Spirit guide: a soul who has evolved over many lifetimes and has reached higher levels of transformation than the average person. This discarnate soul has chosen to act as a guide and protector to an incarnated human being.

I first learned of my spirit guide many years ago. It was before I became a chiropractor. I was doing a polarity therapy session and was standing at the client’s feet. She opened her eyes and said, “Do you know there is a very tall (invisible) man standing behind you? He’s wearing all white, and he’s about 7 feet tall.” We talked about it at the end of the session, and I wanted to believe her, but wasn’t sure.

Soon after chiropractic college, I got a psychic reading. The reader told me that my guide said to let me know he was always behind me, backing me up. At that time, I thought it was a metaphor. Soon, I knew different.

A couple of months later during a stressful time in my life, I was receiving a massage from an intuitive woman. She told me that, when I walked into the room, she saw a tall man dressed in white standing directly behind me. He was smiling and looking tenderly at me.

Since that time, I have had many interactions with him. While I’ve never seen him, I ask his help when I need guidance or information. When I must have an unpleasant conversation with someone, I ask that he step in and smooth it out. I ask for help in saying the right thing.

While working with clients, I call in their spirit guides and angels and mine to assist me with the clearings. Sometimes, clients are confused about the difference between the two. Let me explain how spirit guides communicate with you.

Spirit guides are not angels. They are wise beings who have walked the earth in the past and have chosen to act as a guide for us in this lifetime. As part of their spiritual growth, they are responsible for assisting us to complete the spiritual contract we make with ourselves.

We each have our own special guide who is with us from birth until death. We are never alone. There are no exceptions.

Doreen Virtue, a noted angel expert, says these disembodied souls have received special training to be a guide. There are guides who come to give help with certain issues and then leave. But your special one is always there. Sometimes, one’s guide is a relative who has passed.

Spirit guides have many ways to intervene and help us see the right path to take. But we must be conscious and pay attention when the signs appear. Here are four examples of how they work:

1. Events of synchronicity.  Guides may arrange, with the help of another spirit guide, for you to meet a person who can help you. Perhaps you meet him at a lecture and three days later, you see him again in the vegetable section of the grocery store. Pay attention. Unbeknownst to him, he may have some important information to convey to you through casual conversation.
2. You get a “gut feeling.” Someone introduces you to a person who, by appearances, seems lovely. She requests to spend more time with you or offers a gift or assistance with something. You get that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach that screams, “No! Avoid this person.” Later, you discover that she creates havoc wherever she goes.
3. Intuitive flashes. These are thoughts that seem to come out of the blue. You are thinking about one thing and suddenly, a completely unrelated thought speaks loudly to you. It could be a nonsensical, such as “Take a different road” when you are driving, and you find a new store you were hoping to find. Or, something whimsical like “Buy an extra serving for dinner,” and a friend shows up unexpectedly.
4. Signs – Animals are my most frequently-noticed sign. For instance, when I see a hawk, I try to stop immediately and analyze what I am thinking.  The hawk is often referred to as the messenger, and there is a message in those thoughts or in something in my vicinity.  I refer to the book “Animal Speak” when I notice an animal I don’t usually see. The book is chock full of information about the symbology of individual animals.

Also, there may be something that you see that is unusual, something out of place, like a pigeon sitting in the middle of the street. It could be that the bird is trying to give you a message.

To be sure, there are other methods your spirit guide uses to speak to you. The key is to remain observant of things you hear and see.

Do ask for help from your spirit guide. He or she is waiting for the opportunity to help. Take a moment to just say out loud what you need help with. You don’t have to know his/her name.