would be better to get going now); they object to you communicating with your higher Self (it never works anyway, you’re no good at it, you won’t make it so why bother…); they object to you in general (nothing you do is ever really effective, you’re wasting your time, you should leave it to people who are good at it…); and so it goes on.

There is always another objection, and another one, and another one. They are a waste of time. Whatever they are saying about you is actually true about them, not about you. So have a laugh at how silly they are and wait a while… There can be a lot of noise. This is not physical noise but just general clatter in your mind, not very distinct, nor intelligible. It’s just loud enough that it puts you off what you’re really trying to do.

At this point some commitment is useful. Imagine you are listening for the tiny still voice that is difficult to hear amongst all the noise. If you listen hard enough the noise will gradually subside. And wait a while… You may be overwhelmed with ideas, some of them good and some of them absolutely amazing. Ideas are powerful distractions because they seem so positive, that you wouldn’t want to turn them off. But ideas are also endless and have very little real value. There are always more of them and you will only ever pay attention to very few of them in your life.

If they are really good ideas they will not disappear, so just let them pass through you and avoid getting caught up in them. You can turn them on at any time when you need them, but right now you are doing something different. Your Higher Self may give you some ideas, which will tend to be very simple and practical. Listen out for them and forget the constant stream that comes from an overactive mind. Wait for a while... There is an interesting little distraction which I call the drama of connection. This is when we try very hard to connect and make a big drama out of it. We breathe deeply, relax hard, work to empty our minds and end up making a lot of internal noise about connecting without the connection actually taking place.

To let go of the drama, remind yourself that the simplest way to connect is to ask for it. It’s not you that needs to do anything. When you ask for it, help will be given to you almost miraculously – totally without drama. Go for that and wait for a while… You may find your mind busy in discussion. When it starts a discussion with itself it uses a lot of your attention and energy. This is a winning strategy for the mind and will often distract you until you don’t have any time left for connecting and you have to leave it until the next day.

The best solution is to spend more time, if you can. I sometimes say “I am going to sit here until I connect and I don’t care how long it takes.” It always works, as long as I really have enough time. Then you need to wait for a while… In an attempt to regain control you may start to focus. This looks like a good idea, because by exercising some control you can prevent your mind from being so crazy and dominant. But unfortunately it just doesn’t work, because communicating with your Higher Self is not about focus, it is the opposite. It happens when you let go of focusing and open up to a much broader and more open source of information.

Just wait a while – you can’t keep focusing for long! There is a stage where your mind may just try absolutely anything that can get in the way of you connecting. It acts up in any way it can.

This is just a stage, so wait for a while…it will pass. You may start to see strange patterns in front of your eyes or in your mind. They can swirl all over the place and distract you very nicely.

This is also just a stage so wait a while… As all these tricks gradually fail, panic may set in. This is not overwhelming, heavy breathing panic, but a subtle mental panic that makes you just want to stop right now. Instantly. For no reason. But you HAVE to stop. And if you don’t stop you have to move, and move again, and keep moving until you are totally distracted.

Just keep going, as sweetly, patiently and softly as you can…and wait a while… And then there is repetition of all the above.

And so I repeat – just wait a while… But the biggest trap of all is knowledge. This is where you think you know what you have to do, because you did it this way before and it worked. And so you try to do something that worked before. You try really hard. And you wonder why it doesn’t work, so you try even harder.

This is tough! It is almost the last sanctuary of the mind. Its knowledge is its treasure. It SHOULD work. But it doesn’t. Connecting is always fresh. It never repeats old stuff. The Higher Self and other higher beings always supply completely fresh new information, so the only way to access it is to open up and allow yourself to be surprised. No knowledge can help you here…so just wait a while longer… You are now almost ready to give up or give in. It’s time for breakfast. You have been here long enough. You are obviously not going to connect today. It’s not the right day for it. blah blah blah blah blah

You are almost there now. This is your first attempt to surrender and let go. Just wait a while without trying to force anything…it’s not much further now… And something starts to open. You receive some kind of communication. You get the sense that something bigger is in contact with you. You are listening intently to the small voice and it is becoming louder than all the noisy voices from before. You are open and it feels good.

Hang in there and keep listening, without trying too hard. You are in contact with your Higher Self. Go ahead and ask whatever you want. It will respond. And if it gives you a response you don’t understand ask it to clarify. Keep asking until you are satisfied and understand. Make sure you ask what you need to do and how you can help. And with communication you get connection. After a while there may be no more words, just a beautiful sense of communing. You are united with your Higher Self, or with the Light or some other aspect of divine consciousness. There is nothing more to do.

By Sarah McCrum.