Getting Out of My Own Way
“Hey, this might sound strange, but I think I have a message for you from your grandmother who passed away.”
There is a part of being a Shamanic Practitioner—aka a Shaman—that I don’t talk about all that often.
I have the ability to see, hear, smell, feel, and communicate with Spirit. By Spirit, I mean those who have crossed over. I can also pick up the energy or “vibe” of places, objects, and sometimes people. Messages often come to me as visions, pictures, words, sounds, feelings, or simply a knowing.
I’ve pretty much always been this way.
I’ve always been intuitive and empathic, with clairvoyant and clairaudient abilities. But I’ve also spent many years studying, practicing, and learning how to better understand what I receive. Like anything else, it takes practice to learn the language.
As a practicing Shaman, I live part of my life just like most people do, in what is sometimes called an Ordinary State of Consciousness. I’m doing laundry, answering emails, making dinner, painting, driving somewhere, working, laughing, worrying, planning…all the regular human stuff.
But I also spend part of my life in a Shamanic State of Consciousness.
For me, this is a meditative state where I can keep a foot in both worlds. I’m still here, grounded in this world, but I’m also open and listening to Spirit.
Nowadays, I’m pretty comfortable with that.
I’m comfortable being a healer and a guide. I’m comfortable with my spirituality. I’m comfortable in my skin and with the way I move through the world.
But there is one part that can still make me really uncomfortable.
Sometimes Spirit gives me a message for someone I don’t know very well.
And that’s when the very ordinary human part of me kicks in.
Because seriously…how do you walk up to someone you barely know and say:
“Hey, this might sound strange, but I think I have a message for you from your grandmother who passed away.”
Yikes.
There is always that little voice in my head that says, Don’t do it.
They’re going to think you’re crazy.
They’re going to judge you.
Maybe they don’t believe in this stuff.
Maybe they don’t want to hear it.
Maybe you should just keep your mouth shut and move along.
And sometimes I really, really want to.
But then I remind myself of something important.
The message wasn’t given to me for me.
If I receive something that I believe is clearly meant for another person, I feel an obligation to pass it along. I don’t have to convince them of anything. I don’t have to make them believe me. I don’t have to interpret every little piece of it for them.
My job is simply to deliver what I received.
What they do with it is theirs.
And so I get out of my own way.
I take a breath. I usually start with something like, “This might sound a little strange…” And then I share the message.
Always.
Even when I’m nervous.
Even when I feel awkward.
Even when a part of me would much rather pretend I didn’t hear anything.
Because to me, receiving communication from Spirit is an honor. It takes time and energy on both sides. I am deeply grateful for the open communication I have been able to develop, and I never want to treat that relationship casually or disrespectfully.
I also think there is a bigger lesson in this that goes beyond Shamanism.
How often do we know we’re supposed to do something, but hesitate because we’re afraid of what other people might think?
How often does our intuition whisper something while our ego immediately starts shouting all the reasons we shouldn’t listen?
Sometimes getting out of our own way doesn’t mean we aren’t afraid.
It means we feel the fear, recognize it for what it is, and choose to trust anyway.
I don’t expect everyone to understand the way I experience Spirit. I don’t need everyone to believe what I believe.
But I do need to be authentic to who I am.
So when Spirit knocks, I listen.
When a message comes through, I receive it with gratitude.
And when that message belongs to someone else, I gather up my courage, get my very human self out of the way…
and deliver it.
