Inviting Angels into Your Life: Assistance and Support from the Angelic Realm

PREFACE

Living Large: A Call to Action

Imagine your favorite person in the whole world, the person with whom you feel incredibly comfortable, the one you most love being around. Go ahead. Close your eyes and visit the person for a few moments.

How easy it is to be with them. We can relax, breathe freely, laugh easily, never have to think twice before saying or doing what comes naturally to us—give them a hug, or our opinion, or simply sit in silence.

If you have such a person in your life, then you know that there is a kind of safety that you feel when you are with such a person, and that is a rare and beautiful gift. When we feel safe with someone and we are relaxed, our heart opens wide. Our light and our love shine through. That is the truth of our being, but unfortunately, rarely expressed as the world teaches us to remain so defended.

Now, close your eyes again and think of your least favorite person in the world. (Oh, go ahead. You know who I mean!)

Do you feel like hugging them? (Probably not.) How does it feel to be around them? Do you relax around them? Or do you have to weigh your words? Can you breathe? (Maybe not.) When we are in a situation that is disagreeable, often our very breath cuts off or diminishes in strength. But with breath comes life, so when we breathe less, we feel less; we live less. So in order to live, we really need to be able to breathe freely; we need the relaxation that comes from a heart that is open. An open heart is our large life force, our power!

Now go back to being with the two people, favorite and least favorite. Which situation makes you feel more powerful? Which less so?

Funny, isn’t it? When we have our heart open we are more powerful, and when we have our heart closed we are less powerful. Funnier still, the world, which understands so little, teaches us the exact opposite: that to protect ourselves we must be defended and close our hearts, that open-heartedness is a weakness. When we are able to relax and be ourselves, we step naturally into our power, and we need that power for Large Life.

There are no accidents. If you are holding this book in your hands, the Angels are looking to help you step into your power, to relax and be yourself more, no matter the situation. As they are always around, their friendship and assistance can help us to know we are always safe so we can relax and allow in more health, more light and more joy, and enjoy a larger, more power-filled and powerful life.

Here, at the very beginning of our journey, consider yourself served!

. . . As in a game of tennis, imagine that this book is Life, and the Angels are lobbing the ball over the net to you, hoping you’ll play. Service! (Angels love to play.)

. . . If the idea of duty calling suits you more (as with jury duty, for example), imagine that in this moment you are being served with a request to show up even more for your life purpose, in service to the wider community and supported by the Angels!

. . . Perhaps the most apt service metaphor is one of being served, as in fine dining. Dinner is served. Take your place so that all manner of good things can be placed before you for your delight and nourishment.

Playing tennis, fulfilling civic duty, a delightful feast? Your choice. In all, consider yourself served—invited to play, asked to show up, and if you so desire, to accept the delights the Angels have in store for you.

With reference to popular religious dogma of our times, let’s be clear: the pertinent phrase is, consider yourself served not saved. This book is not about cowering as sinners, begging for scraps at a distant Father’s table. How relaxed would we be in that situation? No, this is about accepting that we are already saved. A seat is saved for us. We are already invited to the Table of Life, which is (very patiently) waiting for us to take our place.

Dinner—Life, that is . . . Large Life—is served. Will you come?

The invitation is all about relaxing and heart-wide-open fun. It is a reminder that we were never meant to be stiff. It is not natural to live defended, with our hearts closed to others; we are not destined to mourn our way through life but, rather, to remember that we’ve got friends in high places (Angels), so we can relax as we play this game called Life.

Once we understand that we are safe things become fun. We understand that we have never been alone and are not really separate from the Divine. We relax and enjoy this life when we get clear (because we have proof ) that divine assistance (through the Presence of the Angels) is never far off, just waiting for us to remember that we are always held in Love. No matter how far the world may have caused us to stray, like the prodigal son in the Bible, we can feel secure in the knowledge that we are always welcome at the table. When we are ready, we are welcomed in with rejoicing: no recriminations, no judgment, ultimate safety, the truth of peace. We are then served with peace and joy, and our being served allows us to serve others, sharing those gifts of peace and joy. We can breathe, relax, trust: the Peace which passeth all understanding. And we can enjoy. Joy is the language of the Angels. Joy is the juice of living Large, living powerfully, living our dreams. Again, if you are reading this book, it is no accident; you are on the list for more joy. No matter how it came into your hands, whether as a gift, a find, a favor to a friend, or a falling off a bookstore shelf, if you are reading this sentence right now, this was meant to be. The Angels made me do it—made me write it, made you come across it, made us come together. They organized our meeting in this way to sort out some things together. By the end of this reading/meeting time, we will go our separate ways in the world, more efficiently and effectively living Large, with our angelic Friends in High Places making the way smooth for us.

To be clear, Angels cannot, do not, make us do anything; however, they can knock on the door and send us reminders, invitations, and signs. In fact, they do this all the time. The question is whether we are ready to notice those signs, and if we will accept their invitation once we get it.

Angels come to us in many ways. Sometimes they arrive subtly, through the lyrics to a song we hear, a timely hand on the shoulder, or a book we happen upon. Other times (with tougher cases and more defended hearts), Angels call to us far less subtly, as in the story I recount at the end of this book, when an Angel walked up to my desk in a bank in Midtown Manhattan to give me an amethyst crystal and a much-needed message (at that time, I needed a rock to open my heart!)

Thus served, we are reminded of a truth beyond the visible. That we are loved. That we are much more than the person we see in the mirror. That there is no place that God is not, including within us! We are not small; nor are we separate from or forgotten by Source.

(NOTE: For the purposes of this book, I will use the terms God or Source or the Universe. Please feel free to insert the Holy Name with which you are most comfortable. God is not rendered small by our naming.) When we remember, we can relax. As with a good friend, when we cultivate that Divine connection through the Angels, we remember that all is well: we have Friends in High Places! So consider yourself served. And relax!

PROLOGUE

How It Began: Kona, Hawaii

As I loitered on the hotel grounds in front of the door to the conference space, watching intently as sparkly-dressed assistants were checking in equally sparkly-dressed workshop participants, I wondered what the heck I was doing there. In my cutoff jeans and t-shirt, I was feeling decidedly out of place. I had my bathing suit underneath in case the workshop turned out not to be for me. Plan B was going swimming with dolphins, if they’d have me. It seemed like many of these smiling gods and goddesses knew one another, and I felt both like an outsider looking in and like one who might possibly prefer to stay outside and hang out with dolphins. At that moment, Plan B was looking good.

Finally, I decided to risk it. The workshop was, after all, a significant investment of time and money. I had flown all the way from France to Hawaii for it, and on top of the hotel charges and the substantial workshop fee to come train to learn about Angel therapy, I had taken time off work. The very pragmatic then-banker in me could not walk away from such an investment. Still, when I checked in, I took a seat in the back by the exit (just in case). Better safe than sorry!

As I waited for the workshop to begin, my mind wandered back along the path that had brought me to this unlikely place. It started with a book...

I was at the Paris airport headed to the United States to see my boss in Charlotte, North Carolina (at the time, I was an expatriate banker in France with a large American bank). While I waited for my flight, I stopped at an airport bookstore to pick up something for the coastal Carolina vacation I was planning just after my Charlotte meetings. As I reached for one book, another, different one tumbled off the shelf. It was small, colorful, eye-catching, and odd—a book on chakra clearing by Doreen Virtue.

Huh? I had been meaning at some point to see what the heck this chakra stuff was all about. No time like the present! I took it and the one I had been reaching for (I no longer recollect what it was) to the register and hurried to the departure gate, then forgot about it.

A week or so later, I was officially on vacation, and having a party. A big party! It was at the house I call Attitude Adjustment, a beach cottage in a small town called Emerald Isle on the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina, a spot of heaven that ironically feels very much like home to this Irish kid from the Bronx. I had invited a bunch of family and friends from the old neighborhood in the Bronx and Inwood in Northern Manhattan, and there was a house full of party going on in my cottage by the sea. It was the off season, so the lack of neighbors meant that my musician friends could play their hearts out, and (almost) all manner of (over) indulgences were taking place amid loud conversation and raucous laughter, smoke, drink, and noise.

Suddenly, it was too much. I needed a break and headed for the door. As I went to step outside onto the deck, something colorful caught my eye: the chakra book. I grabbed it, along with my drink and cigarettes, and snuck out of the party, making my way over the dune walkway to the steps leading down to a perfectly empty beach.

Plopping myself down on a sandy wooden step, I lit a cigarette and took a sip of my Greyhound (vodka and grapefruit juice). Ahhhh . . . peace and quiet! I watched the pelicans flying low in tight formation over the breaking waves, mesmerized by what seemed to me to be their perfectly choreographed flight, then thus situated, I opened the book at random—and almost dropped it . . .

Talk about perfectly choreographed! Right there, on the page I had just opened, I read a list of things that impede our clairvoyance and our connection to Angels. It included everything in which I had just indulged: alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, junk food, noise. The list went on, but I had seen all I needed to. It was a list of what was happening at my house at that moment!

The perfect orchestration continued. At that very moment, in the distance, over a neighboring town called Atlantic Beach, fireworks went off, an ironic By George, I think she’s got it! applause that I had finally gotten the message the Angels had been trying to convey to me since the day one walked into the Bank on 42nd Street in Manhattan to deliver an amethyst and a message.

From that moment on, I could no longer pretend not to be aware of what was going on. I had been served, and I knew that it was incumbent upon me to walk through the door that had opened and to look squarely at that which had been keeping me playing small and fearful, when we are all meant to live Large, in love.

Thinking back to that awakening, I was glad now that I had dared to enter the conference space. I knew why I was sitting here in this great room at the Sheraton in Kona three years later, after many other paths (shamanism, crystals, pilgrimage) had led me to this one. I was here to go farther, to see more of what the fuss was all about, and to confirm what I already knew in my heart, what I had always known: that I had a job to do here on Earth; that my real life was out there, waiting for me; that the sneaking suspicion I had ignored for 20 years, that I wasn’t meant to be a banker, was true; and that there was a whole lot of help waiting for me to give the thumbs up, if I were just willing to risk letting go and letting everything change.

You guessed it: I stayed for the whole five days of the workshop, even when I was pretty sure that I was the only person who wasn’t clairvoyant in the room. I stayed, and that is really all we have to do to live Large: accept the invitation, the call, show up, and stay.

PART ONE

TAKE ACTION WITH THE ANGELS

Preparation

CHAPTER 1

Who’s Who and What’s What

It is important to note at the outset that the words here are co-created and can be powerful, but that above all, you are the expert on your own life. As you read through this book, see how it resonates with you, perhaps in a way you already knew deep inside. That is the key. These words are not to convince anyone of anything, but rather, to awaken that which already is.

A lot is going on around us all the time that we never see—not with our eyes anyway, not most of us. (Huh? Yep. A lot!) Have you ever found yourself alone, maybe in a very quiet place, and experienced chills or your hair standing on end? Ever had the feeling that someone was in a room with you, only to turn to find no one there?

Even as our heads (trained by a world that knows so little) try to tell us that it’s all nonsense, the sensitive instruments that are our bodies are designed to tune in to things not available to our physical sight. In their natural, balanced state, our bodies give us useful information pretty much constantly, but most of us live blissfully unaware of it.

I say blissfully because such experiences call into question the foundation of what we so often deem reality, how we think the game is played. And when our foundation is shaken, everything trembles, generally not a comfortable situation. But in order for life to thrive, things always need to be shaken up. Land needs tilling before planting. Water needs to be boiled for cooking. Muscles of an athlete are torn down before being rebuilt and strengthened. Life grows in us through such shakeups.

The reality that is called into question, however, is our comfort zone, including even the parts of it that are not so comfortable. Like the idea that only that which is tangible and visible is real; or that we are somehow alone and on our own down here on Earth; that the world is a hard place; that lack and competition are givens—just the way it is.

Such beliefs—which we soak up from birth—lead to a perception of ourselves and this life that is false, which leads us to play small, to make choices that favor what we deem safe and conservative out of fear of lack and fear of mortality.

But let’s say that none of those beliefs are true.

Let’s say that we are not alone, that we are not small, that we are more powerful than ever we imagined. We just forgot, and no one ever told us any better.

Consider your life, right here, today. If you were powerful beyond measure and aided by the Universe itself, what would change? Most importantly, would you be having more fun?

Who We Are

Before moving onto the passionate subject of Angels, let me say a word about an even more important subject: us. Who are we? Who are you?

Let’s begin with the obvious: we are human beings: flesh, blood, and bones. Common knowledge teaches us that we have a body that had a beginning and will have an end at some point. That as humans, we don’t have a lot do to with those two end points, although we have everything to do with the middle!

But what if there is a part of us, a soul, that does have something to do with those end points? We are humans, yes, and magnificently so. But we are not just humans.

You may have heard as many times as I have the following There is no place that God is not. (Just a reminder: Although I am using the term God for all instances in this book where I refer to the Divine, if it is more comfortable for you, simply replace one name for another in alignment with your culture. God is not changed by our use of language or our cultural/religious, limiting beliefs, despite some popular opinion. God is bigger than that. There is no limit to God: all that is, is part of God.)

If there is no place that God is not, then God is everywhere, in everything, at every moment, even right here, now, in this moment (especially in this moment), the present with Presence, even in (and thus ever with) all of us, no exceptions.

So we are human beings with a birth day and some future unknown expiration date. The word expiration can be taken literally in English as when we expire or die, but we can also look at it in a larger way. In French, expiration means to exhale. Life as we know it is carried on breath. The first inhalation of a baby kicks off life, and our life is maintained through breath until our last is exhaled and our life, carried on that last breath, continues on its journey.

I like what John Lennon said: At death, we simply change one vehicle for another—small life for Large Life. But what if we don’t have to wait until we kick the bucket to open up to that Large Life? What if we can access our soul and live deeply, right here and now, in this body we refill with life at each breath?

Our Body

In short: our bodies carry our Life, but we are not our bodies. Just as we are not our cars or bicycles, so we are not our bodies. Our bodies are our instruments to play, the vehicle that our soul chose even before our Game (Life) began.

We begin before we have a body, and we continue on after there is no longer Life in that body, long after the instrument we call our body stops playing. This is not to say that the body is without importance: our body is the holder of the breath of Life eternal that lives in and through us for the time of our lifespan: a true temple! As such, it is worthy of honor.

The wonder that is our body enables us to be physically present: to inhabit Earth in a very solid and tangible interacting form with other solid and visible interacting forms. It also, as chills and hair standing on end might tell us, indicates when there is also Life around us here on the earth plane that is not in bodily form.

Angels, guides, ascended masters, as well as energies we sometimes refer to as entities or unfortunate negatively charged names like demons and such also exist around us. (Let us not be so naïve as to imagine a world where Angels exist but lower-energy beings do not.) We will look clear-eyed and fearless at these beings, but it is good to remember always that there is no place that God is not (including so-called entities). Thus we can confidently turn our immediate attention back to us.

If we have a body, but are not our body, what are we? We often hear the phrase body and soul or mind, body, and spirit. These common expressions are rooted in truth. The body is the temple that holds our divine aspect, or Spirit, expressed as soul through us. (Again, there is no place that God/Spirit is not.) The soul is the individualized aspect of that eternal being, thus our soul goes on, lifetime after lifetime, tending toward remembering. The mind is the linchpin between the two: that which allows us (or not) to remember, which accepts (or not) to live the life we were meant for.

If we recognize that our body is truly a temple, maybe we can also see that it is of necessity also a doorway to the Divine, just as a physical temple or church or mosque can be a doorway (not the doorway; there is not one doorway, but many) to the Divine, a place where we can more easily connect to the sacred. If and when we see our bodies as holding the Divine, it is time to honor them as such. Would we treat a temple thoughtlessly? Would we cram a temple with too much junk? Would we allow just anybody access? Would we allow it to get dirty? Would we fill it with a cacophony of noise and clanging?

No, we probably would not. Just as we would honor a physical holy place, we are invited by the Angels to honor our physical body, and to recognize that the body is necessary to angelic connection here on Earth. We were never meant to repudiate our bodies but to honor them and recognize them as a conduit to the Divine. Honoring the temple of our bodies inside and out, with harmony and balance and beauty, cleanliness and silence and natural space to grow, allows the breath of the Divine to thrive and our soul’s purpose to be realized.

Our Soul

Before our birth, it is the soul, accompanied by Angels, and always within the holding fertile love of the Divine, that chooses to incarnate (take on flesh) with a particular purpose or mission in mind. Along with Angels and our guides, the soul determines the human person/incarnation that will optimize the chances for the success of that mission. We are perfectly conceived and created to realize or soul’s mission. Even our so-called imperfections are perfect: they support the greater goal of the soul’s mission.

Take, for example, a person who is timid or introverted. In our too-too-busy, too-white-toothed-smile world, it may well be that such a person has a mission that will require a deep inner life. All aspects of our personality, the personality chosen by the soul and aided by our Angels, serve the mission. This is a subject we will explore later on. We are perfectly set up for success, so as we remember during this life, our chances of mission success rise, tending toward 100 percent, as our human will for this lifetime and the soul’s Divine purpose (thy will be done) become one.

So how come so many people express regret at the end of their lives (a sure indicator that the mission was left incomplete, at least in part)? Here’s the rub: the trick to this Game of Life, the challenge of it, is that we un-remember. All the pieces of the puzzle are put into place to facilitate mission success, but when we are born and take on a physical body, with rare exceptions, we forget who we truly are and why we’ve come here. This represents both the challenge and the beauty of