Synthesized Guidance Meditation

The following Synthesized Guidance Meditation is the result of the researcher’s creative synthesis process used to translate the findings of this inquiry into a more tacit and practical form. It evolved from the researcher’s self-experimentation with various guidance-related methods (see Appendix C), and was used by the researcher in combination with the daily morning Synthesized Guidance Practice (see above) and as a stand-alone tool and practice for the seeking, receiving, and following of guidance from a perceived divine Source. Although this meditation emerged organically from an intuitive and guidance-based process, it appears to correlate with the basic concepts also discerned by the researcher during the creative synthesis process (see The Experience of Divine Guidance, Chapter 5 and Appendix P).

Seeking—Removing the Obstacles:

• Close your eyes and breathe deeply into your abdomen, allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in and contract as you exhale.
• See yourself as a hollow reed or membrane, expanding and contracting.
• Continue in slow, deep breaths, while silently repeating: 
• I am not my thoughts. I am not my feelings. I am not my perceptions. I am empty of all disturbances. I am empty of all desire and need. I am empty of all fear, expectation, and attachment to outcome.

Receiving—Opening the Channels:

• Continue the slow, deep breaths and silently repeat the following words while trying to visualize and feel the process they describe: 
• I am open, ready, and willing to receive guidance from my Highest, Deepest, Most Expansive Source of Beingness.
• Then be still for a few moments and be present to any thoughts, feelings, or sensations that occur within you.

Following—Discerning the Message:

• Silently ask: 
• Am I open to guidance from my Highest, Deepest, Most Expansive Source?
• Try to discern a “yes” or “no” answer within you by performing this simple muscle testing procedure to seek the answer through subtle body channels: 
• Make a circle with the thumb and middle finger of one of your hands, and hold them firmly together. Press the thumb and index finger of your other hand together to form a “beak,” which you then insert into the finger circle of the first hand, and then try to press open the circle. If the circle opens, it likely indicates a “no” answer, and if the circle holds, it likely indicates a “yes” answer.
• If the answer is “no,” take a few breaths, and repeat the exercise, trying to more fully “feel” the words and remember the receptive state you experienced during the morning practice.
• If the answer is “yes,” proceed to inwardly ask your questions. Use the above muscle testing technique for yes or no questions, and/or seek your answers by merely being in the receptive state and inwardly listening for the answer, which could come in the form of an inner voice or vision, a thought-sense, and/or a felt-sense.
• When you receive an answer test it in various ways by asking: 
• Is the answer I am receiving the correct answer? Am I interpreting this information correctly? Am I asking the right question? Do I need to ask a different question? Is there an action I need to take, and if so what is it? Is there more I need to know?
• After feeling complete with the preceding process, silently repeat: 
• I am grateful for the gift of guidance. 

Notes. Major adaptation sources for this practice can be found in The Experience of Divine Guidance, Appendix C.